by Bruce Friend
In the mid 1990’s I was presented with an opportunity that would forever change my life, my family, and would completely reshape many of my views about education and what it means to “go to school.” It was during this time period that I was selected to be a founding member of the first state-wide virtual school program in the United States.
I was hired to develop and teach online social studies courses for a new online learning school. Other than having never taken an online course, developed online curriculum, nor ever taught online, well, I guess I was uniquely qualified for the job!
If I may fast forward to today, I look back at those early beginnings of online learning and am amazed at how quickly online learning has grown. After all, in the program that I reference above we had a mere 70 students take an online course with us in that first year. Just a few years later it was over 70,000!
Many online learning pioneers will agree that the effort to address some preconceptions about online learning was often as challenging as building and delivering their online courses. While not all online learning programs operate with the same guidelines and expectations, after a decade of being involved in providing and supporting online learning, here is a short list of myths about online learning that I thought I would share with you based on my experiences.
Myth #1: Online courses are easier than traditional face-to-face courses.
“Easier” is likely to be in the eye of the beholder. For some students the online learning environment is more conducive to their preferred learning style so in that regard they may find online courses to be more enjoyable, but that does not necessarily mean easier. Every year we would survey students in our online program in the effort to get their insights on what they liked and did not like about their online course experience. We even surveyed the students who dropped out of their online course. The #1 reason provided to us by the students as to why they dropped out, or what they found to be the most surprising, was that their online course was much more rigorous than they expected.
Myth #2: Online courses are only for students who are high achievers.
I personally think that the actions of adults helped to spawn this myth. Simply put, many adults who were/are responsible for promoting and approving students to take online courses often have very little experience (if any) in taking online courses themselves. As such there can be a perception that since the courses are “online” and require a level of technology awareness, well, only upper level “techie” students may be do well. This is simply not true. Some off the most successful online students that we enrolled in our school were not doing well academically in their traditional school. In the online school they received more one-on-one attention from their instructor, could work at a pace that was suitable to them, and found the courses more engaging than the traditional classroom.
Myth #3: Online courses provide little interaction between the teacher and student.
As I have mentioned in an earlier newsletter, the role of the teacher is something that you should consider when selecting an online learning program. I suppose that if one enrolls in a program that is not highly facilitated by a teacher and relies more on computer-aided instruction then this myth could have some truth to it. However, most online programs offer teachers who are not only experts in their subject area and teaching pedagogy but will also require a high level of communication with the student and even the parent. Using tools such as online chats, threaded discussions, blogs, and yes, even that old piece of technology the telephone, it is rather easy for online teachers and students to connect and build a working relationship in an online environment. From my own online teaching experience, I can say with absolute confidence that I was able to get to know many of my online students more closely than those in my traditional classes. Teaching is about building relationships. Quality online programs and teachers can do this effectively online, if not more so in some cases, than our traditional classrooms may allow.
Do you have some myths of your own or perhaps some questions, concerns, or successes that you would like to share? If so, feel free to contact me.
Bruce Friend is a pioneer in K12 online learning. As a founding member, teacher, and chief administrator of two state-wide virtual school programs, Bruce has considerable experience in providing online learning opportunities to home school students. In 2003, Bruce was honored with the Most Outstanding Achievement by an Individual Award by the U.S. Distance Learning Association. In recent years he has consulted with online program developers and families throughout the United States. He is currently the Director of SAS® Curriculum Pathways®
(www.sascurriculumpathways.com).
bruce.friend@sas.com
In the mid 1990’s I was presented with an opportunity that would forever change my life, my family, and would completely reshape many of my views about education and what it means to “go to school.” It was during this time period that I was selected to be a founding member of the first state-wide virtual school program in the United States.
I was hired to develop and teach online social studies courses for a new online learning school. Other than having never taken an online course, developed online curriculum, nor ever taught online, well, I guess I was uniquely qualified for the job!
If I may fast forward to today, I look back at those early beginnings of online learning and am amazed at how quickly online learning has grown. After all, in the program that I reference above we had a mere 70 students take an online course with us in that first year. Just a few years later it was over 70,000!
Many online learning pioneers will agree that the effort to address some preconceptions about online learning was often as challenging as building and delivering their online courses. While not all online learning programs operate with the same guidelines and expectations, after a decade of being involved in providing and supporting online learning, here is a short list of myths about online learning that I thought I would share with you based on my experiences.
Myth #1: Online courses are easier than traditional face-to-face courses.
“Easier” is likely to be in the eye of the beholder. For some students the online learning environment is more conducive to their preferred learning style so in that regard they may find online courses to be more enjoyable, but that does not necessarily mean easier. Every year we would survey students in our online program in the effort to get their insights on what they liked and did not like about their online course experience. We even surveyed the students who dropped out of their online course. The #1 reason provided to us by the students as to why they dropped out, or what they found to be the most surprising, was that their online course was much more rigorous than they expected.
Myth #2: Online courses are only for students who are high achievers.
I personally think that the actions of adults helped to spawn this myth. Simply put, many adults who were/are responsible for promoting and approving students to take online courses often have very little experience (if any) in taking online courses themselves. As such there can be a perception that since the courses are “online” and require a level of technology awareness, well, only upper level “techie” students may be do well. This is simply not true. Some off the most successful online students that we enrolled in our school were not doing well academically in their traditional school. In the online school they received more one-on-one attention from their instructor, could work at a pace that was suitable to them, and found the courses more engaging than the traditional classroom.
Myth #3: Online courses provide little interaction between the teacher and student.
As I have mentioned in an earlier newsletter, the role of the teacher is something that you should consider when selecting an online learning program. I suppose that if one enrolls in a program that is not highly facilitated by a teacher and relies more on computer-aided instruction then this myth could have some truth to it. However, most online programs offer teachers who are not only experts in their subject area and teaching pedagogy but will also require a high level of communication with the student and even the parent. Using tools such as online chats, threaded discussions, blogs, and yes, even that old piece of technology the telephone, it is rather easy for online teachers and students to connect and build a working relationship in an online environment. From my own online teaching experience, I can say with absolute confidence that I was able to get to know many of my online students more closely than those in my traditional classes. Teaching is about building relationships. Quality online programs and teachers can do this effectively online, if not more so in some cases, than our traditional classrooms may allow.
Do you have some myths of your own or perhaps some questions, concerns, or successes that you would like to share? If so, feel free to contact me.
Bruce Friend is a pioneer in K12 online learning. As a founding member, teacher, and chief administrator of two state-wide virtual school programs, Bruce has considerable experience in providing online learning opportunities to home school students. In 2003, Bruce was honored with the Most Outstanding Achievement by an Individual Award by the U.S. Distance Learning Association. In recent years he has consulted with online program developers and families throughout the United States. He is currently the Director of SAS® Curriculum Pathways®
(www.sascurriculumpathways.com).
bruce.friend@sas.com
