Week 14: Distance Education and Virtual Schooling

This week we looked at distance eduction and virtual schooling, as in online schools and classes.  This is yet another way that technology has been changing education.  Having all of our classes online is now a possibility.  There are even online colleges where a person can receive a degree without ever stepping foot in a classroom.  This is certainly due to the new technological resources.  As noted in class, there are a lot of benefits to online education, students can, in a way, be their own teachers and follow their own pace.  Nonetheless, I think that it is important to limit entire online education, because communicating and socializing with other students is limited.  Also, we looked at how gaming has an effect on education.  Some of the websites that are posted for this week are extremely helpful to students and teachers.  For example, Star Fall has a word hunt which students can use to practice words and spelling.  Another site, Planet Buster, lets students do math problems.  All of these are beneficial to students.  They also use technology, the computer and the internet, which is becoming more and more popular in classrooms and something that just about all students are familiar with.

I think that using technology and websites, especially the ones that are presented in this class, is a great way to engage students.  I think that they can easily mix education and fun.  A lot of students can be impatient when they need to use a paper and pencil to do work, so being able to go on the computer to complete assignments would certainly be more fun.  Also, I think that a lot of students will go on the computer and will play games anyway, so we might as well provide them with educational activities and games.  As a teacher, I will definitely look up websites that students can use to help them with classwork and homework.  I think that by the time I become a teacher, technology will be even more advanced, therefore, I need to prepare for this fact.

This video discusses virtual schooling.  The video recognizes some of the benefits of virtual schools by looking at a young student who is able to pursue here athletics as well as her academics. Virtual schooling helps her stay on track with education as well as providing her with the time to practice tennis and travel for tournaments.  This certain virtual school is free and provides books and computers for students to use.  The parents also see the benefits and entirely agree to this type of schooling.  This video is good at showing some of the benefits that students experience because of online schooling.