January 2008 — News

Print this article

Click here to receive your FREE subscription to T.H.E. Journal

K-12 Online Teaching Endorsements: Are They Needed?

by Patricia Deubel, Ph.D.

There is still a lack of standards and policies for virtual schools and many differing views about the education that teachers need for the online environment (Davis et al., 2007, pp. 4-5). NACOL (2007) adopted the Southern Regional Education Board Standards for Quality Online Courses as a source for its standards and added a standard to include 21st Century Skills. The National Education Association (NEA) recognized in its policy statement on distance education that "licensure in a subject matter being taught is a necessary condition for any teacher, [but] it is not a sufficient condition for a teacher involved in distance education. Teachers who provide distance education should in addition be skilled in learning theories, technologies, and teaching pedagogies appropriate for the online environment" (NEA Policy 13, sec: Student Learning, 7a).

We have a long way to go in ensuring consistent teacher quality in K-12 online programs. In their 2006-2007 national survey of online K-12 teachers, administrators and professional development trainers, Rice and Dawley (2007) noted that "most state-led programs have developed extensive professional development (PD) for their own teachers, but that the amount of time in PD varies greatly by program, from none to 270 hours per year" (p. 5). They found that 90 percent of online teachers had professional development of some kind, or it was made available to them; the highest teacher-reported period when PD occurred was during the first year (61 percent). Unfortunately 62 percent of teachers reported having no training prior to teaching online.

Essential Competencies
A teacher can be rated as great in a face to face setting, yet be ineffective in an online setting. Online educators might teach students residing in multiple states and internationally. The diversity of students in terms of culture, ethnicity, socio-economic background, and abilities is potentially far greater than for teaching in a single rural, urban, or suburban face to face setting. While every teacher needs competencies within their subject area, a national or state endorsement in online teaching would indicate that the teacher understands the unique needs of online learners and challenges they face and has developed online learning facilitation skills that include conducting effective online discussions, managing and monitoring the progress of each learner, guiding collaborative activities, and administering online assessments and evaluations.

An endorsement in teaching online would indicate completion of initial training in theoretical, technical, and pedagogical foundations. Competencies would be gained via online learning to ensure teachers have some personal experiences with issues faced by online learners. Teachers would have facilitated at least one online course, hopefully mentored, thus gaining an understanding of the expanded time commitment of online educators to ensure learner success.