Resources and Downloads for Online Learning
Free tools, web links and other resources to help bring online learning to your school.
Turnaround Kid:
Tessa Beaver, left, says zoology was her favorite course with the Idaho Digital Learning Academy, shown at right. Tessa went from being a year behind to graduating early with help from IDLA and Lorrie Houston, center, the IDLA site coordinator at Centerpoint Alternative High School in Caldwell, Idaho.
Credit: Grace Rubenstein
Resources On This Page:
- Downloads to Help You Get Started
- Sample Teacher Lessons from TeacherStream and K12OnlineSchools.org
- Demonstrations and Tours of Online Courses
- Standards and Best Practices
- Articles and Miscellaneous Resources
- Downloadable Research Papers
Tips for downloading:
PDF files can be viewed on a wide variety of platforms -- both as a browser plug-in or a stand-alone application -- with Adobe's free Acrobat Reader program. Click here to download the latest version of Adobe Reader.
Click on any title link below to view or download that file.
Downloads to Help You Get Started
These are handy documents used every day by practitioners in the field who have offered them up here for you to download and use yourself. Many of these come from the Idaho Digital Learning Academy (IDLA), a state-sponsored program that serves 98 percent of districts in the state.
K-12 Online Engagement Strategies from Boise State University's Lisa Dawley (
220K)Mastering Online Discussion-Board Facilitation from TeacherStream (
324K)
Sample Teacher Lessons from TeacherStream and K12OnlineSchools.org
These are lessons for teachers about how to do successful virtual instruction -- online training for teaching online. They're copyrighted by TeacherStream, but generously provided here for free to the Edutopia community. For more information on how to get started as an online teacher, click here.
Demonstrations and Tours of Online Courses
Want a quick peek at what an online course looks like? Here are places to start.
Standards and Best Practices
The International Association for K-12 Online Learning, or iNACOL, has published standards for quality of online courses, teaching, and programs. They also publish extensive research articles and chronicle best practices in online teaching and learning.
Articles and Miscellaneous Resources
Becoming an Online Teacher -- article from UNC School of Education
Partnership for 21st Century Skills Framework for 21st Century Learning
Accredited Online Colleges offers links, resources, and a detailed explanation of what accreditation means; helpful for students who are looking into online colleges, or who may want to take university-level courses.
Downloadable Research Papers
iNACOL issues brief: Overview of Research on Effectiveness (
300K)
Center for American Progress report: Getting Students More Learning Time Online: Distance Education in Support of Expanded Learning Time in K-12 Schools (May 2009) (
870K)
U.S. Department of Education study: Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies (June 26, 2009) (
820K)
Alliance for Excellent Eucation issues brief: The Online Learning Imperative: A Solution to Three Looming Crises in Education (February 2010) (
460K)
Sloan Consortium: K-12 Online Learning: A 2008 Follow-Up of the Survey of U.S. School District Administrators (2009) (
330K)
iNACOL Research Committee Issues Brief: Examining Communication and Interaction in Online Teaching (September 2009) (
460K)
iNACOL: Blended Learning: The Convergence of Online and Face-To-Face Education (
670K)
- TeacherStream: Going Virtual! Research Series (on K-12 online teacher PD)
- Phase I ( 1.1M)
- Phase II ( 980K)
Comments (1)
Comment RSSSign in or register to post comments
Thanks Edutopia for a
Thanks Edutopia for a fantastic assortment of valuable resources. The more k-12 virtual teachers are exposed to best practices, new ideas, methods and technologies, the closer we get to a new vision for public education.
Way to go!