Online Schools: Hits, Myths, Other?

My understanding of online schooling has been built over the past several years of knowing my own (generally AP-caliber) students enrolling in such classes.  Mind --> blown after this week's readings.  That's not an exaggeration.

Going over the year-by-year reports showed me the tremendous growth of online schooling over the past several years.  I had no idea the exponential degree to which this has accelerated--the number of states offering online education, the policies involved, the numbers (and the diversity!) of students participating in online instruction, or the variety of ways in which online schooling is being used.  I found the scope of it to be staggering.  Here I am in a district that prides itself on the degree to which technology is integrated into instruction, and I had no idea that this was happening.

Myth #2:  Online courses are for gifted and talented students only.
D'oh.  I got this impression because those were the students I saw taking online courses.  They were the ones adding the "8th period" to their schedule or doing online coursework in the library instead of blowing off a free period as a teacher's aid (translation:  Starbucks go-fer).  It's good to know that this is atypical rather than the norm and that students of all kinds across the country are taking online courses.

Myth #3:  Online courses lack interaction.
This is another impression I got from students I knew.  Over the last several years, students taking AP Macro- or Microeconomics online have come to me with questions that their online instructors would not (or could not) answer.  They got frustrated with how many times they were laughingly told to "just Google it."  I'm encouraged to know that this problem is also atypical in the grand scheme of things.

Since I am currently completing an online degree, I think I can weigh in on this myth from my own experience.  All online courses are not created equal.  My tenured professors have generally been more interested in me, my work, and my progress than some adjunct professors who barely check in.  I can think of one particular professor who praised my work to the skies and then didn't remember me the very next term when I took another class with her.  I never had that happen in a face-to-face class.

Myth #10:  Online courses represent an “add-on” to already burdened school systems and teachers.
I got this idea from a couple of teachers I used to know who taught online classes in addition to their traditional courses.  It was the one more thing they had to deal with that was an additional source of stress and anxiety.  Administratively, online courses around here seem like a necessary evil rather than a positive good, and that is truly unfortunate for staff and students.  It sets the wrong tone.

I definitely feel like I now have a more complete picture of what online schooling currently is.  I started this unit without having any sense that I didn't know what I didn't know.  Nothing like plumbing the depths of one's own ignorance to get a sense of perspective.  Perspective is good.        

Online/Virtual/Cyber Schooling

Many high school students in my county (Fairfax County, VA) take online classes although I do not know anybody who currently teaches them.  There has been talk of some teachers eventually being hired to work exclusively online without having to set foot on actual K-12 campuses, but this is still a pipe dream.  

What motivates students to take these courses?  These classes allow students to make up educational deficits (which can be a serious problem for transfer students!), to get ahead (particularly in math), to take AP classes not otherwise offered, or to bulk up their transcripts (making them more attractive to top-notch colleges).

Where is this done?  I have known some students to do 100% of the work at home, but others will get an open period in their schedule which they will spend on a library computer to make sure they budget time during the day to do their online coursework.

How is this done?  My understanding--from students who either love or hate online classes--is that the courses involve a combination of materials, including recorded lectures, traditional worksheets or other exercises, and online tests and quizzes.  Not every course has a textbook provided to students.  Not all online classes are created equal.