The Clark study surprised me right from the get-go. When I saw the 2001 date next to the author's name I was shocked. I thought to myself, I was in 8th grade/9th grade in 2001, I do not remember anything about online or virtual schooling. Honestly, PowerPoint was still pretty "cool" back then. The 40-50 thousand students participating in virtual school then seemed super high to me. My mind was blown to read that there were virtual schools/programs back before 1995.
The amount of growth these programs are seeing is really remarkable. It really tells you how fast our field is changing. In just the three years I've been teaching, I've found that education has already changed quite a bit. I can't even imagine what our field will look like in 10 years.
I felt that my original post was pretty accurate. I know I have a lot to learn on virtual schools and the current programs that are available.
I graduated high school in 2001 and did not have any experience with technology other than PowerPoint and Microsoft Word. It's unbelievable how things change so quickly. I truly believe that the way in which I teach my classroom will be considered "obsolete" in 10 years. I do incorporate a lot of technology but not to the extend of a true online/virtual classroom.
ReplyDeleteHi Juliana, I graduated in 2005 and had a similar experience to you. I remember making PowerPoints and thinking, "Wow! Look at the star fly in!" Thinking the animations were really cool. Now, about ten years later we joke around about "Death by PowerPoint." Your statement about things we're using now will probably be obsolete in 10 years is absolutely true! I can't even imagine what we will be using to teach with.
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ReplyDeleteI didn't realize that Michigan was the first to require online competency for high school diplomas. But that's great, it seems to have set a trend and now it's required everywhere. I'm not sure how I would have did doing online learning in high school. I think it would have been beneficial because I was so shy and socially awkward that it affected my schoolwork. It would have been good to have online learning as an option. I think it's an good option for people for many different reasons.
I was also very surprised to find out that Michigan was the first state to make online learning a graduation requirement. This requirement makes a lot of sense, I think it really prepares students for being self-motivated learners when entering college.
ReplyDeleteTracie and Erika, I'm sure there are plenty of other Michigan firsts we don't know about in regards to education. Hopefully, now that we've had this requirement for a while now, we can really create awesome online courses.
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