My response to reading 10 Myths About Virtual Schools

Since reading "10 Myths About Virtual Schools," I have changed my thinking on a few things.  But larger, is that I have changed my mind on  most of these myths since the beginning of starting the IT program at Wayne State.

Myth 1- Virtual schools are a separate delivery system.  I had no idea there were so many students (500,000) enrolled in some form of virtual schooling in the United States, so it's not separate, it's a part of the traditional system.  Another surprise was the amount of virtual schooling going on in the State of Michigan,  Michigan Virtual Schools, a nonprofit organization that works in partnership with K-12 to bring online learning opportunities, aligned with state standards offers credit recovery, enrichment, college equivalent, and language courses. Another statewide initiative is LearnPort  a web-based professional development system. Clearly, Michigan is now an important participant in the advancement of virtual schooling.

Myth 2 - Online schools are mostly for gifted and talented students.  In fact, online schools are now supporting all kinds of students, including special education students (this growth was pretty surprising), rural students,  and urban students.  Students taking recovery courses are a larger group than students taking advanced courses. As technology advances, it gives students more choices as to how they will be serviced in their learning.

Myth 3 - Online schooling does not offer students enough interaction.  Again, what online schooling offers student is the ability to interact with other students, and teachers in a more timely fashion; as they work on projects in teams, and this is really how businesses often solve problems; so it's giving them real world experiences.  At the same time, it allows students who would normally be too shy to respond, make responses freely online.

Myth 4- Online learning is isolating and students are socially disadvantaged.  This is not true because online courses, again, offer lots of interaction among students to engage, solve problems, and complete assignments, but online and off, if there is a face-to-face component.  The flipped classroom idea  is increasing, as instructors of traditional schools understand the value of merging the best of both worlds.

Myth 5 - Teachers who teach online have easy jobs.  Not so fast, I might have thought so when I first started in my program, but quickly realized this is just not true.   A lot of instructional planning, deciding what technology makes the best sense for the goal of the assignment; what student needs what kind of support, the management part, what if it's flipped, there's no way online teaching is easier.  But I think that once you are more familiar with the process of being an online teacher, and the technology, you can use it to help you be more organized.

Myth 6- Online course have to be developed from scratch.   I have recently found out, while doing a class project for the IT program, that part of the benefits of learning how to teach online is that it introduces you to the idea of it's okay to re-purpose, share, and borrow.  Once you start looking there is so much information out there.  You have to develop a feel for what's a good idea or not, as the door opens to resources that can be used, literally from all other the world.

Myth 7- Online courses are easier than face to face courses.  Again, I may have believed that online courses were easier than face to face courses.  But the truth is that if a course is offered for credit it is placed under the same state requirement that any other course would be. Students must show through active participation, passing assessments, assignments, that they have attained the appropriate level of proficiency in the particular area.

Myth - 8  Students are more likely to cheat.  This one was never really a consideration.  Students cheating has always been the least of my concerns.  I believe that if students are supported well in preparation there really isn't a need for cheating.

Myth-9 Online schools are about technology.   This one I learned early in my studies, but I will respond anyway by saying that technology are tools to enhance learning by making it possible to advance the availability of information  that  students can learn anywhere, anytime, in different contexts.  A student who lives on a farm can have access to the same availability of information as a student in an urban area.

Myth - 10 Online courses represent an "add-on" to already burdened school systems and teachers.
 I;ve had some thoughts on this and tend to think and agree that technology offers an opportunity for teachers to use online resources and tools to engage students, that technology isn't going away, and that the old way of teaching hasn't been very successful for a long time.