Anya Kammnetz writes about a New Jersey HS, that recently provided all the students with laptops and had them stay home and use online apps for learning. One of the apps noted is Schoology, a LMS.
In student surveys taken after the event, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Virtual “attendance” was 98 percent for the day, better than a regular day.
Teachers, says Bacolas, were a bit less gung-ho. “We definitely have a population of teachers who are older, who were overly upset and cautious” about trying to teach through the platform alone. But 60 percent of teachers said the experiment pushed them to learn a new tech skill or software feature, and 70 percent used the day to introduce new material, not just review.
For this first-time experiment, teachers were required to come to school, and the building kept to the typical bell schedule, with virtual lessons held in real time.
Couple things of note here: one, there’s no real intention to make this a significant component of the learning programs at the HS. And it brings into stark relief, a conundrum of where will the students be physically, if they don’t have to be in the “school building.”
One of the rarely talked about functions of “school” is to have a place to “put the non adult” population, where they can be managed and controlled, a place where adult supervision is available, as well as some security guards, nurses, cafeteria, etc. A little village that would seemingly need to exist even if no learning activities took place there.
In the Virtual School, where do the kids physically go to spend their day? Many homes have no adult supervision during the workday. Students also like to “hang” with other students. Where?
[gview file=”https://publicservicesalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Virtual-Day-at-HS-2.pdf”]
[gview file=”https://publicservicesalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Virtual-Schools-Bring-Real-Concerns-About-Quality-NPR-Ed-NPR.pdf”]Students log on each week from wherever they are — the school computer lab, a library, Starbucks — to hold class discussions and do group work in real time, using collaboration software.