Online Learning - Infinite Benefits of an Infinite Classroom

Online learning is an idea that has been tossed around since the internet first started making its way into our homes, but only recently has it really risen in popularity. This is no surprise, as more and more people are beginning to realize and desire the many benefits associated with online education both in k-12 learning as well as post-secondary education.

As a former home schooled student, I have to say that flexibility can make a massive difference in what a student gets out of his or her education, as well as in what they put into it. By this, I mean not only flexibility in scheduling of lessons, but also in the delivery of those lessons. Many online K-12 schools allow for variability in the pace of their curriculum. This allows fast learners to progress at a speed that will keep them interested and challenged, while slower learners are able to work towards full mastery before being rushed along to more difficult content for which they lack prerequisite knowledge. Furthermore, the many types of content that can be delivered to students via a web-based classroom not only allows for more differentiation than would be practical in a classroom, but also helps make lessons more accessible to students who may have sensory disabilities. The flexible scheduling offered through online learning can also be tremendously beneficial. Students are able to plan their study time around such things as family responsibility, early career planning (in the case of athletes or performers), parents' work schedules to ensure maximum family support, and even uncontrollable factors such as illness. No longer does life hinder learning, but rather, learning enhances life. A great example of the utilization of flexibility in online education is the K12 online curriculum found at www.k12.com.

IN addition to flexibility, online learning environments offer a level of class involvement that could never be found in a classroom. With the availability of chat rooms, VOIP, streaming video, message boards, and interactive graphical user interfaces of all sorts, there should never be a student who doesn't benefit from a class activity because resources ran out, they didn't get called on, or they were too shy to join in. In an online classroom, everyone should be able to try a hand at answering the same questions. Everyone should be able to leave messages in a discussion forum or join in a chat with a study group, the teacher, or the entire class. A shyer student may prefer text discussions, while a more socially confident student may prefer a video conference, but everyone still gets to be a full part of the learning community. All of these tools give instructors a unique opportunity to interact and share information with their students as well, from offering online office hours and one-to-one VOIP sessions when a student needs help to instant feedback on exams and rich content that can engage all of a student's senses with video, audio, text, and interactive activities. No face-to-face classroom can provide all of this to a student.

It is true that online learning might not work for every individual. Some families can't afford internet, or a personal computer for each school-attending child. Some students may not have a stable enough home life (financial difficulties, less-than-supportive parents, etc), and others still may lack the motivation to sit down at their computer now and then, and really need to have learning time forced on them in a setting strictly designed for learning. Still, the statistics do indicate positive outcomes for students who have chosen online learning. A 50th to 59th percentile jump may not be huge, but it is significant nonetheless, and there must be something about online learning, something missing in the classroom, that causes this.