Benefits & Challenges of Online Learning (Mod 4)

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What are the benefits and pitfalls of Online Learning?

This weeks lesson was about giving a well-rounded view of  the online experience, with emphasis on the teacher's perspective.  From the many images of smiling faces you get when you google "Online learning" (see above) one could get the impression that online learning is nothing but happy teachers giving eager students the education they so earnestly desire.

Online learning does gives the teacher lots more flexibility in engaging with their students as well as creating the learning environment, with less hassles with commuting and being supervised.

And for the most part, it is a very positive experience, if flexibility and control is what the teacher desires.  Borup and Stevens (draft) noted that with their sample size the online experience was very popular among most teachers.  The key points teacher appreciated was flexibility, the ability to interact digitally with individual students and the amount of support they received from their administrators.

In contrast, Hawkins, et al (2012) in describing their Community of Inquiry (CoI) noted that for some teachers, not being in front of their students was a disconnected, therefore disquieting experience.  In fairness, these teachers did not seem to get the training or support that Borup and Stevens noted.  Together, I see that their respective papers suggest a strong correlation between admin support and realistic expectations as to whether the online experience turns out good or bad for the teacher.  What I take away from this module is that online teaching is different from regular teaching, and those that have the right expectations, temperament and technical skills ought to do well.

Finally, a link to my updated Popplet and a Tedtalk video of Daphne Koller and Coursera, which validates to me that despite the pitfalls, when online learning is done right it is an overwhelming benefit.

Who's teaching online?

Module 3 summarizes the current state of the online educational field.  The readings show that online learning is now firmly entrenched in the K-12 experience.  Archambault (2009) cites a nationwide survey by Setzer and Lewis (2005) that in 2003 over one-third of school districts has some form of online learning.  So online learning is now "mainstream".

The videos gave examples of how online learning is successfully employed and how teachers and administration have adapted to make it successful.  This coincides with the article (Borup) that emphasizes the importance of teacher engagement in establishing a successful online experience. Now that I see how far online learning is embedded in today's learning environment I feel really stupid.

In my earlier blogs I talked about how online education was up and coming, it was on its way, it was the future, etc.  After watching the videos in Mod 3's video playlist I no longer feel I'm going to be "first out at the gate" of online learning, I feel all the other horses are halfway down the track and I'm simply trying to catch up with them.

Did I say online education is maturing?  Kids, teacher, principals--entire schools are are already up and running and the technology they use has left me slack-jawed in astonishment.

I really need to catch up to my colleagues.  This module has left me overwhelmed, embarrassed--and determined to catch up. Online learning isn't the future.  It's now.

On the plus side, I see an opportunity for part time or retirement jobs.  I can work at home being an engineering teacher!  I can even teach from my room at the nursing home.  :)

I've updated my Popplet to include topics introduced in this module.  There are many videos on how to be a successful online learner, most of them are geared to becoming a successful online student.  Here's one from a teacher's perspective, which I thought quite good.  She mentions that although the data says online learners learn as much as their brick and mortar counterparts, some students felt they learned less.   Those who thought so also mentioned the lack of socialization in their learning.

Module 2 Reflections

So, now that I've read all the articles and watched all the videos, what have I learned?

1)  Online learning is much bigger than I originally thought.  Barbour (2008) says that online education has been around in North America for 20 years.  I did not know that over 1/2 the states already have a virtual state school and most states have at least some form of online education.  Online learning is estimated to be growing at around 35%/year.  Many students are now required to take at least one online class.

2) Online learning is still in a state of development.  Barbour (2009) notes that the documentation for what constitutes effective asynchronous learning is only beginning to come out.  While online learning has been around for 20 years and it has matured quite a bit, it still is not "mainstream" in the regular education community.  It has proven itself in that no one can dispute its value, yet it still maturing.  For one thing, Moore (1989) points out the online community hasn't completely defined its terms for the different type of online learning and the different styles or modes of online learning.   Granted, this was written over twenty years ago, but I am so new to the online community I don't know if these problems have settled down yet.

3) Online learning is the future of education.  With the internet and globalization, online education is the way to reach the millions of people who haven't had access to high quality and costly education before.   I believe that we are just on the cusp of online education's possibilities and it will eventually replace brick and mortar education as the mainstream in educational delivery

4)  As with most learning, the haves are getting the benefits of online learning, the have nots (those who would also be best served from online learning) are not.  Barbour (2009) points out "The majority of the literature may portray K–12 online learners as being primarily highly motivated, self-directed, self-disciplined, independent learners who read and write well, d)and who have a strong interest in or ability with technology."  Clearly, those who don't have access to online learning (those economically or socially disadvantaged) don't have access to these materials.  If good online education were available, I am sure this could help in improving their circumstances.

Here's my Popplet.

Also, since I just found out that we need to have some media input in our blogs each week, here's a picture of a satellite that we track in my classroom (that little thing that looks like a beach ball).  It operates on standard ham radio frequencies and since I have a ham license, I'm authorized to talk to it.  The satellite belongs to my friend, Ivan Galysh.  He works for the Naval Research Laboratories and he built it.  It is testing a new chemical that when a voltage is applied to it, provides thrust for the satellite.  A couple of times a week we send it commands to burn its thrusters, then telescopes in Hawaii and Germany tells us its new spin rate.  From there we can calculate how effective the thrusters are.

What does this have to do with online learning?  Well, you just learned about this online, so...that's the best I can do this week.  :)