K-12 online learning continues to grow, and with it, the need for well-trained online teachers. This multiple-article dissertation explores K-12 online teaching professional development. A literature review describes research trends regarding unique strategies and competencies related to online teaching. It explores strategies such as acting as a facilitator, developing course knowledge, encouraging student engagement, interacting regularly with students, giving feedback, and developing time management skills. The literature review suggests that there is a lack of specific recommendations about what content should be covered and why professional development is beneficial for both teachers and students. Programs that incorporate online teaching professional development specific to their model may have more satisfied and motivated students and teachers. The second article provides insight into the design process for a K-12 online teaching professional development course that focuses on effectively communicating with online students. The course is designed as a professional development opportunity to enhance teachers' knowledge of online pedagogy and technology skills unique to communicating in the online environment. The course contains hands-on experiences and activities, allowing teachers the opportunity to learn in the role of teacher and student. The professional development was designed using Desimone's five core features commonly used for traditional classroom teacher professional development. This article describes the professional development goals, course structure, evaluation process, and preliminary findings. By sharing the development and design of this professional development course the hope is that other K-12 online designers and administrators will have a framework on which to build. The final article presents the implementation and evaluation results of the professional development course mentioned in article two. This case study shares the learning perspective of 80 teachers that completed the professional development course through pre and post assessments and a course evaluation. Researchers conducted interviews with 11 participants to further explore how the course impacted their pedagogical and technical knowledge in relation to effectively communicating with their online students. Overall, participants reported a satisfactory experience and personal growth in the topics provided. More research is needed on the effects of professional development for online teachers and if it can help lead to student success.

Despite the continued growth of K-12 online learning, there remains a need for additional research addressing roles of online facilitators and how they can improve the sense of community at K-12 online schools. The first article of this dissertation presents a case study illustrating how online facilitators can provide the same level of support for their students that on-site facilitators provide students in blended environments. Data was gathered from teachers at Mountain Heights Academy (MHA), a fully online high school. MHA implemented a "Shepherding Program" to provide student with online facilitators. Each teacher, or shepherd, was responsible for 20 to 25 students. Teacher focus groups and one-on-one interviews were used to examine the perceived effects of a shepherding program on shepherd-student relationships. Additionally, the teacher roles in the shepherding program were compared to the roles of on-site facilitators. Teachers were largely satisfied with the perceived impact of the shepherding program on their relationships with their students. Findings also highlighted strong similarities between the support the shepherding program provided online students and the support on-site facilitators provide blended learning students. The second article was a continuation of the case study from the first article. A key addition to the case study for the second article was the inclusion of student interviews. This article examined how teachers and students perceived that the shepherding program influenced instructor-student relationships. The analysis exposing similarities and differences between teacher and student perspectives of the shepherding program was conducted based on the four dimensions of Rovai's online sense of community: spirit, trust, interaction, and learning. Findings illustrated shepherd-student relationships consisting of all four elements of community in some degree.

This qualitative study used a narrative inquiry approach to conduct in-depth interviews of eight distributed learning educators who designed and offered online English courses in British Columbia during the 2011/12 school year. There were three research questions: (1) How do teachers describe their professional experiences of teaching in a full time online environment? (2) What are the enablers and inhibitors for online teacher development? (3) Do teachers feel their teaching practice has changed over their career as online educators? Findings were examined through the lens of Korthagen’s (2004) Onion Model. Six themes that comprised this model, provided a framework for data analysis and insight into the process by which teachers made sense of their lived experience. The findings revealed that online educators valued their online experience because it removed the constraints of a regular classroom. They expressed frustration with some aspects of the current model of online education in BC because it prevented them from engaging in synchronous, highly connective learning projects with their students. Recognition of the fact that online educators work in a different milieu with a different set of environmental pressures is necessary to ensure the success of distributed learning in BC.

Using mixed methods, this study examined the nature of teacher-student interaction in an asynchronous, statewide, self-paced virtual high school. Eight teachers were interviewed to understand their perceptions on the nature of interactions and their role as a virtual school teacher. Interactions were primarily instructional in nature, taking the form of feedback on student assignments. There were few procedural and social interactions. In general, teachers felt disconnected from their students due to the large class sizes and limited interactions. They also felt disconnected from their peers and the role of a teacher as they traditionally defined it. To understand the relationship between perceived interaction and academic performance, 46,089 students were surveyed using an 18-item instrument designed to assess the types and frequency of interaction. Hierarchical linear modeling and hierarchical logistic regression on the 2,269 responses indicated significant differences between completers' and non-completers' perceptions of teacher-student interaction. However, there were minimal differences between students based on grade awarded and teacher-student interaction. The results of this study were discussed as well as implications for practitioners and researchers. The full text of this dissertation may be downloaded for free from http://etd.byu.edu/

Although K-12 online learning has experienced exceptional growth, research in the area has lagged behind. This dissertation addressed this gap in the literature using a multiple article dissertation format. The first article used survey data from two online English courses at the Open High School of Utah (OHSU) to examine students' reported interactions with content, peers, and instructors. The large majority of students viewed all investigated types of interaction as educational and motivational. Students perceived learner--instructor and learner--content interactions to have significantly higher educational value than learner--learner interactions, and viewed learner--instructor interaction to be significantly more motivational than learner--content interaction. Furthermore, nine significant correlations were found between the time students spent on human interaction and course outcomes. The second article examined learner-parent and parent-instructor interactions within the same context. Similar to the first article, survey data was used to measure parents' and students' perceived quantity and quality of parental interactions with students and teachers. It was found that generally students and parents viewed parent--instructor and learner--parent interactions as motivational. Students viewed learner--parent interaction as significantly more motivational than did their parents. The quantity of reported parental interactions tended to negatively correlate with course outcomes. These negative correlations may be the result of parents' tendency to increase interaction levels following poor student performance and may not reflect the actual impact of parental interactions on individual student learning. When discussing the results in the second article, the claim was made that future research should look beyond the quantity of interactions and develop a theoretical framework that identifies and categorizes the roles of individuals in improving student outcomes. The third article of this dissertation presents such a framework that can help guide K-12 online research and design. The Adolescent Community of Engagement (ACE) framework consists of four main constructs that make up a K-12 online learning community. The first three (student engagement, teacher engagement, and peer engagement) build on previously established online frameworks that originally emerged from higher education contexts. In addition, the ACE framework recognizes the role of parents in their child's learning and introduces a fourth construct, parent engagement, which builds on two previously established face-to-face frameworks.

Following school closures in the spring semester of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, school districts across the United States began making plans for a remote start to the 2020-2021 school year. In Texas, professional development plans were required by the Texas Education Agency for K-12 public school districts planning to provide online learning options for students. This study examined these professional development plans using directed qualitative content analysis methods to identify and categorize the learning experiences provided to educators in preparation for online instruction. The plans were coded in NVivo using etic codes based on relevant literature related to the TPACK framework, online teacher competencies, and standards for quality online teaching. Emic codes were created as needed during the iterative coding process. Data analysis revealed trends related to teacher training gaps, district priorities, target audiences, and the occurrence of professional development sessions. The study findings were discussed, and suggestions were made to inform the development and design of future professional development plans for online teachers at multiple levels. Recommendations for further research specific to in-service teacher professional development and preservice teacher preparation programs were offered.

In this study, the topic of K-12 public school online learning is addressed in the context of the pandemic-related circumstances of 2020 and 2021. The study used a qualitative analysis of data sources in the form of one-on-one interviews. The study examined teachers' input regarding factors they believe impacted academic outcomes for students in the online learning environment in 2020-2021. A total of 15 K-12 public school teachers who volunteered to provide instruction in the online learning environment during the 2020-2021 school year participated in a one-on-one semi-structured interview. The questions asked during the interview were organized in sections according to themes that were reviewed in the review of literature and existing research components of this study: professional development, pedagogy, learner engagement, and equity in the K-12 online learning environment. Findings and conclusions from this study offer multiple considerations for future planning and implementation of K-12 public school instruction in the fully online learning environment. Instructors need adequate and advanced preparation and professional development that is intentionally focused on the fully online learning environment. Parents and students need to have an understanding of the expectations of active engagement in the fully online learning environment. Consistent and clear communication about expectations of learners is a predominant factor in ensuring increased student achievement in the K-12 public school fully online learning environment. / Doctor of Education / In this study, the topic of K-12 public school online learning is addressed in the context of the pandemic-related circumstances of 2020 and 2021. The study examined teachers' input regarding factors they believe impacted academic outcomes for students in the online learning environment in 2020-2021. A total of 15 K-12 public school teachers who volunteered to provide instruction in the online learning environment during the 2020-2021 school year participated in a one-on-one interviews. The topics of professional development, pedagogy, learner engagement, and equity in the K-12 online learning environment were addressed by the interview questions. The results of this study offer multiple considerations for future planning and implementation of K-12 public school instruction in the fully online learning environment. Instructors need adequate and advanced preparation and professional development that is intentionally focused on the fully online learning environment. Parents and students need to have an understanding of the expectations of active engagement in the fully online learning environment. Consistent and clear communication about expectations of learners is a predominant factor in ensuring increased student achievement in the K-12 public school fully online learning environment.

Interaction is a core element in the design of blended and distance learning environments. The importance of understanding these interactions and what might increase effectiveness of such interactions in education is paramount for meaningful learning. This dissertation consists of two qualitative case studies designed to provide a rich, descriptive look at interactions in a high school distance/blended-learning context in the home-study and technology-meditated seminary program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the study article, Moore's (1989) interaction framework was used as a lens for understanding the learner experience. Thematic narratives were used to highlight themes related to students' perceived learning gains from learner-content interaction and their hesitancy to engage in learner-learner and learner-instructor interactions if they had not met personally. In the second study, Garrison's (2007) Community of Inquiry framework was used to understand the impact that teacher decisions, other than the selection of content, had on the cognitive and social climate of the learning experience. This study describes how a teacher's facilitation of social interaction influences the course learning outcomes. The results highlight the teacher's role in providing the educational and social climate needed to foster learner interactions. This study noted that when the teachers gave learners the opportunity to interact in a live setting, it appeared to foster the relationships needed to interact online. The narratives also highlight how a teacher helped learners interact with one another around content online.