Trends in Distance Learning - Coursework Example

A Report on Distance Learning Table of Contents Introduction 3 Current Trends of Virtual HighSchools 5 Model of Virtual schools 6 Key Issues to address while planning a Virtual Schools 7 Benefits of Virtual High School 9 Role of the Teacher and the Students 10 Recommendations 12 References 13 Bibliography 14 Introduction Knowledge has been the main underlying theme of human evolution. It is through education that one can gain knowledge. Without education it would not have been possible for man to evolve out of the caves and live a civilized life. Thus education has been pivotal in evolution of man kind. Fast forward some 2000 years and a lot have changed dramatically but education has been the constant factor in our lives. However talking about education, the approach to it has definitely changed over time. The traditional way of imparting education was through classrooms and school. With the advent of technology a huge paradigm shift has taken place in education. A new concept of distance education has evolved. Since communication is an important necessity between teacher and student the internet or the media serves as the connecting link between the two in distance education. It’s been now over a century that children have been taking distance education. So far a few thousands of students have been taking online education in the United States. This is a small fraction of the 50 million students only, but however the good news is that this number seems to grow rapidly (Cavanaugh VII). Vincent long ago suggested that, “The day is coming when the work done by correspondence will be greater in amount than that done in the classrooms of our academics and colleges; when the students who shall recite by correspondence will far outnumber those who make oral recitations” (Nasseh, “A Brief History of Distance Education”). The term ‘Virtual High School’ is used for educational institute that offers K-12 courses through internet or web. The concept of virtual school has come up to the surface after the saturation of e-learning in higher education. Thus virtual high schools have been growing constantly some controversies surrounding it. It has been estimated that in between 1996 to 2002 in North America alone there are around a dozen odd virtual high schools, run by the state. At least six more state has education consortia that offer distance education. These numbers seem to increase rapidly. Current Trends of Virtual High Schools Across US there are an estimated 14 states that have state-sanctioned or state-level virtual schools in its planning or operational phase. Other types include the university based virtual school, private based virtual schools, virtual charter school, virtual school consortia or the virtual schools run by schools or districts are also in existence. According to a survey there are approximately 40000-50000 students enrolling in virtual K-12 schools. Some of the virtual high schools have included the video based distance learning whereas some send CDs or DVDs for sending their course material to the students. For developing their course curriculum some depend upon external vendors whereas some has their own proprietary system. A majority of the teaching staff are recruited from the permanent K-12 teaching staff on contract basis whereas the rest are permanent staff teaching in the virtual schools only. Many companies like Apex Learning, Class.com, Blackboard and eCollege have played an important role in devolving the virtual high schools. Some provided with starter courses whereas some with a platform for delivering distance education. Software companies like Macromedia also has supported these school by providing web software for designing there courses (Clark, “A Study of Virtual Schools in the United States”). Model of Virtual schools The best design based research model so far developed is the VHS model. It incorporates all the aspects of the distant learning and classroom education. The term distributed learning is the experience felt during a face to face interaction with synchronous and asynchronous media. It aims at distributing knowledge across a wider geographical base using various interactive media. It has been found out that asynchronous environment of learning greatly affects the participation and cognitive behavior of an individual. Whereas a synchronous media help the students to know their classmates better. These finding have great implications for developing the structure of a distance education system or of a traditional classroom. Inclusions of more synchronous media in the VHS model would make it more effective in addressing various problems of distance learning. This indicates that distance learning has not reached its potential and there is a lot of room for improvement. Over the next decade there would be three kinds of interface for interaction. The first interface would be to get the world to the desktop. Second being the access of internet anywhere through wireless. Third would be the virtual reality of the computer world. Thus models like this would help to pave a new innovative road to success for education. Key Issues to address while planning a Virtual Schools Funding is an important aspect of all virtual schools. A specific funding mechanism has to support the initial phase of the schools. The sources of the funds should be reliable and sustainable. Most of them get their funds through tuitions, although it is not a very big source schools not part of a regular K-12 education has to rely on it. For public backed schools they can rely on state, federal or district funds. Virtual schools led by consortia uses a barter system. Here a student’s enrollment is exchanged for a teacher led course and the cost is shared by the members. If funding is not properly arranged, then virtual schools might face shut down. The cost effectiveness of a school should also be monitored for sustainability. Technology is backbone of virtual schools. A majority of the virtual schools uses the web and the internet for serving the students educational needs. Thus the technological infrastructure that is the hardware, software and connectivity that supports the virtual school should integrate smoothly for its efficient running. Also the students targeted should have the desired skills and knowledge to effectively communicate with the schools. User friendly interface transparency and the use of effective communication method is the key towards the success of a virtual school (Clark & Berge. “Virtual Schools and eLearning”). Service is an important aspect of any business. Schools should have adequate number of teachers to serve the enrolled students. The schools should be adequately equipped to provide the highest standard of services to the students so that they are successful. Services like virtual library, virtual support or counseling are beneficial for the students. Thus alliances should be formed having distinctive role and responsibility to serve the students better. Marketing and public relations should be developed for reaching the students and their parents and making them aware of the credibility of the schools and the value that they can impart. It should be used as an effective tool for advertizing their synergies and also clearing the myths that people might have about virtual schools. The schools should have a well defined policies and administrative guidelines. There should be proper coordination among the internal units and the partners involved in the operation of the virtual school. Lessons should be taken from the existing schools while formulating the policies and it should remain flexible to adapt to kind of changes in the environment. Benefits of Virtual High School There are a number of benefits that the Virtual high school can offer. It would prepare the students of the 21st century to be sound in interactive media and since the world is progressing towards modernization it would help the beneficiaries to be well versed with technology. It would help the students of U.S become competitive at a global economic arena. Using the internet as a medium for education improves the cognitive skills of an individual and develops their analytical skills. Apart from preparing the students competitively it has an added benefit of students and teachers having access to each other that they otherwise would not have due to geographical barriers. This is the best part of virtual schools that it takes out the geographical factors out of the equation. Through the internet the students can interact with scholars, scientist, researchers, politicians or businessman living in any part of the world which they otherwise couldn’t. They can have access to thousands of documents, libraries, journals and research articles too. With the advent of virtual schools students can have access to a wider base of courses that may not be available to them in their surrounding areas. Students living in rural areas or the disabled who does not have the privilege to attend regular classrooms can have access to education through virtual schools. Adults or prisoners who could not complete their schools due to time constraints can avail the benefits of virtual schools. Section of the people who because of their race, gender or due to any reasons not comfortable attending classes can sit at the homes and complete their education. Reducing the administrative overhead provides a cheaper medium of education also (Zucker & Kozma, 3 & 4). Role of the Teacher and the Students The virtual high schools have revolutionized the concept of education system. Access to education no more has any barriers or restrictions. The role of the teachers and student is no more same as in the traditional classes. In virtual high school the role of teachers can be taken up any body, be it a professor, businessman, politician who can teach at their own convenient time. The age of the student is also of no bar. In the traditional system students had to be of a specified age to able to attend schools, whereas in virtual high school adults who couldn’t pursue their studies due to time constraints can complete their education. Since the student and the teacher are not face to face their communication is improved as they interact through a medium. People from different cultural back ground can come together to share their views and ideas. In traditional system of education the students do not have the freedom to attend classes at their own will. The teachers at time get exhausted by giving continuous lecture which might affect their quality of delivery, but in virtual school they have the liberty and it is not tiring for them. Retired lecturers and teachers can also teach through online. The relation between he teacher and the students can be a relaxed and not very formal. In all the Virtual high schools have showed another approach of education which is different from the rigid traditional system with no hierarchy and the organization structure is simple. If a comparison is to be drawn between the online classes and the traditional classes they would widely differ. One of the main differences is that of the relationship between the teacher and the students. In traditional classes a bond develops between the teacher and the students as there is a face to face interaction, which will lack in a distance education. So the teacher can at time pay special attention to students who make lag behind, but in case of distance education the bonding may lack as the two hardly knows each other. The response time of the students are also increased as they get more time to respond in a distance education. This would improve the quality of the answer that the students give as they get enough time to build there answer and then give it. At time distance education can be monotonous and boring too as because the students do not get to interact between each other. Students also lack the classroom environment where they can socialize and make new friends. Recommendations After weighing the pros and cons of the VHS, I would definitely suggest the district school to move forward with the Virtual High School planning. Since online education has been a boon to the education system the schools can also reap the benefits of it through the internet which reduces cost and increases the efficiency of the system. With the inclusion of online distance education the schools can cater to larger market of students which is definitely a good proposal from a business point of view. One should remember that According to the VHS model Virtual High School has still not reached its potential and has a lot of scope of improvement. References Cavanaugh, Catherine. Development and Management of Virtual School, Hershey: Information Science Publishing., 2003. Clark, Tom. “A Study of Virtual Schools in the United States.” Virtual Schools: Trend and Issues. 03 July 2009. Western Illinois University. 2001 Clark, Tom & Berge, Zane. “Virtual Schools and eLearning.” 19th Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning. 3 July 2009. University of Maryland Baltimore County. No Date. Nasseh, Bizhan. “A Brief History of Distance Education.” 3 July 2009. Ball State University. 1997. Zucker, Andrew & Kozma, Robert. The Virtual High School Teaching Generation V. New York: Teachers College Press., 2003. Bibliography Clark, Tom. The name assigned to the document by the author. This field may also contain sub-titles, series names, and report numbers.“A Study of Virtual Schools in the United States.” Virtual Schools: Trends and Issues. 3 July 2009. Education Resources Information Center. 2001. Read More