Strategies revealed for effective delivery of K-12 online education
ScienceDaily
North Carolina State University researchers released findings from an analysis of 284 different studies on the challenges and best practices for teaching K-12 classes online -- an effort launched during the COVID-19 pandemic to help teachers and administrators as they transitioned rapidly to online instruction. The researchers used the findings, which have now been published in Review of Educational Research, to develop a series of free, online and asynchronous professional development courses for teachers. The courses were provided online to more than 1,000 teachers during the early years of the pandemic. "We've learned a lot about what works for online instruction in U.S. higher education, but we wanted to see what works for K-12," said the study's lead author Carla C. Johnson, professor of science education at NC State. "We noticed that many teachers hadn't had any training for online instruction; we have been preparing them to teach face-to-face. Ultimately, we found that some of the strategies that worked well in-person also worked online, with some modifications." In their analysis, researchers searched for existing studies on online, virtual, distance or remote delivery of K-12 education. After reviewing the studies for key themes, researchers revealed three foundational elements needed for effective online instruction: teacher training in online teaching; district and school access to technology and the Internet; and consideration of student developmental level in instructional planning, such as whether students are able to learn independently.