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Thursday, April 7, 2011

Trends: Are Online Courses Up To Snuff?

EdConnections Posted by Dan S. Martin
The New York Times article below examines the trend towards online learning experiences as an alternative to "in the seat" instruction.  This is a major trend, that could be just as impactful to education in America as the charter school trend has been to public education.  Will most all learning experiences eventually be conducted in the "virtual world?"  No doubt it is a matter of degree and complexion....rather than an either/or.

In the near-term, the article below considers the quality---including rigor---of online courses. 

A couple of years ago now, I took a hiatus from school administration to work on some automation projects in the private sector that allow schools to work better.  I'd been consulting on one of these projects for years.  It is EdClick.  You can go here to see more of this story.

Another major project I embarked on was with a distance education company that partners with colleges and universities to help them deliver their courses online.  Essentially, this company facilitates distance learning--->from course production to student recruitment to student retention to monitoring of students....and so on.  They basically provide a near turn-key solution to the delivery of online content.

I worked with them through the Fall before deciding that their model was not for me...and that my opportunities with EdClick and other projects interested me more.  Their model was high volume delivery of inexpensive educational opportunities.  That is not necessarily bad.

"Scalability" was a driving mantra.  The online landscape (and technology more generally speaking) is so hyper-evolutionary that the currents are swift.  Done wrong, online education can be BIG business at the expense of quality education.

I suspect, though, that online learning experiences are much like "in the seat" learning experiences---->specifically, they are inconsistent.  I heard a Governor recently say that a parent knows within a week or two if their child has a bad teacher or not.  Isn't that so true!  There are both quality and inadequate teachers in our schools, just like there are both quality and inadequate online learning experiences.

What are your thoughts?

From the NY Times article:

"Advocates of such courses say they allow schools to offer not only makeup courses, the fastest-growing area, but also a richer menu of electives and Advanced Placement classes when there are not enough students to fill a classroom.

But critics say online education is really driven by a desire to spend less on teachers and buildings, especially as state and local budget crises force deep cuts to education. They note that there is no sound research showing that online courses at the K-12 level are comparable to face-to-face learning."

Click the photo below to access the complete story.

Posted at 5:54 PM Keywords: Trends , Online Courses , Distance Learning , Technology 0 Comments

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