Progress report from the North Carolina e-Learning Commission

              A Progress Report
from the
North Carolina e-Learning Commission
January 1, 2009
Submitted to the
North Carolina Education Cabinet
Table of Contents
Executive Summary 1
Introduction 3
The North Carolina e-Learning Commission 5
Definition of e-Learning
Organization and Operation
Goals and Recommendations
Accomplishments
The e-Learning Environment in North Carolina 7
The Basic e-Learning Infrastructure
The North Carolina School Connectivity Initiative
The North Carolina Learning Object Repository
Ongoing e-Learning Projects
e-Learning Opportunities in North Carolina 14
Programs for High School Students
The North Carolina Community College System Online
The University of North Carolina Online
e-Learning Offered by NC Independent Colleges and Universities
Establishing Standards and Assessing Quality 22
Digital Content Standards
Evaluation of the NC Virtual Public School
Evaluation of UNC and NCCCS
Professional Development 24
Common Types of Online Professional Development
OPD in North Carolina
The Growing Need for OPD
2008 Recommendations of the NC e-Learning Commission 27
Recommendation 1: The North Carolina Education Cabinet
Recommendation 2: e-Learning Standards
Recommendation 3: NCREN
Recommendation 4: Center for Online Professional Development
Recommendation 5: Technology Collaboration Council
Recommendation 6: Learning Consumers Council
Recommendation 7: NC e-Learning Portal
Recommendation 8: Data Mining and Dynamic Reporting System
Projected e-Learning Commission Budget for FY08-09 33
Appendices 34
Appendix A: Members of the e-Learning Commission.
Appendix B: Coordinated reporting for organizations supporting e-learning in North Carolina.
Appendix C: 2005 eLC report recommendations and progress toward achieving them.
Appendix D: 2008 reports of the eLC subcommittees.
Appendix E: Links to North Carolina e-learning resources.
Appendix F: NCLTI Participating LEAs
Appendix G: NCCCS Online and the Virtual Learning Community.
Report of the NC eLC 1
Executive Summary
The North Carolina e-Learning Commission is dedicated to creating and promoting a
collaborative online learning environment that promotes student achievement, business
success, economic stability, and lifelong learning for every citizen of North Carolina.
Although building this e-learning environment will require a substantial initial
investment, over time it can provide high-quality, personalized education while helping
to reduce costs for buildings, maintenance, travel, and other operations. By offering
anytime, any-place learning, it can extend and equalize the educational opportunities
available to citizens throughout the state.
Leveraging the e-learning environment that already exists in North Carolina requires the
active participation and collaboration of many players. To ensure that this environment
works smoothly and efficiently, we must expand our existing statewide network to
educational institutions at all levels. To simplify e-learners' search for appropriate
instruction, we must organize access to e-learning opportunities in an understandable,
user-friendly way. To fully use the potential of e-learning technologies, we must foster
the development and dissemination of high-quality online learning resources. To ensure
effective interface between instructors and e-learning students, we must provide high-quality
professional development for our educators. To ensure that the education we
provide through learning is of the highest quality, we must develop consistent e-learning
standards and assessment methods for course development and delivery.
This report of the North Carolina e-Learning Commission to the North Carolina
Education Cabinet and the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee of the North
Carolina General Assembly describes the existing e-learning infrastructure and
environment of North Carolina, highlights recent improvements, and suggests
collaborative ways to move North Carolina's education sectors toward a more seamless
learning environment, a development that can bring important benefits to North Carolina,
both educational and economic.
Recommendation 1: The North Carolina Education Cabinet
Establish a full-time staff to communicate and meet with the members of the North
Carolina Education Cabinet members or their designated staff to coordinate and study
education issues.
Recommendation 2: e-Learning Standards
Ensure that quality standards and policies are in place for e-learning across PreK-20.
Recommendation 3: NCREN
Endorse NCREN as the statewide education network for education PreK-20.
2 Report of the NC eLC
Recommendation 4: Center for Online Professional Development
Develop a North Carolina Center for PreK-20 Online Professional Development to
explore using online delivery methods to prepare teachers, faculty, and administrators to
use technology to enhance teaching, learning, assessment, communications, and
management.
Recommendation 5: Technology Collaboration Council
Establish a Technology Collaboration Council to assist in researching and identifying
opportunities for collaborative infrastructure solutions.
Recommendation 6: Learning Consumers Council
Establish a Learning Consumers Council to provide input and feedback in order to ensure
that the needs of North Carolina’s e-learning consumers are effectively met.
Recommendation 7: NC e-Learning Portal
Launch and sustain the production version of the North Carolina e-Learning Portal, a
customized Web site that provides access to information about all e-learning resources
offered by public and private education institutions in North Carolina.
Recommendation 8: Data Mining and Dynamic Reporting
Develop an aggregated PreK-20 statewide intelligent data-mining and dynamic reporting
system that will allow real-time access to information in a format that can be used to
assist with decisions on personal learning plans for students, professional development
plans for instructors, and resource-allocation decisions for institutions, districts, and
entire systems.
Report of the NC eLC 3
Introduction
We live in an information world, a knowledge society revolutionized by technology. In
the future, the economic success of businesses, communities, states, and countries around
the world will depend on an educated workforce with the skills to function as knowledge
workers who can manage and process information, think critically, communicate and
collaborate effectively, assimilate primary source information, solve complex problems,
and learn continuously.
At a time when successful workers need to be highly educated skilled learners, we are
challenged with national data that indicate that one-third of all public school students and
nearly half of low-income and minority students fail to graduate from high school. The
costs of this failure to educate are significant. Less-educated workers earn lower incomes.
Lower incomes mean increased poverty, increased health costs, and increased costs to the
taxpayer for public assistance. Thus, the public school problem impacts every aspect of
the community and the economy.
And the stakes are getting higher. It is estimated that students graduating today from
high school will experience eight to ten different careers during their lifetime. In a world
in which the requirements for literacy go beyond reading or writing to include the ability
to continuously learn, unlearn, and relearn, we can ensure our economic prosperity and
success only if we educate knowledge workers who have the flexibility and learning
skills to succeed in a changing and global economy.
To produce such workers, we must be prepared to provide educational opportunities and
access to information for our students and citizens any time and anywhere. A logical way
to do this is to leverage the technological environment and opportunities open to us to
create an adaptable and malleable technology-rich learning environment. Students can
use this environment to collaborate dynamically with other students or work in ways that
best suit their individual learning styles.
In its role as advisor to the North Carolina Education Cabinet, the North Carolina e-
Learning Commission is dedicated to creating and promoting a collaborative online
learning environment that promotes student achievement, business success, economic
stability, and lifelong learning for every citizen of North Carolina.
Since 2006, when the E-Learning Commission began its work, all of the education
sectors in North Carolina have increased their offerings of virtual or e-learning
opportunities. There has also been an increase in high school students taking college
courses and community colleges and universities sharing degree programs. These
collaborations, made possible by technology, are moving the education sectors toward a
more seamless learning environment, a development that can bring important benefits for
the state, both educational and economic.
It is important to note that e-learning is not a silver bullet. Although it can lead to
savings in the cost of buildings, maintenance, travel, and other operations, it also requires
a substantial investment in infrastructure, training, and course development.
Furthermore, it does not work the same way at every educational level. In the higher
education arena, it can sometimes serve as a primary delivery method. At the PreK-12
4 Report of the NC eLC
level, it is more often a supplement or enhancement to traditional “bricks and mortar”
public schools.
Furthermore, leveraging the e-learning environment that already exists in North Carolina
requires the active participation and collaboration of many players. To ensure that this
environment works smoothly and efficiently, we must expand our existing statewide
network to educational institutions at all levels. To simplify e-learners' search for
appropriate instruction, we must organize access to e-learning opportunities in an
understandable, user-friendly way. To ensure effective interface between instructors and
e-learning students, we must provide high-quality professional development for our
educators. To ensure that the education we provide through learning is of the highest
quality, we must develop consistent e-learning standards and assessment methods for
course development and delivery.
High-quality e-learning can expand access to education for all North Carolina citizens.
Expanding access to e-learning opportunities is one strategy for improving the overall
educational attainment of the citizens of North Carolina.
Report of the NC eLC 5
The North Carolina e-Learning Commission
In September 2003 the North Carolina General Assembly enacted General Statute 115C-
102.15 to create BETA, the Business Education Technology Alliance, an alliance of key
leaders including business, local and state policy makers, and educators. BETA was
charged with exploring ways to prepare a globally competitive workforce for the twenty-first
century by expanding North Carolina citizens' educational options. Its specific focus
has been on instructional approaches that can better accommodate individual and
schedule differences, particularly by the use of technology. The alliance has been chaired
by North Carolina Lieutenant Governor (now Governor-Elect) Bev Perdue, who was
appointed by the chairman of the North Carolina State Board of Education.
To establish a framework for fully integrating technology into PreK-20 education in
North Carolina, in January 2005 BETA offered twenty recommendations, which led to
the development of "21st Century Goals and Priorities for the State Board of Education,"
the first state virtual public school, an expansion of the existing statewide research and
education network to include the public schools, and the creation of the North Carolina e-
Learning Commission.
BETA is required to advise the SBE and report annually on progress toward achieving its
recommendations for implementing education technology in the public schools. Based
on a BETA recommendation, the State Board of Education, chaired by Howard Lee, and
the Business Education Technology Alliance, chaired by Lieutenant Governor Perdue,
established the e-Learning Commission.
Definition of e-Learning
E-learning is defined in Session Law 2005-276-Section 7.41:
(b) As used in this section. “E-learning” is electronic learning that includes a wide
set of applications and processes, such as, Web-based learning, computer based
learning, virtual classrooms, and digital collaboration. It includes the delivery of
content via Internet, intranet/extranet (LAN/WAN), audiotape, videotape, satellite
broadcast, interactive television and CD-ROM.
There are many reasons for North Carolina to support e-learning, among them its
potential to provide efficient, convenient, and fair access to a free public education for
students throughout the state. E-learning is a vehicle by which North Carolina can meet
its constitutional mandate for a free public education for all by providing educational
opportunities for citizens representing all geographic, socioeconomic, and demographic
spectrums. Indeed, many North Carolinians already take advantage of online educational
opportunities. Increasing access in an organized way is one strategy for improving overall
educational levels of the state’s citizens, which is important for the state’s economic
future.
6 Report of the NC eLC
Organization and Operation
The North Carolina e-Learning Commission has twenty-seven members, representing
businesses, community colleges, public universities, independent colleges and
universities, the Department of Public Instruction, virtual education content providers,
superintendents, teachers, technology directors, counselors, and the State Board of
Education. (See Appendix A for a list of the current members of the eLC.) The e-
Learning Commission is currently led by two co-chairs, Lieutenant Governor (now
Governor-Elect) Bev Perdue and Tony Copeland, president and CEO of Longistics, Inc.
The remaining twenty-five members serve on one of three subcommittees:
Subcommittee on Legislation, Policy, Funding, and Accountability; Subcommittee on
Curriculum and Instruction; Subcommittee on Infrastructure.
The themes of academic integrity, accountability, flexibility, and service guide all
decisions of the e-Learning Commission. To support the work of the eLC, grants were
requested and received from the North Carolina New Schools Project and the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation.
The eLC reports annually to BETA and the SBE, which report to the Education Cabinet,
which in turn reports to the Joint Education Oversight Committee of the North Carolina
General Assembly. (See Appendix B for a chart that describes coordinated reporting for
organizations supporting e-learning in North Carolina.)
Goals and Recommendations
The short-term goal of the eLC was to recommend to the State Board of Education in
June 2005 a strategy for establishing what is now the North Carolina Virtual Public
School. The longer-term goal of the eLC was to extend e-learning opportunities to all the
citizens of North Carolina by developing a statewide technological and organizational e-learning
infrastructure to complement and extend North Carolina's traditional educational
institutions at all levels.
In 2006 the e-Learning Commission submitted a report to the North Carolina State Board
of Education and the Business Education Technology Alliance. This report, “Worldwide
Schoolhouse: A Global Vision for Learning in North Carolina,” put forward fifteen
formal recommendations. The first two recommendations addressed the eLC's short-term
goal of establishing the North Carolina Virtual Public School. The remaining thirteen
recommendations outlined actions and principles for building a coordinated and
collaborative e-learning environment in the state of North Carolina. (Appendix C
provides a matrix describing the first fifteen recommendations of the eLC and progress
toward achieving them.) In addition, on the basis of its deliberations in fall 2008, the
eLC adds in this report an additional eight recommendations for the consideration of the
Education Cabinet.
Accomplishments
The e-Learning Commission achieved its short-term goal when the North Carolina
Virtual Public School opened for enrollment in June 2007 and offered courses to over
25,000 students in its first year. The purpose of the NCVPS is to augment high schools
students' programs of study by providing courses that students are unable to take at their
Report of the NC eLC 7
local schools. These might include classes for homebound or hospital-bound students; AP
and other courses that the local school does not offer; required classes that are already
filled at the local school; recovery courses; alternative courses for students who don’t do
well in traditional class settings, or classes for students who wish to graduate on an
accelerated schedule. NCVPS's initial course offerings were only for high school
students. In subsequent years course offerings were made available for middle school
students. By 2008, NCVPS was offering over seventy-two courses—including Advanced
Placement courses, world languages, and credit-recovery courses—to over 25,000
students across the state of North Carolina. Under NCVPS's umbrella, Learn and Earn
Online now offers college-credit courses to high school students through the community
colleges and/or the UNG i-School.
Meanwhile, the e-Learning Commission has continued to pursue its longer-term goal of
extending e-learning opportunities to all the citizens of North Carolina. It has adopted a
number of strategies to do this, making formal recommendations to BETA and the SBE.
It has made great strides in achieving its goals, most notably by ensuring that every
citizen of North Carolina has access to e-learning options, by encouraging cooperation
and collaboration among all education sectors in the state, and by providing a gateway to
e-learning opportunities in the state through a searchable and customizable portal.
The e-Learning Environment in North Carolina
Under the leadership of Governor Mike Easley, Lieutenant Governor (now Governor-
Elect) Bev Perdue, Representative Joe Tolson, Senator Vernon Malone, and the leaders
of the state's educational institutions, the state of North Carolina has recently advanced a
number of initiatives and organizational changes designed to move North Carolina's
education systems toward a twenty-first-century and globally competitive approach.
Since many of the initiatives involve the use of technology, these efforts impact the work
of the e-Learning Commission. This description of the e-learning environment in North
Carolina is taken from the 2008 reports of the e-Learning Commission subcommittees.
(Appendix D includes these reports in their entirety. Appendix E lists Internet links to
North Carolina e-learning resources.)
The Basic e-Learning Infrastructure
Each school in North Carolina, from PreK-20, has a general technological infrastructure
to support communication through e-mail and other Web-based means. Many institutions
have adopted electronic course-management systems to support online learning for
students on the campus, learning at a distance, and blended courses that use a
combination of online and face-to-face instructional learning activities, especially on
community college campuses. University and community college campuses also have
online support services for registering, paying tuition, and accessing library materials,
etc. Campuses have help desks to address both content and technology questions. In some
cases, campuses share resources.
The North Carolina School Connectivity Initiative
Before the citizens of North Carolina can reap the benefits of e-learning, they must have
access to it. North Carolina has positioned itself as an early adopter of a common-
8 Report of the NC eLC
backbone strategy for providing the necessary connectivity to PreK-20 e-learning. The
common-backbone strategy establishes a robust, shared communications network that
allows educational content and administrative information to move into, out of, within
and between the three levels of education (PreK-12, community college, and college and
university). North Carolina is building its PreK-20 network with the existing North
Carolina Research and Education Network (NCREN).
The required technical and administrative work to establish the network was seeded by
the BETA commission, the e-Learning Commission, the Friday Institute for Educational
Innovation at North Carolina State University, the state of North Carolina's Office of
Information Technology Services (ITS), MCNC (the organization that operates the
NCREN) and many other partners. Lieutenant Governor (now Governor-Elect) Bev
Perdue, and the North Carolina General Assembly led the effort to provide funding for
the planning, pilot, and implementation phases of a project with the objective of
connecting public schools to NCREN. This project has been designated the School
Connectivity Initiative. The North Carolina Technology Association recently awarded
the School Connectivity Initiative its statewide award for public service as an exemplary
collaborative project.
These are the major features of the North Carolina School Connectivity Initiative:
• For networked services delivery through NCREN, network administration,
provisioning, and technical support, MCNC will be the principal agent to the
PreK-20 community. This allows MCNC to leverage the skills and talents it has
developed in working with higher education clients for the past twenty years to
support the broader North Carolina education community.
• ITS will be the project overseer for the North Carolina Department of Public
Instruction (K-12) and the North Carolina Community College System. ITS has
worked with NC State’s Friday Institute and MCNC, the operator of NCREN, in
an unprecedented public/private partnership, to define the administrative and
technical framework by which the 115 PreK-12 school districts (LEAs) in North
Carolina and the fifty-eight community colleges in North Carolina will be added
to the NCREN backbone.
• At the physical layer of the NCREN network, which is the foundation through
which all information passes, ITS and MCNC will act as one organization to
maximize efficiency and minimize the expense of the PreK-20 backbone.
• While NCREN will serve as the core of the education network, ITS and MCNC
have executed a master agreement that allows both MCNC-owned and ITS-owned
technical staff and facilities to be leveraged to follow the most efficient path for
delivering PreK-20 backbone services to education entities in the state and to
minimize expense of connecting the LEAs and community colleges to the
NCREN core.
• Private-sector service providers (led by ATT, Embarq, TimeWarner) will also
play a key role in implementing the PreK-20 backbone strategy, by providing
local circuits to connect LEAs and community colleges to the PreK-20 NCREN
Report of the NC eLC 9
backbone. This represents significant new business opportunities for the private-sector
providers.
Using NCREN as a common PreK-20 backbone ensures that network traffic between
individual education institutions and their application and content providers (including
the University of North Carolina system, the community college system, independent
colleges and universities, DPI, ITS, and other educational institutions) takes the fastest
and most efficient path. To implement this local-traffic principle, MCNC worked with
existing service providers install an Ethernet-based circuit from each of the 115 LEA
central offices to the most appropriate network regional Point of Presence (rPoP). We
expect all LEAs in North Carolina to be connected to NCREN by the end of January
2009.
To connect an LEA, MCNC must procure and install the equipment necessary to support
network traffic destined for locations within the state’s educational institutions through
NCREN. For traffic destined for the public Internet, an LEA may choose to route such
traffic through NCREN or use its existing Internet service. MCNC will establish a policy
for managing this on-net traffic in cooperation with each LEA, with appropriate guidance
and consultation of ITS through regular technical meetings. According to its agreement
with ITS and DPI, MCNC is responsible for the proper functioning of all circuits and
devices installed. The following diagram illustrates this concept.
The implementation of the common backbone at the PreK-12 level has happened quickly.
As of this writing over 100 LEAs are connected to NCREN and have begun to discover
10 Report of the NC eLC
that when they go on net, state-hosted applications, tools, and services are delivered
significantly more quickly and more reliably. Meanwhile, existing commercial Internet
connections are freed up to allow more impact on teaching and learning. As of this
report, over one hundred LEAs are already on net, connected to NCREN, and they have
verified the value of the common-backbone concept.
MCNC's position as operator of the NCREN furthers MCNC’s role as a neutral convener
of the PreK-20 community. MCNC’s community-based governance structure allows for
rich, future-focused discussions regarding services and applications. This focus enhances
North Carolina’s reputation for conducting the kind of leading-edge research that drives
North Carolina public education institutions toward excellence in teaching and learning.
The North Carolina Learning Object Repository
The North Carolina Learning Object Repository provides educators across the state with
a centralized asset that allows them to catalog, search, assess, share, and use digitized
learning/teaching content. Development of this PreK-20 resource has been a joint
collaboration by staff from the North Carolina Community College System, the
University of North Carolina system, the North Carolina Virtual Public School, and
North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities. Ownership and administration of
NCLOR lies with the North Carolina Community College System, which provides
funding and administration through its 2+2 Initiative.
The NCLOR has been described as a “Lib-oratory,” which encompasses characteristics of
both a library and laboratory. Like a library, the NCLOR allows the user to catalog,
search, and access a large body of learning content quickly and efficiently. Like a
laboratory, the NCLOR provides teachers, instructors, and professors with a means to
conduct independent and group research and share results and reports.
The NCLOR is designed to integrate digital learning/teaching content, online learning
platforms (content delivery mechanisms), enable federated ID management (the concept
of single sign-on to access all resources students and faculty have permissions to access),
and all learning applications provided by any and all stakeholder institutions and systems.
Thus the NCLOR is the centerpiece of e-learning resources in North Carolina.
The NCLOR is designed to be scalable and standards based. Scalability is required for
statewide, PreK-20 coverage. Standards ensure protocol, process, quality, and
compatibility of resources.
All work related to NCLOR Request for Proposal (RFP) development, vendor evaluation
and selection, planning and implementation is in keeping with e-Learning Commission
recommendations. To that end, the NCLOR vendor contract establishes:
• Ability for buy-in by all educational entities in North Carolina, public and private,
including educational/training departments of state agencies.
• Ability for buy-in by different purchasing authorities via memorandum of
agreement with the NCCCS.
Report of the NC eLC 11
• Aggregate FTE/enrollment licensing formula by which price per FTE/enrollment
unit drops as total license totals increase.
• Economies of scale realized by hosting by the North Carolina Information
Technology Services and related savings in hardware, IT support, and
administration.
Active use of NCLOR in live online courses began in fall 2008.
Ongoing e-Learning Projects
In the next few years, several promising collaborative projects will introduce leading-edge
network-delivered services, applications, and tools into the PreK-20 education
landscape. These technology tools, applications, and services will allow for cost sharing
and efficient use of resources.
The North Carolina e-Learning Portal
A major collaborative initiative of the e-Learning Commission has been the creation of
the North Carolina e-Learning Portal, designed as a central, customizable facility that
provides the citizens of North Carolina with easy access to information about all e-learning
opportunities in the state. When fully implemented, the portal will be a single
point of entry for NC e-Learning, providing aggregation and personalization, and
leveraging resources by establishing efficient and effective partnerships.
The development of a prototype of this portal was overseen by the Infrastructure
Subcommittee of the North Carolina e-Learning Commission. Optimized Learning, Inc.
and Unicon were contracted to provide:
• Installation, configuration, and branding of an uPortal application as a prototype
for the PreK-20 North Carolina e-Learning Portal.
• Development of an initial portal vision, purpose, audience, content, image, visual
details, and management plan.
• Three flat-file prototypes for consideration by the eLC.
• Incorporation of design elements and requirements based on feedback from
surveys, focus groups, and direction from the eLC.
• Implementation and hosting of the preferred prototype as a pilot portal.
The development process began formally at the January 2008 eLC meeting, during which
the commission reviewed and discussed expectations for the portal. The initial feedback
from that meeting guided the development of a survey document to collect specific
information on the vision, purpose, content, image, visual details, and management for
the portal. Feedback was also sought from Business and Education Technology Alliance
members, the NC Network, and the MCNC Collaborative Services Working Group.
In March 2008 the eLC began to conduct interviews with a series of focus groups in order
to gather specific feedback about the portal from various North Carolina constituent
groups. Where practical, these sessions used a collaboration tool called Elluminate. The
12 Report of the NC eLC
commission received invaluable input from the focus groups, allowing them to refine the
portal design and functional requirements.
OLi delivered three flat-file prototypes at the eLC meeting on March 20, 2008, and asked
the commission members to give feedback. Feedback was also received from members
of the Business and Education Technology Alliance and the NC Network. Meanwhile,
the eLC researched various state PreK-20 portals and Web sites. It hired a research
assistant to coordinate continuing research using graduate students to collect information
from other constituent groups such as the business community, working adults, and
retirees.
Based on this feedback and research, in August 2008 the eLC asked OLi to subcontract
with Cross + Associates to produce a new working prototype designed as a “proof of
concept.” Cross + Associates developed a new navigation architecture, a new look and
feel, and with the help of Unicon, redesigned the personalization function. To pilot the
portal and test the portal's personalization feature, the developers limited the content of
the proof-of-concept prototype to an audience of teachers and prospective teachers,
dividing the content into three areas, PreK-12, college and university, and career. A “My
Resources” link provided direct links to personalized content based on a user’s responses
to the personalization survey.
In November 2008 the proof-of-concept prototype was distributed for testing and
comment to a group of power users, including prospective e-learning students, PreK-12
counselors, and high-level educators involved in e-learning in North Carolina. The eLC is
now reviewing their responses and will incorporate feedback during the production
development phase.
Assuming the allocation of appropriate funding, the eLC expects to launch the production
North Carolina e-Learning Portal in June 2009.
Database interoperability
Accountable educational decision making must be driven by accurate data. Such data
allows education leaders to track student achievement and maintain links between
students and teachers.
The prerequisite for seamless data transfer is the establishment of unique teacher and
student IDs. In North Carolina, the PreK-12 education sector is currently consolidating
student information systems and will be on a single system with unique and consistent
IDs before the summer of 2009. PreK-12 is also kicking off a longitudinal data system to
house all information centrally so that easily available for reporting at all levels in the
state.
In summer 2009, PreK-20 will look to build on these milestones to enable the flow of the
information between public schools, community colleges, and University of North
Carolina, and, where feasible, North Carolina’s independent colleges and universities.
Report of the NC eLC 13
Collaborative procurement
The opportunities for savings to the state of North Carolina and specifically to public and
private education entities in the state through collaborative procurement of technology
applications, services, and hardware are significant.
An example is Web conferencing applications, which are widely used for e-learning
delivery and for other purposes within state government. Organizations in the state of
North Carolina currently spend approximately $450,000 annually on licensing for a Web
conferencing solution called Elluminate. This expenditure allows limited use at some of
the UNC system schools, limited use for some North Carolina Office of Information
Technology Services customers, limited use by some community colleges, and limited
use at a few independent colleges and universities. NC State University and Duke
University have unlimited licenses. Besides Elluminate, there are a number of licenses for
other Web conferencing products, including Wimba, iLinc, Connect, Centra, WebEx,
etc., which are being purchased at an unknown annual cost.
A centralized, statewide license for a single Web conferencing system would provide
unlimited access to collaborative tools (including voice and video) for all entities in
PreK-20 learning communities and state government. Such a state license would provide
dramatic savings compared to the way Web conferencing tools are currently being
licensed. Additional savings could be achieved by savings in travel costs (time, fuel, etc.).
ITS and MCNC should further their growing body of collaborative work to jointly
evaluate need and then procure services, applications, and tools used in both state
administration and in public and private education. This strategy is certain to drive
efficiencies and cost savings.
To achieve this benefit, amendments to the current Senate Bill 991 may be required. ITS
and MCNC should be empowered to bring forth such recommended policy changes as
part of the transition to the Perdue administration.
Cloud computing
The emerging arena of cloud computing allows for on-demand access to technological
infrastructure. North Carolina’s focus in cloud computing is the Virtual Computing Lab,
housed at NC State University. VCL is a remote-access service that allows students to
reserve a computer with a desired set of applications and access it remotely over the
Internet. Students can use high-powered applications including Matlab, Maple, SAS,
Solidworks, and many computing environments, including Linux, Solaris, and numerous
Windows environments.
Development of VCL started in 2004 as a joint venture between the NC State College of
Engineering and the NC State Office of Information Technology. The initial goal was to
efficiently use hardware investments and to provide remote access to a wide range of
advanced computer requirements by NC State University students, faculty, and
researchers. With ongoing support from the College of Engineering, OIT, and academic
and corporate partners, the VCL now successfully supports a wide range of users with
diverse computing needs across the UNC and NC community college systems.
14 Report of the NC eLC
Open-source technology
Another example of innovation in learning technology has prompted the state's
exploration of open-source-based learning management systems as a possible substitute
for incumbent, proprietary systems. While the vast majority of PreK-20 e-learning
providers in North Carolina currently use BlackBoard LMS products, we recognize that
depending on a single vendor may limit competitive procurement opportunities, and that
the product itself may limit innovative impulses by our faculty. In light of these
concerns, the UNC system, several of North Carolina’s private colleges and universities,
and the North Carolina Community College System are actively piloting open-source
alternatives or enhancements to BlackBoard learning management system products.
The widespread adoption of Linux, an open-source operating system, has proven the
efficacy of open-source solutions. Two open-source learning management platforms,
Moodle and Sakai, are rapidly gaining popularity among educational institutions
worldwide, and are the focus of the current UNC and NCCCS pilot projects. These pilot
projects include some use of open-source LMSs in the production environment under
actual conditions. This is a prelude to potential pervasive use of open source LMSs in the
next few years.
Federated identity management
Federated identity management provides a platform for cross-organizational use of
computing services. Under FIM, if a high school and a community college are part of the
same trust federation, a high school student can register for a course at a community
college using her home high school credentials (such as user name, record number and
access password). UNC GA and Internet2 are both providing federation services, and
MCNC is collaborating across the NCREN community to evaluate how to build a
statewide functional trust federation.
e-Learning Opportunities in North Carolina
Since 2006, when the E-Learning Commission began its work, all of the education
sectors in North Carolina have increased virtual or e-learning programs. There has also
been an increase in high school students taking college courses and community colleges
and universities sharing degree programs. These collaborations, made possible by
technology, are moving the education sectors toward a more seamless learning
environment.
Programs for High School Students
All of the e-learning programs for high school students in North Carolina address the
guiding mission established by the NC State Board of Education that “every public
school student will graduate from high school, globally competitive for work and
Report of the NC eLC 15
postsecondary education and prepared for life in the 21st century,” along with these
specific NCSBE goals:1
• NC public schools will produce globally competitive students;
• NC public schools will be led by twenty-first century professionals;
• NC public students will be healthy and responsible;
• Leadership will guide innovation in NC public schools;
• NC public schools will be governed and supported by twenty-first century
systems.
The e-learning programs support the work of DPI in addressing the need to update
curriculum standards, assessments and accountability, as directed by the NCSBE. The e-
Learning Commission will work with DPI to ensure that twenty-first century skills,
pedagogy, and tools are integrated throughout the new standards, and that e-learning
programs at the PreK-12 level will support educators in implementing the new standards
and assessments successfully.
North Carolina Virtual Public School
Session Law 2007-323 provided funding at the Education Cabinet level to establish what
is now called the NC Virtual Public School. In 2007 Lieutenant Governor (now
Governor-Elect) Bev Perdue led the implementation of NCVPS, which is the first virtual
public school established statewide in the United States.
North Carolina Virtual Public School provides expanded academic options to all NC high
school students by offering online courses in subjects that may not be available at their
local schools. NCVPS also offers online services such as test preparation, career
planning services, and credit recovery.
There are many reasons parents and students consider instruction through NCVPS:
• A student may live in an area of the state where the local school system doesn’t
offer a specific course, such as Latin or AP Physics.
• A student can enroll in a NCVPS course to solve a scheduling problem if his class
schedule doesn’t allow attendance during the school day.
• A student may experience extraordinary circumstances, such as a physical or
medical challenge that prevents him from attending school.
NCVPS was ranked in November 2008 as one of the top ten state-led virtual schools in
the nation by Center for Digital Education. The report was produced with the advice and
1 NC SBE and DPI. Future-Ready Schools: Preparing Students for the 21st Century. 2004-2006 Biennial
Report.
16 Report of the NC eLC
consultation of the Council of Chief State School Officers and the North American
Council for Online Learning
In the year and a half since NCVPS has been open, it has already provided over 39,000
virtual learning opportunities to students in North Carolina. While it began offering
classes only at the high school level, NCVPS is running a middle school pilot program.
When the middle school program is implemented, NCVPS will start a pilot program for
elementary grades.
NCVPS expects to grow at a projected rate of 30 percent annually.
Year NC Virtual Public School Enrollment
2006-07* Summer enrollment: 8,131
2007-08 15,417
2008-09** 20,369
*NCVPS Opened June 2007
**Includes summer enrollments projections at 4000
All NCVPS teachers are highly qualified and certified to teach in the disciplines in which
they are assigned.
Learn and Earn Online
Whereas NCVPS currently offers high school-level courses for high school credit, an
initiative affiliated with NCVPS, Learn and Earn Online, allows high school students to
take college-level courses online, earning high school and college credits simultaneously.
Learn and Earn Online grew out of the more traditional distance-education Learn and
Earn program, in which high school students enroll in classes in local community
colleges or universities while they are still in high school. Students completing a Learn
and Earn course receive a dual-enrollment credit, earning college and high school credits
at the same time. Some students have used Learn and Earn during a fifth year of high
school so that when they graduate they receive both a high school diploma and an
associate’s degree. In essence, they receive two years of higher education for free.
Learn and Earn Online extends the benefits of Learn and Earn to the online environment,
thus expanding access to students anywhere in the state. First offered in 2007, Learn and
Earn Online is a partnership between the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction
and the NC Community College and UNC systems. Although it is available to all high
school students, participation for an individual school or school district is optional.
Learn and Earn is an excellent example of how North Carolina is shifting to a more
seamless transition from high school to higher education. In fall 2008 Learn and Earn
received the 2008 Innovations in American Government Award. This annual awards
Report of the NC eLC 17
competition, sponsored by the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation
at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, is designed to improve
government practices by honoring effective initiatives and encouraging the dissemination
of best practices.
UNC Greensboro's iSchool
The Division of Continual Learning at UNC Greensboro offers e-learning to high school
juniors and seniors through its iSchool program. iSchool courses are college-level
courses that are taught online by UNC Greensboro-approved faculty and delivered to
networked computers at the students' base school. iSchool classes meet daily like
traditional high school courses, iSchool classes meet daily, but students have the
advantage of saving their work and returning to it after school and at home—as long as
they meet their weekly deadlines.
Ninety-seven of North Carolina's 100 counties currently participate in UNCG iSchool. In
its first year as part of Learn and Earn Online (2007-08), the iSchool had 2,648
enrollments spread across 139 high schools in sixty-three LEAs. In 2008-09, iSchool
will have over 5,200 enrollments in 364 high schools in ninety-seven LEAs.
The UNC-G iSchool is the first virtual early college in the nation. The state of North
Carolina funds iSchool enrollment through the Department of Public Instruction, and
there is no cost for courses or textbooks. Students who successfully complete iSchool
courses simultaneously satisfy high school graduation requirements and are awarded
college credit.
North Carolina 1:1 Learning Technology Pilot Initiative and Plan
NCVPS, Learn and Earn Online, and the iSchool provide online delivery of twenty-first
century curriculum and content, but they do not address the larger need of enriching the
technological learning environment of our existing high school classrooms. The pilot NC
1:1 Learning Technology Initiative creates technology-intensive classrooms in which
every student and teacher is given an individual laptop computer. NCLTI researchers
then uses these classrooms as a research base to explore the best ways to integrate
technology effectively to enhance teaching and learning. Research on the impact of
technology in high schools in general, and on 1:1 computing programs in North Carolina
and in other states in particular, shows that success in the NCLTI will require the
following:
1. A well-articulated vision and rationale for the NCLTI approach, along with a
strategic plan for implementing the approach;
2. Engagement and support from all constituents of the school community, including
the LEAs, local government, the business community, and parents;
3. Collaborative school and district leadership teams comprising instructional,
curriculum, technology, and administrative leaders who are committed to the
NCLTI approach;
4. Professional development and ongoing support for teachers as they reshape and
update teaching practices to take full advantage of the available technology, as
18 Report of the NC eLC
well as for administrators as they update school management practices and
support the teachers;
5. School-based staff, such as instructional technology facilitators and media
specialists, who provide instructional support for the use of technology to enhance
learning;
6. A portable, wireless computer device for each student, teacher, and administrator;
7. Additional technology to support teaching and learning in each classroom, such as
a scanner, projector, digital white board, and digital camera;
8. High bandwidth connectivity to the school and sufficient wireless connectivity
throughout the school;
9. Digital education resources for teachers and students, including tools and
resources that support productivity (e.g., word processing), Web 2.0-based
activities (e.g., blogs and wikis), e-learning (e.g., learning management and
conferencing systems), curriculum planning, classroom management, student
assessment, and teaching and learning in specific content areas;
10. School-based technical staff who ensure that the technology is maintained, kept
up-to-date and repaired as needed;
11. Strategies for ensuring student safety and appropriate use of computers in accord
with the Children’s Internet Protection Act and local policies, while still enabling
teachers and students access to a wide range of information and communication
resources;
12. Sustainable funding to support the total cost of ownership of the technology
resources and the costs of ongoing professional development.
The NCLTI was funded in part by Session Law 2007-323 §7.39, which provided $3
million in non-recurring funds to establish pilot programs incorporating twenty-first
century curriculum, personnel, professional development, and technology tools in public-school
classrooms. This funding was linked to grants from the Golden LEAF Foundation
and private-sector funds provided by SAS to establish the pilot NC 1:1 Learning
Technology Initiative. The GLF grants provided funds for student portable computers;
SAS provided funds for teacher portable computers; and state funds covered technology
infrastructure, technical and instructional support, and program evaluation.
This funding has provided the pilot schools with technology resources and professional
development that will support and extend other state initiatives moving toward future-ready
schools, such as the new content standards and assessments being developed by
DPI, the new teacher and administrator standards, the graduation-project requirement,
comprehensive data systems, LEARN NC, the NC Virtual Public School, the Early
College and Redesigned High Schools, and other state and local initiatives. Session law
2008-107 provides an additional $1.5 million for expansion of the pilot program and for
the development of a feasibility study and plan for a large-scale, statewide 1:1
Technology Learning Initiative informed by the technology pilots.
In addition to the NC 1:1 TLI pilot schools, there are currently a number of North
Carolina schools implementing 1:1 learning technology initiatives, others planning to
launch 1:1 initiatives, and many others seeking funding for 1:1 initiatives. Many other
schools throughout the state are moving toward future 1:1 programs, often starting with
mobile carts of computers to provide 1:1 computing in some classes each day. Schools
Report of the NC eLC 19
districts that have active 1:1 initiatives or planning to start one in the next year are listed
in Appendix F.
Building on the processes used in planning the School Connectivity Initiative, the Friday
Institute for Educational Innovation at NC State University is currently leading the
development of a feasibility study and plan for a statewide 1:1 Learning Technology
Initiative. The initial draft of the feasibility study is due in June 2009.
The North Carolina Community College System Online
For more than a decade, the North Carolina Community College System has invested
heavily in e-learning, collaborating both across the community college system and with
other sectors of the North Carolina education community. New NCCCS system president
Dr. Scott Ralls has pledged to enhance this investment.
Hallmarks of the NCCCS e-learning environment are the system's 2+2 collaborative
partnership with the UNC system; its participation in efforts to implement enhanced
networked broadband connectivity, its adoption of an enterprise course-management
system, its partnership in Virtual Computing Lab with NC State, and its collaborative
Virtual Learning Community. In addition, NCCCS has been a leader in developing the
North Carolina Learning Object Repository, a resource that assist educators at all levels
by providing access to multimedia learning objects to assist in course development.
All fifty-eight North Carolina Community College System institutions offer online
degrees and have recently experienced a tremendous increase in online-course
enrollment. NCCCS schools experienced 50 percent growth from 2006-07 to 2007-08
and the system projects at least a 25 percent increase for 2009.
Year North Carolina Community
College System
Online Course Enrollment
North Carolina Community
College System
Student Contact Hours*
2005-06 135,690 407,070
2006-07 164,074 492,222
2007-08 245,642 736,926
2008-09** 307,052 921,156
* Each course constitutes three student contact hours.
*Projected numbers based on a 25% growth, a conservative estimate.
While each NC community college maintains autonomy to remain responsive to local
community needs, a culture of collaboration exists through which online courses and
20 Report of the NC eLC
resources are developed centrally and shared with all institutions. This collaboration and
cooperation enhances and expands online resources and support, and drastically reduces
development costs of online courses used across the system. As described below, the e-
Learning Commission proposes to extend this type of collaboration across PreK-20.
The vehicle for collaborative course development is the NCCCS Virtual Learning
Community. VLC was originally established in 1998 to develop the ten online courses
most in demand at that time. The success of that early effort has morphed into the VLC
of today, in which six VLC centers are in operation. Three of these centers concentrate
on creating and improving online courses and resources. Each center has a special
disciplinary focus:
1. STEM courses (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics)
2. Nursing, early childhood education, and developmental studies
3. Continuing education, vocational, and technical courses.
The other three VLC support centers interact and collaborate to provide support for
quality assessment, staff development, and best use of technology. (Appendix G provides
more information on NCCCS Online and the Virtual Learning Community.)
The University of North Carolina Online
In 2006 the North Carolina University system hired Erskine Bowles as its president.
President Bowles brought to his role an enlightened leadership to continue the movement
of the UNC system as a major competitor in the global economy. He initiated a
statewide effort called UNC Tomorrow to find out from North Carolina's citizens what
they needed from the university system. One of the findings of UNC Tomorrow was
that the citizens of North Carolina wanted to have more ubiquitous access to courses
offered by institutions in the UNC system.
President Bowles views online courses and degree program as one way to respond to the
findings of UNC Tomorrow and also to respond to the growth in student population in
the face of reduced funds for facilities. As noted in the chart below, UNC institutions
have dramatically increased online participation by 435 percent in the last five years.
Year UNC Online
Unduplicated Online Student
Head Count
UNC Online
Student Credit Hours
2005-06 43,453 241,908
2006-07 52,797 304,556
2007-08 58,875 354,652
Report of the NC eLC 21
President Bowles charged the University of North Carolina system institutions to explore
collaborative ways to extend the benefits of online instruction to a growing student
population. On July 1, 2007, the University of North Carolina launched The University
of North Carolina Online, a searchable Web site that aggregates all the degree, certificate,
and licensure programs offered by the sixteen campuses of the UNC system. The goal of
The University of North Carolina Online is to provide greater access to higher education
for North Carolinians of any age. Special entry points are available for community
college students, the military, and teachers. There are currently over 175 fully online
degree, certificate, or licensure programs listed on the University of North Carolina
Online site. Over 100 of these are full degree programs, and an additional fifteen are
under development. Access to UNC Online is through this URL:
http://online.northcarolina.edu/.
The infrastructure for the UNC Online was developed by Learn NC under contract and
has received many very positive comments from users, developers, faculty, and
administrators, within and without the system. It won the NC Distance Learning
Association's Award for 21st Century Best Practice in Distance Learning for 2008, and
GetEducated.com rates online courses offered through The University of North Carolina
Online as a “best buy.”
The University of North Carolina Online shares a help desk with CFNC for students who
may need further assistance. The system has a back-end customer-management system
that collects data when information is requested from the campus or from UNC Online.
Thus, the technological infrastructure for The University of North Carolina Online is
recognized as cutting edge and exceptionally well designed, with a flexible database that
can accommodate future functionality.
In 2008 The University of North Carolina Online developed and implemented an inter-institutional
online registration system that allows students registered in one UNC
institution to more easily register at another UNC institution for an online course. This
technology also allows the tracking of a student across campuses using only their local e-mail
address and password, a major breakthrough. This same system is being evaluated
by the iSchool for tracking high school students taking online college courses.
e-Learning Offered by NC Independent Colleges and Universities
Each of the thirty-six independent colleges and universities in North Carolina determines
the amount of e-learning that is appropriate for its mission. While the primary focus of
independent higher education is a residential experience that features small classes and
face-to-face relationships with professors, a number of colleges and universities have
seen value for students in adding online or blended courses to the curriculum.
The greatest number of online courses are offered by independent colleges and
universities that offer adult completion programs or graduate degrees. Students in such
programs often work full or part time, and they value the independence and flexibility
that e-learning offers. These programs also draw students from around the world who
22 Report of the NC eLC
can “attend” class together and converse with each other to provide a global perspective
without physically being in the same classroom or even on the same continent.
Establishing Standards and Assessing Quality
Digital Content Standards
Establishing common digital-content standards ensures standardized processes and
quality for digital content that is shared across North Carolina's PreK-20 education
system. As a common digital standard for all digital content, including content in the NC
Learning Object Repository, all three public education systems in North Carolina North
Carolina have adopted the SCORE standards established by the Southern Regional
Education Board. The goals of SCORE are to improve the quality of digital learning,
course content, learning objects, and tools; to improve teaching and learning; and to
achieve costs savings.
SCORE recommends five key elements to achieve these goals:
• Integrated learning object repositories to allow faculty, teachers, and curriculum
developers to easily develop, share, and use content across colleges, universities,
and schools within and across states.
• Policies and procedures that will ensure quality by providing guidance and
requirements to create, approve, store, and retrieve content.
• A consistent and mutually accepted meta-tagging convention and controlled
vocabulary necessary for accurately and appropriately cataloging content.
• Policies regarding copyright and intellectual property owned by state education
agencies, colleges, universities, and schools.
• Policies ensuring ADA compliance, security, privacy, identity management, and
interoperability.
Evaluation of the NC Virtual Public School
After NC Virtual Public School was created by the North Carolina Legislature in 2005,
one of its first acts was to contract for an evaluation of the sixty-two courses folded into
NC Virtual from Learn NC and the Cumberland Web Academy. The initial evaluation
was performed by an external group from Texas called Region 4. Using a rubric taken
from the Southern Regional Education Board's extensive quality checklist for online
courses, Region 4 determined that only three of the sixty-two courses offered met
acceptable standards. The evaluation also provided NCVPS with invaluable feedback
regarding the work that needed to be done in order to develop high-quality courses for the
state of North Carolina.
In response to this feedback, NCVPS has taken the following actions:
• Since the initial evaluation, NCVPS has put all of its courses through three
revision cycles: April 2008, July 2008, and November 2008. During each revision
cycle, NCVPS uses the SREB and NACOL course-quality checklists to ensure
Report of the NC eLC 23
alignment to national standards. All of the NCVPS courses are now in
compliance with these national standards, and none of them are completely text
based (a major concern of the Region 4 evaluators). They all incorporate
multimedia and Web 2.0 components as appropriate.
• All of the NCVPS AP courses have been submitted to the College Board's AP
Audit, and all have been approved. Therefore, all of NCVPS's AP courses meet
the high quality standards set by the College Board.
• NCVPS has adopted the High Five Process for instructional design, which ensures
that each of its courses is aligned with the NC Standard Course of Study. The
High Five process also aligns to National Staff Development Council standards,
Marzanno’s effective instruction recommendations from the Midcontinent
Research for Education and Learning, Tomlinson, Reeves, etc. in terms of
research-based best practices.
• NCVPS has established a Research, Development, and Innovation team of
NCVPS teachers who receive an additional stipend to do evaluative RDI work to
ensure that NCVPS courses are high quality and on the cutting edge of
technology.
• The Friday Institute conducted evaluations last spring to gather student and
teacher feedback on their satisfaction with the courses. NCVPS used that
feedback to inform its new strategic plan for 2008-09.
NCVPS will have another full external evaluation of its courses during the summer 2009
revision process.
Evaluation of UNC and NCCCS
All UNC and NCCCS campuses are well attuned to the role of standards for online
learning. Campuses use the same processes for assessing online degree programs as for
campus-based programs. Prior to offering courses or programs online, campuses must
demonstrate that necessary resources for distance learning are available online or through
other means. The regional accreditation agency, the Commission on Colleges of the
Southern Association for Schools and Colleges, requires any degree program that offers
more than 50 percent of its coursework online to demonstrate that the quality of the
course, course instruction, library resources, and student support are comparable with
campus-based programs. If these standards are not met, the delivery of the program
online is not permitted.
Each program approved by the UNC Board of Governors for campus offering must be
separately approved by the General Administration of UNC before it can be offered off
campus or online. Systemwide standards for distance learning build on standards
established by individual campuses and are similar to those of the Commission on
Colleges and of the Southern Regional Education Board.
Because quality is a changing and moving target, quality assessment is an area of great
innovation and change. UNC has formed an Online Quality Council whose task is to
address issues of quality and standards. The members of this council are appointed by the
24 Report of the NC eLC
chief academic officer on each campus. The council serves as a focal point for quality
issues or student complaints. Their task is to investigate the problem area, achieve a
resolution, and then determine whether changes need to be made to keep the problem
from occurring again.
Professional Development
An essential initial step to offering effective e-learning to North Carolina students is
preparing teachers, faculty, and administrators to use technology to enhance teaching,
learning, assessment, communications, and management. Although great deal of
professional development in the use of technology is already available to North Carolina
educators at every level, the state is just beginning to tap into the potential of online
delivery methods. Virtual delivery has proven to be an effective, relevant, accessible,
highly productive and cost-efficient method of delivering professional development
instruction.
Advances in technology now allow instructors to create online learning materials and to
design online learning environments that are not only comparable to traditional, face-to-face
instruction, but in some instances superior to traditional instruction. Instructors team
with instructional designers, computer programmers, graphic designers, and video/audio
specialists to create highly effective interactive case studies, video mini-lectures, narrated
PowerPoint presentations, simulations, group exercises, audio files, video clips, graphics,
animations, educational games, interactive glossaries, embedded quizzes, graphical
tutorials, Java applications, virtual tours, and expert guest lectures. Many of these same
applications, learning objects, and templates can be used to develop effective online
professional development.
Common Types of Online Professional Development
One e-learning format for OPD is individualized, self-paced online instruction, in which
each participant proceeds through a series of online learning activities at his or her own
pace. Often this approach involves some interaction with an instructor through an online
discussion board, e-mail or, in some cases, telephone. While this approach provides the
most flexibility, since each participant can work on his or her own schedule, it lacks
opportunity for interactions with colleagues.
Another OPD format is online video. With this method, lectures, demonstration classes,
and other materials are broadcast to multiple sites. Depending upon the available
technology, participants can interact via video conferencing, audio conferencing, or
online text messaging. In the past, this approach required that participants gather at a
specific site in which video conferencing technology was available, but as the technology
and available bandwidth continue to advance, video-based approaches are becoming
more widely accessible to educators from their schools, offices, and homes.
In cohort-based OPD, a cohort of educators participate in a series of learning activities,
exchanging ideas with others in the cohort as well as with the instructor. The cohort-based
approach uses readily available Web-based technologies and asynchronous
discussions, so educators can participate on their own schedules from any location with
Report of the NC eLC 25
Internet access. Some courses also integrate synchronous discussions, either text-based
in a chat-room structure or voice-based, using online conferencing tools.
Other techniques are emerging. For example, professional development is now being
presented in virtual environments such as Second Life, in which each participant is
represented by an avatar who can move through the virtual space, exploring resources
and interacting with others. Other professional development incorporates social networks
to foster online professional learning communities that can provide ongoing professional
development embedded within day-to-day practices. There are also hybrid models that
integrate onsite meetings, classroom visits, or local study groups with an online course.
In addition to serving as a delivery method for full courses, e-learning can also be used to
enhance and extend face-to-face workshops and courses, coaching and mentoring
programs, teacher study groups, and other professional development approaches. In each
case, the e-learning technology provides a convenient means of communicating and
sharing information, one that doesn’t depend on people being available at the same time
or place. As an enhancement to other types of professional development programs, e-learning
can enable participants to continue discussions from onsite meetings, provide
access to experts and resources that are not available locally, enable rapid responses to
questions, facilitate developing collections of shared resources, and, in general, deepen
connections with colleagues and mentors.
OPD in North Carolina
Online professional development that is already available in North Carolina includes the
Department of Public Instruction's Next Generation of Assessments and Accountability,
which employs OPD to prepare teachers for the new writing assessment. DPI plans to
offer OPD for the new essential standards and assessment across the content areas. The
Report from the SBE and UNC-GA Ad Hoc Committee on School Leadership
recommends that North Carolina “maximize use of online delivery of professional
development for school leaders and create online professional learning communities for
school leaders as on-going support mechanisms as appropriate” (p. 5).
Learn NC, community college, and university programs offer OPD modules to instruct
teachers and faculty in the use of online tools (e.g., Moodle, Blackboard, eLuminate,
wikis, and blogs) that can extend learning opportunities to their students. The Friday
Institute offers OPD to teachers in 1:1 Learning Technology Initiative pilot schools.
Topics include integrating Web 2.0 tools into the classroom, and continued support for
math, science, social studies, and language arts teachers who attended face-to-face
workshops. The North Carolina School for Science and Mathematics offers a series of
videoconferencing courses for math and science teachers. In many cases, the demand for
OPD exceeds what the organizations offering these programs can currently provide.
An excellent example and potential model for OPD is occurring in Davie County.
Through the commitment of the Davie County Commissioners, the Parent Teacher
Association and the Mebane Foundation sixteen teachers, called the Mebane Masters, are
pursuing master's degrees in instructional technology from Appalachian State University.
Instead of traveling from the county seat of Mocksville, North Carolina, to Boone (where
Appalachian is located) three nights a week, the Mebane Masters leverage virtual worlds,
26 Report of the NC eLC
video-conferencing and audio-conferencing technologies to participate in their classes
and activities virtually over NCREN. The Mebane Masters commit to staying in the
classroom for at least three years after they complete their degrees, and Appalachian pairs
sixteen student teachers with the Mebane Masters each semester. Davie County, in
essence, is incubating the PreK-12 teacher of today and tomorrow using distance and
virtual learning technologies.
The Growing Need for OPD
Driving the need for OPD in technology subject areas is the growth in e-learning
opportunities across the state. Community colleges, colleges of education, and other
university departments are rapidly increasing their online course offerings and, in some
cases, are offering degree programs in which the majority of coursework is online.
Instructing a class online requires that teachers receive professional development in how
to use a course management system (e.g., Blackboard or Moodle), how to lead an online
discussion, how to develop a podcast, how to set up learning opportunities in Second
Life, how to design online examinations, how to design interactive case studies, and so
on. If materials are created for use in online classes but instructors are not trained how to
use those materials, the resulting experience for the students will be disastrous. In fact,
having teachers and faculty first experience online learning as students provides a solid
foundation so that they can consider using online techniques with their own students.
A few organizations and institutions within North Carolina have begun to create rich,
interactive learning materials that introduce instructors to online teaching. For example,
LearnNC, the NC Community College System’s NC-NET, and East Carolina University
all have developed modules or courses on aspects of online teaching, and other colleges
and LEAs have created workshops for teachers interested in teaching online. There has
not been, however, a coordinated effort in this area. As a result, there are practitioners
developing many of the same activities and products, a lack of consistency and quality
control, and limited ability to share resources across educators and organizations. Our
goal should be to provide outstanding learning experiences for teachers, faculty, and
students, but we want to avoid duplication of effort, save time and resources, and spread
knowledge and innovations across institution. When it comes to professional
development, we want to develop activities and mechanisms for sharing knowledge,
practices, and learning objects.
Report of the NC eLC 27
2008 Recommendations of the NC e-Learning
Commission
The North Carolina e-Learning Commission makes the following eight recommendations
to the North Carolina Education Cabinet. These recommendations complement the
fifteen recommendations made by the eLC in its 2006 report. (Appendix C: Matrix
listing the fifteen recommendations of the 2005 eLC report and progress toward
achieving them.)
Recommendation 1: The North Carolina Education Cabinet
Because the development of goals and standards for the North Carolina Virtual School
requires a foundation of broad goals for PreK-20 education across the state, the North
Carolina Education Cabinet, in collaboration with the Education Commission (commonly
referred to as the Joint Boards), should develop goals and measures of accountability for
PreK-20 education consistent with the governor's vision for education and economic
development in North Carolina. To facilitate this and other work, a full-time staff for the
Education Cabinet should be established and funded from existing resources. This staff
should communicate and meet with the Education Cabinet members or their designated
staff regularly to coordinate and study issues as specified in General Statute 116C-1.
Fiscal: $300,000.00 (existing funds from School Connectivity designated for transfer to
the Office of the Governor SECTION 7.28.(f) of SL 2007-323)
Rationale: With the election of a new governor of North Carolina, Bev Perdue, it is
vital that North Carolina continue to lead the nation in preparing graduates for the
demands of the global economy. The PreK-20 education sectors in North Carolina are
largely structured for traditional education, with each of the sectors (public school,
community college, and college or university) working independently of one other.
Although cooperation and coordination among the sectors has been growing, as North
Carolina continues to use the latest strategies for innovation, thereby improving
graduation rates and college access, we must continue our work on a seamless PreK-20
system. The need for collaboration has become more evident as we implement high
school reform efforts that combine high school and associate's degree programs (e.g.,
Learn and Earn).
The North Carolina Education Cabinet and Education Commission serve as the
coordinated governance structure for PreK-20 education in North Carolina. The
complementary work of the Education Cabinet and Education Commission encourages
alignment of all programs delivered to NC learners.
The Education Cabinet comprises the leaders from each of the PreK-20 education sectors,
including the Department of Health and Human Services. The function of the Education
Cabinet is to resolve issues among existing providers of education and to develop a
strategic direction for the continuum of education programs as specified in General
Statutes116C-3 by making recommendations to the Education Commission. The
Education Commission, chaired by the governor, is composed of the governing boards
from each of the education sectors. It provides a board-to-board discussion forum for the
issues being addressed by the Education Cabinet.
28 Report of the NC eLC
In order to facilitate collaboration and achieve the vision set by the governor for North
Carolina, as we branch into new technologies, the Education Cabinet and Education
Commission must establish a common set of overarching goals and must establish
measures of accountability for which all sectors are responsible. An outcome of the
coordination effort will be elimination of duplication of effort in areas that cut across all
sectors, leading to greater fiscal efficiency.
Recommendation 2: e-Learning Standards
The North Carolina Education Cabinet should ensure that standards are in place for e-learning
across PreK-20 and should develop such standards if they do not already exist.
These standards should guide the quality and rigor of e-learning courses, delivery
mechanisms, access, and other structural needs across the state of North Carolina. The
Education Cabinet should also review and advance policies that support infrastructure
standardization and seamless transfer, especially in the areas of quality of course
development, collecting student data, interpretation of the Children’s Internet Protection
Act, and delivering e-learning across PreK-20. To assist the Education Cabinet in
developing these standards and policies, staff for the Education Cabinet identified in
Recommendation 1 of this report should continue to implement the work of NCV as
required in SL 2007-323 Section 7.28.(e). In addition, a research facility should be
contracted to provide research and development services to assist in serving the needs of
the Education Cabinet. An example of such a facility is the Friday Institute for Education
Innovation, located at NC State University.
Fiscal: Same as Recommendation 1. $300,000.00 (existing funds from School
Connectivity designated for transfer to the Office of the Governor SECTION 7.28.(f) of SL
2007-323)
Rationale: Because of the progress made by the e-Learning Commission and the
increased importance of e-learning across the state, the work of NCVirtual requires full-time
attention and a sustainable structure. Although the e-Learning Commission has
been a volunteer organization, the importance and volume of its workload has brought us
to a point where we must institutionalize this valuable asset for PreK-20 education in
North Carolina.
The Friday Institute for Education Innovation is a logical choice to conduct the necessary
research on e-learning. The Friday Institute's mission is to advance education through
innovation in teaching, learning, and leadership. The institute's scholars conduct
research, create resources, advocate to improve teaching and learning, and provide
services to educators and policymakers. Their work focuses on innovations that will help
prepare all students, from preschool through college, to live and work successfully in the
twenty-first century.
While research on e-learning is a natural fit for the Friday Institute, the Education
Cabinet will draw on all relevant research that can assist with decision making.
Embraced by all of NC’s Education sectors, e-learning changes the landscape of
traditional education and presents systemic challenges both in structure and policy. Such
challenges include encouraging schools of education to incorporate online instruction as
part of the curriculum for future teachers; ensuring that standards for content are
Report of the NC eLC 29
appropriate to the online environment; ensuring that accounting standards for funding are
appropriate to online teaching (e.g., getting away from seat time and other measures that
don't apply to the online environment); and establishing standard metrics for basic quality
assurance and measurements, such as consistent measures for course completion.
Recommendation 3: NCREN
Virtual and e-learning require sufficient broadband connectivity through a robust network
that provides secure and reliable service. The North Carolina Research and Education
Network currently provides such service to the University of North Carolina system,
many of the private universities and colleges, and some community colleges, and is in its
second year of connecting all public schools to the network with a projected completion
date of June 2009. The Education Cabinet should endorse NCREN as the statewide
education network for education PreK-20. In addition, the community colleges, in
collaboration with ITS and NCREN, should develop a plan no later than June 2009 to
transition all community colleges in North Carolina to NCREN.
Fiscal: Existing resources
Rationale: Virtual or e-learning through a secure and reliable broadband network
provides multiple opportunities for the successful education and development of workers.
Robust collaboration creates the opportunity for real-time interaction so that students can
learn from their counterparts anywhere in the world. Students can take courses with
highly qualified teachers no matter where they live or work. Teachers can connect with
colleagues to get or provide help or take courses without having to travel or wait for
weeks to meet with someone to get assistance. This type of network affords all kinds of
possibilities and addresses North Carolina's need to prepare students and workers for a
global economy. It is an efficient and cost-effective way for PreK-20 students and
educators to share services and reduce the cost of travel.
Recommendation 4: Center for Online Professional Development
The Education Cabinet should determine if an existing structure can be expanded to serve
as a North Carolina Center for PreK-20 Online Professional Development, or create a
new center if no appropriate structure exists. The center will work with existing
developers and providers of OPD to sustain and extend their programs, provide
coordination and dissemination of OPD programs, ensure quality control, and foster the
effective use of OPD to help meet the professional development needs of educators
throughout North Carolina. The center will develop incrementally over a three-year
period. In the first phase, the center will establish quality-control standards and processes
for OPD; will inventory, review, and catalog existing online professional development
courses; and will act as a repository and information clearinghouse for high-quality
online professional development courses and new technologies relevant to OPD. In the
second phase, the center will conduct a needs assessment to identify high-priority needs
for OPD; will add a core staff of course developers to convert existing face-to-face
professional development courses to an online format in order to enhance access; will
train course developers; and will organize teams to seek federal and other funding. In the
third phase, the center will add to its previous activities by using the needs assessment to
identify high-priority OPD courses that are not yet available; and will create, contract to
30 Report of the NC eLC
create, or motivate others to create new online courses or modules to fill those gaps. The
process for creating the new online courses will be either through development teams
based at the center or through an RFP process, depending on the volume of courses and
determination of the most cost-effective approach.
Fiscal: Year 1: $1.2 million
Year 2: $2.7 million
Year 3: $2.7 million
Rationale: North Carolina must prepare its teachers, faculty, and administrators to use
technology to enhance teaching, learning, assessment, communications, and
management. Such professional development can be delivered using online approaches,
which have proven to be effective, relevant, accessible, and cost-efficient. The NC
Center for PreK-20 Online Professional Development will ensure that North Carolina is
making effective use of online means to provide widely accessible and relevant
professional development, one of the four major goals set forward in the January 2008
Joint Technology Commission Report.
Recommendation 5: Technology Collaboration Council
The NC Virtual should establish a Technology Collaboration Council with representation
from all PreK-20 e-learning providers and all e-learning technology-service providers
(specifically MCNC and ITS). The role of this council will be to research and identify
opportunities for collaborative infrastructure solutions and to recommend to the NCV the
implementation of such solutions as appropriate. The council will include three sub-groups:
networks/connectivity, servers/storage, and applications/services.
The research role of the proposed Technology Collaboration Council is already being
substantially met by the MCNC Collaborative Services Working Group. Rather than
duplicating this effort, the MCNC Collaborative Services Working Group should expand
to include representation from all NCV stakeholders, and NCV should adopt this group as
the research arm of the Technology Collaboration Council.
Fiscal: Can be established with existing resources.
Rationale: A collaborative approach to the provision and support of enabling
infrastructure and services avoids duplication of effort, leading to a more efficient use of
scarce resources and freeing e-learning providers to spend their energy on their core
mission of educating students.
Recommendation 6: Learning Consumers Council
The NC Virtual should establish a Learning Consumers Council with representation from
a broad geographic perspective and including students, parents, teachers, education
advocacy groups, and the business community. The role of this council will be to
provide input and feedback to the NCV and the Technology Collaboration Council to
ensure that the needs of North Carolina’s e-learning consumers are being met effectively.
Fiscal: Can be established with existing resources.
Report of the NC eLC 31
Rationale: The goal of the e-Learning Commission is to bring e-learning to every citizen
of North Carolina. The Learning Consumers Council ensures accountability by eliciting
input from a broad cross-section of e-learning consumers and providers.
Recommendation 7: NC e-Learning Portal
The General Assembly should provide one-time funding to launch the production version
of the North Carolina e-Learning portal and recurring funding to sustain the production
version of the North Carolina e-Learning Portal.
Fiscal: $250,000 prototype to production – one-time
$400,000 sustaining and updating – annual recurring
Rationale: Numerous studies and surveys show that an umbrella portal site helps speed
adoption and increases the use of e-learning content for all sites linked through the portal.
The development of a North Carolina e-Learning Portal, through which all e-learning
resources offered by public and private education institutions in North Carolina can be
searched, accessed, and saved in a personalized account, has been a major focus of the e-
Learning Commission. A prototype portal, tentatively called e-Learning NC, was
launched in November 2008. Currently, a number of major users—e-learning students,
members of the North Carolina Distance Learning Association, and members of the
MCNC Collaborative Services Working Group—are testing the portal. In addition, the
portal will be demonstrated to Friday Institute staff, teachers, and education
administrators. Their feedback will be collected and logged, and will serve as the basis
for the design of the production version of the portal.
Moving the portal from prototype to production will require a one-time investment. This
investment will include incorporating the feedback from the testing of the prototype into
the production site, and extending the personalization function to a broader range of
users. In addition, the portal will require recurring funding for continued improvement,
hosting, maintenance, administration, and access to subject-matter expertise.
Recommendation 8: Data Mining and Dynamic Reporting
System
To provide a foundation for the dynamic and personalized environment that ubiquitous
access to e-learning content requires, the Education Cabinet should develop an
aggregated PreK-20 statewide intelligent data-mining and dynamic reporting system that
will allow real-time access to information in a format that can be used to assist with
decisions on personal learning plans for students, professional development plans for
instructors, and resource-allocation decisions for institutions, districts, and entire
systems.
Diligent work on several facets of an integrated data-mining and reporting system for
PreK-20 education in North Carolina is already under way. For example, work on
assigning a unique identification number for each student in North Carolina public
education, long a difficult goal, is now in an advanced stage.
As a next step in moving North Carolina toward one common dataset or a system that
links the data for public education, the Education Cabinet should assemble a group of
32 Report of the NC eLC
leading information technology officials from the cross-section of public education and
task them with reviewing the existing body of work and with producing a specific plan to
develop the remaining elements of a comprehensive data-mining and dynamic-reporting
system. The group should pay special attention to the work being done by NCDPI
through the federally and state-funded CEDARS program for K-12 and the K-20
data system initiative with UNC and NCCCS to determine how these initiatives support
this effort. The plan should be completed by June 2010 with implementation slated to
occur over the period 2010–2013. The existing group of professionals meeting to discuss
a common data system across PreK-20 should be viewed as the most likely group with
which to begin this task.
Fiscal: Will be a part of the proposed integrated plan due June 2010.
Rationale: Each sector of public education in North Carolina (early childhood, PreK-12,
community colleges, and the UNC system), collects mountains of data related to student
biography, student achievement, instructor professional development, instructor
competency, instructor satisfaction, institutional success, and many other subjects. But
even within the specific sectors of education, we have limited ability to aggregate data
from various data repositories and employ data dynamically to make student, classroom,
school, district, or systemwide decisions.
Aggregating or building a system linking these comprehensive but siloed datasets into a
dynamic system of delivery will give us the information we need to make good decisions
and midcourse corrections when appropriate. The network infrastructure is already in
place in most cases to develop and properly implement such a system. It is now time to
move toward this more comprehensive approach.
Aggregated data will provide accountability across the range of public education,
allowing us to identify, develop, reward, and retain excellent instructors, especially for
the students who need them most. We need to amass data-driven evidence, and we need
to go where it takes us.
Finally, after we have the capacity for data-based decision making, we must support it by
a comprehensive system of professional development to train instructors, administrators,
parents, and students in how to interpret, manipulate, track, and use data for direction and
decision making.
Report of the NC eLC 33
Projected e-Learning Commission Budget for FY08-09
Projected E Learning Commission Budget for FY08-09
(7/1/08 to 6/30/09)
Total Category
Monthly Total
Office Rental $1,575.00 $18,900.00
Admin Support $2,000.00 $24,000.00
Research Support $5,800.00 $69,600.00
PORTAL
Portal Pilot and
Operation $14,617.67 $175,412.04
Project Manager $2,000.00 $ 24,000.00
Self enrollment feature
(1 time cost) $ 30,000.00
Content Information (1
time cost) $ 38,000.00
Meetings and travel $1,000.00 $12,000.00
Total $ 391,912.04
34 Report of the NC eLC
List of Appendices
Appendix A: Members of the e-Learning Commission
Appendix B: Coordinated Reporting for Organizations Supporting e-Learning in North
Carolina
Appendix C: Matrix Listing the Fifteen Recommendations of the 2005 eLC Report and
Progress toward Achieving Them
Appendix D: 2008 Reports of the eLC Subcommittees
Appendix E: Links to North Carolina e-Learning Resources
Appendix F: NCLTI Participating LEAs
Appendix G: NCCCS Online and the Virtual Learning Community
Appendix A: eLC Members 2007-08 35
Appendix A: E-Learning Commission Members 2007-08
Chairman of the eLC
Bev Perdue, Lieutenant Governor
(now Governor-Elect)
State of North Carolina
Vice Chairman of the eLC
Tony Copeland
President/CEO, Longistics, Inc
.
Members of the Commission
Peter Asmar
Chief Information Officer/
Associate State Superintendent
NC Department of Public Instruction
George Bakolia
Chief Information Officer
State of North Carolina
Wanda Barker
Distance Learning Instructional Designer
NC Community College System
Robert Brown
Dean, Division of Continual Learning
UNC-Greensboro
JB Buxton
Deputy State Superintendent
NC Department of Public Instruction
Lee Dedmon
Principal, Highland School of Technology
Gastonia, NC
Phil Emer
Friday Institute for Educational Innovation
Cindy Fertenbaugh
Electronic Data Systems
Cabarrus County Board of Education
Joe Freddoso
President and CEO
MCNC Wendell Hall
Hertford County Board of Education
Darlene Haught
Dean, Distance Learning Technologies
NC School of Science and Mathematics
Terry Holliday, Ph. D.
Superintendent, Iredell-Statesville Schools
Glenn Kleiman
Director
Friday Institute for Educational Innovation
Rhonda Moore
High School Counselor
Lumberton, NC
Alan Mabe
Vice President for Academic Planning
and University-School Programs
General Administration
University of North Carolina
Tom Miller
Professor and Vice Provost
DELTA (Distance Education and
Learning Technology Applications)
North Carolina State University
Edgar Murphy
Nortel Networks
Jane Pendry
College Liaison
Early Middle College Programs
Guilford Technical Community College
Jane Patterson
Director, e-NC Authority
NC Rural Economic Development Center, Inc.
Martel Perry
Executive Vice President, Shaw University
Bill Randall
Associate Vice President
Learning Technology Systems
NC Community College System
Clayton Sessoms
Director, Division of Continuing Studies
East Carolina University
Saundra Williams
Vice President, Division of Administration
North Carolina Community College System
Bryan Setser
Director, NCVirtual Public School
Cathy Tomon
Principal, Broad Creek Middle School
Newport, NC
Staff to the eLC
Myra Best
Director, BETA/e-Learning Commission