In-Service Teachers' Perceptions of K-12 Online Learning Curriculum in a Graduate Course: An Action Research Project

Introduction

The number of students taking online courses in the U.S. has increased exponentially since the inception of virtual schools in 1996, yet the focus on teaching in an online environment is a relatively new concept for most teacher education programs (Ferdig et al., 2009; Gemin et al., 2015; Kennedy & Archambault; 2012; Molnar et al., 2019). For almost a decade now, all states and the District of Columbia provide some form of online learning opportunity for their students (Watson et al., 2011), and five states even require students to complete some form of online experience in order to graduation (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2016). The most recent data suggest that at least 2.2 million supplemental students were enrolled in approximately 4.5 million online courses (Gemin et al., 2015), while an additional 300,000 students were enrolled in one of approximately 500 full-time cyber schools (Molnar et al., 2019). The Digital Learning Collaborative (2019) estimated that while enrollment in state-sponsored virtual schools has stabilized, enrollment in state-wide virtual schools is growing at a rate of about 6% per year and that digital learning in districts is growing at the fastest rate, yet there is less data available than in other sectors. With the continued growth of K-12 online learning, teachers must be prepared to teach both in traditional face-to-face environments and in online environments, yet there are a myriad of challenges faced by teachers and teacher preparation institutions (Archambault & Larson, 2015; Archambault et al., 2016; Kennedy & Archambault, 2012; Linton, 2018). One of the most complicating challenges is that there is little empirical research that examines what skills are needed to be an effective online teacher (Barbour, 2012a).

In a traditional classroom environment, the teacher is typically responsible for designing, implementing, and facilitating the content and instructional activities, yet, in the online environment, it is common for different individuals to perform these tasks. Davis et al. (2005) were the first researchers to delineate individual online teacher roles as a part of their “Teacher Education Goes Into Virtual Schooling” (TEGIVS) project (Barbour et al., 2018). The three distinct roles in the K-12 online learning environment the TEGIVS project identified were the virtual school designer, virtual school teacher, and virtual school site facilitator or mentor (Davis, 2007).

In this article, we explore the fourth cycle of data collection in an action research project. The general purpose of this project was to examine K-12 online learning curricular materials in a graduate course at a Midwestern university. We begin by examining the challenges and current status of teacher education in addressing the need for teachers trained to design, deliver, and support K-12 online learning. We continue by describing the nature of the action research project in question. Next, we explore the four themes generated by the course artefacts and other data collected during the fourth round of data collection. Finally, we outline the specific implications for future course design.