How to Train Teachers to Teach High School Online
Peter McPherson, president of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, said that "during the past decade, online learning has begun to weave into the fabric of higher education and has become the fastest growing segment. " Training high-school teachers to provide high quality education is imperative in this technological age. Create pairs to expedite the learning process. Pair an inexperienced teacher (teacher B) with an experienced online teacher (teacher A). Have the experienced teacher give an overview of the school's software platform. These software programs serve as an umbrella organizing function for online capabilities for students and teachers. Have teacher A walk Teacher B through the introductory steps. Encourage teacher B to complete the tutorials alone, and then teacher B review any questions and concerns. After completing the training, teacher B should be prepared and empowered to: transfer lesson plans into the software program, post slide show presentations on each chapter; create online discussion forums, and assign homework that can be posted and graded online.
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Instructions
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Post slide show presentations online. Take key points from your classroom lectures and textbooks and transfer them into the vehicle of slide show technology. Powerpoint software is popular with teachers and is a user-friendly program. Doyle and Giangreco say, "to create an effective slide show, follow these important tips: use high-quality images, minimize written text, stick to the big ideas, limit the number of slides to key points, include brief audio and video clips when appropriate, do not overuse animation features, and use contrasting colors carefully (dark text on a light background is best)."
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Create online discussion forums. According to Dr. Susan Lowes of the Institute of Learning Technologies, "The discussion forum is the central hub of the course, where students meet to share ideas, discuss theories, submit homework, and review information with each other and with the teacher." Post a discussion thread topic once a week related to current course work. Encourage the students to participate by giving them incentive in the form of a participation grade. Respond to the students comments in three primary ways: encouragement, question/challenging or providing new information. This three-prong approach addresses different learning styles of students and will encourage critical level thinking about the discussion thread topic.
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Clearly define the goals and expectations of the homework assignments. According to Lewis, "If a student is asked about which teachers are most highly qualified, they will likely tell you that it is the teachers who spend extra time with them and who makes the class content clear and attainable." One of the benefits of online homework assignments, is the expectations and grading system can be clearly defined in writing. Another benefit is that the teacher can alter privacy settings, and allow other students to witness the grading and correcting process for each homework. Altered privacy settings ensure teacher accountability by limiting the amount of favoritism that can occur.
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Tips & Warnings
Take some time before the semester starts to familiarize yourself with your school's software.
Students will lose respect for you as a teach if you do not appear competent. Take the time to receive adequate training, to write professional lesson plans and to personally connect with all the students through individual emails.
References
- "Making Presentation Software Accessible to High School Students"; Mary Beth Doyle & Michael F. Giangreco; 2009
- "Online Learning: A User-Friendly Approach for High School and College Students"; Leslie Bowman; 2010
- "Studying the Effectiveness of the Discussion Forum"; Susan Lowes, 2006
- "Strong Faculty Engagement in Online Learning APLU Reports"; Peter Mcpherson; 2009
- "Highly Qualified Teachers: We know em when we see em"; A.C. Lewis; 2005
- "A Systemic Approach to Enhancing Teacher Quality: The ohio model; T. J. Lasley; 2006
Resources
- Photo Credit female student image by Petro Feketa from Fotolia.com
