Wow I never realized
that schools were obligated to offer online courses for students who wanted to
take; them let alone elementary schools being obligated to offer these
different online courses, I always thought if a school offered them it was an
advantage I did not know that it is mandatory for schools to offer them. I have not heard of any schools that publicize
this information to its students, I even asked my nieces and nephews and they
said they have never had any of their teachers bring up an online course. Districts
are already so overwhelmed with all that is going on in the education system
right now I do not see how schools/teacher will be fully equipped and trained
on these different online courses that need to be offered, teachers already
have so much on their late it will be difficult to make the time on getting
them prepared for it. Let alone many school districts have a very low budget
for spending especially for technology, if a school provides an online course
they are required to provide enough computers for the students and have the latest technology
on their device, I’m not sure how lower income schools will provide these
features for students. These changes are
going to take at least a couple of years for districts to start following, I
feel as if schools will not provide these services until they get in trouble a
few times for not providing students with this opportunity. If schools are not advertising and promoting
these courses how will students even know they are allowed to enroll in these courses?
The school I am at right now is a K-8 private
school and offers no such courses even if a student was to ask to be enrolled
in an online class our school would not provide that for the student, being a
private school we are not funded by the government so rules and regulations
might be different I’m not quite sure.
I didn't realize that classes where even available at the elementary level until one of my students went that route. I knew there was k12 online but, I didn't realize you could do both traditional schooling and online at the same time when this occurred. I think that it is interesting that you say some schools will wait to get in trouble before they make online classes available. In some cases, I believe you are right. I feel bad for all of the recent grads that will be starting out by starting over. I think colleges will be jumping on board quickly to prepare the next generation of teachers in teaching/mentoring online classes. At the time when I was pursuing my degree, we were only required to take two computer classes. Apparently, that was two computer classes more than many of the people I teach with.
ReplyDeleteI am curious about the differences between the private and publicly funded schools. I think that schools with shared-time teachers may not be exempt from this. I also think that private schools have no choice in the matter anyway. If schools want people to pay for tuition they need to provide more opportunities not less.
I agree with you I believe colleges will start gearing the new generation of teachers in teaching/mentoring online courses. I was only required to take one computers course in college and only one in high school so I never really had any experience of the different online features. I agree if parents are paying for all this money for education then schools should be required to provide extra for their students. I think its amazing that schools are offering these services to students, its just a matter of time to get teachers adapted.
DeleteGetting teachers adapted is going to be interesting! I already do training for tech at our school and I can't even imagine what is coming down the pipeline next. At least, I will never have time to get bored :)
DeleteHaha seriously their is always something new to learn when working with technology. I guess I know who i'll be coming to when I have some technology questions good thing I have your number now haha
DeleteI am here to help :) Feel free to ask me whatever and I will do my best to get you what you need.
DeleteI would suggest that while PD is necessary on the technical skills for new tools, most teachers would benefit from additional PD on pedagogy, since most haven't had a class on learning theory/application in some time. Unfortunately, many grad degrees and certificates (like this one) do not require a pedagogy course, which MUST come before technology.
DeleteVanessa, I didn't realize how much of these things were mandatory either. And I wholly agree that this won't be easy for "less fortunate" districts. Unfortunately, this stuff looks great on paper, but I've been around long enough to know that a lot things look good on paper, and that's where they stay--if there's no funding to bring ideas into fruition. I just wish we could be assured that all districts would receive access, equally.
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree things do look very good on paper but stay on paper, funding always seems to be an issue it's very hard when school districts have a low budget to already work with. That would be nice if all districts received equal funding but that would never happen sadly.
ReplyDeleteVanessa, you and I seem to have the same perspective about implementing the mandatory online education requirement within schools immediately. Again, not oppose to the idea but just hoping that it is rolled out appropriately and given enough time to prepare.
ReplyDeleteHopefully school districts will provide enough training and workshops for educators to be prepared for these requirements.
DeleteSeeing that it's been in place since 2011, and there are ways to sidestep it (e.g., the 20 hour module option that most districts utilize), it seems to be put on the back burner.
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