Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Teaching Online Schools

In one of my other classes we were discussing the topic of online schools. During this discussion we talked about whether or not we would want to teach at an online school and whether or not we feel that students receive the same quality of education. We even took a survey and asked the people in the class who had previously taken on-line classes what they thought about on-line vs. in-person classes. Everyone agreed that they do not feel as though they got as much out of online classes as they did with in-person classes. It was a very interesting discussion, but I thought this was an idea to think about. Would you ever want to teach at on-line school? Personally, I do not think I would want to teach an on-line class. In an online classroom, you would never see your students and thus I feel that it would be a lot harder to make connections with students. However, it would probably be a lot more convenient because you would not have to physically leave your house and go to school. J u s t s o m e t h i n g t o t h i n k a b o u t . . .

4 comments:

  1. I think this is really interesting and definitely something to think about. Although I never thought about teaching for an on-line school, I agree that I wouldn't wanna teach for one either. All my friends that have had on-line classes barely know the teacher's name, let alone bother to create any connection through the work they do. Other than not seeing the kids I don't think it would be near as fulfilling.

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  2. I also found your post interesting! As much as online education is valuable and needed, I do not think that I would enjoy being an online teacher. The main reason I want to be a teacher is to get to know my students. I have taken online classes, and like Hannah said, I barely knew my teachers' names. This is an interesting topic to discuss!

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  3. While I would not want to teach online full-time, I wouldn't mind teaching a class here or there. One of the problems I have found in my research of online programs is that the student is truly isolated. Not to toot my own horn, but I was very helpful in the development of Pitt's Online MEd. programs in Education while I was a grad assistant. We strove to have classes in which students had to facilitate discussion, and they had to complete a module a week, as opposed to taking a self-paced course.

    The students seemed to do ok and they even got to know each other a bit. I don't know if this format would work at the high school level, but I truly think that if one teaches online they have to encourage dialogue between students to avoid that isolation.

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  4. Online schools is a great concept. This gives you an opportunity to enter the technology filled education area and it has upper hand to acquire up to date knowledge in our own convenience.


    Online Schools

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