Introduction
Conversations on Quality is part of a series of structured discussions among industry leaders, hosted by MIT and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and designed to improve the quality of online learning in K-12 education. By bringing together experts from around the country, these conversations promote the exploration of shared issues and solutions related to quality in online learning for grades K-12, including: learning outcomes, deep learning, accelerated learning, learning access/success of underrepresented students, more flexible learning, and relevance and quality of learning.
In pursuit of that goal, a symposium was organized in January 2012 that brought together over 75 national experts to discuss the challenges of online learning environments. The goal was to allow participants to leverage and learn from each other’s successes and challenges, realize higher goals for online and blended learning through collaboration and interaction, and energize the national discourse on K-12 online course quality.
Themes and process
For this symposium, the conversations focused on three major themes:
- the design of high-quality learning environments
- the assessment of high-quality learning environments
- the ability to scale high-quality courseware.
A series of workshops and presentations, followed by collective discussion, addressed each of those themes, and the results of those conversations are recorded in this report. The ultimate goal was to collectively articulate a vision for high-quality online learning based on an understanding of the current state of the field and identification of key issues and major gaps.