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Training for Online Teachers to Support Student Success: Themes from a Survey Administered to Teachers in Four Online Learning Programs
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, , Education Development Center, Inc., United States

Journal of Online Learning Research Volume 2, Number 4, ISSN 2374-1473 Publisher: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), Waynesville, NC USA

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Abstract

In addition to teaching the subject matter, online teachers are tasked with supporting students’ understanding of the online environment as well as students’ progress, engagement, and interactions within the course. Yet only four states and the District of Columbia require teachers to receive training in online instruction prior to teaching a K–12 online course (Watson et al., 2014). Directors of three supplemental online learning programs and one consortium in the Midwest administered a survey to their teachers to gather information about teachers’ preservice education and professional development, the challenges they encountered while teaching and supporting students online, and their perceived needs for additional professional development. Online teachers reported that they primarily received training while teaching online rather than during preservice education. The most commonly reported challenges were related to supporting student engagement and perseverance. The results from this survey suggest that online teachers may need additional training in multiple areas in order to best support their students. Further, the results highlight that more rigorous research is needed to determine the online instructional practices that improve student engagement, perseverance, and performance.

Citation

Zweig, J. & Stafford, E. (2016). Training for Online Teachers to Support Student Success: Themes from a Survey Administered to Teachers in Four Online Learning Programs. Journal of Online Learning Research, 2(4), 399-418. Waynesville, NC USA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved January 28, 2023 from .

© 2016 Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)

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