Key points:
As more students seek flexible learning modalities to meet their diverse needs, it is more essential than ever to ensure that online learning programs meet high-quality standards and prepare students for success in college and the world of work. .
Many people view online learning programs as pandemic emergency online learning, which paints a wildly inaccurate picture of the potential that online learning programs have to connect students to nearly endless learning opportunities.
“High-quality, accredited programs can be effective and, in some cases, more effective, depending on the student,” said Carol DeFuria, president and CEO of the nonprofit VHS Learning, which has nearly 30 years of experience providing online programs to students and schools. “Students want more options. They want career and technical education and things that can prepare them for the future. “It’s very difficult for a high school student: you want (experiences) before you choose a career.”
“Providing authentic opportunities for kids to have meaningful experiences in a career-related field in high school is really critical,” added Amy Michalowski, VHS Learningdean and executive board member of the Virtual Learning Leadership Alliance (VLLA). “There are many CTE domains that can absolutely be taught with 100 percent fidelity in an online course. The world is changing and children need to be exposed to what work will be like in their future, not just what learning will be like.”
This professional exposure is just one facet of what makes online learning programs so critical for many schools and students.
“I think it's helpful for people to use a program that centralizes resources,” DeFuria said. “We hear that schools in remote or underserved areas do not have teaching resources. “That's where online learning can really benefit schools and individual students: we can take teachers from all over and centralize them in one place where students can come and take classes and courses.”
This level of access can increase student performance and engagement, an added advantage in an age where artificial intelligence and social media make engaging students challenging at the best of times.
“It's not just about having access, but also about having interesting opportunities to engage students and get them excited about learning,” DeFuria said. “Maybe it's a law class, a veterinary medicine class or forensic science. Plus, online, you have a more diverse group of students, which helps prepare you as a student for what happens beyond high school in a global society. “It is very important for students to see the world beyond their classroom.”
To ensure that online learning programs remain rigorous, they must meet high-quality standards.
Michalowski co-leads an update to the National Standards for Quality Online Programs, part of an overall update to the National Standards for Quality (NSQ), an openly licensed set of standards designed to help evaluate and improve online education .
The VLLA collaborates with Quality Matters (QM) and the Digital Learning Collaborative (DLC) to monitor the standards and ensure they remain relevant. In addition to online programs, the NSQ leadership team is addressing the other two domains of the National Quality Standards: online courses and online teaching. Michalowski has partnered with Dr. Chris Harrington of the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute to co-chair the online program standards update.
“It's time to reflect on the standards, making sure they are up-to-date, relevant, and capture the elements of high-quality online programming for students,” Michalowski said. The revised standards will be available in early 2025 in the National Standards for Quality Online Learning website.
“We have been working to ensure that different programs are reflected in the standards – that a school leader can use the standards as a model for a high-quality program if they are trying to launch a program. That a state leader could use the standards to evaluate high-quality online programming in their state. “We are trying to make the standards broad enough so that they can be used by many different stakeholders,” he added.
Ensuring world-class standards means educators and students are connected to online learning programs that will deliver the promised opportunities and outcomes.
“It's important for us to give back and make sure standards stay high,” DeFuria said. “As new players enter the industry, we want to make sure it is thoughtful and that the education is what students need. We are ensuring that more students have the opportunity and that more teachers have best-practice professional development; “It’s really important work.”
“One thing that has always been true with hybrid and online learning is that it is very important to have clarity around the outcomes, the objectives and some of the best practices (so that) if I am a parent and I am looking to choose a program of quality for my son, I know which program to choose,” Michalowski said. “It's very important to make sure that evidence-based practices are at the forefront, that outcomes are clearly articulated so that people know what they are getting out of a program and so that students understand exactly what is expected of them.”
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=();t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)(0);
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘6079750752134785’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
