Life after international teaching...

[higgsboson]

These are new kinds of human connections and they work for effective teaching irrespective of student preference.
I didn't say it was the end of teaching, I said the end of teaching as we know it is coming to an end because of financial constraints and this new option. It may take decades but it'll happen as quick as the internet happened, you know, once it really starts to snowball.

[jessd82]

I really don't imagine it being widely successful for the entire population. As others have said, student motivation, even amongst the best students, can be very low without the day to day interaction.

I hate online classes, both as a teacher and a student. As a student, having to respond to discussion board topics and answer poorly written multiple choice questions is not my idea of engagement in a topic. The only time I enjoy discussion boards is for topics I have a high interest in, and even then I am rarely moved to respond to the topics at hand.

As a teacher I saw the results of online education: The poorest levels of engagement and the lowest pass rates I have seen anywhere. A recent article I read referred to a study that showed that in my home state online schools students have poorer results than they would have had in their home districts. Teachers in the local schools see the lack of progress made when the students return to their classrooms.

Parents consistently believe their children when the child says they are logging in and doing work, despite the parents ability to check their log in times and gradebooks. They refuse to call the help desk to resolve technical issues, they allow their voicemail to fill and don't respond to teacher or administration tests. Many elementary teachers have not been able to speak to students all year long, either the parent refuses to let the child speak, or they just never call back. I have to believe that a high percentage of those children are being abused.

Even the most unengaged student in a traditional school at least hears some of the content every day. At online school they can go for weeks without opening a classroom and when they do decide to catch up, they are not doing anything meaningful besides rushing through the easiest assignments.

[higgsboson]

Bill Gates disagrees with you jess82. The "growth of high-speed cell networks and a proliferation of affordable devices will largely fuel this" revolution in education. And he is talking about k12 education, not university education. I'd agree with Bill about that. The biggest issue I have teaching online is lag time but that can be fixed with fast internet connections.

As far as motivating students: we need effective online teachers for that. Some characteristics of effective online teachers are the same as traditional teachers but many are not. For example, the discipline part of classroom management is not such a big issue. On the other hand, mastery of content is more important than it seems to be in a traditional setting. Most of my colleagues have graduate degrees. Tech savvy is another characteristic of the effective online teacher that isn't as important with traditional teachers.

It really is besides the point though, what students and parents prefer; its all about cost effectiveness. If I had 9 non-certified teaching assistants willing to work for 1/3 of my pay, and their job was to make the phone calls, we could handle 5,000 students. To handle 5000 students in a traditional setting, you would need 500 teachers. So its the cost of 4 teachers vs. the cost of 500 teachers - I doubt those kinds of savings can be ignored for long.

[shadowjack]

This is the same Bill Gates who said, "Why would anybody need more than 64K of RAM?", right?

And the same Bill Gates who said about a computer mouse, "It's nice, but why would anybody want one."

Also the same Bill Gates who scoffed at the iPod.

So you can quote Bill Gates, but you know, education always has the next best thing. First it was radio. Then it was television. Then it was video/laser discs. Throw in the photo copiers instead of the mimeo machines. Then it was computers. Then the Internet. Then online education.

In another 50 years, teachers will still be teaching in classrooms. The classroom might be different, but students will still come in (maybe not all at once, as in today), the teacher will still teach and interact, and learning will go on. That's my prediction and I have been involved in education a lot longer than Bill Gates has.

[Basmad6]

@shadowjack you are so right. Mr. Gates should step back out of his short time in education based on his push for CC without proper study, testing and planning. Not to mention NO consultation of child development experts. It's a mess. Good intention, terrible implementation.
A decade ago online classes would make in-class university courses obsolete. Well that didn't happen. I do believe online courses are perfect for some learners, but is definitely not for everyone. I'm one of those that just despise taking online courses. I'll do it if that's the only option, but I prefer in person classes and the dynamics you find in that setting.
I have a teacher friend who does teach via online courses, mostly serving home school students, and has enjoyed the program, but also misses the student contact.

[prince15]

Higgsboson,

I definitely agree with the financial benefits of k12. I also recognize that they could learn at their own pace.

However, what about the learning and development of the whole child? As if children in the 21st century weren't fragile enough. What are your thoughts?

[sid]

We can debate all we want, either the end is nigh or it isn't. Our debate will not make it so. Personally I believe that online learning is going to, and already has, make a big difference, but it's not the end of traditional schools. We still need s place to collect the younger children and supervise them while their parents are at work. There is no cost savings, if we look at the entirety of society, in cutting back on teachers at the expense of making parents stay home. And the littlest ones still need person to person interaction. The older ones, it's already been established that only some of them are well served by online learning. For those that are, this has the potential to be a game changer. For those that aren't, maybe this becomes the new culling tool, separating the privileged from the others. Education has always had culling tools... No, I don't approve, but that doesn't mean I can't see it.
I am more concerned about the comments of children and parents not logging in, not responding, potential abusive situations. Surely a teacher's responsibility to report such suspicions remains the same, in the virtual or physical classroom. A child doesn't show up, the parent doesn't respond, the teacher raises the red flag and social services gets involved. Stand up for your children, if you suspect they are at risk. Don't use online learning as an excuse to get out of your responsibilities. And don't counter with "I don't think it's that serious". Either it's serious enough to report, or it's not serious enough for you to make such a public and damning accusation in this forum.

[vincentchase]

Is anyone familiar with online teaching opportunities for non-US citizens?

[shadowjack]

When you ask people in North America about their school experiences, what comes out is school is not just learning. School is socializing to societal norms, it is learning about human relationships and interaction by being in close contact with people. School, is short, has as much to do with sociology as with pedagogy and standardized outcomes.

Thus, school will never go away in a form that brings together large numbers of young people in person. Yes, even 23 years ago I was teaching online courses out of my basement (true story!) and the next year at my school students were doing online courses because of geography and student numbers. But for urban schools? Mom and Dad are NOT going to have their 6 year old sitting at home on a computer. For that matter, Mom and Dad are not going to have their 14 year old sitting at home on a computer! LOL. There will always be exceptions, but for parents (leaving aside the sociological aspects), school provides a daycare service combined with regular reports on their child.

just my 2 halalas,

shad

[PsyGuy]

I have experienced virtual/online school (VS) work well, and I have seen it fail, in every case the outcome was determined by the motivation and learning style of the student.
I do see VS programs growing in regards to core subjects (maths, science, literature, and humanities/social studies). Traditional school and learning environments are not going to go away (the family economic factor), but they will change.