I had the opportunity to present with several colleagues at SITE2014 (the annual conference of the Society of Information Technology in Teacher Education.)
Here is the abstract of our presentation along with the associated paper.
Abstract:
Teachers are the single most important factor when it comes to adding value to student learning (Sanders & Horn, 1998) and teacher effectiveness, demonstrated to be paramount in face-to-face classrooms (Darling-Hammond, 2000), likely plays a large role in online and blended classrooms as well. Given the steady growth in online learning in the last decade, 1.8 million enrollments in the 2009-10 school year up from 600,000 in 2006 (Queen, Lewis, & Coopersmith, 2011), and an estimated 740,000 enrollments served by state virtual schools and over 300,000 students served by fully online schools in the 2012-13 school year (Watson, Murin, Vashaw, Gemin, & Rapp, 2013), it is somewhat surprising that so few states currently offer formal avenues of additional training and preparation of online and blended K-12 teachers. Only seven states (Georgia, Idaho, Michigan, Louisiana, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Utah) have online or distance education endorsements.
The paper can be found here: <paper_3060_41819-1 SITE2014_Panel>
Kristen DeBruler, Michigan Virtual University, United States
Kathryn Kennedy, Michigan Virtual University, United States
Leanna Archambault, Arizona State University, United States
Stein Brunvand, University of Michigan Dearborn, United States
Leigh Wolf, Michigan State University, United States
Leah Breen, Michigan Department of Education, United States
Susan Lowes, Teachers College Columbia University, United States