How has your thinking about online schools and online schooling changed since the first week?
As interested as I am in online schooling as a concept, I was skeptical at how well it would work, which is ironic since I plan to earn the majority of my master’s degree taking online classes. Three weeks ago, I didn’t have any knowledge of online classes that were taken within a school setting, which seems to be the most sensible way to utilize them. Allow students in rural schools or schools with limited access the plethora of options that any well-funded or well-endowed district or classroom enjoys. This is a foray into egalitarian education, and for this reason, I can appreciate it.
As with any district, school, or program, however, online schools/programs can be wildly divergent. This is more obvious when delving into their differences because “choice” in today’s educational world becomes more of a talking point and a program’s distinguishing characteristics more prevalent. When I went to school, it was the public school or nothing. I didn’t even know private schools existed, truly, until I was in high school. Now that I teach in a private school and I see yet another option available to families, I am both reassured by the choices and puzzled by them.
Ultimately, I am conflicted. My choices in the schools I researched here in my home state of Colorado left a lot to be desired, in terms of both organization and responsiveness (particularly this week’s Insight School of Colorado). Part of my response chalked it up to the idea that, “It’s a chain. They see prospective enrollees as consumers rather than students.” However, I have to admit that vignettes/youtube videos of current and former students left me both encouraged and refreshed. In a national educational environment where it seems as if more and more students are left behind, it’s promising to find innovative options available to capture some of them.
The jury’s still out, however. My opinions from minute to minute are capricious, at best. I don’t recall feeling this fickle about a big idea in education in a long while. In some ways, I feel even-handed and sensible when trying to accommodate new information. In other ways, I feel muddled. I think I’m getting old.
I doubt this helps, but I have been working in this area for several years and I am still conflicted! I think it's both the model and the implementation that matter and that is SO variable. And I think that, as in f2fs schools, it may often come down to the teacher.
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