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Show Rural Educators Benefit Online By Stephen G. Barkley Executive Vice President Performance Learning Systems, Inc. Garfield County School District is a rural district in southern Utah with both secondary and elementary school teachers currently enrolled in an online learning program with Performance Learning Systems, Inc. Because many Utah educators teach in outlying rural areas at schools lacking the funds to send them to regular classroom courses, relying in part on web-based online learning programs has been a boon to their continuing education needs. The current course, called "Learning Styles for Educators," consists of 30 hours of training within three components. The first is a live presentation of learning style concepts where educators receive an overview and participate in an inventory of their own teaching, working, and learning styles through a survey instrument called the "Kaleidoscope Profile". Those taking the program exclusively online access Kaleidoscope at HYPERLINK "http:www.plsweb.com" www.plsweb.com . The majority, however, are participating in this program with an infrastructure in place that allows teachers to learn online, participate in on-site or "live" learning, and interact with teammates in person, via email, or by phone. And, they can select the level of credit they want, the length of time (within a year) that they want to study, and times and places where they meet in a large group or with their team. It's a program filled with choice and freedom, but also incorporates a structure of accountability, monitoring, and motivating participants with emailed updates and checking in points. This takes considerable coordination and management. Valerie Lewis, a training consultant and Utah coordinator for PLS, noted this need for interaction with participants. She praised the efforts of Garfield County School-to-Careers Coordinator Janice Hatch who provided support, information, and feedback to participants, whether through email or face-to-face. "It's important to develop relationship," says Lewis. "Having someone like me or Janice available gives participants an introduction to the online concept, not only from a technical perspective, but also in terms of content. Otherwise, (See TEACHERS on page 5-A) TEACHERS From Page 4-A participants go home and sit by themselves looking at a screen. When there is a relationship involved, they are motivated to complete the program and report their success to someone," she adds. The on-site training in this southern Utah program is followed by 15 hours of online learning where subject- and grade-specific modules teach educators how to develop lesson plans to reach all styles, how to incorporate perceptual and organizational elements into their teaching, how to recognize the characteristics of various learning styles, how to design multisens'ory lessons, and how to . practice and implement learning styles in the classroom. A five-hour critical thinking Key Concept Module called "Questions for Life" rounds out the online portion of the program. Teams comprise the third component. Educators choose two other teachers to join with for purposes of designing lesson plans and receiving observation, feedback and peer coaching from other teammates. Each teacher inventories his or her classroom, receiving a compilation of the class, and the teams work together across curriculum and content to design lesson plans, curriculum, and teaching strategies that incorporate the tenets of learning styles. Teams meet at various times and places they choose, and those taking the course online communicate via email. "The marriage of the live and the online training is the best way go," says Hatch. "But the opportunity to take the program totally web-based and online without having to ask teachers to come to an onsite training is extremely valuable," she adds. "Many times in rural areas teachers cannot get release time to go to conferences. This fills the bill." The Utah program speaks clearly to the need for hybrid training as it demonstrates both the efficiency and convenience of online learning as well as the value of the practice and peer interaction teachers need to successfully utilize the skills taught. Skill development generally requires knowledge, modeling, and practice along with on-the-job observation and coaching. "Motivation to obtain graduate credit, relicensure, or lane-change credit is the tip of the iceberg in this program," says Hatch. "Our real goal is to give teachers new skills to implement in the classroom so they can effectively reach all students." |