Distance Education and Virtual Schools

1. Identify and briefly discuss at least 5 pros and 5 cons of having virtual schools.
5 Pros
-Allows students to move at his or her own pace.
- Can be an alternative to dropping out for some students if they have other responsibilities.
- Helps parents to be very involved with their child’s learning.
-Is much easier for students with physical disabilities to learn as opposed to the obstacles of a “regular” school.
-Flexible schedule (students can take breaks when they need to and work when they are at their creative peak.

5 Cons
-Lack face-to-face interaction with a teacher.
-Students may not get involved with other activities.
-Lack of social interaction can be a problem later in life.
-It may be very easy for students to procrastinate and slack off if there are no definite due dates.
-Parents may not have enough knowledge to help their children with homework.

2. Discuss some of the key skills teachers need to have to be successful when teaching a virtual school.
Teachers who teach in a virtual school need to be just as qualified as any other teacher. However, it is important that they are available at all times (within reason) to assist students with their coursework. They need to be prompt in getting back to their students’ questions. These teachers should also be very articulate so that they are able to offer explanations in an online environment without physically pointing to something or showing something on an overhead. They naturally need to be adept with technology as well.
3. Discuss your findings on one other key issue that you found interesting (from those listed above).
In order for students to be successful in a virtual school, they need to be very self-motivated and independent. Even at a young age, students need to learn how to manage their time and be responsible. In the state of Washington, Insight schools also hold their students to certain academic standards. For example, their high school students need to be reading at or above a 7th grade level (no more than two levels below their grade level), writing at 6th grade level or above, and have at least 5th grade math skills. I think this is a good idea and very important so that students don’t feel like that they are not being held to academic standards because they aren’t in a traditional school setting.
4. Think 2-3 years from now and discuss how virtual schools and online courses might impact your teaching.
I think that at the elementary school level, I would not encourage students to take entire courses online unless there were circumstances such as an illness or disability. I think that it would be a good idea to create a virtual environment for your students and their parents to be able to contact you and communicate with each other, such as a MySpace or a TeacherWeb. It may be beneficial to use certain online lesson plans for your students to get them familiar with using technology. Although I agree that technology skills are important for students to learn, I strongly believe that a large reason for students to go to school is to learn social interaction skills and how to work with people. Elementary school is often the first social setting that students will be exposed to besides their family, and by enrolling students in an online school, parents are depriving their children of many experiences.