This week is also National Wormhole Week. The Wormfest blog hop is hosted by Stephen Tremp, Alex J. Cavanaugh and L. Diane Wolfe. This years science theme challenge is to name one technological advance that you believe will greatly benefit mankind and also one that might set humanity back. Find the full list of participants on any of their blogs.
I didn't even have to think about this one as a former educator. Each year more and more educational opportunities become available online. It's wonderful. Probably most of you attended a traditional school like I did. We had a choice of three foreign languages at my old high school. Today I would have hundreds of choices. Your little school doesn't offer a certain science class, go online and find it. Attend college online. My son has done all his master's work online. It's convenient, saves money and seems of infinite possibilities. The advantages to online education are too numerous for a short post.
Many, maybe even most high schools, already offer some courses online or an entire cyper curriculum for their students. Some have hybrid learning courses where they meet with an instructor some classroom meetings but most learning is with their computers. For the properly motivated eager learner, these type of learning environments can be great. But the unmotivated student often needs the presence of an actual teacher to offer encouragement and guidance. Not all students will have equal access to all the educational options no matter how much we vow to make that happen. Could the future of educational as an online entity create a gap between the best and brightest and even the average student? Will the important social skills learned in schools become a thing of the past? How far will technology go in limiting personal interaction?
I think we're already within the educational wormhole. Good or bad? What do you think?
I hope you'll share your wormhole thoughts this week. Remember to visit Stephen Tremp and follow his blog tour and the Wormfest. Also visit L. Diane and Alex J.
26 comments:
My 16 year old has just started with correspondence school, so she has access to her classes on-line. She has real teachers, if she wants to contact them. I think it's great.
Susan I love your post! I can totally see this happen. Kids in third world countries could receive a quality education this way.
Social skills lost - good point! Although the kids are already busy texting rather than talking.
Thanks for participating in the blogfest.
Way easier and cheaper too, so the way to go I say.
It would be sad to lose social skills through having too many on-line lessons. I think we are beginning to lose sight of what we need for our social well-being.
I think anytime you have more choices in life, the better. Then life really is like a box of chocolates!
Definitely food for though. Intriguing post.
That's a tough one. More choice has to equal more opportunities. I remember looking at the courses my niece could do for A'levels and was instantly jealous. At the same time, I agree online learning can be a disadvantage to the less motivated individuals or those who need that one to one teaching. On top of that, there are those who can't spend hours staring at computers screens due to migraines and other conditions. I guess such advances are good, but not for everybody.
Some kids won't have access to the Internet, which will limit who can take advantage of that. Working on their own will require some self-starters. Or really tough parents.
I'm glad my children went to traditional school and still have the newest opportunities in college. What will educational look like in five years, ten years, twenty years.
Access to information for any with the right tools is a great thing. I like having a library at my fingertips, but I wonder at the damage being done in how we communicate. Faster and faster, speed only encourages more speed and brevity.
We won't have time to muse. . .
Online learning is great if accompanied by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable teacher to help guide students and provide feedback. As D.G. said, moving too fast can be a drawback.
Great choice!! My daughter completed her double degree at a physical university but has since added in several extra diploma courses and additional qualifications online - it's been awesome!
The educational possibilities offered by the internet are limitless. The main thing we may have to teach present and future generations is motivation. My wife and others who are teachers tell me that now a lot of kids just don't care about much. That's sad considering all of the opportunities they have.
Lee
Wrote By Rote
An A to Z Co-host blog
I can already see the results of this -people walking focused only their phone or tablet, accidents, people forget how to talk nicely to one another...The list goes on, but while I don't have a cell phone, I couldn't do without my computer and the internet.
Great post and points! I do think it's great for kids to have access to online schooling (and I finished my Associate's degree online once I had my son), but I do feel people are pulling away more and more to be online. Given, I see no shortage of people out and about when I go out, so are the people who spend more time online than interacting face to face the same ones who would be hermits in their homes, anyway?
The Warrior Muse
Yay for Stephen! I think the opportunities are great. I got one of my diplomas online. But I think people are already losing so many social skills. I do wonder what my son's generation will be like. Everyone interacting with only online avatars of themselves?
There are so many exciting ways to promote science today. Only wish they'd had the foresight to do this stuff when I was a kid. Great post, Susan. Way to go, Stephen!
Online learning is a great supplement. But going away to school and learning how to manage your schedule, meeting new people, taking advantage of a new environment, those are important skills to learn too. I hope online education never totally replaces the personal learning experience. Great choice of topic!
Every technology opens and closes doors, as you have so eloquently pointed out. It is my biggest fear that we lose all ability to effectively communicate with one another. That we become a society attached to our computers or IPhones and texting becomes the most common form of communication.
One of the best parts of being a student is learning social skills. One of the hardest parts of being a student is dealing with other people. However, this is its own classroom. It is where we learn how to deal with others. Take that away... and we never learn it.
We've been homeschooling because the public school system didn't work for my oldest, and I've been so grateful for the jump to online schools. My 13 year old is in AP courses and senior level classes, and he can take whatever interests him most! He'll be graduating next year and then have his bachelors by the age of 18 if all goes well. I'm thinking there really is something to this online learning--so long as kids are engaged on a face to face level at some point.
Great post Susan!
Online learning presents sooo many opportunities for kids... but what will it be at the expense of? Social skills? Something has to suffer in the process. There's always the flip side of the coin...
I'm another who has done a number of on-line university courses even after doing my masters in a traditional way. It was a great way to update bits of science that had moved on or things I'd had to miss along the way. I finally got to study oceanography!
However the education system also moves on and I found later courses placed a lot of emphasis on group work and interaction with fellow students online. After a while I gave up - why was I taking so much of my study time (paying so much money) to guide other students through the instructions on how to use the forum?
There are pros and cons to online education - but it certainly widens access.
Thanks for a really thoughtful post! (and good luck with the #atozchallenge)
Great point. I often wonder this as well. And I predict home based web schools a total thing of the future.
Online classes are great. I've taken a couple myself. But they do lack the social component of face-to-face instruction. also online instruction does not cater to as wide a range of learning styles and needs, so it is really an advantage for those predisposed to benefit from it, and not such a good thing for those who have trouble using it, or who lack access.
Hope I'm better late than never here...
I agree with your concerns. Having unlimited options in pursuit of knowledge is great, but kids need intereaction. People are forgeting how to be people. We're slowly turning into drones.
Great Post!
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