Video Ten: Options for Virtual Students

After watching the assigned video the objective of this blog was to answer the following questions:

1. Describe the advantages that the students saw concerning online learning.  What were the parents’ and teachers’ views toward online learning?  

2. If states would offer more courses online, what benefits would emerge from it? 

3. What could be some of the limitations toward virtual learning that the people in the video did not address? 

4. Could the limitations be resolved?  How?

The students felt they received more personal attention, were able to complete assignments without other student interruptions, could control when and where they completed their homework, and enjoyed the feedback instructors provided. The students also felt the virtual school was clear and organized and liked the personal interaction they had with their teachers through the course. The parent’s seemed very impressed with the virtual school. One parent felt that the communication between her child’s teacher and herself was better than some of the face-to-face communications she had in the past. Another parent enjoyed that she could check her children’s progress at any time evaluating their assignments due and grades within the class. Parent’s also pointed out the self-efficacy and self-motivation their children in completing their schoolwork.

I believe there are many advantages to online learning. If states were able to produce a virtual high school such as Florida, I believe they would be highly successful. Florida’s virtual high school is well known throughout the United States as being a leader within virtual high school education however whether or not all states would have the same type of resources needs to be taken into consideration. I think providing students options is another very powerful component to take into consideration. Some students prefer or perform better through self-directed learning while others need more face-to-face instruction to succeed. By providing a virtual environment you are allowing students the choice of how they prefer to learn. You are also allowing those students who can handle taking more classes the ability to do so thus receiving a more beneficial education than some would receive within a traditional setting.

Limitations that could arise would be cost, accessibility, and social interaction. Having the opportunity to participate in a virtual school is one consideration but having the ability to pay to participate in the school is another. It could be problematic if the cost of technology and resources to support the virtual school exceed the costs of traditional settings. When devising a virtual high school costs is a huge factor that needs to be considered. Second is the accessibility of the virtual school to all. Some students might live in remote areas and be unable to connect to Internet or might only have the option of dial-up Internet. When designing such courses teachers need to take factors such as modem speed into consideration as incorporating video would be problematic for such students. An additional consideration to accessibility is for those students with disabilities. Teachers need to ensure they utilize a universal design when creating their courses so that all students, regardless of disabilities, will be able to participate within the course assignments and activities. Finally, there is much debate today about whether or not students who take online courses lack the social skills and interaction they would obtain by attending a traditional school. While I have heard this point argued very well from both sides teachers should ensure they are incorporating activities that require students to chat and work with one another so that these social skills will not be unattained.

In the famous words of Walt Disney, “If you can dream it, you can do it!” It may be more time consuming and pose some challenges along the way but if these limitations are taken into consideration throughout the development of the virtual high school teachers, administrators, and instructional designers can work together to ensure most of these issues are addressed. For example, with the assistance of federal and state grants as well as state allocation for funds for high schools, virtual schools can help keep the cost of these technologies down. They also can utilize open source software so that costs remain low. In regards to accessibility, taking a universal design approach would help ensure that all students would be able to utilize the online course. Social interaction could be achieved by incorporating web tools such as chats, live discussions and audio and video within the courses or even utilize virtual learning environments for students to interact within.