PUBLICATIONS
Evaluation Report: Spring 2009A three-year contract from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction was awarded to evaluate progress made by NCVPS toward its strategic goals in years 2-4 of the school (10/01/08 - 06/15/2011). This report represents the first deliverable (08-09) from this contract. The original scope of work included surveys of students and teachers, which has been expanded at the request of NCVPS to other audiences of interest including Distance Learning Advisors (DLAs) critical to student success and high school principals instrumental in leadership for virtual schooling in the state.
Evaluation Report: Issues Surrounding Pre-Secondary Course Development for Virtual Schools
In April of 2008, leadership with the North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) began planning to develop their first courses for delivery to middle and elementary level students. While virtual courses targeting pre-high school students in North Carolina represented a novel approach, NCVPS leadership took the opportunity to push the innovation further by suggesting the courses incorporate future-ready Web 2.0 and 3.0 tools and interactivity. This report presents the results from a case study of eight teacher teams involved in these course development efforts, suggesting areas of need for course development teams around two themes of leadership guidance and professional development.
Published Article: What Are Secondary Students' Expectations for Teachers in Virtual School Environments?
The new North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) was evaluated in its first academic year (2007-2008) with findings suggesting secondary students' possessed significant expectations for their virtual school teachers. While students generally agreed their teachers provided a high quality online course experience, their recommendations reflect many suggestions within the extant literature relating to quality online teaching. Specifically, students have a clear idea of what they view as “teaching” in an online environment, which goes beyond merely moderating a course shell. Students also look for teachers to provide for content interaction as well as peer-to-peer collaboration, to assign meaningful projects based on relevant content, to frequently communicate with students and provide individualized attention, and to provide speedy, instructionally useful feedback. These results emphasize how institutions can establish expectations for online teachers and design professional development experiences that prepare teachers to undertake divergent roles unique to online instruction.
Published Article: Issues Surrounding the Deployment of a New Statewide Virtual Public School
The North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) completed its first session during the summer of 2007. Evaluation results revealed differences between accelerated and credit recovery students, including a significantly higher likelihood for accelerated students to rate their courses as high quality, to express interest in taking another online course, and to possess the necessary prerequisite technical skills to be successful online. Three themes emerged from qualitative comments: advantages of online learning, course design issues, and student readiness for online learning. Teacher comments suggested several readiness factors impacted student performance online including appropriate technical skill, proper technology resources for full participation, and self-direction.
Evaluation Report: Spring 2008
This evaluation was designed to help the North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) determine how well it made progress on five strategic goals it defined for itself during its first full year of operation. The goal was to understand the challenges facing a new statewide virtual public school, to define areas where significant success and progress were experienced, and lessons learned that might help define areas of focus in the coming year.
Evaluation Report: Summer 2007
This report summarizes the results of two separate surveys distributed to teachers and students involved in the summer 2007 North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS). Approximately 90 teachers and 706 students responded to the online surveys. Courses offered by NCVPS fit into one of two categories: credit recovery for students who have previously failed to acquire credit for a specific course, and accelerated for students who desire advanced courses of study. Where useful, results comparing the responses of teachers and students in these two groups are shared.
PROJECT TEAM
- Dr. Kevin Oliver
Principal Investigator - Kevin Brady
Co-Principal Investigator - Tricia Townsend
Research Associate - Ruchi Patel
Graduate Assistant
