Like people in other fields, educators have been caught off balance by a migration of their profession into the online world. But there’s no stopping it — thousands of Oregon students already are receiving a public education through virtual schools, and their number will grow. Oregon needs to adapt to this new form of education by putting in place policies to see that its promise is fulfilled while ensuring full accountability both in terms of cost and results.Maybe you are thinking, "really?" First a clarification: the editorial is not about higher education, but about the K-12 system. Well, I don't think it is about the "K" .... ha ha ha
The editorial notes that:
The distinction between classroom and online learning already is blurring as information technology is incorporated at all levels of education. The growth of online learning will accelerate as the technology supporting it grows steadily more powerful and less expensive. This expansion, in turn, will bring into being broader and more robust networks of social, technical and academic support.Notice how similar the points are--I mean, this paragraph could easily be written in the context of higher education and online learning.
What was even more impressive? The editorial refers to online "learning" and not online "teaching". That is cool. It is not semantics at all--I am convinced that for way too long we have only focused on "teaching" and "teachers", and it is way past time to focus on what really matters in education: "learning" and "learners".
For the record: I am a learner, and am proud of being one :-)
1 comment:
Last term I had a little 8-year-old girl visiting my home during a party. She is doing her schooling fully online through an accredited virtual school in the Portland area. She "attends" school during regular school hours. She studies all of the different content areas. She has one teacher with whom she has regular contact, numerous times a day, through a variety of means. She and her mother both swear by this. They claim she is learning more than she would in a classroom and that she is able to move at her own speed. She feels like she is getting to know other students in the class and her mother feels involved in her education--though she was clear that this was NOT home-schooling. The teacher was definitely in charge. I asked about lost social opportunities and they listed about 12 different things she is involved in that give her the opportunity to meet with other kids her age. Things are definitely changing.
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