Module 1: Understanding Quality

My Introduction to "Quality"

The definition of and assessment for quality in online learning means different things to different people. Through the Module 1 readings, I realized that there was more information about quality in higher education online learning than there was in K-12 education. This creates the perfect dilemma for a K-12 educator who is trying to learn about quality in K-12 online learning: as I explore the conditions for quality, I will become more well-versed in what quality in K-12 online learning looks like.

I started my quest into understanding "quality" with several "doing" and "thinking" activities, during which I familiarized myself with the online course in Blackboard, got to know my fellow group members, activated background knowledge about "quality," and actively applied newly-acquired objective knowledge to an authentic problem, which is situated in our practice as K-12 educators.

In this reflection, I will discuss conditions of quality as seen across Module 1 products. I will mention the types of interactions I observed across the activities. The instructional strategy of situating task-based activities within collaborative groups gave us a chance to make our cognitive and social presences visible in the online space, while engaging in learner-learner, learner-content, learner-instructor, and learner-interface interactions.

Multidimensional Quality Design in Module 1 Activities

The Contract

Campbell_762 Contract

The Contract is an instructional strategy to which I was introduced in my first online course and at the start of my DDLS journey: EDIT 784. In both 784 and 762, the creation of a Learning Schedule was situated in a "learning to be an online learner" orientation module. Through the 762 Contract, which included a Statement of Expertise and the Learning Schedule, I made my thinking about "quality" and my commitment to the course evident to myself, my instructor, and my groupmates.

This activity ended with an introduction to the group email feature of Blackboard, a tool to be used for learner-learner interactions. After each of us emailed our Contracts, we had a chance to learn about one another, gain additional perspectives on "quality," and commit to the optional group task of collaborative note taking. We started to build the community that is "Local Chapter 2" and define our social presence in the online space that is EDIT 762. Feelings of isolation--begone!

I experienced learner-instructor interaction within the context of an email reply from my instructor, in which I received validating feedback and further points to think about. One point that stood out to me from the feedback was that the Learning Schedule can be a quality design element to support K-12 learners in interacting with content. I know from my own practice that my students have struggled to know when and how to interact with assignments during the distance learning of 2020-2021. I appreciated the connection of course content to current practice.

The Happy Hour Summary

Campbell_762 Module 1 Happy Hour

The Happy Hour activity is an instructional strategy meant to assess our objective knowledge gained from learner-content interactions of the Module 1 readings. In case you cannot tell by now, brevity is not my strong suit; the 5 elaborating statements to support my 25-word summary are more like elaborating mini-paragraphs. I was motivated to concisely communicate 10 pages worth of reading notes into the most important pieces--to make my meaningful learning visible.

We experienced learner-interface interactions with the posting of our summaries to the Blackboard discussion forum; more learner-content interactions, as we read each poster's Happy Hour comments; and perhaps either learner-learner interactions or learner-instructor interactions with any Module 2 follow-up commenting feedback activities.

The Voki Avatar

n Voki, a web-based presentational speaking tool, users can customize an avatar to "speak" in a virtual space. Click my avatar to watch my 25-word summary about issues and challenges of quality in K-12 online learning.

The Voki was the final piece of the Happy Hour activity. The use of an avatar, or a character to represent oneself in a non-physical space, reinforces what I learned in EDIT 782, Designing for Literacy, about the use of virtual identities as an instructional strategy to engage students in problem-solving and in promotion of meaningful learning. The starting problem was "What are issues and challenges of quality in K-12 online learning?" and the Voki was a technology that supported social presence in the Happy Hour discussion forum and learner-learner interactions. I spent close to 15 minutes agonizing over which Voki avatar would be the best representation of me to my group members. I chose to record my voice over the "plug and play" text audio option. When each members listens to a Voki, there is another repetition of learner-content interaction.

The Authenticity Piece

So what is the common thread that binds all of these activities? EDIT 762 is situated in an authentic problem, an indicator of quality design across traditional and virtual learning spaces.

We teacher-learners are members of local chapters of an organization called the Online Learning Quality Assurance League (OLQAL).
We are responsible for publishing a K-12 edition of the OLQAL Annual Guide, a guide about current research and trends in the world of online learning, teaching, and design. Our publication will add our professional knowledge and expertise to the literature of the rapidly expanding field of K-12 online learning.
As we learn, interact, and share our thinking, we will collaboratively develop the Annual Guide.

Taking F2F Teaching Online

My thoughts about online teaching are heavily influenced by my professional experience as a face to face (F2F) teacher, and most recently as a F2F teacher who has not taught in a physical classroom for the majority of the past year, 2020. I quickly learned that emergency remote and distance learning were in no way comparable to the online models I learned about and designed for through my Fall 2020 coursework. Now I understand why my instructor told me to pay attention to the dimensions of interaction within online learning in EDIT 761: these dimensions feel like the foundation indicators of quality, which we will explore in EDIT 762.

I currently believe that quality online learning experiences do exist in the world of education, but the degree to which online learning is assessed for quality and implemented by each district varies. It is this variety within assessment and implementation that brings to mind issues such as:

Online learning courses are made a legal graduation requirement by education policy-shaping politicians, whose pockets are padded by online learning companies.
Students have varying degrees of readiness for online learning and not all online learning orientation modules are created equal. Will a senior completing credit recovery courses actually learn anything in a "click to graduate" experience?
Online courses are seen as a way to cut costs. Why pay a salaried and tenured Latin teacher to teach and run a 45-student program when you can pay Virtual Virginia Academy a fee of between $175-$275 per student per course? Compare just over $12,000 in VVA course fees to a $65,000 salary. Offering Latin via online courses would save my administration 80% to educate the same number of students at 20% of my cost.
The instruments with which quality K-12 online learning is assessed do not incorporate what we know about how students learn online.

I would like to finish with a statement that I made in my Statement of Expertise. Part of my work this semester will be looking at how these F2F interactions are similar to or different from quality design elements in K-12 online learning. How do instruments that measure quality account for these factors?

I value indicators of quality that can and cannot be put into quantitative terms. I want all learners to succeed in learning Latin. I am, however, also interested in whether a student feels safe and valued in my classroom. I value getting to know each student as a whole person. I want my students to be able to communicate and collaborate within the domain of Classics (Latin) and to be able to transfer these skills to other domains as well. Quality teachers recognize where students are starting, help them set goals, and support them in reaching those goals. Connections must go beyond content; a quality teacher draws upon what the students know and love and relates that to what they will learn.

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