K-12 Online Teacher Development: A Disconnect Between Preparation and Practice
As online teaching continues to grow it is important to look into the background of the teachers involved. It’s very difficult to acquire a new skill when the foundation has not been provided. And we must realize that very little research exists that focuses on the differences between face-to-face and online teaching.
The educational community does agree that differences do exist and that teachers will have to use new ways to assess, communicate, and engage in the online setting and the concern still remains how long will it take face to face teachers to become proficient in online learning?
We understand that if a teacher is competent to teach in a classroom, then teachers are also capable to teach online but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. Teachers need training, ongoing support, and a strong foundation to be able to effectively implement the techniques, technology, and pedagogy necessary for student success.
When describing the functions required to perform online K-12 teaching there are variables to consider:
Best Practices for Online Teacher AZ
Geographical distribution of students.
Cultural backgrounds of students.
Range of different online content
Delivery formats
Technologies used
Class size
Grade level
Online classes can be offered as synchronous, teachers and students are logged in at the same time. The synchronous method more closely resembles the traditional face-to-face classroom setting. Many online teachers used the asynchronous method of instruction which is “most dissimilar” to the traditional face-to-face classroom settings.
The Need to Prepare Teachers for Online Teaching
It is obvious that teachers need support so they can be better prepared to teach online as online learning requires a different set of skills than a traditional face-to-face environment. The problem here is that these required skills have not properly defined, verified, or evaluated through research although some research has begun.
The question asked here is, to how and what extent the education of online teacher training is currently progressing? One reason classroom teachers have not received formal online teaching training is due to the fact they were certified before online training was conceived.
Look to the Future
Since the 1990s only a small number of teachers were certified because there was no online teacher training included in most teacher preparation programs throughout the college curriculum. Teachers with over 10 years’ experience who were not offered online training at the college level which is troubling now but understandable.
In a current survey, only 4.1% of teacher college training programs offered online training with field experience with little to no coursework. We are in a state of emergency - We have a responsibility to our children! We MUST rework our “College Coursework” to what online K-12 teaching techniques actually produce in terms of effective learning. This conversation should have happened 10 years ago, but we’re here now and the results need should be validated through empirical research to improve state-level standards in regards to online and blended teaching.
Sources
Jean S. Larson. 2019. Arizona State University.
Leanna Archambault. 2019. Arizona State University.
https://teachonline.asu.edu/2018/09/best-practices-for-teaching-online/