Predicting what will happen in the future is very hard to do. We do not know what can happen later today, so how will we know something in two years or more? I do predict that we will have more online learning and of course less teachers. I do not want to say there will be no more traditional face to face schooling because that takes away a lot of things student's and children can learn. If that is taken away, students will become more sheltered, have less respect, and become dumbfounded to a lot more real life situations.
It's not only about the school but how the students learn to handle real life situations and the outside world. Being able to start school at the age of three is a good experience for me and I hope they continue to have that. I rather have online education start throughout high school and make it a choice. A con about online learning is being able to meet people across the world and not only in your city. You are able to make different friends but only online of course. Pricing maybe a lot for a districts and too much for students or their families. Who know's what will happen? I hope they take a lot of things in consideration when deciding about education in ten years or more. This class has prepared me to think about the future and what there is to come. We shall see!!!
I think the cost of online education will continue to get cheaper, especially since so many costs are eliminated (often 30% of a schools operating budget is facilty costs, including Internet at school). For children that do not have strong homes and look at school as a haven I worry that the online movement may impact them in a different way. Society influences education, and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteA few us us have mentioned about traditional schools perhaps disappearing or undergoing radical change in the future. I don't think 100% online learning will be in America's best interests. To stay competitive and keep jobs in America, we will still need a very large workforce skilled in trades and many other categories of employment. Though virtual chemistry labs are great, I'm not going to trust a virtual chemist on his first try with physical in the lab titration on an important medical test I'm having. What's missing online is hands on training manipulating physical objects. Who is going to learn how to fix cars? Where will that new sculpture in the city park come from? These are all things kids get exposed to in a traditional school. If kids are still going to be exposed to these things in a 100% online education environment, our model and structure of learning and community will undergo significant changes.
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