Below is a speech I gave at the Jeffco Virtual Academy graduation last year.  It was a fun speech to give and a great way to think about the benefits of online schools!

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In 1988, Robert Fulghum published a book called All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten (before you all had even started Kindergarten!).  These are just a few of the critical life lessons that you learned in Kindergarten:

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don’t hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
• Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.

Today I offer you a new version of Fulghum’s list, perhaps more appropriate for the occasion today: All I Really Need to Know I Learned in My Online School.

The first thing you’ve learned in your time in an online school is that, “Midnight is a tough time to meet a deadline.”  Perhaps you can all think back to that nightmare evening.  You realized at 10 pm that you had an assignment due by midnight.  Eyes drooping, you frantically completed your essay on the Historical Significance of the Atomic Bomb, hoping that Mr Bailey might be generous.

Into every life, a few deadlines must come.  Meeting them with diligence and planning not only improves your chances of success, it also saves a lot of stress!

The second thing you’ve learned in your online school is that, “Showing up is important.”  Remember the first day you heard there was an attendance requirement for this crazy online school of yours?  But it’s an online school!  How can that be?  But as the days went on you realized that logging in daily created a routine.  It helped you manage your deadlines and perhaps helped you avoid a few late nights.  Sage modern prophet Woody Allen says that “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”

This too will be important as you enter the “real world.”  I beg of you to continue to show up.  Show up for your job.  Show up for your family.  Most importantly, show up for yourself.  Don’t allow mediocrity to be your norm.  Be someone that people can rely on.

The third thing you’ve learned in your online school is, “Know when to ask for help.”  As you tackled your online courses, there were many tricky problems that you had to overcome.  Links sometimes break.  Directions may sometimes be unclear.  You had to forge ahead into this new frontier and bravely tackle problems that you faced.  But you also had to know when to ask for help.  You knew that you were not alone, even when your way perhaps seemed lonely.

In the “real world” you are now entering, you will take great pride in being the lone ranger.  Paying taxes, grocery shopping, doing the laundry, etc. will become a part of your daily life and you’ll be right to be proud of doing it on your own.  I’d even encourage you to have ice cream for dinner sometimes—just because you’re now an adult and you can!

But, sometimes you’ll find sticky problems—ones that are hard to solve on your own.  Remember that you are not alone.  You can and should ask for help.  Parents, friends, and even teachers can continue to be helpful guides and you should never be too proud to seek out their assistance.  After all, none of us can do this alone.

The final and most important thing you’ve learned from your online school is, “Have the courage to seek something new when your status quo isn’t working.”  You all came to the Virtual Academy seeking something different.  You knew that your current circumstances weren’t working for you.  You wanted something different.  You needed something that worked for your style, for your strengths, for your passions.  When people questioned your decision to school online, you bravely answered their questions and didn’t allow other’s expectations to limit your possibilities.

I urge you to have that same kind of courage as you face your life ahead of you.  When you find yourself unhappy or dissatisfied with the status quo, have the courage to seek something new.  Find the path that works for you, even if it’s different from what others expect.  Having courage to try something new is what life is all about and you’ll never be sorry that you challenged yourself.

Each week that you’ve been in my class I’ve added an announcement that began, “Welcome to a new week in English 12!”  Today, I’m proud to say, “Welcome to a new phase of your life!”  Again, from the staff of Jeffco’s 21^st Century Virtual Academy, congratulations!

This year I am honored to be a part of the first-ever Digital Learning Day on February 1st, 2012.  Digital Learning Day encourages teachers from around the country to try something new in their classroom using digital tools.  What an exciting chance for teachers to try out new technologies as well as involve their students in a national movement!

In online learning, we are using digital tools every day to increase student achievement and engagement.  Unfortunately, the online teacher voice is often missing from the national media coverage about online schools.  Let’s use Digital Learning Day as an opportunity to change that.

This February 1st, I’m encouraging online teachers to use Twitter to get out the word about how digital tools have fundamentally changed the relationship you have with students, teachers, and parents.  To do so, just tweet your response to this question, “How do you make a difference using digital tools?” and then make sure you add this hashtag:  #DLDay #onlinevoice   Make your voice heard and help spread the word about the value of learning with technology!   (A special thanks to SREB and iNACOL for encouraging the idea!)

On February 1st, I’ll also be presenting at a national town hall meeting in D.C. about what it’s like to be an online teacher.  Special guests at the town hall include U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.  You can watch the whole thing via a live webcast.  Find more details here!

The part of my job that looks the most like what I did in a face to face classroom are the “live sessions” that I teach once a week.  Basically, these are webinars where I go over the work for the week and teach minilessons on some of the most difficult concepts from that week.  It’s a really comfortable environment for me.  I’m talking to kids, demonstrating ideas, leading discussions, etc.  Sometimes there’s even some classroom management (but temporarily turning off the chat function takes care of that pretty quickly!).

When parents come to our school, they’re comforted by the idea of a live session.  They think that’s where the majority of the instruction will happen in an online classroom since it’s what looks most like a traditional classroom.  When I first started teaching online, I thought that too.   I was surprised to find that only about 10% of my class could or would attend live sessions at their scheduled time.  They preferred to watch the recording when it was more convenient for them.  It was frustrating for me to think that maybe kids didn’t need to hear my voice live in order to learn!  What I finally came to realize is that the most important instruction in an online classroom actually happens asynchronously, not in a webinar at all.  Kids are getting feedback on assignments, adding ideas to the discussion board, and completing thought-provoking assignments all on their own time and at their own pace.

So then, the question becomes, “What function does the synchronous/live session serve?”  I do believe that kids need to hear my voice and need live instruction with me so the question becomes “What am I saying during that time and how can I make it most effective?”  I want it to be valuable for students and I want them to attend, live or in a recording.  However, in an environment where kids have fully customized assignments throughout, an “all at once” webinar seems stifling.  It’s not customized enough!  Therefore, I’m mixing up my live sessions this semester.  Instead of them focusing on an overview of that week’s work (which kids can find in my announcements and podcasts anyway), I’m making each session focus entirely on a minilesson that will help with that week’s work.  A recent topic was “Writing a Purpose Statement and Crafting Research Questions for a Research Paper.”  Then, as the recordings pile up in the class, they will become a resource for students to refer to whenever they’re struggling with a concept.  Instead of a session being titled “January 4, 2012 Live Session Recording,”  they’re titled something more like “January 4, 2012 Exploring Characterization in a Drama.”  Then kids can find what they need when they need it for “just in time” instruction.  I’m hoping it will make the live sessions a more integral and more effective part of my instruction, especially since I can refer kids to specific sessions by topic when they’re struggling or have questions.

The other experiment I’m conducting with live sessions this semester–I’m not requiring attendance.  I’m not giving any points for the live session and not requiring any related assignment.  Instead, I’ve told the students that their grades (and skills) will be better if they attend and that’s all the credit that’s needed.   It’s a nerve-wracking stance to take!  I’ll let you know how it goes.  Teachers who have tread this path before me swear that kids still attend because they know it helps.

What do you think?  What role should or could live webinar-based instruction play in an online classroom?  Are there programs that over-emphasize synchronous learning to the detriment of online learning as a whole?

Unfortunately this week brought more negative press for online schools.  I was quoted in anAssociated Press article that ran yesterday about online schools.  I was disappointed to see that, just like  The New York Times, the article focused on how for-profit corporations are benefiting from the boom in online learning.  The arguments for online learning were treated as a subheading to a larger story about online education scrutiny.

Unfortunately they failed to mention the many school districts and non-profits who are also involved in online learning.  These districts, including mine, are doing this work well and ensuring that student success remains their bottom line.  In addition, they’re able to keep their students within their home district, instead of having them transfer to online schools who might be run less conscientiously.

Online learning is truly a disruptive innovation and people don’t really like disruptions.  I love the quote from Susan Patrick in the article stating that face to face education is not the gold standard in education.  That’s so true!  As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, many face to face schools are failing students spectacularly.  I’m proud to be part of the disruption that is actively seeking a solution to that problem.

On Monday I had the honor of getting to spend some time at the New Tech East High School in Cleveland, Ohio.  They’re a program that follows the New Tech High School model of blended learning.  Basically, they emphasize 1-to-1 computing in a f2f environment combined with fully project-based learning.

The course I was visiting in the image above was a Geo-CAD course where students were learning digital media as well as geometry.  This student was explaining to me that he was creating a maze using Geo-CAD.  His maze had to emphasize clean design as well as several misleading routes.  In a history course that I visited, students were creating a movie about life for a family during the Great Depression.  Each group of students had a different context for their family.  The ones I watched work were trying to find a farm truck that would be appropriate for a family living in Oklahoma during the Great Depression.  It was fascinating to watch their reasoning as they searched through pictures on Google Images and discarded any that would not have fit the time period.

While I loved seeing all the students using computers as an integral part of what they do every day, some of my greatest learnings were around the potential for project-based learning.  These students repeatedly told me that they hated lectures and they were so glad they never had to sit through one.  They told me that they took ownership for their learning and that they really learned the material better than they ever did in a traditional classroom.  It really made me think about how I could utilize more project-based learning in my online classroom.  We definitely have the tools to do it.  The real challenge is building a course in such a way that it utilizes project-based learning more frequently.

The other thing I loved seeing from the students in New Tech was the drastic change in confidence that happened between their freshman and sophomore years.  The freshman, still in their first semester at New Tech, were hesitant.  They weren’t sure exactly how to talk to me as an adult or how to explain what was different about this school.  However, the sophomores and juniors were incredibly confident.  They had embraced the model and really understood that this was their learning experience, with completely intrinsic motivation for that learning.  It was such a fun transition to see!

I have often argued that some of the greatest learning that happens in my online classroom isn’t on the syllabus, especially in the fall semester.  Students learn a lot about time management, organization, and their learning styles as they struggle to adjust to an online learning format.  I think the folks at New Tech are seeing something similar.  Students gain confidence as they finally take ownership for their own learning.  That’s an amazing skill!  Kudos to New Tech!  (and a huge thank you to Knowledge Works for giving me the opportunity to share in that learning.)

There’s also a recording of the keynote panel that I did at VSS this year.  It was titled Why Online Teaching Matters.  The linked recording shows the entire opening session but you can jump to the panel by clicking on Chapter 15.  I speak last in the panel!  Here’s the link:  http://inacol.kzoplatform.com/swf/player/2

The good folks at iNACOL were kind enough to record my breakout session at VSS this year.  Unfortunately the screenshare didn’t work and they have the recording attributed to Matlea Parker (who’s awesome!) but either way it’s a great opportunity to hear a session that was really fun to teach.

You can see the presentation slides here:  Kipp VSS Breakout Session Powerpoint

You can access the audio recording at this link:  http://inacol.kzoplatform.com/swf/player/33

One of the things that I consistently talk about when I present is my course philosophy.  Basically, it’s that I want kids to make three critical connections in any course I teach.  I want them to connect to the content, I want them to connect to each other, and I want them to connect with me.  When all three of those things happen, they’re going to be far more engaged with the course and have a much better learning experience.

Below is a small part of a Prezi that I’ve been sharing in presentations.  It illustrates my course philosophy.  In general, I think we do a good job connecting kids to content but the other two critical elements don’t always happen.  What do you think?

Unfortunately this is the time of the semester when a few of the at-risk student that I work with will drop out.  They usually have less than a 20% in class and they’ve just given up.  I’ve had three in the last couple of weeks and I have to say it absolutely breaks my heart.

These kids often send me messages such as this, “Ms Kipp, thanks for being such a great teacher.  You’ve really been there for me but it’s just too much.  I’m going to drop out and get my GED.”   Many times these kids will still email me for a few semesters after dropping out.  I take those opportunities to shoot the breeze with them and also encourage them to get their GED and begin work at a community college.  I never want to give up on them and maintaining that relationship is an easy way to make sure that a caring adult continues to be in their life and challenges them to find success.

These kinds of situations make me realize that education buzz words like “early intervention” and “dropout prevention” are more than just buzz words.  They’re an absolute necessity to keep kids in school.  I do absolutely everything I can to engage kids and encourage them to get their diploma but I can’t do this alone.  Education is a team effort and we, as a team, need to do better.  We need to start early (like Kindergarten!) and we need to find real solutions to reach real kids.