Annotated Bibliography by Topic
Online Program Administration
Administrative Leadership
Marcus, S. (2004). Leadership in distance education: Is it a unique type of leadership? A literature review. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 7(1) Spring 2004. State University of West Georgia, Distance Education Center: Most documents examine distance education policy, institution management, student support systems and student administration relevant to the first three generations of distance education delivery models [correspondence, multimedia and telelearning]. Surprisingly little appears to have been written about the academic management and administration of what has been labeled the fourth generation distance education delivery [flexible learning]. http://www.westga.edu/%7Edistance/ojdla/spring71/marcus71.html
Mills, S. (2003). Implementing online secondary education: An evaluation of a virtual high school. Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies, University of Kansas: Determined that achievement in online courses was equal to or better than achievement in regular high school courses. http://media.lsi.ku.edu/research/SITE2003Proceedings.pdf
Sloan Consortium. (2004). Entering the mainstream: The quality and extent of online education in the United States, 2003 and 2004. The Sloan-C and the Sloan Center for Online Education. Needham, MA. Notes that over 1.9 million students were studying online in the fall of 2003 with expected growth in 2004 to over 2.6 million (24.8%). http://www.aln.org/publications/books/survey04.asp
Tobin, T. (2004). Best practices for administrative evaluation of online faculty. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 7,(2), Summer 2004. State University of West Georgia, Distance Education Center: Demonstrates how to evaluate the materials and teaching in online courses covering similarities with evaluation of on-ground teaching, factors unique to online courses, technological considerations, helping administrators unfamiliar with online courses, and national standards, rubrics, and benchmarks. http://www.westga.edu/%7Edistance/ojdla/summer72/tobin72.html
U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics. (2005) Distance education courses for public elementary and secondary school students: 2002-2003. March 2005. Reports that during the 2002-03 twelve-month school year, 36 percent of public school districts had students enrolled in distance education courses and 38 percent of public high schools offered distance education courses. http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/frss/publications/2005010
Evaluating Online Education
Essential principles of quality: Guidelines for Web-based courses. (2000-2001). Southern Regional Education Board (SREB). Suggests initially measuring the course against these standards but ultimately assessing quality based on student outcomes. http://www.sreb.org/programs/EdTech/pubs/EssentialPrincipals/EssentialPrinciples.pdf
Guide to Online High School Courses. (2002). National Education Association, Virtual High School, Inc., and American Association of School Administrators, CNA Corporation, IBM Corporation, National Association of State Boards of Education, National School Boards Association, Verizon Communications. Provides standards for assessing Online High School Courses. http://www.nea.org/technology/onlinecourseguide.html
Kilby, T. (2004). What constitutes quality in Web-based training? WBTIC. A checklist of 22 value statements about web-based training quality used to objectively measure quality by weighting, and thus ordering, the measures. http://www.wbtic.com/primer_quality.aspx
Mills, S. (2002). School isn't a place anymore: An evaluation of Virtual Greenbush Online Courses for high school students. University of Kansas, Southeast Kansas Education Service Center Virtual High School Evaluation Project. A comprehensive evaluation intending to produce seminal research that addresses the need for and feasibility of K-12 online education. http://media.lsi.ku.edu/research/vgeval
Russell, T. (2002). The "No Significant Difference Phenomenon" Web site. The International Distance Education Certification Center. A comprehensive research bibliography on technology for distance education http://www.nosignificantdifference.org/nosignificantdifference
Standards and Quality Policy Guidelines (2003). National Leadership Institute Toolkit. State Educational Technology Directors Association. Guidelines and resources designed to assist state leaders in developing policies to ensure that distance learning within each state delivers quality results for participating students. This set of guidelines can be used as a checklist for reviewing specific courses or providers. http://www.setda.org/Toolkit2003/vsdl/vsdl2.htm
Standards for quality online courses. (2002). Michigan Virtual University. Rigorous standards to guide the design and evaluation of online course quality. http://standards.mivu.org
What does a high quality course look like? California State University at Chico. Rubric for Online Instruction provides examples of exemplary courses that instructors have developed in implementing the different components of the rubric http://www.wbtic.com/primer_quality.aspx
What makes a successful online facilitator? (2005). Illinois Online Network. The facilitator in the online environment must possess a unique set of tools to perform effectively. Tool allows reflection on teaching style to determine ways to improve for online instruction. http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/pedagogy/instructorProfile.asp
School Considerations
Bond, L. (1994) Rethinking assessment and its role in supporting educational reform. North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. Explains how the new skills needed in the 21st century global economy have spurred the accountability/assessment movement in education. http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/assment/as700.htm
Charter Accreditation. American Academy for Liberal Education. As an external evaluator with high standards, helps identify exemplary charter schools through its independent charter school accreditation program. http://www.cde.state.co.us/edtech/download/osc-fundingonline.pdf
Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation. Brings together educators world-wide to promote accreditation and school quality standards. http://citaschools.org
Herman, Aschbacher, and Winters (1992). Select or design assessments that elicit established outcomes. North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. Ten steps as part of the assessment design process. http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/assment/as7sele2.htm
Marcus, S., (2004). Leadership in distance education: Is it a unique type of leadership? A literature review. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, Volume VII, Number I, Spring 2004. State University of West Georgia, Distance Education Center. http://www.westga.edu/%7Edistance/ojdla/spring71/marcus71.html
National standards for technology in teacher preparation (2005). International Society for Technology in Education. Focuses on pre-service teacher education, define the fundamental concepts, knowledge, skills, and attitudes for applying technology in educational settings. http://cnets.iste.org/teachers/t_stands.html
Whitfield, C. (2005).The five essentials of technology facilitators: Successful on-site help for technology integration. Technology and Learning, April 1, 2005. Answers the question: What can administrators do to help teachers integrate technology into their daily lesson plans? http://www.techlearning.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=159901663
Student Retention and Drop-out Rates
Berge, Z.A. & Huang, Y-P. (2004).A model for sustainable student retention: A holistic perspective on the student drop-out problem with special attention to e-learning. DEOSNEWS, 13(5). A customizable model of student retention that considers personal, circumstantial, and institutional factors. The model can provide guidance for institutional and students' personal decision making. http://www.ed.psu.edu/acsde/deos/deosnews/deosnews13_5.pdf
Critical success factors for online learning. (1999) Collaboration between Penn State World Campus and Lucent Technologies: Successful online learning ultimately depend upon instructors and students willing and able to integrate the appropriate skills with the networked resources and nteractive communication power of the Internet. http://www.ed.psu.edu/acsde/Critical_Success_Factors.pdf
Dutton, J., Dutton, M., Perry, J. (2002) How do online students differ from lecture students? Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 6(1).This study had two primary objectives: to learn how students who enroll in online classes differ from their peers in traditional lecture classes and explore what factors influence performance among online students, and whether those factors differ for online and lecture students. http://www.aln.org/publications/jaln/v6n1/v6n1_dutton.asp Hughes, J.A. (2004). Supporting the online learner. Center for Distance Education. Athabascau's Open University. Canada. The author places emphasis on the importance of a supportive atmosphere for e-learners and provides encouragement and some advice in an attempt to help develop the learner's independence. http://cde.athabascau.ca/online_book/pdf/TPOL_chp15.pdf
Funding
Adsit, J. (2003). Funding online education: A report to the Colorado online education programs study committee. Identifies the actual costs of operating a cyberschool in Colorado. http://www.cde.state.co.us/edtech/download/osc-fundingonline.pdf
Cavalluzzo, L. (2001). Funding Virtual Schools: Who Should Pay? CNA Corporation. The Appalachian Technology in Education Consortium. June 2001. A presentation that discusses the common characteristics of virtual schools, appeal of online courses, barriers to adoption, why "who pays" matters, and examples of two state's models. Retrieved from http://www.the-atec.org/library/atec-fundingvirtualschool.pdf
Clark, T. (2001). Virtual schools: Trends and Issues. A report for Distance Learning Resource Network at WestEd. San Francisco, CA. Provides insights into activities and trends of K-12 virtual schools in the United States. http://www.wested.org/cs/we/view/rs/610
Freedman, G., Darrow, R., Watson, J., (2002). California virtual school report: A national survey of virtual education practice and policy with recommendations for the State of California. Examines virtual high schools across the country, the state of virtual learning in the state of California, and the state of the technology supporting virtual education with implications for a statewide virtual learning program. http://www.edpath.com/images/VHSReport.pdf
Jarrett, D. (2004). The search for funding. Northwest Education, 10(2), Winter 2004 Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. The winds of change are sweeping online schools across the K-12 vista - shaking the foundation of public school funding. http://www.sde.state.id.us/mediacenter/legislaturereports/05/07IdahoDigitalLearningAcademy.pdf
Jones, D. (2004). Technology costing methodology handbook - Version 2.0. National Center for Higher Education Management Systems in partnership with the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications. Step-by-step procedures that enable institutional leaders to analyze the costs of using technology in both on- and off-campus instruction http://www.wcet.info/projects/tcm
Klonoski, E. (2005). Cost-saving collaboration: Purchasing and deploying a statewide learning management system. Innovate, Journal of Online Education.1(4), April/May 2005. Nova Southeastern University. Fort Lauderdale, FL. Because nearly two-thirds of all campuses are facing budget cuts of some form or another, survey found that the number-one cost-reduction strategy was forming consortia to make shared purchases. http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=login&id=69&next=index.php
Policy
Clark, T. (2000). Virtual high schools: The state of the states. Center for the Application of Information Technologies, College of Education and Human Services, Western Illinois University. Profiles the approaches of five states in developing a state-wide virtual high school. http://www2.imsa.edu/programs/ivhs/pdfs/stateofstates.pdf
Colorado Department of Education. (2003) Criteria for distance learning courses. From Southern Regional Education Board's Distance Learning Task Force. Atlanta, GA. In addition to evaluating the course on content, teacher interaction, and student performance, it is necessary to evaluate the Web site for content and technical aspects. http://www.cde.state.co.us/edtech/download/online-evaluating-courses.pdf
Educational policy regarding e-learning. (2002). North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. Recent growth in national attention directed toward online courses and virtual schools underscores the importance of e-learning policy and online learning practices. http://www.ncrel.org/policy/pubs/html/pivol11/apr2002a.htm
Glick, D. (2004) Recommendations for district policies. Local develop of policies and procedures for online learning for Minnesota schools. http://mnscsc.org/socrates/elearning/downloads/glickdistrpolicydev04.pdf
Idaho Digital Learning Academy. (2002) Report to Legislature. The online education program provides Idaho students in grades 9-12 access to high school courses based on the state's achievement standards. http://www.sde.state.id.us/mediacenter/legislaturereports/05/07IdahoDigitalLearningAcademy.pdf
Intermountain Center for Education Effectiveness. (2004). Policy brief: Virtual schools formation process. Center for Policy Studies, Education Research, and Community Development. Idaho State University, College of Education. Examines the present state of "established or pending" virtual education policy to determine if a systematic approach to implementation is being applied. http://icee.isu.edu/Policy/PBVirtualSchools.pdf
Klonoski, E. (2005). Cost-saving collaboration: Purchasing and deploying a statewide learning management system. Innovate, Journal of Online Education.1(4), April/May 2005. Nova Southeastern University. Fort Lauderdale, FL. Because nearly two-thirds of all campuses are facing budget cuts of some form or another, survey found that the number-one cost-reduction strategy was forming consortia to make shared purchases. http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?
Massachusetts Department of Education. (2003) Recommended criteria for distance learning courses. Provides guidelines that can be used by school administrators, educators, students, and parents to plan or select online distance learning opportunites. http://www.doe.mass.edu/edtech/news03/distance_learning.pdf
National Association of State Boards of Education. (2001). Any time, any pace, any path, any pace: Taking the lead on e-learning policy. E-learning will improve American education in valuable ways and should be universally implemented as soon as possible. http://www.nasbe.org/Educational_Issues/Reports/e_learning.pdf
No Child Left Behind Leadership Summit: Increasing options through e-learning. (2004). The presentations and papers presented at the Summit are available for downloading including: E-learning frameworks for NCLB, How can virtual schools be a vibrant part of meeting the choice provisions of NCLB, Meeting the need for high quality teachers with e-learning solutions. http://www.nclbtechsummits.org/summit2/s2-presentations.asp
North American Council for Online Learning. (2005) Sample State Legislative Initiatives Establishing Virtual School Programs. Includes statutes from Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas, West Virginia. http://www.nacol.org/resources/StateVirtualSchoolPrograms.php
North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. (2002) E-learning policy implications for K-12 educators and decision-makers: Student access to online courses will be determined by local decisions that must be made by education administrators and policy leaders everywhere. These decisions will affect whether or not specific virtual courses will be approved (or afforded) for individual students who have particular rationales and reasons for requesting enrollment in online classes. http://www.ncrel.org/policy/pubs/html/pivol11/apr2002d.htm
North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. (2004). Keeping pace with K-12 online learning: A snapshot of state-level policy and practice. Before the window of policy opportunity closes, states must move urgently to develop appropriate mechanisms to provide a framework of sustainability and value that will enable online education to flourish and to meet diverse student needs. http://www.ncrel.org/tech/pace/Keeping_Pace.pdf
State Educational Technology Directors Association (2003). National Institute Leadership Toolkit: Standards and quality guidelines designed to assist state leaders in developing policies to ensure that distance learning within each state delivers quality results for participating students. http://www.setda.org/Toolkit2003/vsdl/vsdl2.htm
US Department of Education (2004). National Education Technology Plan. It is the responsibility of this nation's educational enterprise - including policymakers - to help secure our economic future by ensuring that our young people are adequately prepared to meet the challenges of a global economy. http://www.nationaledtechplan.org