What is its value and application?
Who is responsible for making it happen?
Establish Need
Anyone who has ever tried to initiate a new program in a K-12 setting knows the first problem to be overcome is the issue of time. The typical K-12 teacher is teaching six hours in an eight hour day (if lucky), coaching/sponsoring/directing at least one activity, likely has a family at home, and often carts home five hours of work each weekend. Thus, we may see things, such as Asynchronous Learning, which would be wonderful to incorporate in the classroom, but we simply don't have time for the professional development an Asynchronous Learning Environment (ALE) demands. However, there are some workable solutions for the time dilemma.
To begin with, it is crucial to develop a need for an ALE. Although no national data exists, all one need do is look at truancy rates across the United States. In Buffalo, at the elementary level, the average daily absence rate tends to be approximately 7-8 percent (Heaney, 4A). Worse, statistics taken from ERIC, the Crime and Disorder Act, and the U.S. Department of Education paint a grim picture of student attendance:
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In Pittsburgh, each day approximately 3,500 students or 12 percent of the pupil population isabsent and about 70 percent of these absences are unexcused. |
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In Philadelphia, approximately 2,500 students a day are absent without an excuse. |
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In Milwaukee, on any given school day, there are approximately 4,000 unexcused absences. (Witmer, online) |
While no one would suggest ALE could solve the truancy problem, truancy is one problem that ALE can be used to address. Chronic truants may not be affected by ALE, but students who are wavering on the borderline, or who are absent for legitimate reasons can be.
Other areas which would help address the need for ALE are detailed on the Benefits and Applications page.
Look for Creative Solutions
Change is never easy. Those people who work in education know that better than most. Because of this, developing an ALE calls for creative problem-solving. Some possibilities for solving the time dilemma include:
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Using Professional Development hours | ||||||||
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Asking for release time | ||||||||
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Enlisting peers | ||||||||
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Using own time (but ask for extra duty pay) | ||||||||
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Grant writing | ||||||||
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Forming
partnerships
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All teachers are required to do some professional development, and establishing an ALE certainly qualifies as professional development. A very real possibility for creating time is asking to be excused from a scheduled professional development, county institute, or other related activity in order to learn about and develop ALE's.
Asking for release time, not generally as successful as using professional development hours, could be a solution for people in schools who have reasonable access to substitutes or a real commitment to technology. It could be combined with enlisting peers, in that Teacher A could cover one hour a day for Teacher B while Teacher B is developing the ALE. Generally, if Teacher A finds there is some benefit to the program, s/he will be much more receptive to this suggestion.
Using one's own time, the perennial solution for many educators, is an obvious solution. However, when the work being done will have a long term application to the school, it is appropriate to ask for extra duty pay. In schools with a strong union presence, it is advisable to go through the union for assistance in this endeavor.
Grant writing, another source of funding for developing ALE's, is often overlooked due to the amount of work that must be done in submitting the grant. However, this could certainly be an avenue to explore, and has the potential to involve the administration in the project from its inception. An important point to remember is the grant doesn't have to be huge; it merely need be sufficient to cover time and materials.
Finally, if fortunate enough to be near a community college, university or college, schools might be able to forge an educational alliance. Most institutions of higher learning have seen the benefits of ALE's and have developed some support for them. Tapping into that resource benefits both school and higher learning institution. Likewise, many businesses have adopted the ALE as a major component of their employee training. If approached, they are often willing to share their knowledge and technology with schools.