Starting Out

It's a new school year, and with it comes new exciting opportunities and challenges. This is my third year teaching with the Utah Virtual Academy, Utah's largest online charter school. UTVA serves students K-12 throughout the state. I teach English for the High School, and this year I've been given the opportunity to work as the 11th grade advisor. Our school has approximately 2,000 students, and over 500 of those are high school students. Working in a virtual environment has some major advantages as well as some substantial obstacles. That's part of the appeal, in my opinion.

In addition to starting a new year at a rapidly growing school, I've begun working on my master's degree with Southern Utah University. I am really excited about their Educational Administration program, as much of it is available online (an environment in which I have become very comfortable). It is another 'thing' to juggle into my schedule, but I relish the opportunity for a few reasons. First, I am a firm believer in continually improving myself. Furthering my education is a great way to accomplish that goal. Second, it is so healthy for me to refresh my experience as an online student. It allows me to put myself in my students' shoes. Being involved in an online class takes a good amount of self discipline and motivation. It forces students to seek help in alternative means (email, phone, skype, instead of just raising a hand). Students rely on clearly communicated expectations, assignments, and deadlines, as well. Patience and creativity are keys to success as new and unexpected challenges arise.

For now, my purpose in writing is to provide observations as a virtual teacher and a virtual student. Even though I've been involved in virtual education for only a few years, I firmly believe that this is the way education is headed. Perhaps this blog will be of interest to other teachers, but if not, at least it will be of value to me as I try to make sense of both of my roles in the virtual world.