School on the internet?

Rapunzel · Post by **Rapunzel** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 10:33 am

Scrat wrote: I have heard things about this concept. What does everyone think? As I have stated in another thread, the school system we have now is a huge drain, and I think obsolete.

Why not just go back to home schooling and use the internet?

The answer to this is surely obvious! :rolleyes:

1. Not everyone has the internet.

2. Not everyone who has the internet knows how to use it properly, e.g. through surfing the web.

3. I homeschool my daughter and it is actually incredibly hard to find age-appropriate work for her of a wide enough variety on the internet.

4. Most people have to work to pay the bills. This means both parents working.

In which case, who looks after the child? Who protects them? What happens if they have an accident?

5. Even if parents can stay home with their child, what if the parents are not educated highly enough to be able to teach their children? In schools they are offered a wide range of subjects and educated to a certain standard. What if parents could not educate to this standard? How would it affect the child's future earning capabilities?

6. Children learn how to cope with the world be learning from experience. They learn how to communicate by talking to and playing with their peers. At home they would be socially excluded, which leads to fed-up, angry, aggressive children.

7. Families need to spend time apart. We are social animals and need to mix with others. Being with the same people constantly would drive us crazy.

Need I go on?

Lon · Post by **Lon** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 10:40 am

Scrat wrote: I have heard things about this concept. What does everyone think? As I have stated in another thread, the school system we have now is a huge drain, and I think obsolete.

Why not just go back to home schooling and use the internet?

I couldn't agree more Scrat--------You can already take Uni courses on line for credit and it will not be long before all physical campuses become obsolete and higher education is relagated to the computer. Lectures, note taking, thesis, testing etc. would be a piece of cake. Actual lab work could be done at regional locations. OK-so no social interplay or sports participation. That can all be handled in a different manner.

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 11:31 am

My sister takes HUGE amounts of classes online. She has accumulated so many credits and in a very short amount of time. She's a friggin' genius, so that has something to do with it, but the cool thing about her schooling is, she can test out of a bunch of required courses (which she does frequently) and it costs her a lot less than taking the whole course.

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 11:46 am

*Standing applause! Whistles loudly & smacks scrat on the back*

Absolutely! It opens a myriad of possibilities, such as paying daycare workers to monitor and provide social interaction while the more highly qualified & highly paid instructor is available online for many classrooms instead of just one. (that's just off the top of my head, so imagine the possibilities when experts think on it!)

Don't they do things like this in Alaska?

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 12:29 pm

There are alot of classes online for adult, and you can get tutoring services online for students. But the socialization of children is the positive factor about school, we need to learn how to interact with other people.

I am currently taking an online class for teachers, but it is not the same quality as an on campus course would be-posting responses with time delays, just isn't the same as sitting there and talking with another person.

The college I teach at in the evening offers online courses, I opted to teach an on campus course, for the same reason. And for my class next month, lab experiments at regional locations would not be the same as teacher directed and immediate feedback you have in a classroom situation.

Benjamin · Post by **Benjamin** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 12:34 pm

There are some classes where you need a classroom environment -- such as where there is useful class discussion, labs, or classes where you give presentations. For many other classes, it's pretty inefficient to have to drive all the way to the campus, pay for parking, walk to the building, and sit through a boring lecture when you could just read the material and do the exercises at home. It might be too easy for some people to cheat, though, taking online classes. I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t know how they get around that.

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 12:39 pm

The instructor has to write multiple tests for students to take when it is online. That is how they do it, to keep it fair. Alot of work for the prof'....................

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 12:43 pm

Yup, lots of drawbacks. Also lots of advantages. The point is that it's a viable alternative.

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 12:48 pm

There are pros and cons about school on the internet. For some lower level classes in college which revolve around lecture and readings, it is a positive alternative. For upper level college classes where you need discussion, a classroom or roundtable, live would only be appropriate. I could have never taken my grad classes as an online course, the feedback would have been too late to have made the impact a good and feisty classroom discussion brought, with teacher direction.

Rapunzel · Post by **Rapunzel** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 12:51 pm

As Lon said "higher education" ~ I agree for college and university courses, online work is invaluable, although I agree with Chonsi about classroom time being better for feedback, questions, etc.

But Scrats original point was "online schooling"

Which, for a whole nation of school aged children, I feel is utterly ridiculous! :p

Benjamin · Post by **Benjamin** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 12:55 pm

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 1:02 pm

:wah:

Online schooling for K-12 is not feasible, not everyone has a computer and the internet. There would have to be a public outlay to provide this for every school age child to be equitable.

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 1:07 pm

chonsigirl wrote: There are pros and cons about school on the internet. For some lower level classes in college which revolve around lecture and readings, it is a positive alternative. For upper level college classes where you need discussion, a classroom or roundtable, live would only be appropriate. I could have never taken my grad classes as an online course, the feedback would have been too late to have made the impact a good and feisty classroom discussion brought, with teacher direction.
Personally, I hate distance ed. It's just not for me. But even lively discussions are possible with camcorders. It'll never fully replace 'old school' but it is definitely a plausible alternative.

Peg · Post by **Peg** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 4:08 pm

My son did home shooling for the first half of his junior year. The lessons are all there, you do them at your pace as long as you are done with them in time for midterms and finals. He didn't like it because he missed his friends. I liked it because his friends weren't there to distract him. His grades went up. He is back in school now and still doing some home schooling to get more credits. You finish a lesson, hit send, and the teacher grades it. I know the guy who started the "Virtual School" program and he sets it up across the U.S. It is becoming more and more popular.

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 4:44 pm

Are you taking education classes MrsK? I am doing a reading class online..............

Peg · Post by **Peg** » Sat Mar 18, 2006 9:47 pm

Our schools have a shortage of books for the classrooms. If more children were given the option of "virtual school" this would help alleviate the problem. The nice thing too is, if you have trouble in a class, they will send a tutor. It's probably easier to get help than if you ask for it at school.

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 5:21 am

Education courses online are a good alternative-though my Reading class would be better in a live classroom, where we could share materials. They don't do that on the net-the teacher grades it, but we don't see each person's examples.

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 7:16 am

chonsigirl wrote: Education courses online are a good alternative-though my Reading class would be better in a live classroom, where we could share materials. They don't do that on the net-the teacher grades it, but we don't see each person's examples.
Maybe your "classmates" would be willing to share through email.

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 1:03 pm

I just came from an interesting faculty meeting at the college where I teach at night. Their course offerings are 60% online and 40% on campus. The latest statistics from this university from last semester showed that the majority of "at risk" students, who had D's or F's by the midterm, were from online classes. (85% of the "at risk students were online classes) The percentages increased by the end of the term, but the majority of students who did not pass classes were online. Whether this was indicative of this university or the concept of undergrad and grad classes taken online, it made me think of this thread while sitting there, and glad that my class in on campus.

They also were discussing how the online class offerings in Maryland are increasing, but that future employers are examining more new resumes and preferring on campus degrees over online degrees.

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 3:24 pm

I thought it was an interesting fact, you must be self-motivated to continue achieving in an online class. We discussed whether the personal relationships of an on-campus class made the difference, with interaction between staff and student. It is easier to monitor student progress if they are seen on a routine basis.