Though on-line learning has been around for over ten years now, it's fast becoming a viable alternative and a growing trend in elementary and high school education. Students get their lessons online and communicate with their teachers
and each other through chat rooms, e-mail, telephone and instant
messaging. An estimated 500,000 to 1 million U.S. kids are presently involved in this form of education.
This is a totally awesome idea and I wish they had it when I was in school, as it allows the student to move at their own pace and bypass a lot of the BS that occurs within a school setting. Some people wonder about the socialization issue but proponents maintain that online learning socializes kids to the environment they're going to be in anyway, acknowledging that we're pretty much an online society anymore.
It's not just the smart kids who benefit from this approach; there is more one-on-one attention possible which adds a vast number of possibilities in taking various and more creative approaches in teaching. Presently online learning is vastly underutilized, being used mostly as an alternative for homeschooling, disabled kids, and kids with behavior difficulties, but with a 25% growth rate it's fast becoming part of the mainstream. Many U.S. states have created new programs and are adding funding for online learning, but teacher's unions are naturally opposed. Still, with states like Michigan now requiring the completion of at least one online course to graduate from high school, it's an undeniable trend that will likely (and hopefully) effect huge reforms within the U.S educational system.
I'm all for it, and if it weren't for the fact that I work from home and would go nuts if my kids were underfoot all day, I would totally be on board with them jumping into online learning right now today. But in any case, I'm thinking it'll be a wonderful alternative for them in the future.
http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/V/VIRTUAL_SCHOOLS?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
