Teaching Virtually: Strategies and Challenges in the 21st Century Online Classroom

Enrollment in K-12 online learning continues to grow at an exponential rate throughout the United States. With this increase, one of the key factors for ensuring quality educational experiences for students is the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of their teachers. To address issues of online pedagogy, this study reports practices from a group of K-12 online teachers from a cyber charter school located in the desert southwest of the United States. Results show that online teachers use web-based programs, internal communication systems, and/or a combination of these types of tools to provide clear instruction, while also encouraging student participation, engaging students, and clearly communicating learning goals. Challenges found with online teaching include dealing with a heavy workload, garnering parental support, coping with high student-teacher ratios, and learning “the job.” This article calls for additional support for virtual teachers, including coursework and field experiences within teacher education programs that address the needs of K-12 online educators.