The Missouri Virtual School (MVS) at Missouri State University (MSU) in Springfield, Missouri provides high school courses in foreign language (French and Spanish), English, history, mathematics, and science instruction to students statewide as part of the Missouri State University's statewide public outreach mission. For the 2007-2008 academic year there are 450 student in 40+ school districts across Missouri taking classes. To deliver the courses, MVS employs four full-time and eleven part-time teachers, three student assistants, and one full-time administrative assistant.
The Missouri Virtual School is operated under the auspices of The Extended Campus. It follows established curricular rules and regulations set forth by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) for high schools as well as guidelines from the Coordinating Board for Higher Education (CBHE).
The initial collaboration that created the Missouri Virtual School started in 1998 with Mr. James Tice (then the Strafford R-VI School District Superintedent), Dr. Larry Banks (Dean, College of Natural and Applied Sciences) and Ms. Rebecca Baker, Department of Physics, Astronomy and Materials Science. Working together they obtained one of DESE's Goals 2000 grants to look at, and improve, the way universities are preparing pre-service teachers to teach. MSU's Goals 2000 grant specifically addressed the area of science. The use of technology in teaching was emphasized throughout the revamped program. Knowing the shortage in science teachers the state was experienceing and know that distance education could be a way of addressing this, the grant wanted to provide pre-service teachers experience in teaching using distance education. To accomplish this, the grant funded equipment for an experimental class to be taught using the technology. Additional grants were obtained as part of the effort to increase the use of technology to deliver courses at MSU. The largest of these grants was US Department of Education's Preparting Tomorrow's Teacher to use Technology.
The first distance education class taught was a physics class delivered to Strafford R-VI School District. It was an Interactive Television (I-TV) physics class taught by the physics teacher at Greenwood, MSU's laboratory school. Pre-service teachers observed the instruction and helped develop and teach the material. Results of students' progress were compared to the instructor's Greenwood students taking the same class at a different time. There was essentially no difference in the performance of the two classes.
Because of the success and the desire to provide distance education teaching experience, the eHighSchool (as it was known then) became a reality. Pre-service teachers were increasingly involved as the years went by in all aspects of the courses. In addition, the combination of local schools' budget cutbacks, shortage of qualified teachers, and the desire to expand course offerings provided for MVS's growth. Increases in courses offered and students are expected for the future. MVS teachers have received additional training that will enable them to teach Advanced Placement (AP) classes in the future. The added flexibility, coupled with hiring new teachers with certification in other subject areas will allow MVS to meet the educational needs of more students.
The majority of Missouri Virtual School's courses are taught real-time or synchronously. A combination of Interactive Television, Adobe Connect Pro (an Internet-based interactive, application-sharing, conference software), and Moodle (a course management system) are used to deliver the instruction according to the students' needs and the individual schools' available technology and schedule. Several of the courses delivered through MVS are dual credit classes. The majority of the MVS staff if housed on the second floor of the Levy-Wolf building and the third floor of the Park Central Office Building (both located downtown Springfield, Missouri). In addition to teaching from these locations, MVS teachers periodically visit the school to meet with their students. At other times, students, counselors, and school administrators come to Springfield for orientations, informational meetings, laboratory work, and/or campus tours.
Faculty and staff at MSU noted several years ago that a number of correspondence courses were being converted to online offerings with litte further thought given to the possibility of increasing personal interactions with students. MVS courses have been designed and offered with the need for increased student contact in mind. In every case, a master teacher manages the course and delivers course material. Multimedia and traditional printed and published materials are used to support content. Science courses offered by MVS normally have a laboratory component. Some are simulated over the Internet while others are conducted on-site with the students carrying out their own laboratory investigations, with MSU staff on-site to help as needed. MVS classes are considered to be part of the students' regular scheduled classwork.
Two-way interactive television is a synchronous, continuous presence format that allows both the instructor and students to hear and see each other. It comes the closest to being a teacher-in-the-classroom. As the price for the ITV setups decrease, more and more schools are opting for this delivery method. ITV classes are supported with SmartBoards and other distance education technologies that allow for a multitude of teaching formats and materials to be used to present materials.
The synchronous courses taught by Adobe Connect Pro use the software program to provide teacher-to-peer and peer-to-peer voice collaborations, shared collaborative classroom tools such as whiteboards and collaborative pods, and computer program application sharing. The entire package simulates a dialog-based classroom. The course management system software, multimedia software, and various printed materials continues to be used along with the Adobe Connect Pro program.
The blended courses offered by MVS connects students (through a computer and the Internet) to the instructor and to their fellow students. Material is delivered over the Internet through course management system software - usually Moodle. Online activities are supported by additional multimedia computer programs, as well as printed and published materials. Information can be downloaded and submitted in the students' individual timeframe. Students are connected real-time to their instructor two-three times a week for synchronous instruction.
The Missouri Virtual School receives funding from two main sources. MSU provides salaries and benefits for the full-time teachers, director, and administrative secretary. The second major source of funding is instructional fees paid by each participating school based on the number of students they have in each class as of the tenth day enrollment. Fees collected from the participating schools fund the remaining salaries as well as the travel and most of the general operating expenses. Technology support comes from The Extended Campus and Computer Services. Previous grants purchased a significant portion of MVS's equipment. MVS funds are used to acquire additional computer and other educational technology items for use by newly added teachers and/or to replace broken or obsolete equipment. MVS also utilizes reconditioned equipment from other departments.
Much of MVS's growth the past three years can be attributed to the increased demand for French and Spanish classes. The shortage of qualified foreign language teachers, coupled with small local enrollments, have promted many schools to outsource their foreign language instruction. The recent Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) decision to require three science credits for high school graduation should lead to an increased demand for science classes through MVS. Many schools are using MVS to provide upper-level high school and/or dual-credit courses. By working with MVS, the schools receive enhanced scores on their Missouri School Improvement Plan (MSIP) evaluations for offering advanced classes without tying up their teacher(s) for a small number of students and/or being able to provide classes their teacher(s) may not be qualified to teach. In addition to helping fill gaps in the local curriculum, some school are choosing to offer MVS dual-credit classes to help their students get a head start on college, keep seniors in schoool by offering academically challenging courses, and/or to help identify weaknesses in the local curriculum. Missouri Virtual School's growth has also been helped by sponsoring informational meetings in different regions of the state and by "word of mouth" testimonials among school adminitrators.