Montana’s education system needs to quickly develop curriculum for our future leaders as well as their instructors to give them the abilities to maximize the value of online education.

Covid forced the move to virtual collaboration, meetings, socialization and education faster than expected.   It will continue to be a core element of our lives and work.   Unfortunately few of us were or are prepared to fully utilize the many elements of online life to be as effective as possible.   We are also not fully prepared to meet the mental and physical challenges that come with an online life.

Several efforts are now underway to provide guidance but these skills must be elevated to a series of required subjects starting with our youngest children.   Without a basic understanding of how to best adapt to an online world, our children will be frustrated, lose interest and fail to fully learn the information they need for future success.

While not fully complete for school age learners, here are the outcomes that the ROI (Rural Online Initiative) program at Utah State highlight as necessary for the current work force:

The Rural Online Initiative will educate, coach, and mentor citizens of the rural workforce who are currently unemployed, underemployed, or have dropped out of the workforce to obtain freelance jobs, remote employment, or online commerce opportunities. It is expected that this program will have the following positive impacts:

• Empower Families – Increase median household income & quality of life for citizens of rural Utah.
• Provide Education – Change attitudes, knowledge, and behavior regarding remote work opportunities.
• Job Creation – Reduce local unemployment rates without the expense of recruiting new businesses.
• Retain Local Talent – Reduce post high school relocation.
• Improve Rural Viability – Fortify rural businesses through online expansion.
• Strengthen Tax Base – A bigger population with bigger incomes means more revenue for your city.

if individuals are better trained in the following:

Module 1: Work Day

• Summary: Learn more about the components of an average day in the life of a remote worker, including mobile office, flexible schedule, and equipment.
• Objectives: Computer, webcam, and audio are set up with a professional background. Meeting and schedule are successfully coordinated and added to calendar.

Module 2: Communication

• Summary: Discuss the unique strategies and requirements of virtual communication, including styles, tools, and empathy.
• Objectives: Messages are professional, clear, and accurate. Agenda and report are detailed and complete. Actively participate in meeting my contributing often.

Module 3: Workflow

• Summary: Understand the processes of task management, including projects, delegation, goals, and tracking.
• Objectives: Project management tool successfully set up. Project includes discrete tasks, timeline, dependent tasks, and participants. Can update project regularly.

Module 4: Productivity and Time Management

• Summary: Evaluate the strategies for effective independent personal management, including productivity, motivation, and scheduling.
• Objective: Tracks time including detailed information. Daily priorities match task/project/team priorities. Schedule shows effective time management.

Module 5: Teams

• Summary: Learn about how teamwork occurs in a virtual work environment, including trust, project collaboration, and “netiquette.”
• Objectives: All phases of team collaboration are completed and collaborative task is finished. Participated actively and facilitated others’ involvement.

Module 6: Compliance

• Summary: Discuss the legal precautions of working online, including information security, risk prevention, and office compliance.
• Objectives: Password manager installed. Security checklist is complete and accurate. Can identify common security risks.

Module 7: Critical Thinking

• Summary: Understand how to problem solve autonomously, including finding resources for solutions, earning trust, and filtering information.
• Objectives: List of resources are credible. Solution steps are clearly and accurately outlined. Resolution is succinctly summarized.

Module 8: Virtual Careers

• Summary: Evaluate and prepare for virtual career options, including personal branding, virtual job search processes, and remote industry options.
• Objectives: Format for portfolio is clear; work portfolio is complete; work portfolio has been successfully shared and reviewed.

Module 9: Remote Job Development

• Summary: Design the remote career of your choice and prepare a proposal for your Program Coordinator.
• Objectives: Program outcomes for all modules have been reviewed and evaluated; agenda for meeting with Program Coordinator is clear and complete.

A full course rubric can be viewed here.

The online courses are hosted by Utah State University and facilitated using Canvas, USU’s learning management system.