Digital Learning Day: Ways to Support Successful Online Learning
Originally published by the Education Development Center on February 27, 2020.
February 27 is Digital Learning Day, set aside “to actively spread innovative practices and ensure that all youth have access to high-quality digital learning opportunities no matter where they live.”1 For practitioners and researchers like us, this is a day we can all get behind.
Digital learning is happening in and around schools all the time. National estimates from 2015-16 indicated that 57.5% of public high schools offered courses entirely online.2 Yet rigorous research is limited for K–12 online learning, which means that determining effective approaches to delivering content and supporting students in an online context can be challenging.
Schools and districts are searching for evidence to guide them in deciding where to spend their online learning resources. And options abound—from course providers to learning management systems to ways to prepare and support online learners.
To help build a research evidence base, the Education Development Center has partnered with Michigan Virtual and Michigan Department of Education to examine whether an online orientation will help students successfully complete their online courses. We presented at the Digital Learning Annual Conference (DLAC) this week, which sparked a discussion about how best to prepare students for online learning.
Conversations among researcher and practitioner colleagues continued at DLAC, which highlighted the policy and practice questions that still need to be studied and the importance of trusted information.
Yet, answers to these questions can only become reality if researchers, state and local education agencies, and online learning providers work together to better understand students’ needs, to study interventions, and to make sense of data in the rapidly changing world of online learning.
Researchers need practitioners to ensure that questions are relevant, and that data are accessible, usable, and protected.
Practitioners need researchers to understand the data and options available through learning management systems, to work through the challenges of linking data sets, and to make sense of what is happening with students in their online courses.
As we celebrate Digital Learning Day 2020, we encourage researchers, practitioners, and online program developers to continue to improve online instruction, expand inclusive and equitable access to online courses, and support students to be successful online. We hope you will find a partner and join us!
Michigan Virtual
For more than 27 years, Michigan Virtual has partnered with K–12 school districts across Michigan to expand learning opportunities for students and educators alike. Through our high-quality online courses, taught by Michigan-certified, highly qualified teachers, we empower students to learn anytime, anywhere. We also provide affordable, impactful professional development to help educators grow in their craft. Most recently, Michigan Virtual has been at the forefront of innovation and artificial intelligence in education, offering consultation services and professional learning to guide schools in thoughtfully integrating new technologies and learning pathways.
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