Online Learning at Summit High School: Program Recommendations

By: Glen Egbert Introduction Summit High School (SHS) is located in Summit County, Colorado in the heart of the Rocky Mountain Region. Summit County is one of the premier destinations for skiing and snowboarding in the U.S. The snow sports (skiing and snowboarding) season typically lasts from mid-October to mid June. As a result of the long season and world class training conditions, competitive snow sports athletes from all over the world ock to Summit County to hone their skills. Typically these athletes train in Summit County in the spring and fall and spend a good deal of time from January to March traveling to international locations to compete. A relatively large subset of these competitive athletes are high school students. Because of their rigorous training and competition schedule, a traditional high school schedule presents many challenges for these students. As such, Summit High School is uniquely situated to meet the educational needs of these students via a hybrid educational environment that combines online learning with traditional on-campus classes and activities. In an initiative designed to test the feasibility of online programming at Summit High School, a pilot program offering two courses online was conducted during the fall semester of the 2011-2012 academic year. The author of this paper was the program coordinator as well as an instructor for one of the online courses. Two methods of course development were attempted. For one course, the content was purchased from a third party vendor and for the second an instructor as course developer model was used. The intent of this paper is to make recommendations for the expansion of the online program based on empirical evidence observed during the pilot program, ndings of relevant research and recommendations from administrators of other online K-12 online programs in Colorado.

Student Characteristics Although competitive snow sport athletes comprise the main target audience for online programming at SHS, there are several other groups of students who will benet from the exibility provided by this type of programming. The following sections describe the subgroups of students that will likely take online courses as well as some implications for program structure based on their particular needs. Student Athletes Based on evidence from Summit High Schools pilot online program, student athletes have a high success rate with online learning programs as evidenced by high course completion rates and relatively strong academic performance. One reason for this may be that they have a strong motivation to perform well academically. As found in studies by Lang, Dunham & Alpert (1988) and Simons, Van Rheenen & Covington (1999) academic motivation is a predictor of academic achievement. As student athletes must meet minimum GPA requirements to compete, they have a strong extrinsic motivator to do well, or at least not to do poorly, academically given that they have made a large investment of time and effort in their sport. Moreover based on the work of Morris et al. (2005) and Nicholas & Levy (2009) high school GPA was found to be a signicant predictor of persistence of college student-athletes enrolled in e-learning courses, lending strength to the presumption that high school age student athletes will be a good match for online learning. Finally, based on observations from instructors in the pilot program, student athletes in general exceeded expectations; no student athletes dropped or failed online courses that they were enrolled in. Based on the literature and empirical evidence it appears that online learning is an effective delivery mode for student athletes and that the course design methods used in the pilot program are a good starting point to inform development of future course offerings. Other Populations Served by Online Programming In addition to student athletes, another student subgroup that will benet from an online program are those enrolled in the alternative education program at Snowy Peaks High School (SPHS), an alternative high school in Summit School District. These students are classied as at risk and SPHS seeks to meet their individual

curricular needs via alternative methods. Unfortunately, with only 60 student and 4 teachers, the variety of classes that can be offered is severely limited. These challenges make it difcult to fulll recommendations as made by Wilson (2010) in his report to the Connecticut legislature for closing the achievement gap with regard to at risk students such as: ensure that curricular pathways to success are established through a rigorous, college-ready program of study for all students(p. 5). However, if students at the alternative high school were given access to online courses and were allocated time during the school day to take a portion of their credits via online courses, teachers at the alternative high school could support them in a monitoring and tutoring role and thus meet the differentiated needs of students more effectively. This resonates with Vonderwell & Zachariahs (2005) ndings from which they concluded that monitoring student participation and patterns of participation closely can help instructors identify student needs and scaffold learning accordingly (p. 225) and would help address Wilsons (2010) additional recommendations related to closing the achievement gap of making pedagogy more relevant and engaging; improving the communication between parents and teachers/leaders; making a strong connection between the student and his/her teacher (p. 9). A nal subgroup that would benet from online courses at SHS includes those students who are unable to take desired electives because of schedule conicts. Because it is relatively small, with only approximately 800 students, SHS is only able to offer a limited number of sections of each class. As sections ll and credit requirements dictate priority, some students are blocked from participating in courses such as band, orchestra, applied arts, and other elective courses. Online courses allow students more exibility in their schedule because the coursework, due to its asynchronous nature, can be completed at any time during the school day thus reducing barriers to student participation in elective courses that arise from scheduling conicts. Course Offerings Which courses will be made available to students as part of the online program will be determined by student demand as well as the appropriateness of course content for online delivery. One of the main drivers of student demand for course

availability in general is graduation requirements. In addition to core content credits (math, English, science, and social studies) students are required to complete specic electives such as Health as well as electives that they may select from within categories such as ne arts and applied arts. These conditions combined with the small size of the student body, limited section offerings, and the requirement of all students to take electives, make elective courses a natural t for online programming because of scheduling exibility and class size exibility, which will allow SHS to provide a greater variety of course offerings. A second reason to make elective courses the primary offering of online programming is the increased likelihood of students to experience success with online course delivery due to favorable levels of cognitive load. In a 2009 study, Lambert, Kalyuga, & Capan found that in educational technology courses where technology is a critical component of the course content and the number of interacting elements may be relatively high, additional cognitive load must be factored into mental effort required of learners (p. 161). This nding suggests that courses with potentially higher cognitive load, such as core content courses, may place too much stress on students who are new to online learning environments. Another recommendation that may address this issue is to have well developed orientation activities for online learners to reduce the cognitive load associated with becoming familiar with the technological aspects of participating in an online course. This is supported by another nding of Lambert, Kalyuga, & Capan (2009) with regard to students in online environments which indicates that technologically experienced learners were more engaged in more cognitively challenging activities within online classes. Course Development Rational for Acquiring Third Party Developed Courses While initially it may seem that course content from existing classroom instruction can be converted to an online format with little effort, there is strong evidence to suggest that this is not easily accomplished nor an effective method for sourcing online content for instruction (Moore and Kearsley, 2005). In fact there is strong support in the literature for having content experts, instructional designers, and instructional technologists involved in a course design process to create courses

specically designed for online delivery(Caplan, 2004; Ellis and Phelps, 2000; Kearsley, 2000; Gordon et al., 2009). However, the process of course development is a complex, costly endeavor (Moore and Kearsly 2005; Inglis, Ling, & Joosten, 2002). Given the small scale of the online program at Summit High School, the lack of school personnel trained in online course development, and the difculty in predicting demand for specic courses it is advisable to seek courses developed by third parties such as large scale public virtual high schools, other supplemental online programs, or for-prot online course vendors. Potential Providers of Online Courses Fortunately for Summit High School there are a number of potential sources for high quality online course content in Colorado. Aventa Learning - Aventa is a for prot national company that offers a full catalog of online course content for lease or purchase. The cost of leasing a course from Aventa is currently $89/per student/per semester (S. Faile, personal communication, October, 2011). Aventa was the source used for the online Health course that was offered as part of the online pilot program at Summit High School in the fall of 2011. Public Schools - Academy School District, Douglas County School District, and Jefferson County School District have catalogs of online courses developed in-house using district funds or grant funds. They have indicated a willingness to make these courses available to other online programs through a purchase, lease, or trade arrangement (J. Bauernschmidt, M.Clem, R. Tanksi, personal communication, November 28, 2011) Colorado Online Learning Consortium - Although still in an organizational phase, this consortium of online program administrators has indicated that one of its goals is to leverage the collective demand of its members to achieve economies of scale in procuring and/or developing online content. (Colorado Online Learning Consortium, personal communication, November 28, 2011)

Human Resources Program Management Research indicates that strong program management in the areas of high level strategy as well as specic technical issues is critical for success in initiating a program of online course delivery (Burke, 2005). Inglis, Ling & Joosten (2002) suggest that one of the key characteristics of an individual responsible for managing electronic delivery is familiarity with the range of computer and communications technologies that are used (p.190). Given that the program manager will play a key role in determining the success of online course delivery it is recommended that sufcient attention and resources be applied to the process of recruiting for this position. Course Instruction Online instruction differs signicantly from classroom teaching due to transactional distance and the use of technology (Moore and Kearsly, 2005); moreover, online teaching requires a specic skill set differing from that of classroom teaching (Inglis, Ling & Joosten, 2002). These differences should be taken into consideration when recruiting instructors for online classes. Once instructors have been selected, instructor skill will need to be assessed and then a professional development program developed to ensure they are adequately prepared to deliver online instruction. External Personnel One issue that arose during the initial offering of online courses at SHS during the fall of 2011 was insufcient IT support for the Learning Management System (LMS). At the outset of the pilot program it was determined that Moodle would be the best LMS option since it had already been installed on a Summit School District server and had been used previously to offer online professional development courses to district teachers. However, when several problems arose related to user authentication and course set up, the district IT staff was not able to address the problems in a timely manner and as a result the program coordinator was forced to move the program to a different LMS host. Although this solution worked in the short term, the current host is a low cost provider that does not specically support Moodle. Therefore, it is recommended that the selection of an LMS be revisited and that access to external support personnel be arranged prior to moving forward with online programming.

Networking for Shared Resources and Knowledge As part of the online pilot program at SHS, the program manager attended several meetings of the Colorado Online Learning Consortium, a group of online school administrators committed to pooling resources and knowledge to support online learning in Colorado. Contact with this consortium served as an invaluable source of information and support for the pilot online program at SHS. It is recommended that as this organization develops and formalizes that SHS continue to maintain representation within the group. Student Support In addition to offering quality online instruction, student support systems must be addressed. Support systems for online students in areas of academic advising, library services and technical support should be considered when developing online programming (Moore and Kearsly 2005; Inglis, Ling, & Joosten, 2002). Empirical reports indicate that support in the areas of advising, tutoring, and access to a community of learners are perceived as the most critical of areas for support by online learners (Burke, 2005; Ludwig-Hardman, S. & Dulap, J. 2003). Given the small program size at Summit High School it is not economically feasible to hire and train separate support staff for online students. However, training of existing staff related to how they will support students who are taking online courses will be necessary. This will include training counselors on addressing appropriate registration requirements and advising for prospective online students. In addition, media and technology specialists will need to be trained in how to provide technical support for students taking courses online. Infrastructure As mentioned above, in order to have a consistent, dependable, and scaleable online program, an LMS with appropriate support will need to be in place. There are numerous providers of this service such as Moodle Rooms, Brain Honey, and eNetColorado. The challenge that arises with procuring this type of service for a small program is matching the cost with the services used. Moodle Rooms for example sells user licenses in blocks of ve hundred, which greatly exceeds the current sneeds of the SHS program. Some solutions to this may include purchasing

LMS space through the Colorado Online Learning Consortium, partnering with other schools that have small online programs, or nding a vendor that will offer appropriate pricing based on the needs of the program. Financial Resources/Cost Effectiveness If courses are leased each year based on students enrolled and an LMS is also paid for on the basis of a yearly contract, there is then very little upfront investment tied to initiating an online program at SHS. Rather, the costs fall into the category of expenses (Inglis et al., 2002) which can be broken down into either xed or variable. Fixed Expenses for SHS Online Programming Program Management - For the fall 2011 SHS online pilot program an Online Coordinator was allocated .25 FTE to develop and manage the program. Given that the scope of responsibilities for this position will increase as the program grows, it is likely that the allocation for this position will need to be increased as well in order to retain a qualied professional. LMS hosting and support - depending on the level of service and the number of students enrolled, estimates for this service based on the projected scale of the program range from $500 to $4500 per year. Variable Expenditures for SHS Online Programming Teacher Pay models - Two online teacher pay models currently being used in Colorado are an hourly rate with a weekly maximum (M. Clem, personal communication, November 28, 2011) and a per student/per semester at rate (S. VanSelus, personal communication, November 28, 2011); a third option would be to allocate FTE similarly to how in-building teachers are paid. Leasing Course Content - Based on quotes from course vendors, the cost of leasing course content can range from $30-$89 per student/per semester. Staff Training - While the responsibility of providing staff training could be placed on the program manager, some funding would likely need to be allocated

to pay support staff and instructors to attend professional development associated with online programming. Technical Support - Technical support related to the LMS could be paid for as a service contract (xed cost) however another option is to pay for it as needed, thus making it a variable cost. Program Evaluation Systematic evaluation of online programming at SHS will be required to justify the program and the associated resource allocation as well as to continuously improve program quality (Lockee, Moore & Burton, 2002). The literature documents numerous evaluation methodologies for online programs which can be used to inform evaluation of SHS online programming. Numerous aspects of online learning can me measured using either qualitative or quantitative techniques (Moore & Kearsley, 2005); given the limits on time and resources that can be dedicated to this task, it will be necessary to rst prioritize those aspects of the online program deemed most critical to programmatic success before initiating evaluative actions. Market and Marketing Strategies Marketing of online programs can increase enrollments leading to economies of scale by decreasing the xed cost per online student (Inglis et al. 2002). The unique nature of SHS online program which allows students to participate in a traditional high school experience while at the same time having the exibility to pursue their competitive aspirations may have the potential to draw students from around the world. Additional student enrollments will reduce per student costs within the online program and bring additional revenue to the district. Marketing initiatives that could be pursued include partnering with athletic development organizations such as Team Summit, web marketing, and print advertising. Summary Summit High School is in a position to deliver a traditional high school experience to competitive athletes with unique scheduling requirements by leveraging the exibility of online delivery. Online programming at SHS also has the potential to expand the capacity of SHS to meet the needs of alternative students and students

with scheduling conicts. Moving forward with online programing at SHS will require the recruitment of instructors with appropriate skills or the provision of adequate professional development for current teaching staff. In addition, support staff will need to be trained to meet the unique needs of online students. Given the availability of LMS hosting services, technical services, as well as developed course content from third parties, the majority of costs related to conducting online programming fall into the category of expenses, many of which can be matched to enrollments reducing the need for a large initial investment. Thus there is a great deal of upside potential for improving the exibility of educational services to students at SHS through online programming, while risking relatively little in upfront costs.

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