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As a student in an online program, I don't know whether I should be criticizing virtual schools. But I wonder how beneficial they are especially to younger students. I think those students need nurturing and socialization, which is part of the reason for going to school. They need teachers who can assist, observe and give immediate formative feedback to help them succeed. As Jason Boyers says in Online Done Right, "distributing information is not teaching" (2013). I cannot imagine children learning to read from a virtual school. In fact that was one of the comments from last week's discussions on libraries, that young children need to have limited screentime.
However at the high school level or beyond, virtual schools could be a good alternative for some students, especially when the distance to get to the school would be an inconvenience for the student. Some students just do not feel they fit in to the school environment. These students may thrive in a virtual environment, especially the more introverted students (Boyers, 2013), however they would have to be disciplined and able to focus on the task. Also I think that interaction and collaboration with peers in an essential piece, if it is done well. I think the niche that these online schools has the most influence on is filling voids like credit recovery or offering classes that may not be available in the student's local school.
At the adult level, MOOC's or online schools serve a variety of needs. I am participating in a MOOC now to learn how to program Lego robots. Last summer I attended a MOOC (based at Harvard University) to learn programming with Scratch, which was attended by people all over the world. But the one thing that I find consistent with all of the online courses or webinars that I have attended, is that they all have some level of interaction with the other learners and the teacher as well. The two MOOC's have utilized Google Groups or Google+. The Scratch Google+ community was a very dynamic way of interacting with other learners. The nature of the program and the online community within Scratch allowed people to ask questions of the community and share the link to their project with other learners, who could go in and modify their codes by remixing the project, but not changing the original scripts. They even had weekly "office hours" via Google Hangouts, where we could ask questions and see the education team's faces. But it was nice to meet many of the participants face to face, including a woman who flew to Boston from Brazil, at a live symposium at the end of the course. There were other things to learn about, that some knew better than others, so were able to demonstrate for the rest of us. This is one of the things I have thought SNHU's online classes need to do better - use online tools that encourage collaboration and interaction between classmates. In this class we have used Google Docs to collaborate a couple of times, but perhaps we could do more of this in other classes.
There are two different virtual schools in New England, with different pricing models. If you live in NH, VLACS Virtual Learning Academy offers free classes to residents. The Virtual High School, charges between $300 per course and $3500 per year. The question is is it worth the money? Who pays for these courses, the students or the school? What about students who cannot afford to pay for virtual classes? Are taxpayers expected to fund brick and mortar schools and virtual schools as well?
I think that virtual schools have some alternatives to offer the students. But we cannot sacrifice good pedagogy for the convenience of online learning.
References:
Boyers, J. (2013). Online done right, The importance of human interaction for student success. eLearn Magazine, September 2013. Retrieved from: http://elearnmag.acm.org/opinions.cfm?aid=2524201
You make some good points. Virtual learning has its benefits to some students, but may not be appealing to all. MOOC's are great for those of us who have time to invest time and effort into a free course, for the sake of learning. Virtual schools can be appealing to those in need of a flexible schedule, but not all students can thrive in such an environment. It requires a certain amount of intrinsic motivation.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you that virtual schools can benefit many students but not all. I do not feel that they could ever replace the interaction with a devoted, dedicated and passionate teacher. I know many students who could truly benefit from taking online classes. My Aunt's granddaughter has slight MR and has been bullied in school (her parents were not aware) one day last week in school a student did nor said something to her and she just shut down. No response, blinking, body movement or anything. The school called her mom who came and got her. She did not know her mother or father. They took her to the emergency room (thinking this could be something neurologically or infectious causing this). The hospital ran test after test everything came back negative. The diagnosis after speaking with her sister who attends the same school was that her brain shut down as a protective mechanism for her. Her family was instructed to not allow her to go back to the school because at this point they do not know when she will become fully coherent again, if at all, but if this happens again she could be at the point of no return. This to me is a prime example of how virtual schools could help especially so that the student can keep up with classes while getting better. There are so many students in the system who get sick, have family emergencies and need to keep up. This option would serve as a great way for them not to fall behind and stay "tuned in" to school.
ReplyDelete"As a student in an online program, I don't know whether I should be criticizing virtual schools. But I wonder how beneficial they are especially to younger students. I think those students need nurturing and socialization, which is part of the reason for going to school. They need teachers who can assist, observe and give immediate formative feedback to help them succeed." I absolutely love what you said here. I also felt kind of weird criticizing online learning and wondering if there is any educational value, when obviously there is for us taking these online classes. However, when it comes to younger students, it's not as simple. One reason for going to school is to socialize and understand what it means to work with others; others who annoy and others who have the same interests. This is an important life lesson that I do not believe can be replaced with a computer, even if students are chatting with others. It does not trump actual human interaction and the nurturing of the mind and soul from teachers in a classroom. Great post!
ReplyDelete" This is one of the things I have thought SNHU's online classes need to do better - use online tools that encourage collaboration and interaction between classmates. In this class we have used Google Docs to collaborate a couple of times, but perhaps we could do more of this in other classes. " I agree. I like the blog as it is a real world use of technology and try to incorporate some of the google documents, but a google hangout would be a fun way to collaborate as well. I like that you questioned virtual schools with you currently participating in this course! :) I think it is about convenience as adult learners. I know that by taking an online class vs. a class face to face is a great way to free up your precious time that some may need to work or take care of kids. In my case, I did almost 1/2 of my masters degree online and it worked so well for my family. As children go, online learning is challenging for those who might not be organized and motivated. I think it is a great experience for them though to learn how to interact and act online. Many pros and cons.
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