Reflection: iNACOL Standards for Quality Online Teaching

Looking back over my experience during the LEC Online and Blended Teacher Certification process, I feel that my ideas and understanding of online learning have undergone significant change. I have personally taken many online courses, but have not been involved in facilitating one, nor have I been privy to much of the behind-the-scenes and foundational strategies toward success in online learning. After going through the activities and tasks designed to increase my own understanding of technology and how to apply it to better serve students, I feel I underwent a significant paradigm shift in regard to my ability to effectively facilitate and support students in a blended online learning environment. The course opened my eyes to the idea that a blended online teacher is at once an instructor, a social director, a cheerleader, coach, supporter and learner. In many ways, online learning is an extension of the best practices in F2F teaching with the added benefit of flexibility in scheduling and additional technology available from activities and interaction in the Cloud. I feel that this certification course provided me understanding about the roles of a blended learning teacher, and ways that I can enhance my own skill set in order to accept the challenge of fulfilling those roles.

Reflection and Readiness Self-Appraisal

Using the iNACOL Teaching Standards as the framework for online education, I have reflected upon my ability and preparation as a Blended Online Learning facilitator. I have outlined my performance appraisal in regards to each standard and summarized my strengths and areas of improvement in each of the iNACOL standards.

Areas of Strength

Standard A - The online teacher knows the primary concepts and structures of effective online instruction and is able to create learning experiences to enable student success.

My pedagogical strength for the subject areas in which I teach are solid, and this competency translates to the online environment. I believe I have a strong ability to communicate concepts to students using a variety of instructional techniques and modalities to differentiate instruction and delivery. With my understanding of overall content for F2F and online instruction, I feel I have solid proficiency in creating learning experiences that will capture student interest and facilitate knowledge acquisition and content mastery.

Standard B - The online teacher understands and is able to use a range of technologies, both existing and emerging, that effectively support student learning and engagement in the online environment.

In this area, I have gained a solid foundation in current technologies such as LMS packages (Blackboard, Haiku, Moodle, ETUDES, Angel, etc.), as well as collaborative tools such as VoiceThread and various Google applications. I also have a thirst for knowledge and passion for exploring emerging technologies, and a solid network of professionals across the country who share my desire to embrace and utilize new technologies and curriculum ideas. I also consider this an area that will require consistent effort on my behalf to continue seeking emerging technologies and online resources in order to stay current in available and future strategies and advancements.

Standard E - The online teacher models, guides, and encourages legal, ethical, and safe behavior related to technology use.

I have been involved in many technology and digital media workshops for teachers over the past two years, and have strong proficiency in establishing student guidelines for academic honesty, fair use and copyright legislation, and appropriate Internet use.

Standard I - The online teacher demonstrates competency in using data from assessments and other data sources to modify content and to guide student learning.

I possess a strong ability to integrate data about student proficiency and aptitude into lesson planning, as well as utilizing various assessment and communication strategies to monitor effective curriculum, content and assessment.

Standard J - The online teacher interacts in a professional, effective manner with colleagues, parents, and other members of the community to support students’ success.

My ability to interact and communicate with colleagues, parents and community partners is solid, and I have worked diligently to establish rapport with each of these groups in order to support students.

Areas of Improvement

Standard C - The online teacher plans, designs, and incorporates strategies to encourage active learning, application, interaction, participation, and collaboration in the online environment.

This will be an area of improvement for me primarily because I do not currently have experience with online teaching. Through the LEC course, I have started the process of transferring my curriculum from F2F to online, and feel I am definitely prepared and ready for this undertaking. I also feel it will be an area in which I will have continuous self-assessment and improvement.

Standard D - The online teacher promotes student success through clear expectations, prompt responses, and regular feedback.

This is an area that I will need to continually work towards improvement. I feel that clarity of expectations is an area I need to further hone in order to accommodate the various learning styles of my student population. Transferring current F2F curriculum to a Blended Online environment, and learning to navigate communication with students and feedback in the cloud, is something I feel will be an ongoing process of improvement and utilization of best practices.

Standard F - The online teacher is cognizant of the diversity of student academic needs and incorporates accommodations into the online environment.

I consider this an area of improvement mainly due to my lack of experience with online teaching. I do feel I have a strong ability to recognize student academic needs and incorporate effective differentiated instruction methods (ELL, Special Education, GATE, etc) in the F2F environment; I am hopeful this will transfer to my online teaching as long as I am diligent in promoting the same planning and thought process in the online environment.

Standard G and H - The online teacher demonstrates competencies in creating and implementing assessments in online learning environments in ways that ensure validity and reliability of the instruments and procedures. The online teacher develops and delivers assessments, projects, and assignments that meet standards-based learning goals and assesses learning progress by measuring student achievement of the learning goals.

Again, this is an area in which I have little practical experience; however, I feel well prepared to create and implement valid and reliable assessments in an online environment that are standards-based and targeted to measure and assess progress in student learning goals and objectives.

Standard K - The online teacher arranges media and content to help students and teachers transfer knowledge most effectively in the online environment.

I consider this an area of improvement based on my inexperience teaching online. That said, I do consider myself cognizant of a variety of technological tools and resources and feel well equipped to integrate curriculum, content, communication and assessment strategies with digital media and Web resources in an online environment.

Envisioning the Future

"By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest." ~Confucius~

Looking toward the future, I do feel that reflection, imitation and experience will guide me in developing success in a blended learning environment. Reflection is critical as it allows one to step back and evaluate best practices, lessons learned and opportunities for improvement. It also provides a road map for the future and and plans for accomplishing goals. Imitation is important in the sense that there is such a strong support network in education and in particular the online learning environment and technological resources. Utilizing a support group of colleagues with the same goals and challenges as mine is a way to achieve success without feeling overwhelmed or lost. I plan to join the LEC network in order to continue collaborating with online educators and share best practices, as well as staying connected with other online education networks. Finally, experience is the best way to put educational theory in practice and test technological resources. As a result of the learning I acquired in this certification course, I plan to integrate digital media and collaborative learning tools into each F2F lesson so that I can eventually migrate toward a blended learning environment. I will utilize VoiceThread and Google doc applications such as blogspot to enhance learning, and incorporate assessment strategies such as dipity.com, glogster.com, and ThatQuiz into my current lesson plans in preparation for converting to Blended Online Learning. This certification course has given me a great deal of knowledge and understanding of being an effective online teacher. It is now up to me to jump in with new technology and interactive media to validate and modify lesson plans and units, and see how everything works, what can be improved, and provide the most supportive, interactive and effective learning environment to ensure student success.