Great Online Teachers Have to Be 'Radical Collaborators'

In Pennsylvania, cyber charter schools are popping up all over the commonwealth. These schools give students more education choices. And that's what Gov. Tom Corbett wants.

Palisades School District wants to be one of those online choices. This year, Palisades High School in Kintnersville started a cyber academy with district students and teachers.

Director of Online Learning Rich Kiker said he hopes to show other school districts that they can create their own online schools. And district teachers play an important role in this process.
 

The cost savings

When students go to a cyber charter school in Pennsylvania, the home school district covers the expenses of the per student cost of education for the charter school. Recently, the district has seen a steady increase in expenses for charter schools.

But by offering online courses, the district has seen many of the students who left for a charter school return. That's cut the district's charter expenditures nearly in half.

Instead of paying an estimated $700,000 to cyber charters, the district paid well below $400,000 this year. And even with the cyber academy costs of professional development, a yearly license for Blackboard and laptops for full-time cyber students, the district saved at least $275,000.
 

The community difference

Rather than outsourcing instruction to teachers in other states, Palisades Cyber Academy has six teachers from the high school each teach a core course. That way students in the community can talk to their teacher in person. 

Traditionally, educators teach for three of the high school's four periods. In the fourth hour and a half block, they have a duty and prep period. The Cyber Academy instructors will teach in-person classes for two periods and use the third period to develop high-quality online content and communicate with students in their online courses.

"A lot of people think you just sit at a computer and you just put work up, and that couldn't be further from the truth," Kiker said. "You have to be a radical collaborator and kind of a really intensive communicator to be a great online teacher. In a lot of ways a great online teacher looks just like a great face-to-face teacher."
 

The teacher investment

In the summer, teachers went through at least six day-long professional development sessions. In these sessions, Kiker helped them design their course, deliver it in a learning management system format and figure out what quality content looks like.

And throughout the planning process, which started in January, the district let teachers know they would not lose their jobs to online instructors. Instead, local teachers would form an integral part of the academy and the high school.

A big piece of Kiker's job is to help them become comfortable with how to teach effectively online.

"If you don't support your teachers, and you don't put them in a position to be wildly successful, then you're already starting in negative territory."
 

The motivation challenge

Since school started, some students have had trouble being motivated to learn when they're not in a face-to-face class. While meeting with the teachers at school has helped, it's not the only answer, Kiker said. Through meetings and conversations, Kiker and others are trying to figure out what other solutions can help students be more motivated.
 

The high demand

This year, 25 students take online courses full-time, and about 90 other students take both online and in-person classes.

Because the high school graduates about 160 to 170 students a year, it's too small to have exciting elective courses like forensics or oceanography. But through a partnership with blendedschools.net, a collaboration of 100 school districts, the academy offers electives from schools and nonprofit organizations.

With both the Palisade-taught core courses and Blended Schools electives, the district probably offers 20 core courses, and students are taking about 30 electives. After full-time cyber students enroll, many students sign up for an online class to graduate early, recover credits or add more rigor to their schedule.

The classes have been so popular that the district plans to have 20 to 25 teachers teaching online courses next year.