For my project option in Lieu of Thesis I have identified certified art educators currently teaching in a traditional middle school classrooms and compared their teaching strategies to certified art educators working in a virtual environment. In order to qualify these art educators as certified, I refer to the teaching methodology standards of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the National Standards for Quality Online Teaching produced by the North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL) (NCATE, 2003; NACOL, 2008b). When considering the history of virtual schools and art education my research question emerges:

What teaching strategies are certified art educators working in face-to-face classrooms and virtual environments using to teach visual art to middle school students?

I take a moment to acknowledge a few limitations of my study. One limitation to this study is that I have selected to research one art course offered to middle school students through the Florida Virtual School (FLVS) as this virtual school is convenient to me. Equally important to state is that there is only one art educator teaching this introductory art course at this virtual school. The FLVS is merely one of over 170 virtual schools that were in operation by the end of 2006 (Watson, 2007). Another limitation that should be stated is that this study will only include the observation of art educator teaching strategies. Though this would be equally valuable information for the field of art education, for the duration of this study I will not be analyzing the learning strategies of students who are being taught by my participant art educators.

https://www.flvs.net/areas/aboutus/Research%20Abstracts/Sarah%20Lloyd%20Thesis%20Project%20Abstract.pdf