|
Leadership & Technology The Online Trend
Edutopia, the Lucas Foundation’s magazine, listed ten trends or predictions for public education in the years to come. One caught my eye. “In March 2006, Michigan took a giant step forward in the world of online learning. As a key component of its new high school curriculum, the state required that all public school students complete an online course before graduating. It was a bold move, signaling for the first time a state's belief in the intrinsic value of online education. "If Michigan is going to achieve economic growth, we must give all students the tools they need to succeed in college and the workplace," Governor Jennifer M. Granholm declared shortly after the state legislature approved the new requirement. And with the stroke of her pen, every high school student in the state must now take all or part of at least one course online.” The full text of all the predictions may be accessed at http://edutopia.org/node/4682/print . What struck me with Michigan’s bold stroke was that it was not done for school district convenience nor as an answer to some sort of scheduling snafu. The Michigan educators realized that online learning is already the predominant mode of training and retraining in business. If Michigan children are going to take their rightful place on the world stage in the future they will need to feel comfortable with continuous lifelong learning conducted in a virtual classroom. More and more colleges are using this approach. The largest university in the United States in terms of number of students has no campus. Phoenix University conducts all coursework online. Time no longer becomes the constant when learning can be 24/7. What lessons does this have for LI’s public schools? Perhaps we need to experiment with on-line classrooms. More and more teachers are using blogs to enhance their interaction with students. I fear too many administrators look upon on-line work as too easy and void of standards but it need not be so. There are many sound programs out there that can add much to our secondary curriculum. Doubters should investigate what is offered through Stanford University’s on line high school at http://epgy.stanford.edu/research/index.html. There is significant research on the quality and rigor of these courses. The depth and breadth of the program is remarkable.
Michael Keany Note: Western Suffolk BOCES can assist districts with training to integrate technology into the learning process (contact Debbie Kennedy at dkennedy@wsboces.org)
|
|