Multi-State Online Professional Development ToolKit

Changing professional development and meeting teacher needs

MOPD - A Model for Online Professional Development

Policies and Budgets

This section of the ToolKit provides information about the importance of state and local policies that will support enable and encourage the use of the Web to provide online courses to students of all ages. Information is also provided about existing policies that cause barriers to use of online learning. Additional, issues around budgeting and funding of online learning are found below. This page, like all of the other ToolKit pages, provides easy access to documents, Web sites and other materials that contain up-to-date and reliable information to assist in planning and developing online courses.

Southern Regional Education Board's Distance Learning Policy Lab: A Compilation of Executive Summaries and Recommendations of the Seven Reports
http://www.ecinitiatives.org/policylab/index.asp
A series of reports was disseminated to state legislators and higher education leaders in December 2002 that outline the policy issues associated with distance learning and encourage strategic policy changes to increase access to quality, affordable education. Included in the report are: Guiding Principles, Policies Goals and Actions, Illustrative Practices.

Principles of Good Practice: The Foundation for Quality of the Electronic Campus of the Southern Regional Education Board
http//www.ecinitiatives.org/publications/principles.asp
These principles were developed to assure students about the quality of courses and programs at SREB's Electronic Campus. The principles draw upon the work of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education and other organizations. All courses and programs listed in the Electronic Campus have been reviewed against the Principles of Good Practice, and these offerings from colleges or universities have been coordinated through the state higher education agency.

Evolution of an On-line Education Community of Practice
http://ti2.sri.com/tappedin/web/papers/2002/TIEvolution.pdf
This paper is a draft chapter for the book Building Virtual Communities: Learning and Change in Cyberspace. The stated goal is “to evolve a sustainable, scalable Community of Practice for K-12 education professionals as they learn the ropes of their profession, implement new practices, and apply new content knowledge” with online professional development.

Funding Web-based Courses for K-12 Students to Meet State Educational Goals, by William R. Thomas
http://www.sreb.org/programs/EdTech/pubs/PDF/FundingWebBased.asp
States increasingly are moving toward Web-based education to serve their student populations better. However, traditional policies for funding education can present barriers to the funding of "virtual schools." States must address several questions related to K-12 Web-based courses. What state goals do the courses support? Under what circumstances are they appropriate? How much would it cost to fund these courses, and what is their potential for saving costs? This publication provides solid examples and ideas to help states answer these questions.

The Importance of Policies in E-Learning Instruction  

http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eqm0433.pdf 

This EDUCAUSE Quarterly Number 3, 2004, article by Shirley Waterhouse and Rodney O. Rogers discusses the policies necessary to keep an e-learning course successful.  Topics include e-mail, electronic discussions and intellectual property rights.  

Improving Learning and Reducing Costs: New Models for Online Learning by Carol A. Twigg
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0352.pdf
This document is the result of a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts to study ways to provide quality instruction with reduced costs in higher education. The study looked at online learning as a new model to achieve this.

Loading the e-Learning Shopping Cart by Joellen Killion. National Staff Development Council, 2002.
http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/jsd/jkillion231.cfm
The author addresses a dozen-plus topics to consider when making decisions about e-learning choices.

Logon to Learn: To Reap Benefits of Online Staff Development, Ask the Right Questions, by Joellen Killion. National Staff Development Council, 2000.
http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/jsd/killion213.cfm
As staff developers consider online staff development as part of their total staff development program, here are questions that might be discussed before deciding to implement online staff development taken from "Logon to Learn" by Joellen Killion of NSDC. You can link to specific questions at the end of the article.
Multi-State Online Professional Development; An SREB Initiative (Board presentation), 2003. <http://www.sreb.org/programs/EdTech/onlineprofdev/initiative.asp> An SREB Initiative to change professional development and meet teacher needs.

Multi-State Online Professional Development: Initiative Plan , SREB, 2003.
http://www.sreb.org/programs/EdTech/onlineprofdev/msopdoverview.asp
Education Development Center Inc. (EDC) and the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), two long-established and highly regarded nonprofit organizations, are collaborating with State Education Agencies (SEAs) and two of the Regional Technology in Education Consortia (SEIR*TEC and NEIR*TEC), on a large-scale program that will enable SEAs to make effective use of online professional education to improve teacher quality, administrator quality, and student achievement, thereby helping them meet the primary goals of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Our Research: Designing and Implementing Online Professional Development Workshops. EDC Center for Online Professional Education, 2000.
http://www.edtechleaders.org/Resources/opd_report/opddesign.pdf
This report provides useful information for those who are planning to incorporate online learning into professional development programs, as well as those who will design and implement online professional development activities. The Center for Online Professional Education is continuing to explore this new medium for teaching and learning, as are many other organizations. Both the knowledge of the field and the available technologies will continue to advance rapidly. Therefore, this should be read as a status report of ongoing investigations by one of a number of groups exploring this field, rather than as a final statement on any aspect of online professional development.

Our Research: Online Professional Development for Teachers; a Collaborative Model, by Barbara Treacy and Kirsten Johnson, Education Development Center Inc. (EDC), Merrick Lofton, Catahoula Parish, LA School Board, and Paula Paul, Concordia Parish, LA School Board, 2001.
http://www2.edc.org/LNT/news/Issue10/feature2.htm
This article is about the first in a series of online professional development workshops organized as a collaboration between EDC and two Louisiana school districts through a U.S. Department of Education Technology Innovation Challenge Grant, "America 2000: Making Inroads to the Backroads." The article describes the project background and the workshops' design and organization, and it provides a detailed focus on the facilitation model designed to support the workshop goals and participant needs.

Quality Standards in eLearning: A Matrix of Analysis
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/109/189
“Most institutions of postsecondary and higher education are creating or adopting quality statements, standards, and criteria regarding their niche of the “eLearning enterprise.” In doing so, they have a tendency to reinvent the wheel. This article summarizes current published quality standards in the U.S., analyzes and organizes them into a nine-cell matrix. It concludes with discussion of emerging issues with respect to the nine standards areas.”

The Right Questions, Joellen Killion.  National Staff Development Council, 2000. 
http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/jsd/questions213.cfm
“As staff developers consider online staff development as part of their total staff development program, here are questions that might be discussed before deciding to implement online staff development.”

Teaching Education Guidelines: Using Open and Distance Learning-Technology, Curriculum, Cost, Evaluation. UNESCO, 2002.
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001253/125396e.pdf
This document is to be used primarily by education officers in Education Ministries and teacher training institutions who have to make hard choices on how to expand teacher education through open and distance learning.

Who Owns Online Courses and Course Materials? Intellectual Property Policies for a New Learning Environment. Carol A. Twigg, Pew Learning and Technology Program, 2000.
http://www.center.rpi.edu/Monographs/Whoowns.html
A group of 14 higher education leaders gathered in 2000 to participate in an invitational symposium on "Who Owns Online Courses and Course Materials? Intellectual Property Policies for a New Learning Environment." The focus was on development and ownership of online courses and course materials by full-time faculty. The full-text version is available online.
 

For more information, e-mail Bill Thomas at bill.thomas@sreb.org