Week 3 reflection

This week, I researched Chicago Virtual Charter School (CVCS). It uses K12, Inc. curriculum which I had a personal experience. In Korea, representing the biggest educational technology company, a K12 Korea subsidiary manager came to talk to me about having our schools (F2F) and after-class programs use the program. Consequently, I had a chance to review their product, and although I didn't have a thorough look, it was very well done. On the other hand, for students who have not taken online classes, it may be challenging without support.

I believe CVCS is taking the right approach as they are doing a "blended" learning approach where the students go to a physical classroom once or twice a week and then take the rest of time studying online. I think this model gives the students better shot at succeeding because the teachers can get a sense of how students are following along F2F much better than in virtual classroom. I believe more schools are likely going to take this approach in the future, especially facing budget cuts and lack of quality programs & teachers in many areas (specifically low-income neighborhoods and rural towns). I also think TC can use this blended teaching method and be successful by utilizing the advantages of both physical on virtual classrooms.

Week 2 reflection

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.

week 1 reflection

Week 1 of Online Schooling class was very interesting. It was my first time using Moodle platform. I've been using Blackboard and Classweb, but I think Moodle is better than the other two.

As for the discussion of pros and cons of virtual school, I agreed with my classmates that although there are drawbacks, there are much more positives in using it. I sincerely believe most, if not all, schools will resort to some kind of online classes/courses in the nearest future.

About me

Hi, this is my second semester at TC and I'm looking forward to because Online Schooling is a subject that's a great interest of mine. I'm only taking a couple of classes because I'm always on a business travel and all my courses are done online. It's the best thing about online learning - that I can take the course wherever and whenever I want. The downside is that it's actually more time consuming as I'm constantly checking to see post updates and there are certain things I would like to do face to face. Additionally, asynchronous nature of the class limits the student interaction.

Over the past 7 years or so, I've gotten involved in the education industry - private sector. What I've started out in Korea has now expanded to various regions/countries including China, South America, Japan, and the US. Now, I consult for many of the Korean educational technology companies trying to expand overseas using its well designed curriculum and teaching methods. In addition, I mentor and counsel dozens of international students each year matriculating to the US colleges and boarding schools.

I'm very fascinated by how technology is shaping the world of education. From OLPC, mobile learing, game-learning ("edutainment"), and newest smartphone/netbook, I'm amazed how fast the technology is improving in education. One thing I would like to eventually see would be to have an ubiquitous learning environment with students from K-12 using a similar curriculum throughout the world.