EDUCATION WHITE PAPER
Online learning options provide resources for both remote and traditional learning settings—a beneficial feature when emergencies arise. Establishing practices for distance or online education can help districts prepare for a variety of situations, such as prolonged closures from weather, building issues, or student illness or medical event. Even so, online learning is more than just an emergency option and provides several benefits for Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs.
What makes a CTE distance learning successful? What are the advantages of an online CTE program? How can educators ensure online students are engaged in the remote learning process?
Learn what it takes to build a strong online CTE program watching the video below, then downloading the white paper!
Online programs offer a wide range of possibilities for developing a custom course design to best fit for the school, curriculum and student population. Courses can be:
Completely online with no classroom time
Blended or hybrid where classwork and homework have a range of classroom time and online time
Fully face-to-face classroom utilizing online curriculum and digital tools to complete course content
CTE courses need to include hands-on practice of skills to be valuable.
Utilizing hybrid classes, direct instruction can take place online and class time can be used to work on hands-on projects and activities
When face-to-face class time isn't possible, lesson designs need to be more flexible, enabling students to practice skills and complete projects at home with materials they have on hand
High-quality online CTE curriculum should allow students to engage with topics in deep and meaningful ways, rather than just skimming the surface. Motivation can be difficult for students with online work, so students need to understand online learning activities are worthy of time and effort. Online curriculum should be rigorous and allow teachers to push students academically by presenting complicated concepts in exciting ways and by providing a framework for understanding the impact of activities and projects.
Online courses do not require a massive overhaul of course content, instead understanding how to adjust traditional in-class lesson plans and instructional materials for online learning can help teachers and students transfer to online settings easier.
CTE teachers are often a unique population, with many educators coming from industry careers to work in classroom settings. Ongoing professional development and assistance curating classroom resources are vital to the success of any CTE program. However, since online learning environments are unique, teachers should be provided with continuous training on the best pedagogical practices and access to resources specifically designed for online instruction.
When online courses utilizing student-paced learned are well-organized and properly facilitated, teachers report students’ progress through learning objectives quicker than in teacher-paced scenarios. With teacher facilitation, students are able to customize their classwork and find ways to dive deeper into topics they enjoy to promote in-depth engagement with CTE material and to encourage seeking out more advanced courses.