DL Quality Review

1919 to 2014- Ninety + years of

growth!

Policy, Legislation

FundingDelivery - Quality services

to students

Coordination of Technology and

Support Structures

MinistrySchool Boards

School District No 73 Business Company

The Partnership

DL will mean quality education

Any student can access DL

Any student can enrol anytime throughout the year

Choice to take courses from anywhere: even more than one school/board/authority

2013-14: Agreements with 46 Boards of Education.

56 Public and 17 Independent DL schools

Characteristics

Public DL Enrolments: FTEs

0.00

2,000.00

4,000.00

6,000.00

8,000.00

10,000.00

12,000.00

14,000.00

16,000.00

2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013

Sept FTE Count

Feb FTE Count

May FTE Count

TOTAL FTE

Public DL Enrolments: Headcount

0.00

20,000.00

40,000.00

60,000.00

80,000.00

100,000.00

120,000.00

140,000.00

160,000.00

2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013

Sept Headcount

Feb Headcount

May Headcount

TOTAL

PUBLIC and Independent FTE Enrolments: All Counts

0.00

2,000.00

4,000.00

6,000.00

8,000.00

10,000.00

12,000.00

14,000.00

16,000.00

2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013

Public

Independent

PUBLIC and Independent FTE Enrolments: September Count only

0.00

1,000.00

2,000.00

3,000.00

4,000.00

5,000.00

6,000.00

7,000.00

8,000.00

2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-2011 2011-2012 2012-2013 2013-2014

FTE - Sept Counts Public

FTE - Sept Counts Independent

FTE - All counts, 2013/14

by District

-200.00

0.00

200.00

400.00

600.00

800.00

1,000.00

1,200.00

-20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Headcounts - All counts, 2013/14

by District

-1,000

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

-20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Enrolments – Public DL Schools

1

10

100

1000

10000

VancouverChilliwackSaanich

SurreyNechako Lakes

Comox Valley

Coquitlam

Richmond

Central Okanagan

Sooke

Kamloops/Thompson

Nanaimo-Ladysmith

Burnaby

North Vancouver

Abbotsford

Nicola-Similkameen

Peace River North

Greater Victoria

Coast Mountains

Langley

QualicumDelta

Peace River SouthAlberniKootenay LakeNew WestminsterVernon

Okanagan Skaha

Southeast Kootenay

Sea to Sky

Mission

Prince George

Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows

Rocky Mountain

Okanagan Similkameen

Bulkley Valley

Conseil scolaire francophone

Powell River

North Okanagan-Shuswap

Campbell River

Cariboo-Chilcotin

Gold Trail

Cowichan Valley

Vancouver Island NorthSunshine Coast

QuesnelArrow Lakes

2012/2013

2012/2013

DL Quality Review

Separate process from audits

Focus on student performance and related data

Ongoing dialogue throughout the year

Emphasis on Quality and Standards

Achievement

Engagement

Professional Development

Support

Garrison, Anderson, & Archer’s “Community of Inquiry”, and Leithwood’s Transformational Leadership theory

Learner Presence

New work has postulated that good online learners are strategic, active and reflective, and these behaviours are inherent to the learner, not the teacher. This Learner Presence includes activities such as student-student collaborations and self-regulatory learning behaviours such as

Planning and time management Organizing and transforming course materials Establishing a positive learning environment Self-monitoring and record keeping Help-seeking Reflection on performance, effort and goal setting

It is important to note that these are characteristics and behaviours of the learner, but school staff may be in a position to help students gain these skills.

Garrison, Anderson, & Archer’s “Community of Inquiry”, and Leithwood’s Transformational Leadership theory

Leadership

• Creating a shared vision,

• Setting goals,

• Providing intellectual stimulation,

• Supplying individual support,

• Modeling effective practice,

• Meeting high expectations, and

• Developing a positive culture, and creating structures that support active involvement in decision making

Internal Review – guiding questions

As a distributed learning teacher, what do you do to create a teaching presence in your classes?

Communicate course topics, goals, timelines, and expectations regarding assignments?

Provide instruction to students about participation in activities, productive dialogue, and task expectations, as well as providing instruction to help students master content and achieve learning outcomes?

Guide students to help identify areas of agreement/disagreement on course topics, help clarify student’s thinking about course topics, focus discussion on relevant issues, and help students explore new concepts in the course?

Foster the development of a sense of community among course participants, and provide relevant and timely feedback to students?

Select appropriate resources and/or develop learning materials and content for your students that meet the highest standards for quality and student usability

Internal Review – guiding questions

As a distributed learning teacher, what do you do to create a social presence in your classes

Create a sense of belonging and community for students?

Support student expression in online discussion, building a sense of collaboration?

Foster the use of a variety of communication strategies, including online strategies, for social interaction among students and teacher?

Internal Review – guiding questions

As a distributed learning teacher, what do you do to create a cognitive presence in your classes?

Foster student interest in course issues and content, while supporting the development of new perspectives through student reflection?

Encourage students to use a variety of information sources, techniques, and approaches to solutions when exploring problems posed in the course?

Support the testing and application of new knowledge for students?

Internal Review – guiding questions

As a distributed learning leader, what do you do to plan, support, and communicate?

Create a shared vision for DL?

Foster the creation and implementation of group goals; set direction, monitor, and plan school growth and activity?

Set high performance expectations for staff and students?

Ensure all teachers are qualified and trained, and provide instructional support for staff?

Assist staff in the creation of processes and content that fosters student engagement?

Create structures in a DL environment that foster collaboration?

Build productive relations with parents and the community?

Recognize and celebrate teacher and student accomplishments?

External Review Team

Contracted team lead

Practicing DL/Alt/CE administrators

Ministry of Education program area reps

2 to 3 days in the school

Semi-structured interviews of students, parents, teachers, support staff, administrators

Data

Public: Completion Rates: 16 Courses

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

PLANNING 10

PHYSICAL

EDUCATION 10

SOCIAL STUDIES 11

SOCIAL STUDIES 10

ENGLISH 10

PRINCIPLES OF

MATHEMATICS 12

ENGLISH 11

SCIENCE 10

CHEMISTRY 12

COMMUNICATIONS 11

BIOLOGY 11

ENGLISH 12

CHEMISTRY 11

PHYSICS 11

PRINCIPLES OF

MATHEMATICS 11

BIOLOGY 12

2009/2010

2011/2012

Completion Rates: DL and Non-DL

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

BIOLOGY 11

BIOLOGY 12

CHEMISTRY 11

CHEMISTRY 12

COMMUNICATIONS 12

ENGLISH 10

ENGLISH 11

ENGLISH 12

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

10

PHYSICS 11

PLANNING 10

PRINCIPLES OF

MATHEMATICS 11

PRINCIPLES OF

MATHEMATICS 12

SCIENCE 10

SOCIAL STUDIES 10

SOCIAL STUDIES 11

2011/2012 - Non DL

2011/2012 - DL

Quality Reviews

2013-14: 4 schools reviewed. Focus on Alt/CE and DL schools: SD 23 – Kelowna

SD 33 – Chilliwack

SD 63 - Saanich

SD 70 – Port Alberni

Wide range of high quality blended and on-line configurations

More cooperation between neighbourhood and DL schools

Ongoing, relevant and timely upgrading of teachers’ skills and content is a challenge for some

Two sample findings

• Planning 10/Applied Digital Communications 11

• An 8 credit course co-taught to a cohort of students in a brick and mortar school by a DL teacher connecting via video conferencing suite and a F2F teacher in the school. (SD23)

• Planning 10, PE 10, and others taught to individual Grade 9 students in middle school

• Students supported within timetable in a supervised setting. (SD33)

1. As a member of a QR team in 2013

2. Having a QR at FVDES in 2014

Special Education

Math/Science Teacher

School Counsellor

Secondary School VP

District Administrator

Alternate/CE Administrator

DL Principal

• Chilliwack school district• One of the original 9 regional DE schools• About 950 FTE • K to 12• 12 month school for 10 to 12 and 10 months for K to 9• About 70 % online and 30 % paper• Movement from rural setting to downtown shared space• Work with federal institutions and independent schools• Staffing: 32 teachers, 3 Admin, 15 clerical, 2.5 Techs, 2 Educational assistants, 1

youth care worker

1. Internal Review

2. External Review

• Surveys – staff, parents, students• Achievement data – SADE, monthly reports• DL Standards – Teachers and Support Staff

We bring our school to you

Distributed Learning Standards

Strengths Concerns

Goals

Action Plan

Progress Reports

DEPARTMENT GOALS AND ACTION PLAN

How did we come up with our goals?

How did we come up with our goals?

We meet each month as a department and we have reviewed:

• the DL Standards and as a group discussed our strengths and areas for growth in relation to those standards as well as how they apply to our department

• the DL Standards for Content and set some goals

What are we good at?

• Our management of learning is good (DL Standards 1)

• We aim to engage students with stimulating cognitive processes (DL Standards 3)

• Planning for learning is another area of strength (DL Standards 4)

• Supporting Instruction and Learning is well done (DL Standards 5)

• We work hard to make our content engaging, current and accessible with clear learning objectives and a variety of assessment tools to meet or exceed the Technical, Layout, Instructional Design and Pedagogy, and Assessment Standards (DL Content Standards)

Where can we improve?

• We all agreed that our biggest challenge is Fostering Social Learning (DL Standards 2)

• For this reason, we decided to tackle this aspect of the DL Standards first

What Are We Doing to Improve Social Learning?

• We are building a humanities resource center that all students will have access to

• We are currently building the glossary part of the resource center

• This resource center will be used to keep students informed of upcoming events (field trips, provincial exams, etc.)

• It will house information on plagiarism, content support, provincial exam preparation, etc.

What Are We Doing to Improve Social Learning?

• It will have a glossary to support student learning with humanities concepts

• We would like it to include a humanities social area for students to connect with each other as well as a writing support center for students to get one-one teacher or peer help with their writing and editing

Initial meeting with QR team

- Review process

- Meet the QR team

Staff meeting to explain our internal review

- School and district context

- Review our internal review findings

Individual interviews:

- All staff

- Students

- Parents

- Admin team

- Senior management

- Partnerships

Trips to see some special activities:

- Blended learning

- Independent school partnerships

- Special programs: Robotics, Tutoring

Verbal report from QR team:

- All staff meeting

- Themes from the external review

Final report from QR team:

- About 2 months

- Questions from the team

- Final report to school and district

Value from working with ministry folks

- Normal people

- Connected to the history of DL

- Connect to the provincial DL picture

Value of working with an experienced DL administrator:

- Connect to the experience of others

- Discuss leadership

Value from building relationships with another DL school’s staff:

- Exchange ideas

- School visits for staff

Questions & Comments