Choosing online education: good policies will lead to better decisions about virtual learning options

School Administrator, April, 2004 by Liz Pape

Online education recently has been receiving a lot of attention at the K-12 level. Some may see it as a remedy for school budgets that are overstretched. Others view it as another means for reaching and teaching students and teachers, and some view online course delivery as an alternative educational choice.

In fact, online education is simply another tool school leaders choose to use in the delivery of quality education. When making the decision to provide instruction online, administrators need to make choices that start with good policies. School leaders also must decide whether their districts should create their own online courses or buy existing online offerings. Also to be considered are standards for instructional design and course delivery, training of faculty and infrastructure and support.

Good planning on all of these fronts will ensure successful use of online education for students. Thomas Giblin, superintendent in East Lansing, Mich., and a veteran of online teaching and learning, reports positive feedback from the entire educational community. "Teachers feel a renewed sense of excitement after a successful online experience and often report dramatic improvements in their face-to-face classes," he says.

He believes the online course offerings would be "most attractive ... in small, rural or financially strapped school districts." Faced with ever-increasing expectations and dwindling budgets, Giblin adds, superintendents and their governing boards "quickly discover that a quality online experience can be an educational as well as an economic windfall."

Policy Formulation

Before a school district implements online education, policies to address potential areas of conflict need to be developed. These policies, not unlike the school handbook in a traditional school setting, will set the framework within which all online courses will operate.

A suggested set of policies should include:

* expectations for student attendance in online courses;

* how and when to grant credit for online courses;

* definition of when students are allowed to take an online course--as part of the school day or outside the school day. The policy also should address whether students may take a course online if the course is also available and taught by a teacher in a school district classroom;

* responsibility for student discipline in online courses. For example, if a student uses inappropriate language in an online course, a policy should be in place to define who is responsible for discipline, particularly if the online teacher is not an employee of the student's school district;

* expectations for teacher presence in online courses;

* extent of responsibility of the school for monitoring the online teacher, similar to the monitoring of regular classroom teachers, particularly if the online course and instruction are being provided by an outside vendor; and

* use of and credit for online professional development for teaching staff.

These policies address online education use by the school district and are appropriate whether the school district chooses to purchase online courses from an outside vendor or delivers online courses developed within the district using the district's own teaching resources. Should the district decide to develop and deliver its own online courses within the district, additional policies also should address teacher compensation for online course development and delivery, ownership of online courses, and district infrastructure and support requirements for online teacher training and online course delivery.

Make or Buy?

School districts may not have the necessary resources to develop their own online courses and instead may choose to license online courses and online course delivery. The decision to make or buy online courses for students or teacher professional development may come down to time and personnel resources in the short term. Over the long term, the cost of annual course licenses, vendor courses that do not entirely meet the district's curricular needs or district values, and lack of capacity to influence course design and delivery standards may lead a district to decide to develop its own online education resources.

In the short term, school district administrators should consider the timeline for incorporating online courses into the educational plan and the resources available to develop and support an online education initiative. A short timeline may preclude district development of online course curriculum, online teachers and online infrastructure, making the decision to buy a short-term necessity.

When researching the purchase or licensing of online courses, district administrators, as consumers, need to consider how vendor decisions about online course design, delivery and support will affect how well the purchase of online courses will work within their district's mission and educational values. Key questions in the following areas will help administrators better understand what makes an effective online course.