Online+Learning+Scares+My+School

Meeting notes on Google docs [|here], pasted below:

Online Learning Scares My School Open Space Unconference Session 2 Dogwood Conference Room

Background: Lots of our schools are wading into the space of flipped, blended, and online courses. This inspires both enthusiasm and fear among faculty, students, and admin.

Example: administration wants to move into online space but direction is unclear, lots of questions: > > > > >
 * Join a consortium, go with vendor, or build ourselves?
 * If ourselves: which platform? Moodle, Schoology, PowerSchool (erstwhile Haiku), Canvas, etc?
 * How to build relationships between instructional design experts and content experts?
 * If outside consortium/provider: Does our school feel secure with outside teachers teaching our students? WIth our students mixing with students at other schools?
 * If outside consortium/provider: How to make sure that standards, platforms, etc. align with our school?

Real support from admin required b/c process of building courses and developing skills and awareness among faculty takes time and energy.

Some fears, pushbacks, and hesitations: Will format suit different student learnings styles?

How to deal with inactive students? Need for “point person” on campus who can connect with/motivate students offline when necessary. Kids don’t always read (or admit to having read) their email.

Concerns about academic integrity. Faculty concerned about putting quizzes and tests online, even when proctored. Alternately, is this really about what we mean when we worry about “academic integrity”? How are we actually assessing students? Are we too wedded to easily hacked (and not particularly meaningful) formats like multiple choice? Less concern about academic integrity when assessments are more holistic, collaborative, creative. Useful to mix synchronous with asynchronous, so online teachers get same connection with students as they would on-campus. (Consensus: currently best synchronous platform is [|Zoom] : [] )

WIll parents object? How to get families on board? Schools need to be reflective about introducing online options, being open to families, hearing their concerns. Huge difference between online courses as an added option and online courses as a requirement. Financing is a key questions: Does school fully or partially underwrite cost of online courses or pass costs on to families?

WIll faculty feel threatened (“Now no one will take my on campus courses!”) or pressured (“I don’t want to teach my courses online!”)? Need to have champions within school: faculty members who have chosen to teach online, can advocate for the value of the experience with peers.

Problems choosing a LMS: