Virtual Internships

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 09/14/09

With the motto "Any time, any path, any place, any pace," Florida Virtual School (FLVS) is a Web-based public school catering primarily to students in middle and high school. Earlier this year it introduced an internship program in which six pre-service students from education programs at the University of Florida and the University of Central Florida worked with six experienced FLVS teachers to learn how to deliver classes online.

"Because it was the first of its kind of program, we didn't have a model to lean on about how it works," says Brian Marchman, instructional leader with FLVS. The interns started by going through the same four-day training orientation that all new hires attend to learn about the proprietary learning management system FLVS uses as well as the school's course design, pedagogy, and culture. From there, the pre-service students had a quick ramp-up, which involved participating in the welcome calls teachers give new students, monthly calls teachers have with parents, and Webinars that are part of the classes. The interns also provided feedback to students under supervision of the in-service teachers.

Along the way, the interns picked up skills unique to online teaching. For example, classroom management isn't about keeping a group of 25 or 30 students focused on the work, explains Marchman. "It's about goal-setting, having a future focus, and then keeping in tune with goals for an entire course, broken into goals from week to week and day to day. Our teachers are very good with helping students become self-disciplined."

Likewise, the in-service teachers were exposed to emerging technologies being used at the universities. "Because of age of the interns, who are closer to our students' ages, there were lots of suggestions and recommendations made by interns about how to reach out to students and engage them in emerging technology," Marchman says. "That was an unintended by-product for the master teachers."

The success of the program has led FLVS to want to expand its internship offering throughout the state university system in Florida and beyond. "While a teacher can now be endorsed to teach English or math, they could also be endorsed for online teaching," says Marchman. "Historically, it has been, 'Hey, it's here! Come and get it!' to we're going to reach out and engage the previously disengaged and view our students as volunteers. They chose to come to us. We have an increased responsibility to be totally engaging with our courses and our teachers."

Click here to return to the main feature article.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • hand holding globe and environmental icons in front of a green background

    CoSN, SETDA, UDT Release Guidelines for Environmentally Responsible Technology Purchasing

    CoSN and SETDA, in partnership with IT and telecommunications solution provider UDT, recently released a set of Sustainability Procurement Guidelines designed to help K-12 school and district leaders, procurement officers, and technology directors make purchasing decisions that are both environmentally responsible and operationally effective.

  • digital dashboard featuring a shield icon, graphs, a world map, and network nodes

    IBM Launches Agentic AI Governance and Security Platform

    IBM has introduced a new software stack for enterprise IT teams tasked with managing the complex governance and security challenges posed by autonomous AI systems.

  • red brick school building with a large yellow "AI" sign above its main entrance

    New National Academy for AI Instruction to Provide Free AI Training for Educators

    In an effort to "transform how artificial intelligence is taught and integrated into classrooms across the United States," the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), in partnership with Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, and the United Federation of Teachers, is launching the National Academy for AI Instruction, a $23 million initiative that will provide access to free AI training and curriculum for all AFT members, beginning with K-12 educators.

  • tutor and student working together at a laptop

    You've Paid for Tutoring. Here's How to Make Sure It Works.

    As districts and states nationwide invest in tutoring, it remains one of the best tools in our educational toolkit, yielding positive impacts on student learning at scale. But to maximize return on investment, both financially and academically, we must focus on improving implementation.