Hawkins, A., Barbour, M. K., & Graham, C. (2011, March). “Everybody is their own island”: Teacher disconnection in a virtual school. A paper presented at the annual conference of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education, Nashville, TN. Virtual schooling is a recent phenomenon in K-12 online learning. As such, the roles of the online teachers are emerging and differ from those of the traditional classroom teacher. Using qualitative interviews of eight virtual high school teachers, this study explored teachers’ perceptions of their online teaching role. Teachers expressed a sense of disconnection from their students, the profession, and their peers as a result of limited interactions due to significant institutional barriers. Researchers discuss the implications of this disconnection as well as future avenues for research.

1. “Everybody is their own Island”: Teacher Disconnection in a Virtual School
Abigail Hawkins, BYU; Michael Barbour,WSU; Charles Graham, BYU
SITE 2011

2. K-12 online learning....Really?
States with virtual schools/online
initiatives, full-time programs, or both
2,000,000 students
Kindergarten > HS
1997: 3 States
2010: 48 States
Keeping Pace with K12 Online Learning, 2010
2

3. Research Question
1. How do teachers perceive
their role as online
teachers?
3

4. Background Literature
 Relative little research in K-12 virtual schooling
 Shifting teacher roles
Davis (2007) Ferdig et al. (2009)
Teacher Teacher
Designer Course Facilitator
Site Facilitator Instructional Designer
Local Key Contact
Mentor
Technology
Coordinator
Guidance Counselor
Administrator
4

5. The Case
Utah’s Electronic High School…
 Oldest and largest in U.S.
 Singular in nature
 Self-paced
 Supplemental (primarily)
 Open-entry/open-exit model
 High student-to-teacher ratios
 Diverse curriculum and student body
Webcam
5

6. Dimensions of EHS
None

7. Completion Rates: All enrollments
35
30 High attrition rates 31.1
25
% completion
20 19.8
15
10.5 11.3
10
5
0
2005 (n=802) 2006 (n=4493) 2007 (n=32,065) 2008 (n=47937)
years

8. Methods
Component Description
Participants… 8 teachers
4 disciplines (Math, Science, English, Social
Science)
Equal class sizes (62-985 students)
Avg. years teaching F2F: 18
Avg. years teaching online: 6.9
Part time (exception 1 full time EHS employee)
Data Collection… Case method
Intensity sampling (high and low completion
rates)
Semi-structured interviews
Data Analysis… Theme analysis
Constant comparative method
8

9. Findings: Teacher Roles
9

10. Disconnection from students
 Well the difference with them again is: I see
them; I interact with them; I shake their
hands; I know their name; I know their
face. A lot of them I know their sad story
behind some this. At EHS you just can’t do
any of that. It’s nameless. It’s faceless.
 Brian, Science Teacher
10

11. Disconnection from profession
 ….a lot of the times the role you just
get to grade the papers. And then just
answer questions. But as far as like
being, I almost want to say a mentor
because you can see that student you
can talk to them right then, it is
definitely different that way. Almost
like, here’s professor’s assistant. Here
is a bunch of papers, and you just
kind of grade it.
 Carl, Science Teacher
11

12. Disconnection from peers
 One thing that I like is about
teaching in the classroom is I
get to know faculty, and you get
to bounce off a lot of ideas and
things on them. And I don’t
notice that with EHS. I don’t
feel like I am necessarily a
part. I just feel like this little
individual who is doing their
little thing.
 Mark, Social Science Teacher
12

13. Implications for Practitioners
1. Create a space in the LMS
for non-academic interactions
2. EHS model limits teacher
role. Allow for more quality
and frequency of content-
based interactions
3. Create a space for a virtual
staff room for teachers
13

14. Future Research
 Do students feel that the
lack of interaction is
detrimental like teachers
do?
 Do students feel a role
change and
fragmentation in online
learning like teachers?
14

15. Questions
Abby Hawkins
Sr. Instructional Designer, Adobe Systems Inc
abbyhawkins7@gmail.com
Michael Barbour
Assistant Professor, Wayne State University
mkbarbour@gmail.com
Charles R Graham
Assistant Professor, Brigham Young University
charles.r.graham@gmail.com

16. References
 Davis, N. (2007, November). Teacher education for virtual schools.
Unpublished manuscript. Paper presented at the annual Virtual School
Symposium, Louisville, KY. Retrieved from
http://ctlt.iastate.edu/~tegivs/TEGIVS/publications/VS%20Symposium200
7.pdf
 Ferdig, R. E., Cavanaugh, C., DiPietro, M., Black, E. W., & Dawson, K.
(2009). Virtual schooling standards and best practices for teacher
education. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 17(4), 479-503.