SYS Presents: Adventures in Online Education

Natalie Conway wants to talk to you. Specifically, she wants to chat about online education, a subject she is well versed in. Natalie has worked in large, corporate-managed online schools; small independent online schools; and even worked as a consultant and instructional coach all while juggling the demands of raising a family and her own self-imposed reading regiment.

S03 EP16 - "How to college" with Peter Drake 12/09/2022

S03 EP15 - Greatest Hits: AP with Maddy Dahl 12/02/2022

S03 EP14 - Finding your Hammer with Matt Miller 11/25/2022

S3 EP13 - From Old to New: Changes in Instructional Practices 11/18/2022

S03 EP12 - Greatest Hits with Chris Voelker 11/11/2022

S03 EP11 - The Power of Collaboration 11/04/2022

S03 EP11 - The Power of Collaboration Edi Cox serves as the Director for Low Country Virtual, an online school in South Carolina. She began her career as a high school teacher who was recognized for her innovative work. In her most recent role she served as the Executive Director of Online Learning and Instructional Technology in one of the largest school districts in South Carolina. She is credited with launching one of the first district-led virtual programs in the Palmetto State. In 2013 Ms. Cox was instrumental in the writing and submission of a Gates Foundation Grant designed to help a district launch personalized learning efforts with a rollout of 1:1 devices to more than 43,000 students. She holds multiple degrees and has completed additional graduate-level coursework through Western Governors' University, where I recently attended as well! Edi continues to stay current in the field by serving in a variety of roles with national organizations such as the Digital Learning Collaborative, Virtual Learning Leadership Alliance (VLLA) and Quality Matters. She provided guidance in the revisions to the National Standards for Quality (NSQ). Today, Edi tells us about the power of collaboration among districts, and how important it is for us all to learn from our collective mistakes and wins. Timestamps 2:53 What Edi’s educational journey has looked like 4:46 Edi was an instructional designer before instructional designers were a thing! 5:45 Edi’s work with the Low Country Educational Consortium 7:06 Taking advantage of the forced online learning from the pandemic 11:52 We know that the majority of students are well-served by the traditional brick and mortar classroom 13:06 Supporting the students who are not served well by the traditional model 17:45 Why is it important for Low Country Virtual to partner with organizations like Digital Learning Collaborative and Quality Matters? 20:33 Quality Matters 24:14 What would Edi give to every teacher in the U.S., and why? /episode/index/show/sysed/id/24896454

S03 EP10 - Online Learning with Allison Powell 10/28/2022

S03 EP10 - Online Learning with Allison Powell Dr. Allison Powell is the former Vice President for State and District Services/New Learning Models of the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL), which provides expertise and leadership in K-12 Blended, Online, and Competency-based Learning. Working at iNACOL, Allison helped write the National Standards for Quality and several other reports to expand and improve the field of K-12 online, blended and competency-based learning. Allison taught in both face-to-face and online K-8 environments. She has been working in the field of online learning for over 15 years, starting as a K-8 blended teacher for Odyssey Charter Schools in Las Vegas, NV. After teaching in a blended environment, the Clark County School District asked her to help start the Virtual High School in the fifth largest school district in the country. In her role as an administrator for the program, she helped with training teachers, building courses, overseeing technology and educating leaders on the benefits of online learning. Allison was charged with starting an online professional development program for the school district to allow all administrators, teachers, and district staff to meet their training needs in a more flexible environment. Allison regularly shares her expertise in K-12 online education by speaking at various education and policy meetings and events around the world. She has served on several boards for various schools and organizations. Allison completed her doctorate in educational technology from Pepperdine University. In today’s episode, Allison talks about the importance of groups such as the Digital Learning Collaborative, Quality Matters and the Evergreen group. She reminds us that online instruction works best when everyone has equitable access, and relationships are strong. Timestamps 3:34 Allison’s roles in the Digital Learning Collaborative, DLAC, and the Evergreen group 5:35 How does the DLC do their research? 8:10 What is DLAC like? 11:00 Allison’s time with iNACOL and how she got involved with online learning 13:27 The process of creating an online high school program 15:50 Stories from the early days 19:21 What have been some of the most positive changes in the world of virtual education over the past 15 years? 21:21 It’s common to form stronger relationships online than in brick and mortar schools 23:39 Some of the new things coming to online learning 29:19 What would Allison give to every teacher in the U.S.? Resources /episode/index/show/sysed/id/24825870

S03 EP09 - Autism in the Classroom with Pete Wharmby 10/21/2022

S03 EP08 - Supporting Students with Autism 10/14/2022

S03 EP07 - Greatest Hits with Dr. Katie Novak 10/07/2022

S03 EP06 - Next Practices in Educational Technology 09/30/2022

S03 EP05 - Tangible Equity in the Online Classroom with Colin Seale 09/23/2022

S03 EP05 - Tangible Equity in the Online Classroom with Colin Seale Colin Seale was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, where struggles in his upbringing gave birth to his passion for educational equity. Tracked early into gifted and talented programs, Colin was afforded opportunities his neighborhood peers were not. Using lessons from his experience as a math teacher, later as an attorney, and now as a keynote speaker, contributor to Forbes, The 74, Edutopia and Education Post and author of Thinking Like a Lawyer: A Framework for Teaching Critical Thinking to All Students (Prufrock Press, 2020) and Tangible Equity: A Guide for Leveraging Student Identity, Culture, and Power to Unlock Excellence In and Beyond the Classroom (Routledge, 2022), Colin founded thinkLaw (), a multi-award-winning organization to help educators leverage inquiry-based instructional strategies to close the critical thinking gap and ensure they teach and reach all students, regardless of race, zip code or what side of the poverty line they are born into. When he’s not serving as the world’s most fervent critical thinking advocate or tweeting from @ColinESeale, Colin proudly serves as the world’s greatest entertainer to his two young children. In today’s episode, Colin teaches us to unlock brilliance in our students and move beyond compliance to build psychological safety in our online classes and engage all students with critical thinking. Timestamps 2:27 What’s the unique draw to Tangible Equity? 6:38 Asking, ‘What is the significance?’ 7:52 Bringing kid’s backgrounds into their learning 10:11 Kids need to be not just problem solvers, but problem finders 12:40 Is the “Why” different for different students? 14:20 Unpacking the hidden curriculum 16:47 How you as a teacher can make a tangible difference 18:41 Our kids need direct engagement with each other to learn how to be better 23:02 How did Think Law come to be? 24:42 What Think Law does right now 29:03 Learning how to learn 32:50 Do our kids have the psychological safety to be brilliant? 36:26 The importance of teacher confidence 38:26 What would Colin give to every teacher in the U.S.? Resources @ThinklawUS @ColinESeale /episode/index/show/sysed/id/24451776

S03 EP04 - Instructional Design with Dr. Luke Hobson 09/16/2022

S03 EP03 - Understanding by Design with Jay McTighe 09/09/2022

S03 EP03 - Understanding by Design with Jay McTighe Show Notes Jay McTighe has a wealth of experience and knowledge developed during a rich and varied career in education. He is an accomplished author having co-authored 17 books, including the award-winning and best-selling Understanding by Design series with the late Grant Wiggins. His books have been translated into 12 languages. Jay has also written more than 50 articles and book chapters and been published in leading journals, including educational leadership and Education Week. He has an extensive background and professional development, and is a regular speaker at national, state and district conferences and workshops. He has conducted workshops in 47 states within the US and seven Canadian provinces, and internationally to educators in 35 countries on six continents. In today’s episode, Jay explains Understanding by Design, and how you can implement it in your classroom. He tells us how UbD can lead to deeper understanding and learning and talks about assessment in the UbD framework. Timestamps 3:58 What is Understanding by Design? 4:53 A modern education should do more than equip students to repeat back information they’ve learned 5:32 Teaching does not ensure learning 6:22 The three stages of backward design 7:17 Stage one: Identifying transfer goals 8:06 Stage two: What would students need to be able to transfer? 8:25 Stage three: Identifying the more specific and discrete knowledge and skill objectives 8:55 Understanding by Design in a nutshell 10:07 Teachers can answer Ryan Bowens’ question 11:40 Some areas of curriculum are naturally taught with UbD 12:04 What do those areas have in common? 12:48 UbD is also common with extracurricular activities 12:59 What makes learning meaningful 13:25 An athletics analogy 14:28 Teaching isn’t just about marching through grade level standards 17:25 Is there still wiggle room in the day to day operations of our classes? 17:55 Essential Questions 18:48 Some examples of essential questions 19:48 Assessments we use should be directly linked to the goals we’ve identified in stage one 20:35 There may not be much differentiation with WHAT we want students to know, but there can be in HOW they demonstrate their understanding 20:54 An example about declarative knowledge 23:37 The bookends of goals and success criteria 24:37 An example about with the goal of argumentation 28:19 Where to start with backward design? 31: 55 Some advice for teachers new to UbD 35:14 Find a partner or a team to plan with! 36:42 What would Jay give to every teacher in the U.S. and why? Resources Twitter - @jaymctighe by Ryan S. Bowen YouTube Video from ASCD Alexandria, VA: ASCD. /episode/index/show/sysed/id/24319443

S03 EP02 - Greatest Hits with Cassie Pierce 09/02/2022

S3 EP01 Building SEL Skills Through Code 08/26/2022

S02 EP32 - Favorite Teachers 03/25/2022

S02 EP31 Language and Culture with Joe Dale 03/18/2022

S02 EP30 Online Learning Expert Roundtable 03/11/2022

S02 EP30 Online Learning Expert Roundtable Guest Bios - Nefertiti Dukes leads the Professional Development team at Screencastify where they focus on what video makes possible for classroom educators, not what Screencastify makes possible. Before joining the Screencastify squad, Nef taught middle school and high school Humanities. And, she has worked with learners of all ages on speech and debate. Alfonso Mendoza serves as an Instructional Technologist and has received his Masters in Educational Technology, E-Learning Certification, Technology Leadership Certification and Technology Director Certificate. He is currently working on his doctorate in Curriculum & Instruction with an emphasis in Educational Technology. Alfonso is a Google Innovator and was named 1 of the Top 50 EdTech Influencers on Augmented Reality in K-12 Worth a Follow in 2021. Jodi Miller is a former high school biology teacher and current PhD student at The Johns Hopkins University School of Education. She also created WellCheq, an online platform that allows students and teachers to log their feelings each day. Summary - Today my guests wrestle with four scenarios that students and teachers often encounter in online learning, from struggles with engagement to community building and checking our assumptions in order to better serve our students. Timestamps - Scenario One: Engagement [3:36] Jodi asks, “What’s going on?” [4:12] Fonz shares the importance of connection before content [5:42] Nef considers connection in another sense [7:14] Scenario Two: Seeing Students’ Thinking [9:05] Kids as customers in our class [10:07] The obvious answer [12:20] Consider getting an inventory of preferences [13:29] Scenario Three: Flipped Class Model (FCM) [17:14] What TikTok teaches us about video instruction [18:08] Timestamps aren’t just for podcasts [19:57] Flipping the FCM script on students [21:27] Do kids have to watch the entire video? [23:42] Treating students as customers choosing our classrooms [26:00] Scenario Four: Class Community [27:21] Fonz keeps it simple [28:23] Nef zeroes in on community norms [30:35] Jodi includes empathy in the conversation [32:12] Resources - Connect with Nef Dukes @NiftyNef Connect with Fonz Mendoza @MyEdTechLife and @MyEdTech.Life Connect with Jodi Miller @Jodes39 and @CheqWell /episode/index/show/sysed/id/22398944

S02 EP29 SYS & Virtual School Success 03/04/2022

S02 EP29 SYS & Virtual School Success Guest Bios - Andrew Senkowski is a former Math educator who has worked in both brick & mortar and online schools over the past decade. He currently lives and works from Pennsylvania as a Content Editor Manager for a national curriculum company, but stays connected to online teaching as an Instructional Coach for SYS. Nick Wolf spent his career working in all aspects of K-12 education, both nonprofit and for-profit, from the local to national levels. Nick started out his career at the KIPP Foundation before moving on to work at Alma, an upstart student information system, and now serves as the Technology Systems Coordinator at SYS Education. Episode Summary - Today Andrew and Nick teach us that there’s a lot that must be pre-planned and intentionally designed in the background for an online school or program to function really well for students and families. These two help us understand that it’s okay to use fewer apps and use them really well, and that we should treat ourselves like a best friend and be kind to ourselves as we learn and take risks in the online world. Timestamps - Learning about Andrew’s birding life [3:23] Nick is an indoor kid [4:48] Andrew’s take on the unseen work of an online educator [6:29] Balancing synchronous and asynchronous instruction [8:05] The tech side of a school is all about preparation [11:10] What is equity of access? [12:10] Eliminating user friction [13:00] It always comes back to universal design for learning [16:00] The walled garden of student safety [16:33] What all the successful schools start with [17:56] The most important factor in any online program [18:38] Start with ideas, not tech [21:21] Steady, responsive and flexible leadership [24:44] What Andrew learned from working in an online school in PA [26:13] Nick’s advice for first-year online teachers [31:16] Nick quotes Shakira [32:29] Andrew’s advice to treat ourselves like a friend [34:27] Concerning student accountability [37:06] Andrew’s favorite teacher growing up [39:53] Nick’s favorite teachers growing up [42:45] Resources - Website SYS FREEBIE! Open Educational Resources (OERs) for and Website Contact Nick Wolf on Twitter @NickCWolf and Contact Andrew Senkowski at /episode/index/show/sysed/id/22333655