With public school systems across America hurting for cash, several states are considering extreme cost cutting measures. One of the most controversial possibilities is the potential of putting children in virtual classrooms. There’s little research into how online classes work for K-12 students, or whether they will work at all, but Florida and Utah are already in the process of pushing through mandatory switches to online only courses for some high schools.
Naturally, teachers and parents are skeptical. Available online courses vary greatly in the amount of student teacher interaction required – some are little more than computerized workbooks that provide little or no help for students struggling to learn the material. Like regular classrooms, what little study there is on the effectiveness of these courses suggests that small student to teacher ratios are key. Teachers trying to supervise learning from afar need as much time, if not more, per student to be effective as teachers working in the classroom according to those who’ve taught this way in the past. Of course, bringing in more teachers to work with kids in digital classroom defeats the cost cutting benefits of online course work.
Online courses, not surprisingly, seem to be most effective for highly motivated, high performing students who enjoy the chance to work at their own pace. For kids who need more help and encouragement, computerized learning is much harder to cope with.
None of this takes into account the numerous studies that suggest too much screen time is bad for developing brains, which makes the idea of planting kids in front of computer screens instead of teachers sound even less encouraging. What do you think? Would your kids thrive in a digital classroom?
