Szep, J. (2008). Techonology Reshapes America's Classrooms. Reuters. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2547885520080707
Article Summary:
This article describes how school as we know it is changing in the current age of technology. One state-funded school in Boston has 650 students that each receive a laptop at the beginning of each day and check it back in at the end of the school day. All the classwork is done on free applications such as Google Inc's Google Docs or Apple's iMovie. All textbooks are online and there are many programs that make learning fun such as the software FASTT Math, which is a collection of math games and lessons. Teachers and students both maintain blogs and communication between parents and staff is through instant messaging. Discipline issues have dropped, attendance levels have increased. The students are able to work in a differentiated environment all in the same classroom.
There are quite a few online schools that are gaining in popularity among students too. Rather than go to a school building, students are opting to login from home. Online enrollment in the U.S. has reached the 1 million mark already. K12 Inc, based in Virginia, offers online classes in 17 U.S. states. They project that by 2019, 50 percent of high school courses will be taught online. Online schools are funded the same as brick and mortar schools, but they don't always get capital dollars or bond issue dollars, so they typically receive about 70 percent of the per student spending that an average school receives.
Apex Learning Inc is based in Bellevue, Washington. They are also seeing a similar surge in demand. Enrollment rose 50 percent to 300,000 students in the 2006-2007 school year and likely the following year as well. The biggest enrollment that they are seeing is actually in a regular high school setting that is offering these online courses to kids that are not succeeding in the existing programs.
These online programs are expected to boost achievement and increase the two-thirds high shcool graduation rate.
My Thoughts:
I have mixed feelings about online schools. I have many unmotivated students that aren't successful in a normal high school setting that drop out and enroll in online programs. Often, these students re-enroll in our high school within months of leaving because they weren't motivated to do their coursework in the self-paced environment. Some students do succeed though. These programs are useful for students who are behind in credits. We offer a couple of Apex classes that are created to help students catch up in classes that they failed in previous years. The students still come to the school building and attend a class led by a teacher, but the class is held in the computer lab and students work online at their own pace. One social studies class that was offered last year had only 10 students enrolled and attendance was poor so the class was not offered this year. I think that these classes can be beneficial to teens that have children in high school or that don't do well in the structured schedule of a normal school day. Enrollment is on the rise, but I also see a lot of students try it and fail to succeed. I do like the idea of the Boston school where students are motivated by the use of technology and the parents and teachers are communicative and support each other.
Article Summary:
This article describes how school as we know it is changing in the current age of technology. One state-funded school in Boston has 650 students that each receive a laptop at the beginning of each day and check it back in at the end of the school day. All the classwork is done on free applications such as Google Inc's Google Docs or Apple's iMovie. All textbooks are online and there are many programs that make learning fun such as the software FASTT Math, which is a collection of math games and lessons. Teachers and students both maintain blogs and communication between parents and staff is through instant messaging. Discipline issues have dropped, attendance levels have increased. The students are able to work in a differentiated environment all in the same classroom.
There are quite a few online schools that are gaining in popularity among students too. Rather than go to a school building, students are opting to login from home. Online enrollment in the U.S. has reached the 1 million mark already. K12 Inc, based in Virginia, offers online classes in 17 U.S. states. They project that by 2019, 50 percent of high school courses will be taught online. Online schools are funded the same as brick and mortar schools, but they don't always get capital dollars or bond issue dollars, so they typically receive about 70 percent of the per student spending that an average school receives.
Apex Learning Inc is based in Bellevue, Washington. They are also seeing a similar surge in demand. Enrollment rose 50 percent to 300,000 students in the 2006-2007 school year and likely the following year as well. The biggest enrollment that they are seeing is actually in a regular high school setting that is offering these online courses to kids that are not succeeding in the existing programs.
These online programs are expected to boost achievement and increase the two-thirds high shcool graduation rate.
My Thoughts:
I have mixed feelings about online schools. I have many unmotivated students that aren't successful in a normal high school setting that drop out and enroll in online programs. Often, these students re-enroll in our high school within months of leaving because they weren't motivated to do their coursework in the self-paced environment. Some students do succeed though. These programs are useful for students who are behind in credits. We offer a couple of Apex classes that are created to help students catch up in classes that they failed in previous years. The students still come to the school building and attend a class led by a teacher, but the class is held in the computer lab and students work online at their own pace. One social studies class that was offered last year had only 10 students enrolled and attendance was poor so the class was not offered this year. I think that these classes can be beneficial to teens that have children in high school or that don't do well in the structured schedule of a normal school day. Enrollment is on the rise, but I also see a lot of students try it and fail to succeed. I do like the idea of the Boston school where students are motivated by the use of technology and the parents and teachers are communicative and support each other.
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