Sunday, March 28, 2010

Online Classes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/26/AR2010032602224.html?sid=ST20100326030212sub=AR
This article is about online classes becoming more popular and maybe even better for the students who take the online courses. Online classes have been proven to work in many states for college course classes and for high school students. Florida has classes online with teachers available to the students from 8 in the morning till 8 at night every day of the week. The schools get paid when the student has a full understanding of the material no matter how long it takes the student to learn the material. Online courses will allow students to learn at their pace and not worry about saying the wrong answer in front of the class. They will also allow the teachers to have one on one time with each student and cater to those students' particular needs in whatever subject. Online classes have been proven to work and are a good idea because the student's individual needs are addressed. Each learning type is able to take online classes because of the availability of the teachers and students don't have to sit and wait for students who don't understand the material to catch up while they sit there bored out of their minds. So is it possible that online classes might take over the traditional school setting?

I think that having online classes can benefit or hurt the student. Depending on how a student learns will have an impact on how the student does in the online class. If the student is self driven then they will have no problem accomplishing the task that the online class throws at them, but if the student is driven by others to do well then that student might not do so well on the projects in the online class. With teachers being available every day of the week for 12 hours will help the student that is driven to do better by that teacher and then can succeed in the online class. Online classes are cheaper and easier for some students. Students that are in TAG or ones that have learning disabilities can learn at their own pace and not get bullied for being smart or for having a disability causing these students to be less self-conscious and care about their school work. Online classes can have both a negative affect and positive affect on a students learning.

Image from iCLIPART for schools