Susan D. Patrick President and CEO North American Council for Online Learning

1. Susan D. Patrick President and CEO North American Council for Online Learning

2. North American Council for Online Learning • NACOL is the premier K-12 nonprofit organization in the field of online learning. • Provides leadership, advocacy, research, training and networking with experts in K-12 online learning. • “Ensure every student has access to the best education available regardless of geography, income or background.” • Virtual School Symposium (VSS) “Redesign Powered by Online Learning” • Dallas, Texas - November 5-7, 2006

3. Global Workforce • Competitiveness: Science, Technology, Engineering, Math • Innovation, Risk-taking, Creativity • China, India and Russia: 3 billion • Intel Science Competition 2004 • 65,000 Americans entered • 6 million Chinese students • Mexico Digital Curriculum and Instruction • International E-Learning • China, India, Japan, Korea, European Union, Singapore, Australia, UK, Ghana, etc. • Developing a new education strategy centered, powered by online learning

4. What Students Need to Know: 21st Century Skills and ICT literacy The future will demand people who can express themselves effectively with images, animation, sound, and video, solve real world problems that require processing and analysis of thousands of numbers, evaluate information for accuracy, reliability, and validity; and organize information into valuable knowledge, yet students are not learning these skills in school.

5. Defining 21st Century ICT Literacy • The Partnership for 21st Century Skills defined 6 key elements of 21st Century Learning • Emphasize core subjects. • Emphasize learning skills. • Use 21st Century tools to develop learning skills. • Teach and learn in 21st century context. • Teach and learn 21st century content. • Use 21st century assessments that measure 21st century skills. www.21stCenturySkills.org

6. Explosion in E-Learning and Virtual Schools

7. Distance Education in K-12 Public Schools 2002-2003 (NCES 2005) • 328,000 enrollments in 2002-2003 • 36% of public school districts have students enrolled in distance education courses • Of these districts, 72% plan to expand their distance education courses • Distance education provides more course options to public school students • 50% of districts offered Advanced Placement or college-level courses • 80% cited the most important reason as offering courses not otherwise available at the school

8. Percentage Distribution of Enrollments in Distance Education Courses: 2002-03

9. Reasons for Offering Distance Education Courses

10. Distance Education at Degree-Granting Postsecondary Institutions: 2000-2001 • 56% of all 2-year and 4-year institutions offer e-learning courses • 127,000 online courses offered • 3,077,000 enrollments in distance education courses • 90% use asynchronous Internet based courses • 51% use two-way interactive videoconferencing

11. Sharing Research to Inform Policy

12. What Leaders Need to Know: Four Key Ideas • #1 Online Learning Expands Options • “The first impetus to the growth of K-12 distance education was an interest in expanding educational options and providing equal opportunities for all learners.” (p.7) • #2 Online Learning Is Rapidly Growing • “Recent Surveys show that K-12 online learning is a rapidly growing phenomenon.” (p.4) • Clark: 40,000-50,000 enrollments in 2000-2001 • Eduventures: 300,000 K-12 enrollments online 2002-3 • USED/NCES: 328,000 enrollments in distance ed 2002-3 • Peak Group: 500,000 enrollments in 2005 • Growing 30% annually

13. Online Learning Works • #3 Is Effective: “Equal or Better” • “One conclusion seems clear: On average, students seem to perform equally well or better academically in online learning.” (p. 17) • #4 Improves Teaching • Teachers who teach online reported positive improvements in face-to-face, too. • “Of those who reported teaching face-to-face while teaching online or subsequently, three in four reported a positive impact on their face-to-face teaching.” (p. 25)

14. Are Online Students Engaged? Apex= Apex Learning, IncFLVS= Florida Virtual School VHS=Virtual High School

15. Are Online Students Learning? Apex= Apex Learning, Inc FLVS= Florida Virtual School VHS=Virtual High School

16. Online Learning – National Education Technology Plan • Goals related to E-Learning (pages 8-9) • Provide every student access to e-learning • Enable every teacher to participate in e-learning training • Encourage the use of e-learning options to meet NCLB requirements (HQT, SES, choice) • Explore creative ways to fund e-learning • Develop quality measures and accreditation standards for e-learning that require those required for course credit • www.NationalEdTechPlan.org

17. Gallup Poll October 2005 • 40% of adults want students to take an online class for graduation from high school

18. Michigan April 2006 • First state to require “online learning” • In new high school graduation requirements: “every student must have an online learning experience or course” • Need for online learning is greatest with students to access skills they will need to get ahead and compete in an increasingly technological workplace

19. 1952

20. 68% H.S. Graduation Rate • Prepare them for the world they are entering • 68% graduate high school • 26% make it to sophomore year • 80% of jobs require postsecondary education • U.S. • 31% proficiency in reading at the 3rd grade

21. System Design • System is doing exactly what it was designed to do • Bela Banathy writes on transformation and systems design in education • Industrial goal for education: 25% of students to college • Time and motion studies in the factory age • Prisoners of Time (national report)

22. “Silent Epidemic” • Gates Foundation commissioned first study of high school drop outs • 88% had passing grades • 69% were not motivated to work hard • 66% would have worked harder if more had been demanded of them • 81% called for more real world learning opportunities

23. Transformation vs. Integration

24. Leadership = TIP • Trust • Integrity • Passion

25. Today’s Students

26. Who Are Our Students? • Largest generation (36% of total population). • 31% are minorities; more diverse than the adult population. • Have come of age along with the Internet. • Information has been universally available and free to them; community is a digital place of common interest, not just a shared physical space.

27. Rise of the Millennials • Studies show that they are a capable, conscientious, concerned and optimistic generation, determined to succeed: • 96 percent say that doing well in school is important to their lives. • 94 percent say they plan to continue their education after high school. • 90 percent of children between 5-17 use computers. • 94 percent of teens use the Internet for school-related research. • Teens spend more time online using the Internet than watching television. • High school and college students spend nearly $400 billion a year. • And they increasingly are involved in making spending decisions for their parents.

28. Internet Use by Age

29. 12th Graders Perceptions About School

30. What Are They Telling Us? “We have technology in our blood.” -- High School Student

31. Creativity and Risk-taking • Your creativity is highest at 6 • Lowest point: terminal seriousness at 44 • Bounce at retirement

32. "Changes in our lives may not come as abruptly as for the young; yet we grow and change, and enter upon new journeys or new seasons, and are withal as much at sea (at least, much of the time) as any novice facing the world."  Risk-taking "...is an old-fashioned theme, for nowadays we go to great lengths to avoid risks.  ....Yet something of an older bias lingers, and we are reminded now and then of times ... when it seemed better to put all save honor in jeopardy than to look too long before taking a leap.  Somehow these seem to have been the best of times, and we would fain recapture their zest and assurance."     People may "plod along without vision, being naively surprised when things turn out well, and disillusioned or cynical if they go ill.  They might be standing on the edge of a cliff while remarking on how solid the road is; or they arrive at a little Eden and assume it is only one more motel along the highway of life.“ August Heckschel, "The Risk-takers," C. S. Monitor, 6-19-81, p. 20.

33. Oliver Wendell Holmes • “The mind stretched to a new idea never returns to its original dimension.”

34. Thank you!

35. Toward a New Golden Age in American Education:How the Internet, the Law and Today’s Students are Revolutionizing Expectations

36. 1. STRENGTHEN LEADERSHIP • Invest in leadership development programs to ensure a new generation of tech-savvy leaders. • Retool administrator education programs to provide training in data-driven decision making and organizational change. • Develop partnerships between schools, higher education and the community. • Encourage creative technology partnerships with the business community. • Empower students’ participation in the planning process.

37. 2. CONSIDER INNOVATIVE BUDGETING • Consider a systemic restructuring of budgets to realize efficiencies, cost savings and reallocations. This can include reallocations in expenditures on textbooks, instructional supplies, space and computer labs. • Consider leasing with 3-5 year refresh cycles. • Create a technology innovation fund to carry funds over yearly budget cycles.

38. Aligning Every Dollar • 21st Century Skills • Every dollar spent on 21st century tools? • Cost per student per day: 1:1 and digital content • Cost of textbooks vs. cost of laptop

39. 3. IMPROVE TEACHER TRAINING • Teachers have more resources available through technology than ever before, but have not received sufficient training in the effective use of technology to enhance learning. • Teachers need access to research, examples and innovations as well as staff development to learn best practices. • Every teacher has online training

40. 4. SUPPORT E-LEARNING AND VIRTUAL SCHOOLS • Provide every student access to e-learning. • Enable every teacher to participate in e-learning training. • Develop quality measures and accreditation standards for e-learning that mirror those traditionally required for course credit.

41. 5. ENCOURAGE BROADBAND ACCESS • Evaluate existing technology infrastructure and access to broadband to determine its current capacities and explore ways to ensure its reliability. • Ensure that broadband is available all the way to the end-user for data management, online and technology-based assessments, e-learning, and accessing high-quality digital content. • Ensure adequate technical support to manage and maintain computer networks, maximize educational uptime and plan for future needs.

42. 6. MOVE TOWARD DIGITAL CONTENT • Ensure that teachers and students are adequately trained in the use of online content. • Encourage that each student has ubiquitous access to computers and connectivity. • Consider costs and benefits of online content, aligned with rigorous state academic standards, as part of a systemic approach to creating resources for students to customize learning to their individual needs.

43. 7. INTEGRATE DATA SYSTEMS • Establish a plan to integrate data systems so that administrators and educators have the information they need to increase efficiency and improve student learning. • Use assessment results to inform and differentiate instruction for every child. • Implement School Interoperability Framework (SIF) Compliance Certification as a requirement in all RFPs and purchasing decisions.

44. Questions • Thank you! For more information, visit our website North American Council for Online Learning,www.NACOL.org • Email: spatrick@nacol.org • Join us! • “Next Generation Education: Redesign Powered by Online Learning” for the 2006 Virtual School Symposium, November 4-7, 2006 in Dallas, Texas

45. Thank you!