Online Teacher Satisfaction & Course Growth

There are three distinct themes that arise in looking at online teachers and how satisfied they are with their job:  flexibility, communication, and support (Borup & Stevens, 2016).  In any aspect of education, there are grumbles among teachers of little things that are frustrating.  In traditional settings, those grumbles, as well as teacher needs and support, are readily discussed and corrected.  There is a ready-made group of individuals who can help in any aspect of your teaching.  There are more issues in getting support with online courses.  You can't necessarily walk down the hall to talk to a colleague.  Getting the support you need is more of a challenge.  Having a supportive administration is key to success, whether you are in traditional or online classes.  I was surprised that teacher satisfaction increased with more professional development (PD) opportunities because most PD I have attended has not been helpful in working with students.  We are given an overview of a technique in very broad terms, and are not able to see it implemented.  I am glad to see the PD that is offered is actually helpful.  Education is usually very slow to adapt to anything new, so it will be a while before teacher education programs really addressed online teaching as a standard practice.   With a lack in teacher education and the growing numbers of students taking online classes, I am also not surprised by the lack of quality in various places, as shown in the Michigan Effectiveness Report 2016-2017 and NEPC 2017 report.  I have seen and heard news reports regarding the policies in many states over the last few years.  The unregulated growth in non-traditional schools is scary.  There seems to be no "checks and balances" system on these schools to actually educate their students.  I did not expect the struggling online students to cross racial and socioeconomic lines so much.  This tells me that there are a lot more factors involved in student success.  The more you address the themes of teacher satisfaction, the more quality you are likely to see.  Teachers who are vested in their program and curriculum development work hard to make it the best they can.  The very things that make online learning attractive are the same things that make it harder for many students to succeed, particularly as schools are including younger students in their online courses.
The National Center for Education Statistics has several research studies regarding online schools.  Most were state specific.  It was interesting to see the variety in research completed, including credit recovery, online teachers, student engagement, as well as the states that are doing research on their programs. 

 I would like to job shadow teachers from different state's online education systems to see how each works, picking from some good and some poor performing areas.  Sometimes the best way to figure out what to do is to see what doesn't work.  Watching others teach is one of the best ways to improve your practice.  Not all online programs are the same.  There are several things that I will keep in mind as I look to the future of my own teaching.  I will need to set boundaries for my online students,  so that I still have a personal life.  I don't have trouble with this now, but can see how it could become a problem.  I will also need to make sure that the school division or private company I work for enables me to modify curriculum.  I already do a lot of modifying based on student need.  I can not envision giving up that desire to find the right tool to help my students.  I also like the idea of periodically providing synchronous instruction for students as a choice.  Some students will do better that way and it helps build a community of learning.  I particularly see that being helpful in elementary and middle school, where the kids are still trying to please a person.

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