Online Learning Opportunities

    Virtual/online learning, full time online schools, blended learning open educational resources; these are phrases that may have only been heard of at collegiate levels of education just a few years ago.  Today however, they are readily seen at the K12 level.

    Virtual/online learning can be seen in 48 states and the District of Columbia, allowing children an opportunity to receive a full-time online learning experience, supplement classroom instruction, attended summer school or receive credits needed to advance or graduate.  When students are attending full-time, they are not attending any schoolhouse in the traditional way, they are receiving all instruction and earn credit through an online school.

    Blended learning includes both face to face learning in a classroom and online learning.  The way that blended learning is taught can vary from school to school.  I believe that blended learning is a good opportunity for students because of the various ways people learn.  Students are able to talk to their teacher face to face if needed and they are also able to work online.  The Department of Education website, also discusses “Open Education” (Technology, n.d.), and believes that “educational opportunities should be available to all learners,” and the goal is to create an open education ecosystem that “involves making learning materials, data, and educational opportunities available without restrictions imposed by copyright laws, access barriers, or exclusive proprietary systems that lack interoperability and limit the free exchange of information” (Technology, n.d.).  In this way all learners will have access to what is needed for an online learning opportunity.

    Here in Michigan there is a virtual school that is state run for middle and high school students who, through districts in the state, work with the virtual school to grant course credits and diplomas to students.

    Online learning is a great alternative for children to receive their education.  I am sure that it takes discipline of the child and their families to work online receiving an education, but I believe that it is a great opportunity for learners.

References:

Technology, O. o. (n.d.). Open Education. Retrieved from Department of Education Web site: http://tech.ed.gov/open-education/