Virtual school
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An online school (virtual school or e-school or cyber-school) teaches students entirely or primarily online or through the internet. It has been defined as "education that uses one or more technologies to deliver instruction to students who are separated from the instructor and to support regular and substantive interaction between the students and the instructor synchronously or asynchronously"[1]. Online education exists all around the world and is used for all levels of education (K-12, college, or graduate school). This type of learning enables the individuals to earn transferable credits, take recognized examinations, or advance to the next level of education over the internet.
Number of Students Taking Distance Courses by Level (2012-2015)[1]
Virtual education is most commonly used at the high school or college level. Students who are of the age 30 or older, tend to study on online programs at higher rates. This group represents 41% of the online education population, while 35.5% of students ages 24-29 and 24.5% of students ages 15-23 participate in virtual education.[2]
Percentage of Students Taking Distance Courses (2012-2015)[1]
Virtual education is becoming increasing used worldwide. There are currently more than 4,700 colleges and universities that provide online courses to their students.[3] In 2015, more than 6 million students were taking at least one course online, this number grew by 3.9% from the previous year. 29.7% of all higher education students are taking at least one distance course. The total number of students studying on a campus exclusively dropped by 931,317 people between the years 2012 and 2015.[1] Experts say that because the number of students studying at the college level is growing, there will also be an increase in the number of students enrolled in distance learning. [2]
Advantages -
Advocates of online schools and online learning point to a number of advantages:
There is a lack of costly and tiring travel involved, with a much greater dependability of lessons. Weather disrupting transport is almost irrelevant (though an area subject to frequent power cuts will suffer consequent disruptions). Similarly common health disruptions through minor illness or injury will not halt learning, because the physical demands are so much less. Transcripts of lessons can plug short absences.
Many students who have personal or health conditions that make physical school difficult or impossible can instead learn using virtual educational programs.
Ideal for individuals and families who need flexible arrangements. However, synchronous learning does impose limits due to timezones, which tends to divide online schools in Europe and Asia from North America.
The integration of internet resources provides a huge library of content, and students quickly become adept at online research.
There is a greater flexibility for self-learners or gifted students to explore learning beyond the standard curriculum. Independent minded students, those with specialist skills and ambitions, can develop at their own preferred pacing using net resources.
Online schools can be equalizers, as age, appearance, and background are far less obvious. Groups can be categorized by personal ability.
Students and pupils benefit from exposure to others in different cultures of the world, which enriches understanding of history, geography, religions and politics, and develops social skills.
Part-time students with jobs or family commitments may benefit from the flexibility of online schedules, as claimed by supporters of virtual education.
For asynchronous education, a student may study, learn, or do their homework when they have free time. Therefore, this gives the students flexibility with their education.
It is argued that online learning is more effective and efficient at providing education to a large number of people no matter the physical distance between the students and professors than traditional education. [10]
There are claims that online education "develops higher order skills such as collaborating across time and place and solving complex real-world problems" better than in-class learning. [10]
Students have the ability to avoid the requirement of traveling to a physical school.
As pointed out by advocates of online schooling, this type of education could be beneficial in rural areas, where the distance between students and educators is vast.
A student may have the ability to take a course that is not offered at a location near them.
Some affirm that virtual education is very cost effective for schools or districts because it allows a teacher to instruct more students than in a face-to-face classroom setting. [11]
It has been claimed that courses online are less expensive for the students than course taken in traditional school, college, or university. [12]
With the resources of the internet as a library, and the ease of making online study materials, there is usually a comparatively small requirement for textbooks. Most courses will provide electronic materials free of cost, or included in the course fee. Textbooks are most often required for an exam syllabus course.
Virtual schools now exist all around the world. Over the past decade, K-12 online instruction has dramatically increased in both Canada and the United States.[8] Some of these virtual schools have been integrated into public schools (particularly in the United States), where students sit in computer labs and do their work online. Students can also be completely home-schooled, or they can take any combination of public/private/home-schooling and online classes.
The International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) developed a set of standards released in September 2007 and updated on October 12, 2011. These standards will help monitor online programs and ensure that every provider of education is accredited. [9]
An article by Wikipedia.
Page issues
An online school (virtual school or e-school or cyber-school) teaches students entirely or primarily online or through the internet. It has been defined as "education that uses one or more technologies to deliver instruction to students who are separated from the instructor and to support regular and substantive interaction between the students and the instructor synchronously or asynchronously"[1]. Online education exists all around the world and is used for all levels of education (K-12, college, or graduate school). This type of learning enables the individuals to earn transferable credits, take recognized examinations, or advance to the next level of education over the internet.
Number of Students Taking Distance Courses by Level (2012-2015)[1]
Virtual education is most commonly used at the high school or college level. Students who are of the age 30 or older, tend to study on online programs at higher rates. This group represents 41% of the online education population, while 35.5% of students ages 24-29 and 24.5% of students ages 15-23 participate in virtual education.[2]
Percentage of Students Taking Distance Courses (2012-2015)[1]
Virtual education is becoming increasing used worldwide. There are currently more than 4,700 colleges and universities that provide online courses to their students.[3] In 2015, more than 6 million students were taking at least one course online, this number grew by 3.9% from the previous year. 29.7% of all higher education students are taking at least one distance course. The total number of students studying on a campus exclusively dropped by 931,317 people between the years 2012 and 2015.[1] Experts say that because the number of students studying at the college level is growing, there will also be an increase in the number of students enrolled in distance learning. [2]
Advantages -
Advocates of online schools and online learning point to a number of advantages:
There is a lack of costly and tiring travel involved, with a much greater dependability of lessons. Weather disrupting transport is almost irrelevant (though an area subject to frequent power cuts will suffer consequent disruptions). Similarly common health disruptions through minor illness or injury will not halt learning, because the physical demands are so much less. Transcripts of lessons can plug short absences.
Many students who have personal or health conditions that make physical school difficult or impossible can instead learn using virtual educational programs.
Ideal for individuals and families who need flexible arrangements. However, synchronous learning does impose limits due to timezones, which tends to divide online schools in Europe and Asia from North America.
The integration of internet resources provides a huge library of content, and students quickly become adept at online research.
There is a greater flexibility for self-learners or gifted students to explore learning beyond the standard curriculum. Independent minded students, those with specialist skills and ambitions, can develop at their own preferred pacing using net resources.
Online schools can be equalizers, as age, appearance, and background are far less obvious. Groups can be categorized by personal ability.
Students and pupils benefit from exposure to others in different cultures of the world, which enriches understanding of history, geography, religions and politics, and develops social skills.
Part-time students with jobs or family commitments may benefit from the flexibility of online schedules, as claimed by supporters of virtual education.
For asynchronous education, a student may study, learn, or do their homework when they have free time. Therefore, this gives the students flexibility with their education.
It is argued that online learning is more effective and efficient at providing education to a large number of people no matter the physical distance between the students and professors than traditional education. [10]
There are claims that online education "develops higher order skills such as collaborating across time and place and solving complex real-world problems" better than in-class learning. [10]
Students have the ability to avoid the requirement of traveling to a physical school.
As pointed out by advocates of online schooling, this type of education could be beneficial in rural areas, where the distance between students and educators is vast.
A student may have the ability to take a course that is not offered at a location near them.
Some affirm that virtual education is very cost effective for schools or districts because it allows a teacher to instruct more students than in a face-to-face classroom setting. [11]
It has been claimed that courses online are less expensive for the students than course taken in traditional school, college, or university. [12]
With the resources of the internet as a library, and the ease of making online study materials, there is usually a comparatively small requirement for textbooks. Most courses will provide electronic materials free of cost, or included in the course fee. Textbooks are most often required for an exam syllabus course.
Virtual schools now exist all around the world. Over the past decade, K-12 online instruction has dramatically increased in both Canada and the United States.[8] Some of these virtual schools have been integrated into public schools (particularly in the United States), where students sit in computer labs and do their work online. Students can also be completely home-schooled, or they can take any combination of public/private/home-schooling and online classes.
The International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) developed a set of standards released in September 2007 and updated on October 12, 2011. These standards will help monitor online programs and ensure that every provider of education is accredited. [9]
An article by Wikipedia.
