Of course, online and remote instruction existed prior to March 2020. But even leaders at the nation’s growing number of online public schools say they have learned plenty from the pandemic. They’re also confident that their experiences can help educators both in-person and virtual use ed-tech more effectively.
At Saddleback Valley USD in California, strengthening online connections between students and teachers became even more crucial during the last two years as the pandemic canceled weekly in-person sessions, says Glenn Giokaris, principal of the SVUSD Virtual Academy. “You can develop strong communities online if done correctly,” Giokaris says. “It takes a lot longer but when there is a robust discussion going on in Zoom, it’s really awesome to watch.”
One key step for the SVUSD Virtual Academy was making sure teachers and students were comfortable accessing and organizing content in the school’s Canvas learning management system. For instance, teachers are not overloading lessons with hyperlinks that can distract students from the main activity. Perhaps more importantly, teachers are producing shorter and simpler instructional videos. Rather than making 15-minute videos with cameras and other equipment, they are producing just five-minute videos using their iPhones, Giokaris says. And a platform called Calendly is helping teachers, counselors and students schedule meetings. “It’s really important that we figure out how to organize the curriculum so the technology doesn’t get in the way of learning and we reduce the barriers and obstacles,” Giokaris says.
More broadly, it’s important for teachers to help virtual students develop their sense of self-efficacy and an ability to prevent themselves from getting off-task. “Virtual is not for everybody,” Giokaris says. “Our teachers might put in a tremendous amount of time and energy and thought to support students and personalize content, but the student still needs to have a certain amount of self-regulation skills and a commitment on the part of their parents to engage with the content.”
One unique thing about SVUSD Virtual Academy is its status as a “community-based online school,” meaning most of its students live near the district. This allows learners—pre-COVID—to meet in person about twice a week. In-person activities have recently been voluntary and Giokaris and his team are now determining how to bring students together next school year. “The question is what can and should we do in person that will increase the efficacy of our online program,” Giokaris says.
Not the ‘easy way’ to graduate
When the Iowa Virtual Academy launched more than a decade ago, leaders there encountered a challenge that many online educators have had to confront. The response may offer guidance to other K-12 leaders as they work to offer more virtual options. “A lot of kids, early on, thought this would be an easy way to graduate,” says Shane Wahls, superintendent of the Clayton Ridge Community School District, which operates the academy. “They thought, ‘I don’t like school. I’ll sign up for online and do the bare minimum.’”
Wahls and his team have worked to help families understand that the virtual academy has the same graduation requirements as brick-and-mortar schools do, and its courses are just as rigorous. In fact, its graduation rate has risen to 87%, from 70% in 2020 and 65% several years earlier.
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Shortly after the pandemic struck the U.S., the academy’s enrollment caps were lifted by the state, which allowed even more students from across Iowa to enroll in the school. The virtual academy also provides leaders in other districts with best practices, such as insight into which students benefit most from online instruction. “Students who have been victims of bullying and harassment, they attend online and they’re very successful,” Wahls says. The virtual academy also appeals to high school athletes who travel extensively and those who are more vulnerable because of chronic health conditions.
The pandemic experience provided new opportunities for Clayton Ridge’s brick-and-mortar teachers to collaborate with their virtual counterparts. “Collaboration is a big deal in brick-and-mortar, and it’s even more important, in virtual, that teachers learn from each other about methods of delivering instruction,” Wahls says. “Teachers can too often end up teaching in silos.”
But even the virtual academy continues to grapple with the challenge of conducting state assessments online, which the school has had to give in-person in locations across the state throughout the years. And improving the academy’s services for students in special education is another ongoing process. For instance, online students who have behavioral goals in their individualized education plans are not surrounded by their classmates. So, the academy’s educators provide guidance for parents who want to work on socialization skills with their students at the local library or YMCA. “Parents are usually pretty involved, especially with elementary school students,” Wahls says. “They need to be learning coaches, communicate with counselors and advisors, and make sure children are logging into face-to-face, live sessions.”
