I am writing this final blog post in response to today's classroom discussion about the advent of "virtual classrooms," in primary, secondary, and post-secondary education. Online classes and even entire universities already exist at this last level, but the use of this technology for younger students is newer, and in my opinion, far more controversial and potentially damaging. With concerns about the Internet's effects on young peoples' socialization already present, any push toward more screen time should be regarded suspiciously. I question the reason for this push toward virtual education - what's the point? At its start, such a program would probably be more expensive to develop, staff, and maintain than traditional brick-and-mortar schools. Opportunities for social development would be crushed as the students lose their main reason to leave the confines of their houses. This educational system would cause students' relationships with their computers to become codependent; they would be unable to function without access to the Internet. Also, at least in the present market, social skills are an incredibly important part of the hiring process for many jobs as many employees work on projects in teams or with clients in customer service positions. Is this an experiment that we can afford to let fail for an entire generation of young people?
Even at the college level, developing online courses for the sake of increasing technology use also seems slightly misguided. For traditional students, why remove class from the classroom? These students need to develop the discipline to meet deadlines and be accountable for their work daily. For nontraditional students, the opportunity to learn outside the classroom while accommodating work and family can have benefits. But, indiscriminately increasing the use of technology worries me. With the exponentially increasing pace of progress, the possible negative social and other consequences on our tech-immersed lives can be hard to predict.
2 comments:
i agree completely. and plus, its important for people to maintain a solid schedule. we get up every morning to walk to class because education is too important to be moved around at different times of day. it teaches us that there are some things that are too important to procrastinate or put aside for later.
I agree although it would be convenient to learn online, going to school and interacting with other students teaches kids to build social skills. If this was the accepted way of learning kids wouldnt get as much interaction with others until much later in there life, and our society would probably be socially akward.
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