Online biology teacher Leslie Fetzer of the North Carolina Public Virtual School was named the National Online Teacher of the Year Thursday at the Southern Regional Education Board’s annual ed-tech symposium in Atlanta, according to a press release.
Fetzer, who beat out two other finalists and an initial field of instructors from public and state virtual schools in 26 states, is in her third year teaching biology online to students in grades 10-12 after working entirely in the face-to-face classroom for the first six years of her nine-year career, according to the release. She was nominated by her chief academic officer.
She succeeds Kristin Kipp of the 21st-Century Virtual Academy in Colorado as the third teacher to win the award, given jointly by the SREB and the International Association for K-12 Online Learning, or iNACOL. (Kipp sat down with the Digital Education Blog for a Q&A last April.)
With the honor, Fetzer will become a representative for online teachers at education events across the country, and will also be recognized at iNACOL’s annual meeting.
Georgia Virtual School’s Asherrie Yisrael and the South Carolina Virtual School Program’s Tracy Seiler were the competition’s other finalists.