Technology-mediated distance education models have had a major impact on preservice and inservice preparation of special education and related services personnel over the last several decades. The increasing availability of Internet access and the multimedia capabilities of the World Wide Web have combined to spur the growth of online programs as a medium for both initial certification and continuing activities. This study reports the development, implementation, and evaluation of four courses designed as professional development activities for practicing personnel working in early intervention, early childhood special education, elementary and secondary special education, and adult disability services in rural areas of West Virginia and the surrounding Appalachian region. The article explains the process used to create learning materials and technology formats for presentation of content and interaction with learners, outlines the steps in developing and implementing the courses, and presents the results of evaluation activities conducted to assess learning outcomes and participant perceptions of the online learning experience. The findings of this study suggest that Web-based instruction is a viable mode for delivering staff development. Participants demonstrated the acquisition of new knowledge and skills, expressed satisfaction with most aspects of online teaching and learning, and reported specific applications of the information in their own classroom and intervention program settings.
Special education and disability services are undergoing a period of rapid change in the contexts in which educational programs are offered and in the instructional strategies used for working effectively with children and adults with special needs. Practicing teachers and therapists often find that their knowledge and skills are seriously out of date and sometimes not congruent with current best practice even just a few years out of their preservice programs. Consequently, personnel in this field are always in need of inservice training opportunities to stay informed of and engaged with new ideas and practices. Emerging technologies, especially the World Wide Web, offer promising new avenues for providing staff development activities to update the knowledge and skills of practitioners, especially in rural and remote areas.
The preservice preparation of special educators and related services specialists to serve individuals with disabilities in early intervention, early childhood special education, elementary and secondary special education, and adult disability services has long absorbed the profession's attention. Over the past several decades, educators focused on supplying the demand for new positions in response tofederal and state laws mandating a free appropriate education for all students and adequate habilitation programs for adults. Today many leaders have begun to acknowledge an urgent need for inservice preparation as well to provide staff development to novice and veteran practitioners alike.
Staff Development Needs in Special Education and Disability Services
Staff development of practicing personnel now is a critical issue in special education and disability services, especially for public schools and community agencies in rural areas. Persistent critical shortages of professional personnel in many specializations in special education and various disciplines in related services have resulted in a situation where many professionals are untrained or inadequately trained for the positions they hold (Boe, Bobbitt, & Cook, 1997). Individuals working on temporary permits or out-of-field authorizations require extensive inservice training to orient and prepare them for their roles and responsibilities on the job (Simpson, Whelan, & Zabel, 1993). In addition, rapid changes in practice have made it nearly impossible to insure that even certified teachers and therapists stay abreast of developments in the field to provide state-of-the-art education and habilitation programs to children, adolescents, and adults with disabilities (Boe, Cook, Kauffman, & Danielson, 1996).
Staff development (or the lack of it) also may be related to personnel burnout and attrition. Special education and related services personnel, especially those working with low incidence populations or in rural areas, are often isolated from their colleagues, have little opportunity to interact with peers or experts, and only limited access to training to update specialized knowledge and skills (Cooky & Yovanoff, 1996). These factors create stress and burnout in teachers and therapists and lead to high attrition rates in many school systems (Frank & McKenzie, 1993.) Special educators have cited inadequate inservice opportunities as one factor that increases the likelihood of leaving a teaching position (Westling & Whitten, 1996).
Public schools and community agencies in rural areas of the country are especially in need of effective staff development programs. Because of significant personnel shortages in the field in general and rural areas in particular, rural teachers and therapists are often untrained or minimally trained for their jobs (Berkeley & Ludlow, 1991; Billingsley & Jones, 1993), so they are in desperate need of continuing education to insure that they engaged in appropriate practices designed to meet the needs of children and adults with disabilities. In addition, rural special educators have a higher attrition rate than their peers in urban and suburban schools (Gold, Russell, & Williams, 1993). Effective staff development is a critical component of retention efforts in rural areas (Storer & Crosswait, 1995), while mentoring and support activities are crucial factors in improving the morale and job satisfaction of rural personnel (Whitaker, 2000).
Evolution of Staff Development Practices
Staff development continues to be an integral component of both general and special education, but educators now are showing renewed interest in this aspect of personnel preparation. Traditional approaches that relied on attendance at conferences or workshops and left application to the whim of the individual practitioner have been criticized for failure to change minds or programs (Elmore, 1996; Lieberman & Miller, 1991). Newer models focus less on passive transmission of information by experts and more on active involvement of educators in collaborative problem solving and program development (Ball & Cohen, 1999; Richardson, 1994). Today's professional development activities need to motivate educators to be change agents, to foster application of new knowledge and skills to classroom practice, to promote collaboration among colleagues and a sense of community, and to stimulate a spirit of inquiry and lifelong learning (Joyce & Showers, 1995; Putnam & Borko, 2000).
Leaders in special education and disability services also have called for reform of staff development practices. Older approaches have been criticized for their failure to effect change in classrooms and intervention programs (Gallagher et al., 1997). Current programs emphasize the need for active involvement, experiential learning, and guided practice to insure that practitioners effect change in the real world of classroom and clinic (Stowitschek, Cheney, & Schwartz, 2000). Some educators have advocated the use of technology-mediated instruction (Schnorr, 1999) and distance education models (Howard, Ault, Knowlton, & Swall, 1992) to enhance the quality and accessibility of staff development activities. Such approaches have been recommended as one way of addressing the problems and issues in providing effective and efficient inservice training in rural areas (Ludlow, 1998; Squires, 1996).
Staff Development for Rural Special Educators
Faced with the challenges of preparing personnel in and for rural schools and community agencies, educators have utilized telecommunications technologies to deliver preservice and inservice programs. A recent survey of the professional literature for the last 15 years identified 32 distance education programs preparing prospective or practicing teachers and therapists in rural areas, with only seven programs offering inservice training (Ludlow & Brannan, 1999). Their data showed that relatively few programs have reported extensive use of the Web to train special education personnel, either at the preservice or the inservice levels.
Web-based preservice training. A number of personnel preparation programs across the country have begun to experiment with Web delivery. These efforts have taken several forms: integration of Web-based cases into campus courses (Smith, Martin, & Lloyd, 1998); Web enhancements such as email and threaded discussions for face-to-face courses (Hains, Belland, Conceicao, Santos, & Rothenberg, 2000); online course modules for use with existing courses (Meyen, Lian, & Tangen, 1997); an individual Web course as part of a traditional program (Blackhurst, Hales, & Lahm, 1998); a set of courses in a certification program transmitted via Internet Protocol (IP) teleconferencing (Spooner, et al., 1998); and, practicum supervision at remote sites via desktop videoconferencing (Menlove, Hansford, & Lignugaris-Kraft, 2001).
Web-based inservice training. There has been relatively little use of the Web for inservice training of special education and related services personnel. Activities reported in the literature have included electronic mail messaging and listserve groups in an induction program for beginning teachers in (Kendall, 1992); electronic study groups offered for individual professional development (Council for Exceptional Children, 1997); a single web course in a campusbased graduate program for practitioners (Smith, Jordan, Corbett, & Dillon, 1999); a website created to facilitate sharing of resources with and by deaf educators in rural areas (Johnson, 1997); and. online posting of documents and discussion groups for continuing education activities in rural schools (Rodes, Knapczyk, Chapman, & Chung, 1999).
West Virginia University (WVU) has offered graduate certification and degree programs in Severe/Multiple Disabilities and Early Intervention/Early Childhood Special Education to train practicing personnel in rural areas of West Virginia and surrounding states in the Appalachian region since 1983. The program was initially offered as a field-based model with faculty and students travelling to regional sites for face-to-face instruction and later as a distance education program offered via satellite broadcasts and telephone conferencing. Graduates of these programs over the years reported a lack of appropriate inservice training opportunities due to low incidence and remote locations. Program staff tried various options to remedy this situation, including holding an annual conference and offering regional workshops, with little or no impact on practice. They considered use of satellite or compressed video technologies, but abandoned the idea because of the high cost and limited accessibility. Although staff recognized the potential of the Internet for delivering staff development to this audience, initial efforts were stymied by the target audience's lack of access to the Internet in this very rural area. When an annual survey of graduates revealed that 80% to 90% could access online instruction at home or at work, the program coordinator decided to test the feasibility of adding a Web-based staff development component to the existing distance education program.
The program coordinator assembled a team of individuals with complementary expertise to develop the Web-based courses. Collaboration between instructional and technical personnel is necessary to insure design of effective instruction, a user-friendly human-computer interface, and prevention and remediation of problems to promote teaching and learning in the online environment (Meyen, Tangen, & Lian, 1999). The coordinator served as content expert and instructor for the courses and was responsible for designing all instructional materials and learning activities. One graduate assistant, a doctoral student in special education with an emphases in low incidence disabilities, served as a content assistant to assist in developing instruction, while another, minoring in instructional technology, served as technology assistant to convert materials for use on the Web. A media producer helped in the preparation of media files (including photographs, audio interviews, and video segments) for embedding in the text-based modules. This team developed two Web courses (on community-based instruction and home visiting) during the 19981999 academic year and offered them in summer 1999; then they developed two additional courses (both on assistive technology but at different age levels) in 19992000 and offered them in summer 2000.
All courses were developed by the team for delivery though WebCT, a course management software program made available through a site license at WVU and hosted on a Unix server dedicated to online courses. Course management systems simplify production and organization of online course components by providing a suite of development and communication tools within a single program (Jones & Farquhar, 1997). Each course required the following time to prepare for online use: for the instructor, about two weeks for preparing an outline and assembling materials to prepare content plus about four weeks for writing the six content modules; for the content assistant, about three weeks for contacting and scheduling guests and writing case study materials and comprehension check answers; for the technology assistant, about two weeks for preparing the basic course structure and another four weeks for programming Web formats; and, for the media producer, about two weeks of taping audio segments and shooting video segments, with an additional four weeks of editing and digitizing media files for use on the Web. In each year, the team began working on the two courses for the following summer in January and had most materials ready for online access by the end of May.
Course Design. For each course, the instructor prepared an outline of content and resources, wrote a syllabus with schedules, requirements, and policies, identified a set of learning activities to develop knowledge, skills, and values related to course topics, and planned several performance measures to assess participant learning upon completion of the course. Effective online instruction must follow the principles of good instructional design by relating learning objectives to content organization and assessment procedures (Wagner & McCombs, 1995). She selected a professional reference book on the topic for use as a text (the only material not available online) as well as a set of journal articles that were made available through WVU's electronic reserve library system. Together with the content graduate assistant, she also identified experts, parents, and practitioners willing to moderate online chats and located web sites that could be used as links throughout the course. To evaluate the course, the instructor converted the WVU Student Evaluation of Instruction Form for use online and designed two special surveys. A component survey asked participants to rate each online course component and to respond to open-ended questions to solicit comments about the best and worst features of each component. A comparative survey asked participants to compare the online course with face-to-face instruction and with other distance education formats. She also scheduled a focus group session to be held a few weeks after completion of the first two courses. Finally, she prepared a set of follow-up questions to be emailed to participants six to eight months after each set of courses.
Content modules. The instructor wrote a series of six content modules for each course: an overview module introduced learners to course content and objectives and online learning formats and guidelines; four modules addressed the rationale for the importance of the course topic, basic concepts, principles, and strategies, specific recommendations for practice, and legal, ethical, and social issues related to the topic; and, a summary module highlighted key ideas and offered resources for additional information. Each module contained 1020 pages of single spaced text prepared on a standard word processing program. Modules were written in a conversational style with appropriate use of text styling and white space to separate the narrative into easily readable chunks of content. Well-structured, clearly organized, simply written text facilitates scanning and minimizes scrolling to locate information when online (Hartnett, 2000; Nielsen, 2000). Some modules incorporated photos, audio clips and video segments, or linked to readings or web sites. Such hypermedia designs incorporating links to a variety of materials take full advantage on the Web environment and are believed to enhance the effectiveness of online instruction (Hedberg, Brown, & Airighi, 1997).
Learning Activities. To assist participants in learning content, the instructor developed experiential activities, comprehension checks, and case studies. Experiential activities were interactive routines that asked participants to reflect on their prior knowledge and relate it to course content to deepen their understanding of concepts and principles. For example, in the assistive technology courses, participants were asked to think about common technologies they do or do not make use of prior to a discussion of assistive device adoption and abandonment. Comprehension checks were ungraded objective items and short answer questions that enabled participants to assess their recognition, recall, and application of key terms and concepts. For example, in the home visiting course, participants were asked to identify laws governing family and child rights as they apply to intervention in the context of home visits. Case studies presented brief descriptions of real or hypothetical situations and asked the participants to solve a problem or recommend an action based on principles learned in the course. For example, in the community-based instruction course, participants were asked to recommend appropriate strategies for instruction in different settings and to offer ideas for troubleshooting problem behaviors during community outings. Upon completion of experiential activities, comprehension checks, or case studies, participants were provided with a feedback on their responses, but the activities were not scored or counted as part of the final grade. Providing opportunities such as these for interaction with content throughout online instruction helps learners to stay focused, to engage in reflection, and to test their understanding (Bonk & Cummings, 1998). The use of ungraded interactive routines such as these within online instruction facilitates encoding of information, increases retention and recall, and provides practice in applying knowledge to practice (Polichar & Bagwell, 2000).
Performance assessments. The instructor planned four measures to assess participant learning and performance throughout each course based on principles of authentic activities and assessments. Authentic activities (ones that have real world analogs) foster learning that lasts and facilitate application to practice (Putnam & Borko, 2000), while authentic assessments insure accurate and fair performance measures (Darling-Hammond, Ancess, & Falk, 1995). Each participant was required to construct a case study of an individual or family with whom s/he was currently working; this four part assignment required to describe the person(s) and their service needs, discuss how course content would be applied in this case, identify the issues presented by this case, and propose strategies for using content knowledge and skills in addressing needs, enhancing the educational program, and resolving any issues. For example, in the assistive technology course, learners were asked to select an individual who could benefit from assistive devices, conduct an ecological assessment to select activities in which devices could promote independence or participation, search the Web to identify possible devices appropriate to the person and task, and develop a plan to locate and try out the devices for possible future use. The use of case studies has been shown to promote critical thinking, creative problem solving, and habits of reflection needed for success in professional practice (Shulman, 1992). Every participant also was required to prepare a professional development plan, a four part assignment that included a critique of present practices, an outline of strategies to make changes in the coming year, and a plan for implementing and evaluating proposed changes. For example, in the community-based instruction and home visiting courses, participants discussed to what extent their own programs met standards of best practices, identified two priority areas for improvement, and outlined a set of activities and a timetable for adding new activities over the next few months. Experiential learning activities encourage active experimentation and reflection in and on practice (Meyer & Jones, 1993).
Some performance assessments involved group activities and interaction. Participants were assigned to teams of four or five individuals to complete a collaborative group project; the group created a product that could be used by all members in daily practice, such as guidelines for handling emergencies during community-based instruction, a brochure for families explaining what to expect on the first home visit, or a resource list of funding available to purchase assistive technologies. Collaborative activities capitalize on the Web's ability to support cooperative and problembased learning (Reeves & Reeves, 1997). In addition, all participants were required to engage in a variety of online interactions with experts, practitioners, and parents through online chats, threaded discussion groups, or bulletin board postings to earn participation points for the course. To facilitate these online interactions, the instructor scheduled a variety of chats on different topics, posed a series of discussion questions related to content, posted photos and short biographies of all course participants, staff, and guests, and offered guidelines for practicing good netiquette. Each participant could choose different participation activities to earn varying amounts of points toward the final grade. Structuring opportunities for interaction in real and delayed time and providing clear guidelines for online participation has been shown to promote a sense of community and increase interactions among participants in Web-based courses (Paloff & Pratt, 1999).
Media segments. The instructor secured permission for and made arrangements to tape classroom and intervention program scenarios illustrating best practices as well as personal interviews to express parent and professional perspectives to embed as media segments within the content modules. The use of original media avoids the problems of seeking releases from copyright holder for permission to use commercial materials in online instruction (Hampe, 1999). The media producer taped all audio and video segments using a Sony Beta SP professional analog camera on a tripod with a wireless microphone and additional lighting whenever possible to insure high quality original signal. Such precautions are needed when video and audio will be delivered on the Web, because digitization, compression, and low bandwidth further deteriorate image quality (Shaw, 1997; Waggoner, 1999). He captured, digitized, and edited the original footage using a Media 100 component nonlinear editing system and compressed the final clips and segments using and the Sorenson codec. The Sorensen video codec is recognized as the best compression scheme for producing high quality images at very low data rates (Waggoner, 1998). All media files were outputted as Apple Quicktime 4.0 movies (a format that is compatible with most computer platforms) and as Hypertext Streaming Protocol (HTSP) progressive download files. This streaming format allows immediate viewing after a short buffering delay and prevents copying to insure privacy and protect intellectual property rights (Hinman, 1999). Audio clips were prepared as 8 Khz mono Qualcomm voice files approximately 2030 seconds long with a photo of the person and a controller bar to adjust volume and playback. These settings achieve a good balance between sound quality and file size (Tanaka, 1997) Video clips were prepared as 56 Kbps streaming files at 192 x 144 pixels resolution no more than 6090 seconds long with a controller bar to adjust volume and playback. These settings insure relatively a relatively short buffering time and mostly smooth playback, yet minimize file size for low bandwidth access (Ozer, 1998).
Web programming. All online formats were created in hypertext markup language (HTML) or Portable Document Format (PDF) files to insure compatibility across computer platforms and browsers. The delivery of Web-based instruction is made easier for both instructor and learner when the specific technology formats are selected to be compatible with most equipment, to require little additional expense, and to promote successful learning (Hannafin, Hannafin, Hooper, Rieber, & Kini, 1996). The technology assistant used Adobe GoLive, an HTML editing program, to convert content modules and media for Web use and used the quizzing function within WebCT to create comprehension checks, case studies, assignment response forms, and evaluation surveys. A consultant from WVU's academic computing services created a template using Javascripting for interactive routines that the technology assistant and media producer used to program the experiential activities and embed them into the Web modules. Library staff used Adobe Acrobat Distiller to convert journal articles to PDF files for access via password in the university's electronic reserve system. The technology assistant also wrote directions for each Web format used in the course; these directions included screen shots of the features of each course component, step-by-step instructions for accessing each the component and completing required activities, and information about downloading and installing free plug-ins for Apple Quicktime Player (to play media files and Adobe Acrobat Reader (to read PDF files). Simple, clearly written directions are essential to foster independence and minimize technical problems (Williams, 1996).
Delivery of Web Courses
The development team also collaborated in the delivery of the online staff development activities throughout the summer sessions. The program coordinator served as instructor for each course, overseeing the activities of all staff and participants. The content assistant served as the facilitator and grader for each course, responding to participant requests for information or assistance. The technology assistant (with guidance from the media producer) served as technical support personnel, and helping participants learn to use technology formats and troubleshooting any problems that arose.
The availability of each course was advertised by means of a flyer distributed via surface mail to a list of all program graduates about two months prior to the summer session in which the course was scheduled to be offered. Individuals were eligible for the course if they met three criteria: they were graduates of either program; they were currently employed in early intervention or early childhood special education for some courses or in elementary and secondary special education or adult disability services for others; and, they had skills in using the Internet and a computer equipped for Web access at home or at work. Eligible individuals were invited to enroll in the courses for three semester hours of continuing education credit (by paying a fee) or elective credit toward a degree (by paying tuition).
Students who enrolled were sent email messages with the URL address for the course and a personal password to access the WebCT system. To facilitate student success in the unfamiliar online learning environment, the instructor made sure that all relevant due dates for participation activities and required assignments were listed in the syllabus and posted on the course calendar. The content assistant sent reminders by electronic mail of dates when specific items were due and posted helpful hints for completing assignments and participation activities on the bulletin board. The technology assistant was available by email and by telephone throughout the course to assist in resolving any technical problems that occurred. Participants were encouraged to work at their own pace and request help as often as needed but to remember to plan in advance and schedule their time online to meet all deadlines.
Evaluation of Web Courses
Program evaluation was an essential component of this Web-based staff development project, since it was intended to assess the feasibility of offering inservice training and other continuing education activities online. Meaningful evaluation of staff development should involve collection of quantitative and qualitative data from objective and subjective courses at several points in time (Guskey, 2000). In this study, a range of data were collected to assess learning out-comes and participant perceptions though audit trails, online surveys, a focus group session, and a follow-up questionnaire.
Audit trails. WebCT includes a tracking function that automatically keeps data on every learner as well as on each page of content and calculates means and percentages for frequency and duration of access. These data revealed a wide range of differences in the number of hits per student as well as in the average time per hit. The most frequently visited course components were the directions for the assignments, while the longest amount of time was spent reading the content modules. The least frequently visited pages were the readings in the online library, and the shortest amount of time was spent reading the syllabus.
Online surveys. Three surveys were developed with the WebCT quizzing function and analyzed with its compilation and computation feature to identify participant perceptions, ratings of course components and comparisons with other delivery formats. On the instructor evaluation form with a scale of 15, the instructor received the highest ratings for knowledge of content, facilitation of learning, and respect for individuals, and the lowest ratings for interesting presentations, explanation of content, and advance preparation. On the component evaluation form, participants rated the live chats and the content modules as contributing the most to learning, and the audio and video media as causing the most technical problems. On the comparative evaluation form, most participants felt that online instruction was the same as or better than face-to-face instruction as well as satellite instruction, while nearly everyone stated that they would take another online course. The instructor and both graduate assistants also conducted a content analysis of participant written comments on all survey forms to identify and categorize themes that emerged from the data. These comments suggested that the strengths of online instruction were excellent organization, quick response to requests for help, and support for technical problems They also revealed three areas of weaknesses related to the amount of work required, the delay in interactions, and the stress induced by technology failures.
Focus group session. All participants in the first summer courses were invited to attend a focus group session and offered a small stipend to assist with travel costs. At the session held on a Saturday in Fall 1999, moderators led a discussion on each course in separate groups in the morning and on web-based instruction in general with both groups in the afternoon. All discussions were audiotaped and print transcripts were prepared for content analysis by the instructor and graduate assistants. This analysis identified three themes: participants felt that online interactions developed relationships with program staff and with colleagues; printing some materials such as the syllabus, guidelines for assignments, and directions for technology formats was important to success; and, the professional development plan was helpful in promoting application of theory to practice. Participants also elaborated on frustrations caused by technical problems which limited access to course materials at critical times and on the difficulties experienced in planning and conducting the collaborative group project totally online.
Followup questionnaire. About eight months after the courses (in Spring 2000 and Spring 2001), the instructor sent an anonymous email questionnaire asking participants who completed a course to rate the usefulness of course content in the job setting and to describe specific applications to new knowledge and skills. Nearly all respondents rated the Web courses as informative and useful and reported that they had implemented new ideas in their own classrooms and intervention programs. Nearly everyone indicated that s/he would consider participating in other Web-based staff development activities in the future.
Web-based instruction clearly represents a promising new technology to improve both access to and quality of staff development activities in special education and disability services. As this study showed, well designed Web workshops and courses can be used to offer multimedia presentation of content and to promote interactions in real and delayed time among practitioners and between practitioners and experts. Online instruction can be used to support teachers and therapists in developing new knowledge and skills as well as to create and maintain support networks to facilitate coaching by colleagues and mentoring by supervisors to foster individual professional growth. Web-based models of staff development will be especially useful in rural areas because they will open up new possibilities for institutions of higher education, state and regional education agencies, and cooperative groups of school systems to offer readily accessible, yet high quality staff development programs.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Web Delivery of Staff Development
Web-based instruction offers a number of important advantages in developing and delivering staff development for special education and related services personnel in rural areas.
- Web delivery allows training to be offered to individuals or small groups across a broad geographic area or a number of isolated sites, even in the most remote areas.
- Online teaching and learning activities eliminate the time and costs associated with travel to attend inservice training workshops and courses for both instructions and participants.
- Web-based interaction formats provide a mechanism to support ongoing staff development programs using coaching and mentoring over weeks or even months with opportunities for implementation of changes and feedback on new practice.
- The Web can support the formation of communities of practice around a common theme (for example, low incidence disabilities) by facilitating interactions and sharing of ideas that eliminate the boundaries of time and distance.
- Online activities help practitioners acquire advanced technology skills that help them make better use of the Internet to locate resources and network with colleagues.
However, the use of Web-based instruction for staff development, still in its infancy, is not without its disadvantages as well.
- Web-based instruction requires a considerable investment of personnel and financial resources in upfront costs to support maximum effectiveness.
- The design and production of online learning materials requires a significant amount of advance preparation as well as time- and labor-intensive effort.
- The target audience for Web-based staff development programs may not have adequate Internet access or appropriate computing equipment to make use of more advanced formats such as streaming media, videoconferencing, or webcasting.
- Both instructors and learners may need orientation, training, and assistance before they can make appropriate and efficient use of new technologies for staff development.
- Technical problems such as server outages, high local traffic, and incompatible equipment may cause stress and impeded learning.
Institutions considering whether to develop Webbased staff development activities will need to weigh these advantages and disadvantages to determine whether the Web for s specific application. Online instruction must offer clear and convincing benefits to offset the commitment of time and energy needed to design an effective course or program.
Implications for Research, Policy, and Practice
Initial efforts at using Web-based instruction for staff development in special education and disability services in rural area have many implications for research, policy, and practice. Research is clearly needed on the online instructional formats that practicing teachers and therapists find most effective as well as the extent to which Web-based presentation, interaction, coaching, and mentoring activities actually result in change in the classroom or intervention program or improved outcomes for children and adults with disabilities. Policies need to be developed at all levels to insure that the Web is used in appropriate, effective, and efficient ways to promote professional development. And, educational institutions need to continue to experiment with online teaching and learning formats to extend the practical knowledge base about what works in what circumstances for individuals and for groups.
Future research needs. A comprehensive research effort is needed to inform the development and implementation of Web-based staff development in the future. Descriptive studies of an individual program like this one help to gain an understanding of key factors in Web-based staff development. However, experimental studies will be needed to assess how manipulation of variables such as type of content (text versus media, didactic or discovery mode) and degree of interactivity (real time versus delayed, daily or weekly) affect learning of new knowledge and skills. In addition, studies such as this one that assess program effects and participant perceptions can be useful in understanding some of the dynamics of teaching and learning in the online environment. But other investigations will need to use more objective measures, including observations of practice and review of products, to assess both short-term outcomes and longterm impact.
Proposed policy development. If Web-based activities are to be readily accepted and widely used for staff development, state and even national policies will be needed to define best practice in this area. Professional organizations, especially those that have a role in the certification of special education personnel (such as the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC)) and related services personnel (such as the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA)) should establish minimum standards for the use of online formats for staff development. Standards are needed for both group-based strategies such as courses and workshops and to individual-based strategies such as coaching and mentoring. State education agencies, perhaps working collaboratively among themselves through the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE), could also outline policies and procedures governing Web-based staff development that would guide institutions of higher education as well as local and regional education agencies in developing new models and programs. Policies must address how to translate online learning activities into contact hours for continuing education credit, what evidence is needed to document professional growth, and who is qualified to create content, supervise learning activities, or coach and mentor practitioners in the online environment.
Incentives to advance practice. Because web-based instruction requires a significant investment of time and money, federal and state governments must develop incentives to developing Web-based staff development efforts in special education and disability services. Some of the personnel preparation grant funds administered by the United States Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (OSERS) could be targeted to inservice as well as preservice education, both to insure support for education reform initiatives such as inclusion and transition and to help special educators and related services specialists stay abreast of current best practice. Federally funded distance education models for staff development could target a national audience and/or provide expertise in specialized topics such as play-based assessment or feeding disorders or low incidence areas such as vision or hearing impairments. Professional organizations such as CEC, ASHA, and NASDSE,, which have already experimented with some forms of technology-mediated staff development, could even work with federal agencies on a contract basis to establish comprehensive systems of staff development that would promote consistency in practice across states and allow public schools and community agencies to become consumers rather than providers of inservice training. State legislatures could allocate funds to support statewide Web-based training activities, with state education agencies identifying the content focus and colleges and universities or school partnerships requesting funding to support programs that would reach a broad service area.
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By Barbara L. Ludlow, West Virginia University; John D. Foshay, Central Connecticut State University; Sara A. Brannan, Wittenburjj University; Michael C. Duff, Discover Video Productions and Katrina E. Dennison, West Virginia University
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