Cross-Reference of Online Teaching Standards and the Development of Quality Teachers for 21st Century Learning Environments

Abstract

The standards that guide the development of teachers to teach online and in blended formats include the International Society for Technology in Education's (ISTE) National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETST) (ISTE, 2008), the Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB) Essential Principles for High-quality Online Teaching (SREB, 2006), the National Education Association's (NEA) Guide to Teaching Online Courses (NEA, 2006), and iNACOL's National Standards for Quality Online Teaching (iNACOL, 2008). Since their original release in 2000, the ISTE NETS*T standards have been adopted in all of the 50 states in addition to guiding the education policy in other countries (ISTE, 2007) and not only pertain to online instructors but also to brick-andmortar teachers. iNACOL's National Standards for Quality Online Teaching (2008) were informed by a range of effective practices and research sources, as described by Ferdig et al.