The Nature of Parental Interactions in an Online Charter School

A belief commonly held in the K–12 education community is that parents can have a positive impact on their child's learning. However, little research has examined parental involvement in an online learning environment. In this study, researchers using survey data found that generally students and parents viewed parent–instructor and learner–parent interactions as motivational. Students viewed learner–parent interaction as significantly more motivational than did their parents. The quantity of reported parental interactions was generally negatively correlated with course outcomes. These negative correlations may be the result of parents' tendency to increase interaction levels following poor student performance and may not reflect the actual impact of parental interactions on individual student learning.

[1]  Randall S. Davies,et al.  The nature of adolescent learner interaction in a virtual high school setting , 2013, J. Comput. Assist. Learn..

[2]  Richard E. Ferdig,et al.  Virtual Schooling Standards and Best Practices for Teacher Education , 2009 .

[3]  Anthony G. Picciano,et al.  K-12 Online Learning: A 2008 Follow-Up of the Survey of U.S. School District Administrators. , 2009 .

[4]  Phyllis Jones,et al.  Virtual Spaces: Employing a Synchronous Online Classroom to Facilitate Student Engagement in Online Learning , 2009 .

[5]  C. Del Litke.  Virtual Schooling at the Middle Grades: A Case Study , 1998 .

[6]  Frank V. Novello.  Behavioral Objectives: Validity Through Verbs , 1975 .

[7]  Zane L. Berge,et al.  Facilitating Computer Conferencing: Recommendations from the Field. , 1995 .

[8]  Matthew J. Koehler,et al.  Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: A Framework for Teacher Knowledge , 2006, Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education.

[9]  Russel L. Thompson,et al.  A Meta-Analysis of Response Rates in Web- or Internet-Based Surveys , 2000 .

[10]  Michael K. Barbour,et al.  Strictly business: Teacher perceptions of interaction in virtual schooling , 2011 .

[11]  Cornelia Weiner,et al.  Key Ingredients to Online Learning: Adolescent Students Study in Cyberspace – The Nature of the Study , 2003 .

[12]  Yossi Lev,et al.  Using Interaction Content Analysis Instruments to Assess Distance Learning , 2001, Evaluation and Assessment in Educational Information Technology.

[13]  Kerry Rice,et al.  A Comprehensive Look at Distance Education in the K–12 Context , 2006 .

[14]  Glenn Russell,et al.  Virtual schools: a critical review , 2004 .

[15]  W. Jeynes.  A Meta-Analysis of the Relation of Parental Involvement to Urban Elementary School Student Academic Achievement , 2005 .

[16]  Helen Boulton,et al.  Managing e-Learning: what are the real implications for schools? , 2008 .

[17]  Xitao Fan,et al.  Parental Involvement and Students' Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analysis , 2001 .

[18]  Peter Leong,et al.  New Roles for the Teacher and Learning Coach in Blended Learning for K-12 , 2011 .

[19]  M. Moore.  Editorial: Three types of interaction , 1989 .

[20]  Richard E. Ferdig,et al.  An Overview of Evaluative Instrumentation for Virtual High Schools , 2008 .

[21]  Michael K. Barbour,et al.  Research Committee Issues Brief: Examining Communication and Interaction in Online Teaching. , 2009 .

[22]  Michael Q. McShane,et al.  Reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act , 2012 .

[23]  M. Heinemann,et al.  Teacher-Student Interaction and Learning In Online Theological Education. Part II: Additional Theoretical Frameworks , 2005 .

[24]  Kara Dawson,et al.  The Validation of One Parental Involvement Measurement in Virtual Schooling. , 2010 .

[25]  Byron R. Burnham,et al.  Interactions in distance education: A report from the other side. , 1997 .

[26]  Lisa M. Shoaf.  Perceived Advantages and Disadvantages of an Online Charter School , 2007 .

[27]  Michael K. Barbour,et al.  Research and Practice in K-12 Online Learning: A Review of Open Access Literature , 2009 .

[28]  David R. Moore,et al.  Building Interactivity into Web Courses: Tools for Social and Instructional Interaction. , 1998 .

[29]  Elizabeth Murphy,et al.  Teachers' Perspectives on Motivation in High-School Distance Education. , 2009 .

[30]  Robert Blomeyer,et al.  The Effects of Distance Education on K-12 Student Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis. , 2004 .

[31]  L. Shulman.  Knowledge and Teaching: Foundations of the New Reform , 1987 .

[32]  Erik W. Black,et al.  An evaluation of familial involvements' influence on student achievement in K--12 virtual schooling , 2009 .

[33]  N. Hill,et al.  Parental involvement in middle school: a meta-analytic assessment of the strategies that promote achievement. , 2009, Developmental psychology.

[34]  Daniel C. A. Hillman,et al.  Learner-Interface Interaction in Distance Education: An Extension of Contemporary Models and Strategies for Practitioners , 1994 .