It was great to review a virtual school (Alabama ACCESS) and see the posts of everyone else to find out about more schools. Many states seem like they are really trying to get distance learning incorporated into school curriculum. The total number of students taking online courses, enrolling in virtual schools, taking classes or getting involved in discussions through online platform (e.g. Moodle) has been increasing in double-figure percentage over the past few years. It is only going to grow more as more technologies and methodologies become available in the nearest future.
I don't think virtual schools will take much away from F2F interaction. Afterall, technology that exist today, although very expensive like Cisco's HQ teleconference system to connect many offices around the world, will become more affordable and allow many students to connect with their teachers simulaneously which would be closest thing to a F2F interaction. I look forward to how technology will further integrate into education.
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As I remember, Alabama relies on teleconferencing. As you will see, that is very different from most state virtual schools. It will be interesting for you to see how this translates into different instructional design models, teacher training models, etc.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is interesting that the state is installing teleconferencing equipments in all the schools along with high-speed (10mbps+) connection in all schools. It's definitely a different model and costly, but it would only benefit the students I believe.
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