Ensuring+Quality+Online+Teachers

= Ensuring Quality Online Teachers =


 * Moderator:**
 * **Sue Steiner, Wisconsin eSchool Network**
 * Panelists:**
 * **Kris Keckler, Kenosha eSchool**
 * **Rick Nettesheim, iQ Academy**
 * **Kelly Pochop, Racine Unified School District**

// Student success begins with the hiring of highly qualified teachers who have been trained in the pedagogy and best practice strategies for the online learning environment. Once you have the teachers hired, how do you support and evaluate your online teachers? How do you do classroom visits? How do you know they are doing their job well when you may rarely if ever see them in person? This panel of administrators will share their experiences in hiring, supporting, and evaluating their online teachers. They will share what has worked well and potential pitfalls that you might want to avoid. //


 * NOTES**

Add your own notes for this session by clicking on the 'Edit' tab located on the top of this frame. Be sure to save!

=iNACOL Midwestern Regional Professional Development Symposium = =Milwaukee, Wisconsin = Monday, April 04, 2011

Breakout Session: Ensuring Quality Online Teachers

Moderator: Sue Steiner, Co-Director, Wisconsin eSchool; Online Instructor, Kiel eSchool

Panel members: Rick Nettesheim, Principal, iQ Academy Wisconsin; Kris Keckler, Principal, Kenosha eSchool; Kelly Pochop, Virtual Learning Administrator, Racine

Rick Nettesheim - Director of Online Learning for the School District of Waukesha & Principal at iQ Academy Wisconsin. Was one of the founding teachers at iQ Academy & have been integrally involved in building the culture, mission, and vision for the school as well as personally created many of the behind-the-scenes communication systems currently in place at iQ. 262.970.1074 - RNettesh@waukesha.k12.wi.us

Kris Keckler - Currently Principal of the Kenosha eSchool (since August 2009), a virtual charter high school in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Previous related experience in developing online material and resources for various multimedia courses (Blackboard). Email: kkeckler@kusd.edu.

Kelly Pochop - Formerly served as the online learning facilitator (teacher role with quasi-administrative duties) for Madison Virtual Campus of Madison Metropolitan School District (2005-2010); currently serves as virtual learning administrator for Racine Unified School District, formally launching an embedded K-12 virtual learning initiative in fall 2011. Email: kelly.pochop@racine.k12.wi.us

Session description: Student success begins with the hiring of highly qualified teachers who have been trained in the pedagogy and best practice strategies for the online learning environment. Once you have hired them, how do you support and evaluate your online teachers? How do you do classroom visits? How do you know they are doing their job well when you may rarely if ever see them in person? These administrators will share their experiences in hiring, supporting and evaluating their online teachers. They will share what has worked well and potential pitfalls that you might want to avoid.

Question categories:

Recruiting/selecting/hiring <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Briefly describe what your online school does to recruit, select and hire online teachers. Are your teachers full time or part time online?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rick Nettesheim - IQ - Both full time & part time, but all are School District of Waukesha employees, part of the bargaining unit, and are compensated just like any other teacher in Waukesha. We recruit teachers from within our own district first and then post on WECAN if openings still exist. In either case, we look for teachers who match, share, and are predisposed to support out culture, mission, and vision. When hiring externally, we use Gallop’s Teacher Insight tool as a significant screener.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kris Keckler - Kenosha - Mixture of full and part time. Recruit through district posting protocols for contracted positions, as well as program advertising among qualified and recommended teachers. Interview process is a large component, especially the material gathered from listed references.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kelly Pochop - Racine - At present, plans are to hire teachers in .2 segments of a contract day so that they can continue to have face-to-face courses and connections to their departments and colleagues. Teachers will be part of the local bargaining unit and, therefore, the expectation is that positions will be posted with interviews granted to those who best meet the qualifications listed in the job description. The district uses an internal online posting system. Two job descriptions are being developed at the time of this conference: online content teacher and online mentor teacher. Working as a team, these teachers will provide the full range of relationships and support that students need to be successful.

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Training <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Briefly describe what training your online school provides to teachers BEFORE they start teaching online What ongoing training do you provide?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rick Nettesheim - IQ - Pre: In-person & online orientation and training along with a mentor; Ongoing: Our own staff development PLC & frequently poll the staff on what their needs are. We do all of our staff dev in house, relying heavily on our Staff Dev PLC and also tap other trailblazer teachers in iQ conduct staff dev. Every faculty meeting starts with a short tech training piece.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kris Keckler - Kenosha - We are very fortunate to have a full time consultant who coordinates our staff training program and acts as the point person for program related experiences. As instructors arrive with various comfort levels of technology, she provides tutorial sessions and support. Once teachers begin a course, they are expected to be able to troubleshoot and support basic and frequent user (student) related issues. If those are not immediately identified or resolved, then they know to implement our support services, both in the district and our larger network. We hold at least monthly meetings do discuss and provide staff development to train the staff if necessary.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kelly Pochop - Racine - In addition to requiring teachers to take care of Act 222 compliance with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (at least 30 hours of professional development in online facilitation of student learning) prior to being hired as an online teacher, RUSD will provide in-house professional development. Because Racine is implementing virtual learning starting in fall 2011, a lot of this support is still in the planning stages. We intend to provide a couple of days of professional development in August, prior to the start of school so that teachers can prep their courses and get organized. Once the school year starts, there will be monthly on-going PD in smaller chunks to support the needs of students and teachers as needs arise. At the end of the school year, a technology academy of 2-3 days will be provided to build the next level of skills and knowledge.

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Dealing with Student/Parent Concerns <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What systems/processes do you have in place to deal with student and parent concerns?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rick Nettesheim - IQ - Students and parents try to work out concerns with teachers first. This resolves the problem most of the time. If not, I bring the two sides together to mediate a resolution. I have an open door policy for both staff, students, and parents and am in constant communication with all groups to ensure they have plenty of access to me if they are not meeting with success via their own attempts to resolve situations. Validating the concern and a timely response is important to keeping everyone happy just like a f2f school.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kris Keckler - Kenosha - EVERY concern is explored and addressed, either by the teacher, counselor, and/or administrator. The technology tools and mobile access aide in improving the understanding and communication tracking. Regardless of a virtual or traditional program, the author of the concern must receive a rapid resolution, and implement identified modifications when possible to avoid similar occurrences.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kelly Pochop - Racine - The district has a policy of providing “customer service”, so as we build the processes and procedures for dealing with student and parent concerns, we know that providing good information and responding to questions and situations is essential. One of the roles that will provide frontline support is that of online mentor teacher. These people (counselors, library media specialists, or classroom teachers) will be embedded in each school building. Establishing a strong relationship with every student taking a virtual course is an important ingredient in student success.

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Establishing & Communicating Teacher Expectations <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How do you establish teacher expectations? Are some standard for all teachers and others developed by individual teachers? How are teacher expectations communicated to students and parents?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rick Nettesheim - IQ - Our school improvement team establishes tight teacher expectations which are then brought forward to the staff who then have an opportunity to share their thoughts & we discuss. Ultimately, we agree upon the expectations by consensus. Staff expectations that affect students directly are included in the student handbook and shared at orientation.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kris Keckler - Kenosha - Teacher expectations are communicated frequently to all participants, and remain transparent. They must act as professionals, utilizing quality standards and practices, not just meeting those defined by legal expectations.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kelly Pochop - Racine - Later in the month of April, Racine will be crafting job descriptions that begin to lay out teacher expectations. These criteria have been culled from the iNACOL standards for online teachers and are quite extensive. Once teachers have been hired, the process of refining the expectations will begin as conversations between school administrators and virtual teachers.

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Mentoring <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- Do you provide mentors for first year online teachers? Elaborate on the responsibilities of the mentor.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rick Nettesheim - IQ - Yes. Responsibilities of the mentor include training, conferencing, and just generally being the go-to person when the new teacher has questions.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kris Keckler - Kenosha - Obviously any new instructor will have met the 30 hour state requirement. Once hired, they will also receive primary support from our consultant and a veteran online mentor (preferably in the same course content).

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kelly Pochop - Racine - Since this is a brand new venture for Racine, we will learn as much as we can from districts around the state and nation to develop a mentoring and support system for new teachers. We know we need this aspect, but are starting from scratch. I’ll be the “go-to” person until we develop more staff who can join me in this effort.

<span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Evaluating <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">- How do you do ‘virtual observations’? How do evaluations for online teachers differ from evaluations for traditional classroom teachers?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rick Nettesheim - IQ - I visit their classrooms looking for the key elements that are to be in place in every class. I also watch recorded Elluminates. Teachers are on the same evaluation cycle as f2f teachers, but the check list that is used has been modified to be more appropriate for the virtual setting. Classroom management pieces have been greatly minimized, for example, and consistent communication is beefed up in the iQ check list. The check list was developed collaboratively with the teacher’s union.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kris Keckler - Kenosha - Kenosha is fortunate to have all but one of our instructors available for weekly office hours. Observations are handled in this fashion, as well as monitoring of student assessment, communications, and course responsibilities. Again, this is another area where the technology is a positive enhancement for gathering observation material.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Kelly Pochop - Racine - This process will be an on-going conversation between the administrative team and the teachers’ union to develop a system for evaluation. Clearly, traditional methods employed in face-to-face classrooms have a more limited role. The district has implemented a new data warehouse (SchoolNet) that will provide one view of the teacher’s work with virtual students. I’m hoping to develop a system that allows the participating teacher to have a strong role in gathering the data for his/her own evaluation process. In my opinion, the typical clinical model is less useful in the virtual learning world. Idaho Virtual Academy has some interesting ideas such as focusing on things that teachers can control, i.e. quality and timeliness of written communications, number of phone call to parents and students, quick turnaround times for providing feedback on assignments and assessments.