One by one, the faces pop up on the computer screen. Some of the aspiring teachers hold coffee cups; others have their hair in ponytails or pushed into caps.
It鈥檚 6 a.m., California time. Several of the virtual attendees are on a less punishing East Coast schedule. One is tuning in from Taiwan, where it鈥檚 already nightfall. But nobody鈥檚 in PJs, because this is a classroom and there are rules about comportment.
The teacher-candidates are taking part in the online Master of Arts in Teaching program offered by the University of Southern California鈥檚 Rossier School of 91制片厂视频. Over a span of months, they will learn how to teach in urban schools without meeting one another鈥攐r their professors鈥攊n person until graduation.
Online teacher education is probably the fastest-growing sector of teacher preparation. For-profit online institutions are now being joined by brick-and-mortar universities like USC here, and startups, both public and private.
鈥淭he big concern is how you build relationships with students, how do you connect with students?鈥� said Corinne E. Hyde, an assistant professor of clinical education in the M.A.T. program at the Rossier school, where the online program was launched in 2009.
鈥淚t would seem to be very impersonal, but the [virtual interaction] ... makes it really possible to build those connections,鈥� she said. 鈥淥ftentimes, I feel like I know my students a lot better, because I鈥檓 seeing into their homes.鈥�
Meredith Curley, the dean of the University of Phoenix, sees greater acceptance of an online route to earning a teaching credential.
鈥淗aving more providers in the market really speaks to the fact that there is a demand,鈥� said Ms. Curley, whose for-profit university is the nation鈥檚 largest producer of education degrees.
A Booming Field
Online teacher preparation has typically served practicing teachers seeking recertification or master鈥檚 degrees to help them move up the salary scale. Only since the early 2000s has initial preparation online begun to make a mark.
Most of the top 10 providers of education degrees offer at least one degree online leading to initial teacher certification.
SOURCE: National Center for 91制片厂视频 Statistics
The provider marketplace remains dominated by for-profit institutions鈥攕ome operating wholly online鈥攂ut the competition has been impossible for brick-and-mortar institutions to ignore. Of the 674 institutions responding to queries about online teacher preparation in a data-collection effort conducted by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher 91制片厂视频, or AACTE, 36 offered at least one wholly online undergraduate education program as of the 2009-10 academic year, and 140 offered at least one online-only master鈥檚 program for initial certification.
A whopping 74 percent of the institutions surveyed offered some courses online.
Among the reasons for the high level of interest is a desire to tap career changers and other individuals whose circumstances limit their ability to spend hours on campus.
That鈥檚 the case with the University of the Pacific, which has signed a partnership with Teach-Now, a new online teacher-certification startup, to offer a master鈥檚 degree and initial-certification program.
鈥淢ost candidates cannot, with their family and adult responsibilities, take several years to pursue a teaching credential. We had to make it intensive and meet them where they are,鈥� said Michael Elium, the assistant dean of the Stockton, Calif.-based university鈥檚 education school. 鈥淭hey need intense, high-quality, and affordable鈥� preparation.
The expense of online teacher-preparation programs varies widely. Teach-Now鈥檚 certification costs begin at $6,000, while the University of Phoenix鈥檚 tuition and fees range from $15,000 to $30,000 for a master鈥檚 degree in elementary education. USC charges tuition identical to that for candidates in on-campus classes, which works out to about $49,000 for the M.A.T. program.
Much online preparation continues to take place in an 鈥渁synchronous鈥� format, a technical term meaning that learning takes place with candidates working in their own time, typically by participating through virtual message boards and completing written assignments and quizzes online.
Flexible Hours
There are obvious benefits to such flexible hours, especially for working professionals. At the same time, faculty members can quickly gauge candidates鈥� participation, said Ms. Curley of the University of Phoenix.
鈥淎t this point, the asynchronous [interaction] seems to be a plus for us, and utilization of online platforms to share tools and resources is the focus of our innovation,鈥� she said. For instance, the university is making toolkits with resources on the Common Core State Standards available to candidates and faculty on its online portal.
Increasingly, though, the providers鈥� delivery formats are evolving as well. USC has chosen a different path, devising a novel way to deliver online preparation in real time. Teacher-candidates on a Web platform, which is managed by 2U, a Landover, Md.-based technology firm, can all see one another. A conference-call line keeps everyone connected. The platform allows students to message each other, contribute to oral or written discussions, and raise their hands鈥攅lectronically speaking鈥攖o seek help.
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Eric Bernstein, an assistant professor of clinical education, can separate students quickly into smaller groups for breakout discussions and then bring them back together with a minimum of lost time鈥攕omething that wouldn鈥檛 be possible in a large lecture hall.
That鈥檚 only the beginning, though: There鈥檚 鈥渂lock party,鈥� where small groups of students are rotated quickly, and silent discussion, where students respond to readings and discussion prompts in a chat window for all to see.
That variety is one of the main advances offered by online teacher preparation, said Sharon Robinson, the president of AACTE.
鈥淲hat these students experience in their online courses is perhaps a stronger sense of community than if they show up in a large lecture hall and leave as anonymous numbers on the seating chart,鈥� she said.
For this story, an 91制片厂视频 Week reporter attended several online sessions in two USC courses, one concerned with the social context of urban schools, a second on learning theories.
New Pedagogical Opportunities
Although the M.A.T. students don鈥檛 take their specific teaching-methods courses until later in the program, professors attempted to link theoretical discussions to the real world. The professors often used video excerpts to have candidates apply knowledge from their readings.
In Ms. Hyde鈥檚 class, for instance, teacher-candidates began to practice how to write specific learning objectives and select assessments to match. During small groups, lively discussions arose about the appropriate place of standardized testing in shaping teacher behavior.
Uniquely in teacher education, learning in a digital format opens up new pedagogical opportunities that professors can help candidates try out in K-12 classrooms, faculty members said. For instance, Mr. Bernstein, the USC professor, sometimes uses the silent-discussion tool rather than conversations during the discussion portion of his online course. The goal is to draw out shy candidates, while also challenging those who aren鈥檛 as confident in their writing.
And that basic technique, he reminds candidates, can also be used even in classrooms without technology: Put up some questions on the blackboard and have students answer them on sticky notes.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to mix it up,鈥� Mr. Bernstein told the aspiring teachers. 鈥淎nd what you want to do in your classroom is mix it up and provide different types of opportunities for students to engage.鈥�
The student-teaching or 鈥渃linical鈥� part of preparation is one element of teacher education that presents a quandary for online teacher preparation.
At USC, the responsibility for ensuring high-quality student-teaching rests with 2U. It has built a massive network of partners covering some 1,800 school districts, where candidates are placed for student-teaching.
Here again, technology provides the link: The aspiring teachers use cameras to document their experiences in the classroom and send them back for critiques by professors in the program. (Ironing out privacy issues with the schools in which candidates practice is 2U鈥檚 responsibility.)
鈥淲e covered all the traditional [theorists], but the part I thought was most practical was that the majority of assignments had to be delivered on site,鈥� said Connor E. Nesseler, a recent graduate of the program who is now teaching 7th grade social studies and humanities in San Diego.
鈥淚 had to first develop a lesson, introduce it [at school], and deliver it, and come back and reflect on it,鈥� he said. 鈥淧rofessors would tell us to create it, experience it, and then we鈥檇 move from there [to] how to improve.鈥�
His one concern? Sometimes it was hard to come up with times for classmates to meet online during nonclass hours.
Staffing Models
In the field at large, the rapid expansion of online programs has led to even more differentiation in staffing models. In some cases, as with the University of Phoenix and Teach-Now, the programs rely more heavily on instructors with practical experience than top academic credentials.
USC has hired some 165 adjuncts to help meet demand, although full-time online professors, such as Mr. Bernstein and Ms. Hyde, don鈥檛 sense a fracturing in the faculty. Instead, they say, the platform has improved efforts to work in concert to revise and improve the classes, both for those teaching on campus and online.
That鈥檚 a good thing, said Karen Symms Gallagher, the dean of the Rossier School of 91制片厂视频.
鈥淚f you say you have a common course, you have to make sure every professor is following it,鈥� Ms. Gallagher said. 鈥淚t is easier to know that online. And students will tell you.鈥�
About 1,700 individuals have graduated from the program since its inception. Those figures help put USC among the 30 top producers of education degrees, but still far below the largest for-profit programs.
Data on the performance of students taught by teachers trained online are somewhat harder to come by. California, for instance, does not link teacher and student records directly; students and graduates from USC鈥檚 Master of Arts in Teaching program now represent 47 states and 38 foreign countries.
Dean Gallagher summed up the challenge: 鈥淲e can鈥檛 just say, 鈥�80 percent of the teachers who gave us data look good.鈥� 鈥�
Broadly speaking, the expansion of online teacher preparation has prompted some soul-searching among teacher-educators. The pedagogical benefits among the various online formats aren鈥檛 clear and have yet to be extensively canvassed in research.
鈥淚鈥檓 amazed that we don鈥檛 see anybody doing data-based research. They鈥檙e doing qualitative stuff, and that doesn鈥檛 tell us much,鈥� said Paul Beare, the dean of the education school at California State University, Fresno. 鈥淚f I hadn鈥檛 seen what CalStateTEACH had done, I鈥檇 have had a bias against [online preparation].鈥�
CalStateTEACH is an online preparation program offered through four of the public university system鈥檚 campuses. Mr. Beare鈥檚 research indicates that students surveyed gave higher marks to the online program than they did to CSU鈥檚 campus-based programs.
It also remains an open question how much online teacher preparation differs in content from what鈥檚 offered in face-to-face settings. The USC courses, for instance, focused on how to be a reflective practitioner. Later this semester, participants will encounter articles critiquing standardized testing and the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Coursework covers behavioral theory and cognitive development, all by now established themes in teacher preparation.
For his part, Mr. Bernstein takes pride in the fact that he鈥檚 able to engage his students online as much, if not more, than if they were in a physical classroom. He flies from Connecticut to California to attend annual graduation ceremonies in person for the teacher-candidates he鈥檚 taught.
鈥淭he biggest shock is our heights,鈥� Mr. Bernstein said about meeting the teacher-candidates he鈥檚 taught in the flesh for the first time. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 judge that on the computer screen.鈥�
