Investigating Student Perceptions and the Effectiveness of K-12 Blended Learning Communities

While the growth of blended learning environments in higher education and non-educational settings has continued to increase in recent years, this has not been the case in K-12 settings. Recently, in an effort to explore the viability and effectiveness of K-12 blended learning environments, Florida Virtual School (FLVS) has been piloting blended learning communities in a number of their schools, providing opportunities to explore factors that influence the effectiveness of K-12 blended learning communities. Thus, the purpose of this chapter is to report the results of a study designed to assess conditions that influence the effectiveness of K-12 blended learning communities, and to explore learner, instructor, course, and other factors important to successful blended learning communities. Findings will inform the design, development, and implementation of future K-12 blended teaching and learning environments in an effort to support and strengthen student achievement, the preparation of teachers to facilitate effective blended learning environments.

Engaging Teachers in Science Practices and Discourse Through Online Professional Development

Online professional development courses and programs provide science teachers with ongoing and relevant professional development opportunities that overcome time, distance, and budget pressures. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach, this chapter presents a case study of elementary and middle school teachers enrolled in two online courses in chemistry and science education. Based on this work, three themes emerged: the ability to incorporate inquiry-based teaching and learning in online environments, the importance of online discourse and reflection, and the role of linking theory with practice. Specifically, teacher participants reported increased experience exploring content via inquiry, felt actively engaged with their peers as they constructed their knowledge, and expected to adapt inquiry-based activities in their classrooms as a result of these online courses.

E-Coaching to Support University-Public School Partnerships

Three teacher educators partnered with a local high school to pilot an e-coaching model with secondary social studies pre-service teachers. Findings reveals an e-coaching supervisory model that can nurture relationships between university and public schools to support pre-service teacher (PST) development, can increase a PST's independence and confidence, and can support creation of a third space where power dynamics between university and public schools are disrupted and potentially leveled. Implications for e-coaching as a means of supervising field experiences in rural teacher education are discussed.

Blended Learning in Mathematics

The term blended learning continues to gain momentum in K-12 classrooms around the United States. While the idea of implementing blended learning environments is becoming more popular, there is a need to gain a deeper understanding of how these environments look and how they influence student learning. This chapter takes a step in that direction by examining four instances of blended learning in mathematics classrooms, described as vignettes, that examine the model of blended learning, shifts in teachers' instruction while trying to implement blended learning, as well as teachers' reported benefits and barriers to teaching mathematics in this way. Implications cite a need to focus on the quality of mathematical tasks posed by teachers as well as in technology-rich environments and the need for more in-depth examination about teachers' instructional decisions and rationales related to blended learning and how those decisions influence student learning.

Engaging Online K-12 Students

Online learning for K-12 is the fastest growing segment of education. Advantages include access to courses for college and career readiness; world languages; science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), including electives that might otherwise be unavailable to students. However, K-12 students increasingly miss valuable interactions present in face-to-face classes and, as such, engaging students in online courses can be difficult. For this reason, teachers in an online setting must be flexible and creative and find approaches to make the online classroom feel more like a face-to-face classroom. This would include finding ways to decrease the cognitive and emotional distance often associated with not seeing a teacher or fellow students. It also presents the case of school leadership need for exercising caution while implementing school policy to encourage appropriate social media behaviors.

Digital Learning in Rural K–12 Settings

Discussions of rural America often summon images of pastoral farmland, country roads, and close-knit communities; this vision offers a sharp contrast to contemporary perspectives of rural America, which highlight unemployment, entrenched poverty, economic decline, and geophysical isolation. However, both narratives share one characteristic: the belief that a high-quality education can open a world of opportunities for rural children. This chapter fills an existing gap in research by documenting successful practices of digital learning to support students, teachers, and families in rural education settings. A qualitative study identified the challenges faced by rural schools and then explored the digital learning strategies used to meet these challenges. Across the country, innovative practitioners are expanding Internet access, addressing teacher shortages, and increasing course offerings, which has in turn contributed to the academic achievement and future prosperity of today's rural students.

Moving K-12 Coursework Online

Online learning is part of the future of K-12 education. However, few online K-12 instructors have been formally trained in online pedagogy. This chapter describes best practices in creating online courses for K-12 students. Many aspects of online learning are the same regardless of the age of the students taking the courses, but adolescents often experience online instruction differently than university students or adult learners. Although far from comprehensive, this chapter describes basic guidelines and offers recommendations for K-12 educators wishing to create engaging online learning opportunities for their students.

Dialogism in the Digital Age

The purpose of this chapter is to provide pre-service and practicing teachers a constructivist lens for viewing how they use technology, specifically online discussion boards, in their classrooms. The chapter explores the way that student-focused and constructivist teachers can utilize technology in ways that remain consistent with maintaining important student relationships, which are so central to paradigm and student success overall. This chapter explores the role of dialogism in a student-centered classroom and provides several specific and practical strategies for ways to use discussion boards in the classroom. Each of these strategies connects to the roots of constructivist beliefs. In particular, this chapter highlights the role that writing can play when using this technology.

Challenges and New Trends in the Design and Implementation of Flipped Learning in K-12 Education

This chapter explores the quality of learning found when using the flipped learning (FL) approach in K-12 education to promote academic achievement and critical thinking skills, reduce seat time, and improve self-efficacy. The benefits of this approach are controversial, but no clear findings have demonstrated the superiority of learning in a traditional classroom over FL. One perspective claims there are several benefits to using FL in K-12, and many educators and experts assume using this approach in traditional classrooms could show great improvements in student outcomes. The second perspective points out that some educators and specialists have doubts about using flipped methods in traditional classrooms, drawing attention to the challenges K-12 education might face in implementing this approach. The overall findings of this chapter conclude that the benefits of the FL approach supersede the potential challenges. The chapter ends with new trends in the design and implementation of flipped learning in K-12 education.

Using Video Capture and Annotation Technology to Strengthen Reflective Practices and Feedback in Educator Preparation

In this chapter, the authors share the history of a video capture and annotation technology (VCAT) implementation and provide summaries of research findings to support its continued use and refinement. They also detail the multiple uses and particular objectives they aimed to meet with the technology across different content areas and even across multiple educator preparation programs, including a collaboration between a teacher education program and principal preparation program that was enabled by the technology.