Navigate: Describe Roles and Functions in Online Learning Environments Quest

Online learning communities require work by a variety of people to function properly. Students are needed. Without students, there is no point to the learning community. You need someone to do the learning. Teachers are needed as content-level experts, to curate content for students, clearing up misconceptions, and ensure that students are learning the material. Facilitators or Staff are needed to manage the day-to-day operations of the virtual school. These people often manage tuition (for paid schools), make sure that students are registering for the correct courses, and keep the community running smoothly. These people often get very little recognition, but schools cannot function without these key individuals. Finally, schools or learning communities require administrators. They are responsible for monitoring the learning environment as a whole and communicating with the various stakeholders to make sure that the community is functioning as it should. Parents are also key players in virtual schools, at least at the K-12 level. Parents are advocates for their students, often pay the fees, and help motivate their child to do well in their courses.

Student information Systems (SIS) are often used to keep track of student data. In my current district, we use PowerSchool. I have a love-hate relationship with this software. It has a nice-looking user interface, updates in real time, and allows students and parents to see their grades online. It also allows us to take attendance and see our students' demographic information and schedules. However, it doesn't let us email parents progress reports on a schedule (every Friday), like our previous software did. I guess the rationale is that they expect the parents to check the students' grades online, but this doesn't always happen. Our dashboard looks like this: