Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow

Kathy Paxton, Director
Behavioral Health & Education Initiatives

In March of 2008, the leadership of the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) Charter School enlisted the help of the Center for Learning Excellence to develope a strategic plan to meet the in-service professional development needs of ECOT teachers and other certified and licensed educators. The plan was focused on helping these professionals use technology in ways that would improve instruction with particular attention given to the development of methods that best engage students in the e-learning environment and result in positive, measurable student outcomes.

The work provided a firm foundation for the development of credit-bearing courses designed to meet the pre-service needs of Education students preparing to work in e-learning environments or in hybrid environments. The work also yielded information that will help to continually improve the technologies used.

The Ohio State University team that participated in this effort included staff members from two outreach and engagement centers in the College of Education and Human Ecology: the Center for Learning Excellence and the Ohio Resource Center for Mathematics, Science and Reading. The team also includes a faculty member specializing in educational technology from the School of Educational Policy and Leadership.

In partnership with ECOT, the Center continues to oversee the work of the OSU Team working to develop and offer courses that provide an introduction to online teaching, an introduction to instructional design, and a course specifically prepared for middle school teachers aimed at improving students’ literacy and numeracy. The Center also offers support by:

  • Providing professional development to increase attention to non-academic barriers to learning and appropriate responses to those needs.
  • Providing professional development to help teachers and other educators better understand the interactions that must occur between and among technology, teaching and learning.
  • Extending professional development efforts to include more “readiness” training/preparation for students and parents.
  • Extending the current emphasis on professional development for teachers to include professional development for persons occupying other professional positions within ECOT.
  • Emphasizing in professional development activities the translation of sound pedagogical principles that have proven to be effective in traditional environments for use in electronic and hybrid environments.
  • Augmenting all formal professional development efforts with online opportunities for teachers, students and parents to establish informal communities of practice, communities of learners and communities of parents.
  • Developing structured online surveys to identify and update periodically the professional development and readiness needs of teachers, other education professionals, students and parents.

Sponsor: Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow