Implementation of blended teaching (BT) practices is in- creasing rapidly in K-12 classrooms. This trend creates an urgent need for professional development to support BT. An understanding of how experienced teachers implement BT can inform teacher educators and professional development leaders as they develop training to support this practice. We…

As COVID-19 continues to impact various business sectors, university administrators have steadily pushed for all academic units to resume on campus operations and activities; conversely, faculty and students have expressed increased interest in continuing online teaching/learning. We aim to mitigate this "tug-of-war" between…

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread to Utah in March 2020, the state's public colleges and universities took steps to mitigate the risk of infection to students and faculty/staff. Utah's degree-granting institutions shifted in-person coursework online in March 2020 for the remainder of the spring 2020 term, with the goal to protect students' health…

In this study, we explored the experiences of preservice teachers as they learned about and experienced personalized learning in a one-credit class designed to introduce students to four core competency areas in K-12 blended teaching contexts: online integration, data practices, personalization, and online interactions. The course included online…

In the United States, educator preparation is regulated at the state level. Accordingly, each state education system, and even individual districts, responded uniquely to the COVID-19 pandemic. Western Governors University (WGU) compiled a list of each state regulators' response to COVID, many of which included relaxation of student teaching…

This report studies the best practices necessary to rethink the skills, methods, and pedagogical evolution that teacher education must address. If we are to ensure great teachers are trained, mentored, and retained for our students--the programs themselves must emulate 21st century skills. The examples found in this report have unique elements and…

Many reports on rural education give little attention to digital learning. At most, they tend to note either infrastructure needs or the potential of remote course access, with little focus on instruction, outcomes, or exemplars. This report intends to begin correcting that imbalance by connecting the dots between rural regions, rural education,…

America's system for financing K-12 education is not neutral about innovation and the use of new technologies. Indeed, that system is stacked against them. To remedy this, our education-funding system needs to shift dramatically. Instead of today's model--which rigidly funds programs, staff positions, and administrative structures, instead of…

Online charter schools are one key subset of the K-12 online education landscape, which also includes state virtual schools, district-level online programs, private providers of both individual courses and entire schools, and others. As of late 2010, online and blended charter schools existed in more than 20 states, serving more than 100,000…

One important aspect of adolescent education, regardless of the learning environment, is learning acceptable human interaction, socialization styles, and cooperation mechanisms. However, when adolescent students attend cyber schools, they no longer receive those traditional opportunities to gain the human interactions required for such…