Online Education: My Teacher Is an App is an article from the Wall Street Journal by Stephanie Banchero and Stephanie Simon that discusses online schooling and its effects on modern education. Banchero and Simon objectively relayed a great deal of information on the methods these new online schools are using and the effectiveness of their curriculum. One type of school they discussed was an entirely online school that is available in many states to students from kindergarten to senior year of high school. This type of schooling generally seemed to adversely affect students' performances in most subjects. Obviously this could be contributed to a multitude of factors. For example, many students simply are not self motivated, and this type of education places an enormous amount of pressure on students to motivate themselves and push themselves to learn the new material. Many times students are far less successful if there is no constant driving force, such as an actual teacher, propelling them to stay actively engaged in learning and pushing them to achieve goals. Another type of school that was discussed was a hybrid school that mixes a traditional learning environment with online coursework. This type of school seemed to be discussed in a more positive light, and it definitely seemed to be the preferred method between the two.
Honestly, some of the methods of education discussed in this article scared me. With the monetary problems that numerous school districts are facing, it is not out of the realm of possibility that in the future the number of teachers needed could be greatly diminished. This would be doing a great disservice to most of the school age children in America. The schools that were attended solely online yielded poor results for the majority of kids involved, and this reason alone should cause apprehension amongst leaders in the educational field. I do believe that online learning is an integral part of education, however, and the idea of hybrid elementary and high schools is a promising one. As long as students' educational needs are still being met through personal contact with a teacher on an everyday basis, then hybrid classes should be implemented throughout the country.
Do you think kids (or college students) who do no accept responsibility for learning will grow out of it? Or will their lives continually require outside pressure to get things done. And on time?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately we are headed towards a more online based education system. I agree that a hybrid system seems to be the most effective form of education that we are evolving to. Your argument that students just aren't able to self motivate themselves is really just a social miscue. Parents along with educators are going to have to stress the importance of students taking more responsibility for their education. To many kids use the excuse that they need someone else to motivate them. Yet, they grow up in a world where you have to do things on your own to be successful. So while I agree that a fully online system isn't the most likely option in the near future, we need to accept the fact that kids are going to have to grow up a little bit and learn how to me more self sufficient. Just look at how this class has either made or broken us when it came to motivating yourself to learn and complete the assignments. Good job and like your blog.
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