I admit I don't know much about K-12 online learning. All of my experience with online classes has been as a graduate student, and I'm not sure how much differently K-12 online classes are run.
As far as I know, online learning is growing in popularity. Students can take a few online classes to get ahead, to take a subject not offered in their school, or to pass a class they've previously failed. Other students may take all their classes online, due to health issues, a desire to home school, or difficulties thriving in a traditional school for social, emotional, or behavioral reasons. I also know some families choose online classes because they believe them to be superior to their local school's offerings. Almost all subjects are available in online classes, even ones I don't believe should be. (I'll address this at the end of this post. Read on!)
I assume most virtual schooling is done at home, but I also know some students access online classes from computers within traditional school buildings. I also have heard of charter schools where the
school serves mainly as a space for students to use computers for virtual learning. Many online classes allow students to set their own schedule, but some meet virtually at specific times. Some of these make use of chat programs and even webcams to aid students and teachers in interacting.
Online classes require programs or websites that have functionality for instruction, assessment, feedback, and communication. I know of Blackboard, Google docs, Canvas, and Edmodo, and I know there are many more. Many of these systems require that districts or schools pay for their use.
I would like to learn more about who offers online classes. To the best of my knowledge, there's a vast array of online offerings, with a corresponding discrepancy in quality. Local schools may offer courses, taught by regular teachers. Districts may band together to construct courses, or may buy access for their students to courses created by large companies. Both for-profit companies and nonprofit corporations offer classes schools can buy. There are also online charter schools, which I believe make their own content. I am not clear on the qualifications for people to create and run online classes, but I don't believe the guidelines are very stringent, unlike teacher certification.
A lack of consistent quality is my biggest concern with online learning. I don't believe the teachers must be certified, though I'd like to be proven wrong! Online education is a huge, huge money making business, and as always, some companies try to get a piece of this pie by providing poor, cheap to produce content.
Another major concern with online classes is that I think they take a lot of work to design and teach well, but very little work to be done poorly. I have personally taken classes where it's obvious the instructor wasn't doing any work at all. It's too easy to upload content, program multiple choice assessments, and just sit back and allow Blackboard (or some other system) to do the work for you. This kind of online teaching encourages cheating (googleable answers) and discourages deep, meaningful learning. Great online teaching is absolutely possible, including creative instruction and authentic assessments, but it takes serious work from the teacher.
Lastly, I want to mention two other concerns of mine. One is that online classes make it difficult to make sure content is relevant to students, since the teacher may be far away and know very little about their students. Second, I don't think all subjects lend themselves well to virtual learning. As a science teacher, I'm a very strong proponent of laboratory experience, and while I've seen some great virtual labs, I don't see how they can provide for student driven or open inquiry. There's also something very motivating and engaging about hands-on science, that I don't believe can be captured virtually.
Dayna,
ReplyDeleteI, too, believe that not all types of courses are best delivered online. Classes that require hands-on learning is very important. Science and math are two classes where students would probably benefit from face to face instruction. Also, the idea of open inquiry is a benefit too. If professors were to have google hangouts, say, once every two weeks to address questions, that would probably work. Personally, some of my best classes were those where the professor shared personal experiences in the field where they were teaching. Overall, learning is highly dependent on the instructor and how it is delivered.
Monica, I agree so strongly that the instructor and their delivery of content is incredibly influential on how well students learn. I know there are instructors out there who are very adept at teaching through online means, and in these cases online learning can be very effective. However, just like in a physical classroom, there are always some teachers who aren't up to par. My difficulties lie in the fact that I think it's easier for bad teaching to slide by in online learning. If online learning is to be a viable alternative or option for more students, I think we need to very, very carefully think about how to achieve accountability and quality.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny, because I think science and math actually stand to gain the most through blended or flipped learning approaches! So it's really just full, virtual schooling that I don't think fits well with these subjects. Some degree of online learning is actually very beneficial in dense, technical vocabulary heavy classes that students traditionally struggle with.