Virtual Classrooms!

Greenway, R. and G. Vanourek (2006). The Virtual Revolution: Understanding Online Schools, Education Next, 6(2): 1-8.

Unit Eight: Distributed Learning

Summary
Touted to be the most radical change in American Education in the last century, virtual classrooms and schools have begun to grow exponentially in popularity since the new millennium. What are they? Best described as a hybrid between public, charter and home schools, with aspects of tutoring and independent study sprinkled in, along with the key component, technology and the Internet, virtual schools are really more like a regular school that you might initially suspect, but without the building and infrastructures—oh yeah, and the extracurricular activities, the social aspect, the cafeteria, etc. Virtual classrooms rely on individualized, interactive and self-paced instruction, but receive significantly less funding than “traditional” (a.k.a. physical) schools… and of course, they have no snow days!

So who do these virtual schools serve? Students with severe medical problems (a.k.a. diabetes, mononucleosis, etc.), extreme athletes, child actors, and any other student who simply cannot remain in school during regular school hours are best served by these virtual schools. Unfortunately, these schools are not equipped to serve students with disabilities, visual impairments and of course, students who have English language deficiencies. And while the benefits seem clear, there are definite drawbacks; many virtual school teachers lack proper training to adjust teaching styles to an Internet-based classroom, not to mention the severe social deficits.

Research lacks greatly on virtual schools. These authors suggest more needs to be studied regarding what types of virtual schools work, under which conditions they succeed, with what types of students, with which teachers and with what formal training. Regardless, it comes down to the fact that many of these virtual schools are run by people who don’t have a good understanding of how these schools operate.

Reaction
Clearly, virtual schools are still in their infant years. Simply looking back at the history of public schools reminds us of how long it takes to make a school system function, let alone function smoothly. What makes some virtual schools successful are many of the same things that make regular schools successful—individualized instruction, meeting the needs of diverse students and a focus on challenging and thought-provoking assignments. My question is how much is lost in these virtual classrooms? Research shows that kids only take away 10% of the intended curriculum. The other 90% are friendships, lessons about power and communication, inner-personal/self discovery, etc. In other words, a large portion of schooling relies on socialization and peer/teacher interactions. How can virtual schools supplement and account for this loss? They simply can’t. Perhaps the message is more about what we need to do to pay attention to in all schools, which is a focus on integrating technological advances into the classroom to facilitate student learning. I think teachers needn’t worry… virtual classrooms won’t replace actual teachers, real schools and classrooms any time soon.