Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Online Learning Strikes Again

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by

James A. Bacon
in

King’s Academy in Jordan

Here’s another example of how online learning continues to make inroads in K-2 education. Twenty-five elite private academies in the United States, Jordan, China, Japan and Indonesia are offering full-credit, online courses through the Global Online Academy. One of those schools is Sidwell Friends in Washington, D.C., which President Obama’s two daughters attend. The program allows schools to expand their course offerings and connect students in different countries.

One example of the kind of opportunities online education makes possible:

In another class last year, students compared the urban landscapes of Detroit and Amman, Jordan. “When you bring those kids together I think the resulting dialogue is just much richer than it would be if you have a more homogenous class,” said John Austin, headmaster of King’s Academy in Jordan, which is one of the program’s founders.

Read the full story at the WSJ.

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  1. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    What global online courses are likely to show (among other things) is that American kids are behind their counterparts overseas.

    But I totally support online courses for electives in high schools. It should open up a wide variety to students and it should do so in much more cost-effective ways since onsite with a physical instructor is much more expensive.

    And again, it goes back to my question of what exactly is the purpose of a classroom teacher in high school.

    I do not have that question with respect to K-6 and especially K-3 where you absolutely must have classroom teachers for elementary reading, writing and basic math.

    but in the higher grades – if a child does have a good basic education, and is self-actuated – why can’t he learn from online?

  2. larryg Avatar
    larryg

    Oh… and hopefully, we get some more understanding into class size.

    Class size is exceptionally important in K-3 but how important is it in a high school elective course especially if it is taken online?

    We have these sound-bite concepts about class size and perhaps online will cause some real thinking about what it means.

    Class size in a classroom calculus course in high school could be important but if a kid is bright and can learn Calculus from an online course then what stick him in a classroom where he will be bored out of his mind?

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