Leadership. Technical Work Group

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2 Leadership Project Officers Celia Rosenquist Office of Special Education Programs, Department of Education Senior PIs Don Deshler, Center for Research on Learning Bill East National Association of State Directors of Special Education David Rose Co-PIs Paula Burdette National Association of State Directors of Special Education James Basham Department of Special Education, Diana Greer elearning Design Lab, Edward Meyen elearning Design Lab, Department of Special Education, Sean Smith Department of Special Education, Skip Stahl Inside this Report Leadership 3 Technical Work group 3 Staff 3 Center Overview 4 The Challenge 4 Our Mission 4 Our Goals 4 Our Activities 5 April Major activities 7 May Major activities 11 June Major activities 15 Technical Work Group Mary Brownell Professor of Special Education, University of Florida Director of the National Center to Improve Policy and Practice in Special Education Professional Development Christopher J. Dede Wirth Professor in Learning Technologies, Harvard Graduate School of Education Michael Horn Executive Director, Education, Innosight Institute Anthony E. Kelly Professor of Educational Psychology, College of Education and Human Development, George Mason University Richard E. Mayer Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychology, University of California Raymond M. Rose President, Rose & Smith Associates Matthew Wicks Chief Operating Officer International Association for K-12 Online Learning John Eisenberg Assistant Superintendent Division of Special Education and Student Services Virginia Department of Education Staff Sam Johnston Susan Bulgren Center for Research on Learning Rachel Currie-Rubin Bryan Dykman Center for Research on Learning The contents of this quarterly report were developed under a grant from the US Department of Education #H327U However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the US Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. Project Officer, Celia Rosenquist. Mindy Johnson 2 Quarter 2 report 2013 centerononlinelearning.org 3

3 Center Overview The Challenge To date, online learning reaches millions of K-12 learners, with its continued growth inevitably leading to dramatic changes in the educational landscape. While online learning holds great promise, there is a paucity of research addressing the pedagogical implications for students with disabilities. Researchers urgently need to conduct investigations that demonstrate how online instruction should be designed and delivered to improve student outcomes. The challenge of the Center is to address learner variability by conducting research to make online learning more accessible, engaging, and effective for students with disabilities, for whom traditional forms of education have been only moderately successful and the precipitous growth in online instruction threatens to exclude. To address these issues, the Center will assume a leadership role in conducting research and building a network of research collaborators representing a wide array of disciplines whose expertise impacts learner outcomes. Our Mission To research how online learning can be made more accessible, engaging, and effective for K-12 learners with disabilities by investigating approaches that address learner variability within the range of conditions under which online learning occurs. Our Goals Identify and verify trends and issues related to the participation of students with disabilities in K-12 online learning in a range of forms and contexts (e.g., virtual schools, online courses, expository, interactive, etc.). Research topics will include accessibility and delivery of content, patterns of student participation, learning needs and supports, and emerging forms of online learning and their potential impact on accessibility and outcomes for students with disabilities. Identify and describe major potential positive outcomes and negative consequences of participation in online learning for students with disabilities, and analyze the available evidence on these outcomes and consequences. Positive outcomes may include a range of academic, social, career, and functional achievements associated with college- and career-readiness. Negative consequences may include reduced access to social or extra-curricular activities, a narrowed curriculum, a reduced alignment of instruction with academic standards, or the failure of instructional designs to be responsive to learner attributes. Identify and develop promising approaches for increasing the accessibility and potential effectiveness of online learning for students with disabilities. These approaches may involve designing accessibility and support features for online learning, providing supplementary off-line resources, individualizing online learning, identifying and addressing student learning problems as soon as possible, and training students, teachers, tutors, parents, and others involved in online learning on ways to support student learning. Test the feasibility, usability, and potential effectiveness (or promise) of one or more key approaches using appropriate research designs such as quasi-experimental, single-subject, qualitative, and experimental research. This research will involve actually trying the approach(es) with the intended populations in authentic settings. The research will produce detailed descriptions of the approaches and their key components, evidence that the approaches can be successfully implemented in authentic settings, and evidence of the promise of the approaches for achieving their intended outcomes for students with disabilities. Our Activities 1. Carrying out high-quality research and development that will result in validated practices that inform the design and development of new approaches and innovations. 2. Establishing principles for the design, development, and validation of online instruction effective for all students, including K-12 learners with disabilities, via the application of learning analytics that take advantage of the inherent capabilities of online learning technologies to provide faster, more accurate, more informative assessment and progress monitoring, and impact learner outcomes. 3. Highlighting and amplifying existing resources that have been validated as promising and developing new online learning solutions that support K-12 learners with disabilities. 4. Developing a dynamic network of online learning stakeholders including but not limited to education agencies, business and industry, innovators, researchers, and parents for the purposes of validating and implementing online learning solutions that are appropriate and effective for K-12 learners with disabilities. 5. Informing stakeholders (SEAs, LEAs, developers, and others) on how to identify and implement high-quality online learning solutions that are effective for K-12 learners with disabilities. 6. Disseminating research findings and evidence-based principles for guiding the design, development, and use of online learning resources that address the needs of K-12 learners with disabilities. 4 Quarter 2 report 2013 centerononlinelearning.org 5

4 Major Activities and Accomplishments April 2013 Almanac: The Center met with in- ACOL to discuss a joint project to create a reference database of online schools and relevant demographical and performance data. This database will be accessible by both the Center and inacol and will remain open to collaboration by additional interested parties. Florida Studies: The Center met with JoAnne Glenn of Pasco County School District to plan an online readiness study and Shane Fairbairn of North East Florida Education Consortium (NEFEC) to plan focus group logistics for the What They Know study, which will begin in early fall. Washington Case Study: The Center conducted focus group interviews with teachers, administrators, parents, and directors. The Center concluded its most recent visit with a presentation to special education teachers on the preliminary findings of the case study. The Center met with the administration and proposed additional studies to extend focus group, survey, and UDL measurement work. Conference Presentations: Center researchers made two presentations at the Council of Exceptional Children (CEC) 2013 Convention & Expo entitled Online Learning for Students with Disabilities: The Story Research is Telling Us. The slides used at this conference may be accessed at centerononlinelearning.org/resources/ conference-handouts/. Detroit: Center researchers visited three Education Achievement Alliance (EAA) schools in Detroit and met with district administrators to discuss research prospects. The EAA schools are notable for use of blended and online student-centered learning and for their embracing of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles. The Center anticipates producing a memorandum of understanding with respect to research of these schools soon. New Proposals: The Center drafted a proposal with the former director of a virtual academy for a study of all virtual schools in Wisconsin on subjects including special education policy, IEP practices, three year evaluation processes, and related service supports. The Center also drafted a proposal with the to study peer-to-peer interaction and two proposals to conduct studies of online content using the UDL Measurement Tool through ECOT. Quality Matters: The Center, as part of the Quality Matters review board, continued to work on revisions to QM s K-6 rubric. Midwestern Case Study: The Center continued to work on the Midwestern case study, holding focus groups with teachers, parents, and administrators. Social Media Update - EdChat The Center has been participating in a series of online discussions over Twitter. This exerpt from an April chat allowed us to netweork with mulitiple teachers and members of the education community. Research Update Goals completed from Q1: Continue work on the studies with the Florida Department of Education. Continue to network at conferences. Cognitive Load Theory Project This project examines the way specific design features (e.g., attention cues, on-screen wording, etc) affect learning. We are currently in the data collection phase. This project will help to expand the knowledge base surrounding best-practices in the design of mulimedia presentations for students with learning disabilities in order to maximize learning. -Paul Ingram Center Graduate Research Assistant Conduct the first round of focus groups and interviews for the Washington Virtual Academy Case Study. 17 New Followers 66 New Tweets this month 6 Quarter 2 report Tweets to date centerononlinelearning.org 7

5 1) Identify and verify trends and issues related to the participation of SWD in K-12 online learning in range of forms and contexts 2) Identify and describe major potential positive outcomes and negative consequences of participation in online learning for SWD, and analyze the available evidence on these outcomes and consequences GOALS 3) Identify and develop promising approaches for increasing the accessibility and potential effectiveness of online learning for SWD 4) Test the feasibility, usability, and potential effectiveness of promising approaches Key Contextual Variability Measures of outcomes Learner-Online Design Variability Committee Committee Projects Individual projects COMMITTEES Contextual Variables Baseline Survey Case Studies Analytics / Data Learner-Online Design Variables This graphic is an updated version of the Center s research activities and how they are structured with respect to the various areas of online learning. Both individual projects and committee work are now represented. Presently, the Center continues to heavily survey the field to gather baseline data. Study: Peer-to-Peer Interaction Lead(s): Sam, Paula Location: Study: Parental Engagement Lead(s): Sean, Paula Location: Study: Teacher Survey Study: Parent Survey Study: IEP Focus Group / Survey Location: Florida Study: Parent Registry Lead(s): Ed Study: Persistence / Measuring Success Lead(s): Sam, Paula, inacol Location: Study: District Survey Study: Behavior Survey Lead(s): Sean, Jamie, Diana Location: Arizona, Kansas City Study: Surveys (Calls to State Technology Directors) Lead(s): Paula Study: Comparison Descriptive Studies Lead(s): Jamie, Diana Study: Virtual Ed Awareness Location: Florida Study: Teacher Quality Lead(s): Rachel Location: Indiana, North Carolina Study: Lawrence Location: Lawrence/ K12 Inc Study: Washington Location: Washington/ K12 Inc Study: Big Data Sets Location: Knovation, EUPISD, EAA Study: North Carolina Data Analysis Location: North Carolina Study: Single Subject Location: Edgenuity Study: Data Analysis Location: Virginia Study: LV Scaffolds & Supports Location: Edgenuity Study: Smarter Measures Location: Florida Study: Textual Linguistic Features Lead(s): Don, Diana Location: Nine Online Environments Study: UDL Scanning tool Lead(s): Sean, Jamie Location: Khan, Edgenuity, ECOT 13 June Quarter 2 report 2013 centerononlinelearning.org 9

6 Major Activities and Accomplishments Goals completed from Q1: Finalize MOU with Edgenuity Submitted IRB paperwork for the Teacher Quality Study Continue to present at regional parent meetings May 2013 Parent Survey: The Center drafted a proposal for the supports and services descriptive survey. The Center conducted focus group interviews with parents from South Dakota and Texas in order to finalize the English version of the national parent survey. Center researchers edited the survey and translated it into Spanish in anticipation of a final distribution in June. Teacher Quality: Center researchers followed up with the EAA and held a planning meeting to move forward on the project. Sites in Indiana and North Carolina have expressed interest in participating in the teacher quality study. Center researchers submitted an IRB proposal for the study. Edgenuity: The Center s memorandum of agreement with Edgenuity was finalized. Florida: The Center s IRB proposal for the Florida Perceptions of Online Learning Focus Groups study was approved, and work began on logistics. Center researchers worked with the Florida Department of Education to finalize and distribute the IEP survey to district administrators in Florida. Survey Facilitators: The Center reached out to directors of special education from across the nation to recruit survey facilitators, who will distribute surveys for Center research to parents, students, teachers, and administrators. The Center also developed a database to collect and index this information. Content Analysis Project: Center researchers began work with a large online learning vendor to expand the scope of the study. The Center continued its analysis of other online environments and performed a literature review in light of its earlier research to produce a rubric of linguistic features to be considered in its study. Center researchers plan to collaborate with methodologists soon in order to refine the rubric. Data Collection: The Center sent a list of data elements to North Carolina for a study on the effectiveness of online learning for students with disabilities. Data will be shared with the Center in the upcoming months. Presentation: The Center presented at the Region 5 Parent Meeting in Topeka, Kansas. The presentation focused on sharing the Center s research mission and goals. National Surveys: Center began to revise national surveys for parents, teachers, and administrators. This will be the second in a series of studies of these populations to see how their understanding of online learning has changed. Student Survey: The Center created a student survey, which was distributed to fully online schools by the Kansas Department of Education. Proposal: The Center is working with colleagues in Michigan to examine free appropriate public education in cyber charter schools. Research Update Content Analysis Project We are looking at the linguistic, visual, and multimedia text of online learning environments to determine the appropriateness for students with various specific learning disabilities. We are currently in the process of capturing the text from these environments and using measures to gather data. Our findings will help families of students with learning disabilities make better decisions about whether and how to engage with online learning environments as an alternative or supplement to regular classroom instruction. Mary Rice Center Graduate Research Assistant Social Media Update - Twitter Mentions! The Center works continuously to expand it s presence on Twitter. Just as May arrived, so did several direct mentions on the Center s Twitter feed. 38 New Tweets 498 Tweets to date 10 Quarter 2 report 2013 centerononlinelearning.org 11

7 WHAT WE ARE RESEARCHING Peer-to-Peer Interaction RESEARCH INITIATIVES Florida Department of Ed UDL Scanning Tool Parent Registry Parental Engagement Contextual Variability Content Analysis Descriptive Studies Big Data/Analytics Learner Variability CENTER S FOUNDATION OF KNOWLEDGE KANSAS WASHINGTON A Visual Research Guide This updated diagram depicts the relationship between all of the Center s research activities. The Center s Foundation of Knowledge is based upon surveying professionals associated with online learning, products used in the online classroom, and case studies in the states of Washington and Kansas. From that foundation, the Center is able to propose research initiatives to draw more empirical conclusions. For updates on individual research initiatives see the update research files throughout this report. SURVEY RESULTS (survey from teachers, administrators, etc.) VPAT TABLE CASE STUDIES WHAT WE ARE LEARNING The Center will use this updated graphic in print media and conference presentations to quickly explain its activities to prospective partners, collaborators, students, and stakeholders. 12 Quarter 2 report 2013 centerononlinelearning.org 13

8 Goals completed from Q1: Prepare for and hold the 2013 TWG meeting in Alexandria. Connect with members on feedback for studies and research. Begin to distribute the 2013 National Parent Survey. June 2013 Finalize work on policy table. Major Activities and Accomplishments Parent Survey: The Center worked with parent service centers to distribute the 2013 National Parent Survey. This survey contributes to the baseline knowledge of parental involvement in online learning. Presentations: The Center presented at the Region 2 and 3 Parent Technical Assistance Center Meetings. The presentation focused on sharing the Center s research mission and goals. Policy Table: The Center is working on the creation of a national policy table that reflects online learning policy in all fifty states. It is currently being circulated internally as well as being reviewed by state directors of special education. The table will be publicly available next quarter on the Center s website under its resources page. Tata Analysis: Like North Carolina, the Center sent an additional list of data elements to Virginia for a study on the Midwestern Case Studies effectiveness of online learning for students with disabilities. Data will be shared with the Center in the upcoming months. ISTE 2013: The Center distributed a short survey during the conference. The survey was similar to the short survey distributed during the conference last year. Researchers hope to identify differences and similarities in the conference attendees responses between the two years. Special Edition: The Center is currently drafting an article outline for a special issue of Teaching Exceptional Children. This article will highlight research conducted by the Center since Design2Learn: The Center has had several conversations about the possibility of forming a collaborative research relationship with Design- 2Learn. Research Update We have finished doing field work, and have entered into the writing stage of the project. We have nearly completed the first draft of our first paper, and will be submitting it for publication very soon. This case study examined the subjective experience of three triads (parent, teacher, and student) as well as administrators in a virtual school. This project will help us understand the current state of students with disabilities in online learning by allowing us to see it through the lens of students, teachers, parents, and administrators, as well as through objective observation. Jesse Pace Center Graduate Research Assistant Social Media Goals Q3 (1) Double the amount of followers gained this quarter for next quarter. (2) 600 posts for next quarter. (3) More engagement with followers. (4) Reduce re-tweeting by 50% in favor of new posts. (5) Review benefits of using Facebook and Pinterest. 10 New Followers 44 New Tweets this month 542 Tweets to date TWG Update The Center held its second annual Technical Work Group (TWG) meeting on June 13 in Alexandria, VA. All TWG members were present, including two new members: John Eisenberg (Virginia DOE), and Matthew Wicks (inacol). Topics discussed during the daylong meeting included: Access and State Issues, Teacher Quality, Engagement, Analytics/Student Data Collection, Measurements, and Persistence and Student Success. The Center is currently reflecting on the valuable information and feedback provided by the TWG members. See page 3 for a list of the Technical Work Group members. 14 Quarter 2 report 2013 centerononlinelearning.org 15