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

School Administrator, April, 2004 by Liz Pape

Also, does the online course delivery put any additional requirements on the district's technical infrastructure? For example, courses that incorporate multimedia or streaming video may be "bandwidth hogs" to a school district with minimal bandwidth or inconsistent access to the Internet.

* Course support. What level of technical support is available within the course instruction or through the vendor to assist students with technical support issues? How quickly do students receive assistance once they have submitted a request for assistance? Who is responsible for technical assistance issues that are outside of online course issues?

For example, if a student is having difficulty accessing the online course because of the district's firewall, how is that determined? What level of assistance does the vendor provide to assist in the resolution of such an issue? Quick resolution of technical issues is key to the successful implementation of an online education program.

Resource Considerations

To develop and deliver online course offerings within the district, administrators will need to address the issues of development resources, technical resources and delivery resources.

* Development resources. Personnel resources must be identified and allocated to the online course development effort. Enough time must be set aside for course development and review prior to course delivery. Part of the online course development effort should include the development of the curriculum and design standards for online courses, which then will facilitate the review of the online courses against those standards, prior to the delivery of the courses.

Policies need to be implemented to determine payment for such online course curriculum, ownership of the online course curriculum, and terms and conditions for licensing to other districts or vendors. A plan to maintain the accuracy and timeliness of online courses also should be developed and resources budgeted for this ongoing effort.

* Technical resources. A course platform will need to be selected, purchased and installed, and online teachers will need to be identified and trained in use of the course platform. File servers will be needed for course delivery, and servers and Internet access will need to be available on a consistent basis for online students to be able to attend their online courses.

Also, security measures must be in place so that students are not able to visit inappropriate websites, and the online classes are protected from outsiders entering into the online courses. Information about students must be secured and online curriculum must not be altered by those without appropriate permissions for course revisions.

* Delivery resources. Online teachers need to receive professional development to teach effectively online. Administrators must determine what skills teachers need to teach online and determine what type of professional development is available for such skills development. Online teachers will also need appropriate technical resources for online course delivery, including hardware, Internet access and technical support.