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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2008 > February > 03
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Reading, writing, arithmetic and electronics?
I’m not sure if everyone has noticed this, but in case you missed it, the New York Times pointed out last week that online learning is making a huge impact on education today.
It’s not unanimous that this is a good idea. There is a lot of hand wringing about whether the quality of online instruction can possibly match that of a live teacher.
Let’s cut to the chase on that question. The answer is no. In nearly every case a teacher in front of you will help you learn better than a software program or a teacher on the other end of a fiber optic line. And, of course, there are many sketchy online “schools” out there who just want to get inside your wallet.
But that doesn’t mean online learning doesn’t have a place. For some students and for some courses, distance learning — whether today’s online class or yesterday’s mail correspondence course — works just fine.
The Times story put me in mind of Gene Maeroff’s 2003 book A Classroom of One, which was a bit ahead of its time. Maeroff revisited the early 20th century when there was a raging argument about the quality of mail correspondence distance learning classes, originally launched by Penn State University to serve the many small farming communities across its state.
My favorite anecdote in the book retells how Ben & Jerry — yes THAT Ben & Jerry — learned how to make ice cream through a Penn State mail correspondence course.
What do you think of the online learning trend? Is it mostly a good thing or a bad thing for student learning in the U.S.?
(Image credit: www.masternewmedia.org)
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