3..2..1..

Simonson, Smaldino & Zvacek, 2015 engaged me in lots of information regarding Virtual Schools in their book Teaching and Learning at a Distance. One thing that I learned about was copyright laws and the TEACH Act. Copyrighting has been around for a very long time. In the world of distance education those laws looked a little different before the TEACH Act was signed in 2002 by George Bush (Simonson, Smaldino & Zvacek, 2015).  This act did away with the requirement that sutdents had to be located inside of a classroom inorder copyrighted material to be used. This was an eye opener for me because we offen assume that things that apply in one situation, always apply in the next.

Another thing that I learned was that technology infrastructure is the backbone of any distance education program. According to Simonson, Smaldino & Zvacek (2015), "inadequate and/or unreliable technology is one of the quickest ways to kill a distance education program". I never realized how much time and energy went into planning distance learning.

Lastly, I learned about quality control. This is a term that is familiar to me because, in the production industry, quality control is the group of works that test out the products and ensure they are efficient. In the world of education, quality control refers to accreditation. I automatically assumed that if a school or university was accredited, then all of their programs that they offer received the same accreditation. 

One of my biggest concerns, when it comes to Virtual Schools, is how do we teach students time management (Iftahar, 2016). It is possible for a student to be in our classroom today and enrolled in a virtual program the next day. Time management is something that comes with experience. Most often, the students that elect to take a course at a distance, are the students that we need to see in our classrooms daily.

Another concern that I have is with efficiency. Virtual Schools are required to teach Alabama standards, but are these students fully grasping the concepts, or are they just skating by?

Lastly, a question that I have is what motivates teachers and instructors to want to teach distance education? It seems like it is embedded in work and the course demands are greater than the course demands of traditional classrooms. 

References

Iftahar, S. (2016). Google Classroom: What Works and How? Journal of Education and Social Sciences, 3. Retrieved from: http;//jesoc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/LCS_35.pdf

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (6th ed.). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.

Learning Management Systems

Introduction

Deciding on which LMS best fits my school district came very easy to me. Simonson, Smaldino and Zvacek (2015)  outline key steps to determining the type of media and technology to use in the classroom. These steps include identifying learning objectives, knowing your students, understanding the learning envirronment, and identifying factors that would limit the media or technology (Simonson, Smaldino and Zvacek, 2015). 

When my district began the process of choosing a LMS for schools to use in 2012, they chose Moodle. Moodle is an open source platform that allows educators on all levels to build the perfect solution to meet their needs. I was brand new to the district and new to learning management systems at the K-12 level. In the beginning stages, very few teachers used it. Let's fast forward to 2016-2017 school year, and now every teacher in every school has their own Moodle page.

Moodle is really easy to use and has a wide range of features including collaboration tools, individual activity, and resource support tools embedded. A favorite feature that a lot of the teachers talk about is the advanced monitoring tools that allow tailored learner support. It’s doing all these things really well, teachers love it, and it’s free.

Instructional Design

According to Simonson, Smaldino and Zvacek (2015), "Instructional design should consider all aspects of the instructional environment, following a well-organized procedure that provides guidance to even the novice distance instructor". The instructional design of Moodle is one that allows teachers the freedom of determining how it will be used in their classroom. With so many great features such as a customizable dashboard, file management, progress tracker, rubrics, and assessments, it's no wonder Moodle is meeting all of our needs.

Teaching

Gone are the day when teachers stand in front of the class and try to cram information into students brains. Teaching in many of today's classrooms consists of student-centered lessons, where students are responsible for their own discovery and teachers play a role of a coach. We are building students that are demanding more from their teachers in terms of their education. "Students will value the information they perceive as useful" (Simonson, Smaldino and Zvacek, 2015). A key advantage that Moodle has is it is easy to use and navigate. The ease of use makes the students more comfortable locating and completing assignments. 

Students

The students in my district are very acclimated with Moodle. It is used in elementary, middle, and high schools. I enjoy having my students come to my room with an assignment and the only material they need to complete it, is a computer. They open their laptops, login to their teacher's Moodle page, complete the assignment, and turn it in. Although we are not teaching a distance education class using Moodle, we are better preparing them for when they enter college (Mark, 2016). 

Support Material

One of the greatest things I like about Moodle is that teachers have the liberty of supplying their students with everything they need electronically. This gives the school copier a much-needed break. When a teacher has fully integrated Moodle into their daily teaching and learning, there is no longer a need for lengthy handouts. Although these material are critical to the effectiveness of any distance education (Simonson, Smaldino and Zvacek, 2015), Moodle allows these documents to be delivered electronically. 

Assessment

Moodle has a feature that allows teachers to create quizzes and they can also be graded automatically. Students can perform self-assessments as well as peer assessments. I like the automatic grader because it is a tool that gives students immediate feedback, thus boosting confidence (Mark, 2016).

Here is a quick video that gives the run down of the basics of Moodle.

References

Nichols, Mark. "A Comparison of Two Online Learning Systems." Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning 20.1 (2016): 19-32. ERIC. Web. 20 June 2017.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., & Zvacek, S. (2015). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (6th ed.). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, Inc.