The Changing Face Of Educating K-12 Students – Online Courses

Over the years we have had to adapt the way we educate our children. Some of the reasons for this is technology has changed, types of jobs available to the graduating students, and the increasing amount of children entering the school system. Certainly we have all heard and read stories about the aging population of our teachers. The truth is that fewer people are becoming school teachers. Those that do complete a degree in teaching tend to last five years or less in the field. Due to this, our schools have had to come up with other ways of teaching students.

The most recent ideas for teaching students in K-12 has been the use of online classes. According to recent reports dealing with online courses for K-12 students, more then a million children in public schools are taking some type of online classes. Approximately 75% of those districts participating in online courses have one or more students enrolled in a fully online course. These course can be anything from summer school classes to advanced courses, to college credit courses.

Three years ago, the high school I was teaching at had just begun to use online courses. The did have a distant learning course in which the teacher was in our school district but at another school. This course was an advanced course and only a handful of students from our school were enrolled in it.

The district I worked in, recently switched to online summer courses. Students usually work at their own pace, can take the course both at home and in a classroom. Usually, they had at least someone who was qualified in the field of education to assist any student who had questions.

The pros on these courses would be that the student is able to work at their own pace and could possibly complete the course quicker then anticipated. The con would be that this student might get lost in the material presented, not have questions answered appropriately or could easily cheat by allowing someone else to do the work. Online courses can be a wonderful resource, but they still require supervision.

Many courses require hands-on and direct instruction in order for students to grasp what they are learning. Yes, many people are capable of learning with little to no direct instruction. But, at the same time, many others require that individual one-on-one type of instruction or demonstration. Part of the learning process is the interaction with others. I personally enjoy working with others on projects and learning new material. I find the input from others, their prospective on the subject and just knowing that maybe I’m not the only one who doesn’t understand how something was presented a help.

If your child is involved in an online course in their school, ask questions of his/her teachers. Find out how they learn with this course. Is there interaction within the classroom? Do students get to ask questions of someone knowledgeable when they don’t understand.? Does the teacher interact with the program? How exactly is the program presented?

It is important to understand how your child learns. If your child is the type of kid who does well with hands-on learning, then an online course might not be right for them. If your child can read a book and answer questions without too much help, then maybe they can handle an online course. Personal preference is the key. Not everyone will do well with online instruction. Be sure that your child can handle the subject before allowing them to sign up for an online course.

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