Michigan Virtual worked collaboratively with Dr. Richard Ferdig of Kent State University to produce two reports that provide educators with insights into two key areas of online learning: online professional development for teachers and the student dropout problem. Both reports were released at Michigan Virtual’s 7th Annual Online Learning Symposium on Tuesday, Nov. 9.
Dr. Ferdig’s report, Continuous Quality Improvement Through Professional Development for Online K-12 Instructors, provides a review of the research that has been conducted in this emerging area of study, explores the challenges of online professional development and concludes with a set of recommendations and implications for K-12 educators.
This is a topic of high priority for Michigan Virtual and since 2003 Michigan Virtual has worked collaboratively with the Michigan Department of Education to develop and implement an online system of professional development for Michigan educators and school employees. Through the Michigan LearnPort web portal, Michigan Virtual continues to expand the capacity of Michigan’s K-12 education community by providing high-quality, online professional development services on a statewide basis.
“Although there has been a tremendous surge of interest in K-12 online learning, preparing instructors for teaching in electronic environments has not necessarily kept pace,” Dr. Ferdig, Research Professor and Professor of Instructional Technology at Kent State University, said. “This report highlights the reasons why online teachers need professional development, how to deliver that instruction, and implications for virtual schools, teachers, policy-makers and researchers.”
In his second report, Understanding the Role and Applicability of K-12 Online Learning to Support Student Dropout Recovery Efforts, Dr. Ferdig provides a valuable overview of the expanding role that online professional development is playing in K-12 education and provides an extensive review of the research that has been conducted in this area of study, explores the potential impact of virtual schools as an alternative strategy, and concludes with a comprehensive set of recommendations and resources for K-12 educators.
“This paper succinctly defines the dropout problem, provides an extensive review of the research that has been conducted in this area of study, explores the potential impact of virtual schools as an alternative strategy, and concludes with a comprehensive set of recommendations and resources for K-12 educators,” said Jamey Fitzpatrick, President & CEO of Michigan Virtual.
Michigan Virtual has also proposed creating a statewide dropout recovery program with online diagnostics, highly qualified Michigan-certified online instructors, online intervention counselors, prescriptive learning modules, self-paced tutorials and practice tests that could help thousands of young adults who have dropped out of school, earn a diploma or prepare for the General Educational Development (GED) exam.
“K-12 Online learning has received tremendous attention for its potential impact on education. More importantly, recent evidence suggests online learning can impact students of all ages and abilities,” Dr. Ferdig said. “This report provides theoretical as well as empirical support for the idea that students who were originally lost to the school system are now using K-12 online education to recover credit and to graduate high school.”
About Michigan Virtual
Michigan Virtual is a private, nonprofit Michigan corporation established by the State of Michigan in 1998 to serve as a champion for online learning. It is the parent organization of the Michigan Virtual for Students and Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute.
