Learning at Georgia Virtual School

Hearing school bells ring, lockers closing, and school bus engines running are becoming sounds of the past. Classrooms are no longer four-wall rooms filled with uniformed learners sitting in desks and chairs. Learners are no longer wearing backpacks filled with heavy and outdated textbooks. Learners are now using mobile devices, tablets, smartphones, desktops, and laptops. Georgia's educational system includes learners with diverse needs: 1,639,077 enrolled in 2,289 schools (Georgia Department of Education, 2011). In 2005-2006, an estimated 700,000 K-12 learners were enrolled in online courses (Picciano & Seaman, 2007). In 2009, more than 3 million K-12 learners have taken an online course (Horn & Staker, 2011). Research suggests that by 2019, more than 50% of high school courses will be offered online (Christensen & Horn, 2008). Georgia Virtual School, established by Georgia Department of Education, is set up like a Georgia public school without a physical location. The address is a web URL (Hawkins, 2013).

This article will discuss Georgia Virtual School's (GaVS) background, mission, strategic learning plan, course offerings, program accreditation and evaluation, and instructional technology. GaVS was established in 5 years, demonstrating the diffusion of innovation theory. Diffusion of innovation is described as, “the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among members of a societal system” (Rogers, 2003, p. 5). Elements of diffusion include communication, a mission, evaluations and assessments by experts.

In 2001, the Georgia State Board of Education approved the virtual learning business plan to endorse online Advanced Placement courses. The virtual learning plan addressed the needs of Georgia's learners. Georgia learners need to be prepared to compete with their global counterparts. In 2001, Georgia was a second-year AP Nexus recipient, a United States Department of Education Advanced Placement Test free program grant that focused on at-risk learners (Georgia Department of Education, 2007). The online courses provided course options for learners in rural areas, in areas with a lack of highly qualified teachers, scheduling conflicts, and limited curricular offerings (Georgia Department of Education, 2007).

GaVS is the child organization of Georgia Virtual Learning. GaVS courses are created based on the following factors: program need, Department of Education requirements, fund availability, graduation requirements, and public request (Georgia Department of Education, 2007). Each of the courses is designed to meet Common Core Georgia Performance Standards (J. Cozart, personal communication, July 29, 2013).

GaVS does not grant diplomas or course credits independently, but in a collaborative effort with local school degree awarding districts. The strategic plan includes the following vision, mission, belief statements, and goals (J. Cozart, personal communication, July 29, 2013):

Vision:

• quality learning,

• innovating opportunities, and

• elevating performances.

Mission: Serve as a stimulus for dynamic change by providing quality digital programs to strengthen teaching and learning.

Belief statements:

• change creates opportunity;

• make education work; and

• open, equitable learning.

Goals:

• learner performance exceeds the state average;

• provide opportunities for learners with annual growth of at least 20%;

• all teachers demonstrate quality teaching; and

• prepare learners for college and career readiness.

For the 2012-2013 school year over 18,567 learners from 479 schools were in enrolled in 332 online courses. The overall completion rate for GaVS is 90%. GaVS total enrollments since 2005 is 67,787 (J. Cozart, personal communication, July 29, 2013). Schools can sign up their learners for whatever class period that works for them. In order to enroll in a GaVS course, a local school facilitator must approve. Home school and out of state learners will be assigned a GaVS facilitator (Georgia Virtual School, 2010). Registration is a two-phase process. Public school learners receive preferential enrollment. Phase 1 allows public school learners the right to enroll and register for courses before and the courses are available to private school learners and home school learners. Phase 2 allows private and home school learners the opportunity to enroll (Georgia Virtual School, 2010). The course start dates are flexible and the course ends before the traditional course ends because grades have to be submitted earlier.

GaVS learners can experience individualized learning. Prior to starting an online course, the learner can complete an online course self-assessment inventory. The online inventory asks questions about the personal attitude and technology. The learner rates each question “1 = never, 3 = sometimes, 5 = always” (Georgia Virtual, School, 2010). The scores serve as an indicator as to whether the learner is a good online candidate. What follows are questions that the learner answers on an online self-assessment inventory (Georgia Virtual, School, 2010):

Personal Attitude

• “I stay on task when doing schoolwork.” • “I schedule my time well at school.”

• “I schedule my time well outside of school.”

• “I stay on task while doing work on the Internet.”

• “I follow through on requests from my teachers.”

• “I answer e-mail in a timely manner.”

• “I turn in my assignments on time.”

• “I ask teachers for help when I need it.”

• “I am willing to put in extra time for a challenging class.”

Technology Skills

• “I have access to the Internet at home.”

• “I know how to login to my home Internet provider.”

• “My home computer has a word processing program like Word, WordPerfect, or Works.”

• “I know how to use a word processing program.”

• “I know how to use e-mail.”

• “I know how to do Internet research.”

• “I know how to copy and paste text.”

• “I know how to download a file from a web page.”

• “I know how to attach and send a file through e-mail.”

GaVS learners also complete a survey at the beginning of the course to indicate desired course length. During the fall and spring Advanced Placement learners can choose their courses to be 14, 16, or 18 weeks long. Regular learners can chose 12, 14, 16, or 18 weeks long. The summer courses can be 5 or 6 weeks long. All of the courses have the same workload and end on the same date (Georgia Virtual School, Course Information, 2010).

Learners take online courses because approximately 77 of Georgia's high schools do not offer Advanced Placement courses. Learners are placed in an at-risk category and are at a disadvantage when applying for college because they lack college level skill application that would be provided through the AP curriculum (Georgia Department of Education, 2007). Georgia has 180 public school systems. Sixty-four percent of the school districts are understaffed. There is a need for highly qualified teachers and some school districts are too small. As a result of a lack of highly qualified teachers, the schools have to limit their course selection offerings. Thirty-seven of Georgia's high schools have fewer than 500 learners enrolled. Many learners want to have a greater course selection, take advanced courses, get ahead, repeat a failed course, and manage their schedule. Learners may have transferred from another state or private school setting and require additional coursework to meet Georgia's graduation requirement (Georgia Department of Education, 2007).

GaVS learners have said:

GaVS provides accommodations for learners with disabilities. GaVS has to receive a compliant Individualized Education Program or 504 plan each semester the learner enrolls. Online courses are not for everyone, but may be the correct place for individuals with disabilities.

A mother of a GaVS learner with disabilities said:

Virtual learning can allow learners with disabilities the opportunity to learn at their pace without anxiety (Shah, 2011). Some learners with disabilities accommodations are already incorporated into the format of an online course. Some of the learners accommodations requires a copy of notes, frequent use of modeling which could be demonstrated through the video component of the course, repeat directions that the learner could replay the audio, and information differentiated (Houck, 2013). However, not all accommodations are conducive to an online learning environment (Georgia Department of Education, 2011).

The Digital Learning Act, Senate Bill 289, focused on the essence of digital and virtual learning, requires learners entering ninth grade during 2013-2014 school year to complete at least one online class. The bill requires that all end of year core subject assessments to be offered online (Senate Press, 2011).

Each course is designed to contain content aligned to the Georgia Performance Standards as mandated by the Georgia Department of Education. Courses are being redesigned to align to Common Core Georgia Performance Standards. Courses are developed in two phases by a development team. A development team consists of authors, test writers, content development specialists, development coordinator, and an instructional designer. The instructional designer is an employee of Georgia Public Broadcasting Company. During Phase 1, the development team creates a course outline. The content development specialist completes a detailed development plan and timeline that has to be completed by the development coordinator. The authors will create course materials that are assessed for special education and copyright issues. In Phase 2, it is considered the testing phase (Georgia Virtual School, n.d.). The courses typically take 9 months to design (J. Cozart, personal communication, July 29, 2013).

GaVS offers Advanced Placement Courses, which are courses that will allow high school learners to be awarded college credit if they pass the College Board Advanced Placement Test (Georgia Virtual School, Course Information Advanced Placement, 2010). In addition to AP Courses, GaVS offers career and technical education, world languages, math, language arts, science, social studies, health and physical education, fine arts, and test preparation.

Georgia Virtual School Course Recovery Program is a free chance that will allow high school learners who were not able to successfully pass a course to have an opportunity to retake courses. The learners have mastered the time requirement but not the course standard requirements (Georgia Virtual School, 2010).

GaVS is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). SACS evaluates the middle and high school courses (Hawkins, 2013). GaVS is evaluated through multiple evaluative tools. GaVS receives an occasional audit from Georgia's auditor's office. GaVS reports the virtual learners End of Course scores versus state average (J. Cozart, personal communication, July 29, 2013). Digital Learning Now! (2012), evaluated GaVS and found the following strengths and weaknesses.

The strengths of GaVS include:

• learners have customized learning;

• learner access to high quality digital content;

• learners have access to high quality providers; and

• learner learning assessment and accountability.

The weaknesses of GaVS include:

• the infrastructure does not support digital learning;

• GaVS funding creates incentives;

• the learner progress based on demonstrated complexity; and

• all learners are not digital learners.

GaVS adopted the Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB) standards for quality online courses to establish if courses are meeting standards. The standards for quality online courses are as follows (SREB, 2006, pp. 3-8):

1. The course provides online learners with engaging learning experiences that promote their mastery of content and are aligned with state content standards or nationally accepted content.

2. The course uses learning activities that engage learners in active learning; provides learners with multiple learning paths to master the content based on learner needs; reflects multicultural education and is accurate, current and free of bias; and provides ample opportunities for interaction and communication learner to learner, learner to instructor and instructor to learner.

3. The course uses multiple strategies and activities to assess learner readiness for and progress in course content and provides learners with feedback on their progress.

4. The course takes full advantage of a variety of technology tools, has a user-friendly interface and meets accessibility standards for interoperability and access for learners with special needs.

5. The course is evaluated regularly for effectiveness, using a variety of assessment strategies, and the findings are used as a basis for improvement. The course is kept up to date, both in content and in the application of new research on course design and technologies.

During fall and spring semesters public school learners will take the End of Course Test (EOCT) at their local school at a scheduled time. Home school, private school, and out-of-state learners will take the EOCT at an assigned Educational Technology Center (ETC). During the summer semester all learners will take the EOCT at their designated Educational Technology Center (Georgia Virtual School, 2010). The following courses require the EOCT: ninth-grade literature composition, American literature composition, biology, physical science, accelerated mathematics I and II, Accelerated CCPG coordinate mathematics I and II, Accelerated CCPG algebra, analytic geometry A, CCPS coordinate algebra, GPS algebra, GPS geometry, mathematics I & II, U.S. history, and economics (Georgia Virtual Schools, 2011). The learner must have a minimum score of 70 for all subjects. For learners who were ninth grade for the first time before July 1, 2011, the EOCT counts for 15% for the learner's final grade and 20% for learners who were enrolled after the date (Georgia Department of Education, 2011).

Online teachers must obtain a valid Georgia teaching certificate in subject area from the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (Hawkins, 2013). Teachers must complete online learning for an add-on endorsement (Georgia Department of Education, 2007). The virtual add-on endorsement requires that the teacher demonstrate competency in three areas (standards): online teaching and learning methodology, instructional technology concepts, and online assessments (Hawkins, 2012).

The online teaching and learning standard makes sure that the teacher will be able to provide a meaningful online environment with proper communication and transparent objectives while modeling good digital citizenship in a diverse setting. When teaching in a traditional face-to-face class instructors are accustom to “reading” the body language and facial cues of the learners. Therefore in an online course, it must be assumed that the learners display the same body language (Ko & Rossen, 2012).

The online assessment standards examine the effectiveness of the assessments. Teachers will create reliable assessment tools that are valid for an online environment. The instructional technology concept standard tackles the teachers’ instructional technology competency. The teacher must demonstrate knowledge, skills, and understanding of instructional technology.

The adjunct teachers’ salaries are paid through Georgia Department of Education. The teachers are paid per learner each semester. The payments are the following: $130 for half Carnegie Unit Course, $155 for half Carnegie AP Unit Course, $260 for one block Carnegie Unit, $310 for one block AP Carnegie Unit (Georgia Virtual School, 2010).

Organizational management style influences the decision making and the implementation of tasks. The top-down approach is when all guidelines, objectives, funding, and other information come from the top of the organization. A leader communicates the expectations to be achieved by the organization (Filev, 2008). The advantage of the top down approach includes clarity of expectations. The disadvantages of the top down approach includes bureaucracy, inflexibility, lack of moral motivation, and dominant control (Finzel, 2000).

In a bureaucratic organization, all tasks are divided into specialized jobs that are performed based on technical qualifications and uniform rules (Gibson, Ivancevich, Donnelly, & Konopaske, 2006). Managers with expert knowledge hold an authoritative role because it is delegated from the top of the leadership hierarchy rules (Gibson et al., 2006). GaVS is a program of the Georgia Department of Education's Office of Technology Services. GaVS’ organizational structure is reflective of bureaucratic organization. All of the decisions are based on federal mandates. The federal government passes laws that the state department of education must implement and monitor. Georgia Department of Education created standards and rules for GaVS to implement and follow. GaVS’ staff hires, trains, and supervises teachers.

Desire2Learn is the learning management system that Georgia Virtual School uses to host instructional content modules (J. Cozart, personal communication, July 29, 2013). The technical requirements for GaVS are essential to learners’ success:

• Internet service provider with java script enabled browser plug-ins (Internet Explorer 8 not supported);

• Computer access with productivity software (Microsoft Office) and media players;

• E-mail account: learners need a valid e-mail account. After registration they will be assigned an e-mail; and

• Software downloads: Some AP classes require software downloads.

Diffusion of innovation theory has four elements innovation, communication, time, and social system. Getting an idea adopted can be difficult although there are several advantages. Many innovative ideas take time to become available (Rogers, 2003).

Effective communication is essential for an innovation to be accepted by others. In 2005, Governor Sonny Perdue signed the Georgia Virtual School bill via live Internet broadcast. He answered questions about GaVS in a virtual chat room and Internet video stream (Georgia Virtual School, 2010). In 2001, the Georgia State Board of Education approved the virtual learning program in October 2001, Georgia Virtual Learning program was transferred to technology services as information about the AP Nexus program began to spread, more schools contacted the Department of Education to ask how they could participate (Georgia Department of Education, 2007). There was a need for more course offerings for learners. Opinion leaders from 13 school systems with virtual learning initiatives experience gathered in Atlanta, Georgia to express their desires to have a state sponsored virtual school (Georgia Department of Education, 2007). The opinion leaders represented a social system. Opinion leaders are influential leaders that can help spread new ideas (Rogers, 2003). Governor Perdue was also an opinion leader who used his leadership position to initiate change in Georgia's educational system.

Online learning has become an important part of the progression of K-12 education. It is no longer considered novel (Southern Regional Education Board, 2013). Georgia has recognized the importance and has passed legislative bills to ensure that Georgia's learners are ready to compete with their global counterparts and that they receive high quality content (Southern Regional Education Board, 2013).