50$ essay
Online Education
Citation metadata
Date: Jan. 2, 2019
From: Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection
Publisher: Gale, a Cengage Company
Document Type: Topic overview
Length: 1,847 words
A variety of academic institutions offer online education opportunities using digital communications technologies to facilitate instruction and student participation in virtual classrooms . Early forms of distance education operated through correspondence courses where students and instructors communicated through the mail. In the 1960s, the University of Illinois created internal networks that allowed professors to post course materials, such as recorded lectures, on a system of computers for student access. By the mid-1990s, following the broad expansion of web-based programs and applications, modern online education evolved rapidly with new program offerings and methods used to access the remote classroom. An outgrowth of traditional models, online education platforms of the twentieth century reach millions of learners in the United States enrolled in K12 schools and higher education . Students can receive academic credit for single courses or certification processes or enroll in diploma or degree programs offered partially or completely online through computers, smartphones, and tablets.
Online education provides a workable option for many students by allowing greater individualization and flexibility than traditional "brick-and-mortar" schools. Teachers and administrators have noted, however, that online learning environments are not appropriate or effective for all students. Generally, virtual K12 schools perform poorly relative to traditional schools, based on achievement measures. Internet availability, speed, and cost also limit accessibility for many students. Instructors can face challenges adapting traditional classroom content to online platforms, complicated by changing technology and instructional strategies. Students who struggle to learn independently and manage their time and those who have difficulty communicating and mastering technology may need face-to-face engagement, assistance, and support. Critics further allege wide disparities in the quality of online education programs, especially credit-recovery programs in K12 schools that allow students to earn academic credit by retaking previously failed courses, and college degree programs advertised by unaccredited institutions.
PROS AND CONS OF ONLINE EDUCATION
Pros
· Online education provides options for K12 students by allowing greater individualization and flexibility and expanding access to opportunities that are not available at all traditional brick-and-mortar schools.
· Academic content, materials, courses, and degree programs are easier and less expensive to access through online education, particularly for nontraditional, rural, disabled, and other marginalized students.
· The proliferation of digital technologies has made higher education more accessible, as stakeholders at prestigious institutions have worked to adapt and develop free access to their courses for online learners.
Cons
· Virtual K12 schools generally underperform compared to traditional schools, as it is difficult to adapt conventional instruction for use in online platforms and many students require face-to-face engagement and support to succeed.
· Internet availability, speed, and cost—as well as the availability and cost of additional technology—limit access to online learning platforms and programs, particularly for low-income student populations.
· Quality disparities among online programs degrade the overall value of online education by contributing to stigma among educators and employers and enabling predatory practices to thrive in the industry.
ONLINE K12 EDUCATION
Student enrollment in K12 online education has grown exponentially at full-time virtual and blended learning or hybrid schools—a formal program combining coursework completed in a traditional classroom setting with web-based learning and instruction. According to a 2018 study published by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC) at the University of Colorado Boulder, during the 2016–2017 school years, 429 full-time online schools operated in thirty-four states with a total enrollment of 295,518 students. Blended learning schools operated in twenty-nine states at 296 schools with 116,716 students enrolled during that same period.
K12 students generally have a variety of options when it comes to online coursework, though offerings and participation levels vary by state. Some states and school districts offer tuition-free, full-time online public schools for residents. During the 2016–17 school year, charter schools accounted for 75.7 percent of student enrollment in these online programs, though they constituted less than half of all online K12 schools. Private schools also offer full-time online education to students nationwide. Supplemental online courses offered by districts, private vendors, nonprofit organizations , and universities allow students to complete core academic credits, credit-recovery courses, and elective credits, including Advanced Placement and honors courses. The education research and consulting firm Evergreen Education Group reports that during the 2015–2016 fiscal year, more than 523,000 students were enrolled in supplemental online K12 courses offered by states.
Enrollment in K12 online courses continues to increase despite educator concerns regarding the consistency of program quality and inadequate educational outcomes. According to the NEPC, during the 2016–2017 school year, virtual and blended schools had a student-teacher ratio significantly higher than the national average for traditional public schools of sixteen students per teacher, with this ratio tripling among virtual schools and doubling among blended schools. Among the schools that received a rating from the NEPC, 43 percent of blended schools and 36 percent of virtual schools received a school performance rating of "acceptable." The NEPC noted, however, that it assigned ratings to only 39 percent of the 429 virtual schools and 24 percent of the 296 blended schools in the United States due to inconsistencies in states' data reporting. On-time graduation rates at full-time online and blended schools were also significantly lower than the national average. Supplemental credit-recovery courses have also been rated poor quality with low standards of achievement. Critics point out that some of these courses require little or no teacher support and use ineffective assessments to determine whether students achieved satisfactory knowledge of the subject matter to earn a passing grade.
Critics further point toward the uneven results of online programs in terms of student performance across various demographic groups and enrollment categories. A study completed by the Michigan Virtual Learning Research Institute examined over 100,000 students enrolled in the state's K12 online programs during the 2016–2017 academic year. The study revealed that the majority of participants in online courses were high school students taking credits required to graduate. Of the study participants, 62 percent came from households at or below the poverty level with a pass rate that was 18 percentage points lower than that of more affluent students. White students participated at a higher rate (66 percent) than African American students (19 percent). Female students performed better than males, with a pass rate of 57 percent compared to 53 percent. Students enrolled in only one or two online courses had a pass rate that was 22 percentage points higher than students enrolled in five or more online courses.
Proponents of online K12 learning contend that full-time online schools improve accessibility and increase the availability of courses and expertise limited by geographical location and cost. Students living in rural locations face small schools, teacher shortages, high teacher turnover rates, and low budgets. Accordingly, rural students enroll in K12 online courses at greater proportions than students in suburban areas. Virtual programs allow access to advanced and nontraditional courses otherwise unavailable in geographical proximity to rural residences. Advocates of online programs further posit that students with physical or learning disabilities benefit from virtual education programs that allow them to complete their coursework through specialized online learning platforms adapted to their needs. Such programs allow these students to remain in an accommodating environment and work at their own pace.
CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS
· What difficulties do educators face when adapting traditional classrooms and courses for online learning environments?
· In your opinion, should there be more industry standardization and government regulation of the online education sector? Why or why not?
· If you were looking for an online course to take, do you think you would be able to distinguish high-quality programs from low-quality programs? What factors would you consider in your assessment?
HIGHER EDUCATION ONLINE
While student enrollment in higher education trended downward from 2011 through 2018, the percentage of students taking online classes steadily increased. During the 2016–2017 academic year, 6.4 million students attended at least one web-based college-level course. Approximately one-half of online students were enrolled in programs taught entirely online, with the other half attending a combination of virtual and on-campus courses. Students attending community colleges were the most likely to enroll in one or more courses online. By 2018 the majority of students taking online courses were enrolled at public institutions. Remote attendance at these institutions tended to be localized, with students more likely to elect in-state programs.
Researchers point out that convenience, flexibility, and the comparatively lower cost of online higher education programs are major draws for students. Quality and community interaction are also important. In a 2017 study published by the online education developer Learning House, Inc., the majority of current, prospective, and recently graduated online learners valued in-person contact with instructors and engagement with other classmates. Fifty-nine percent of these online learners visited the campus to meet instructors or engage in a study group. The flexibility offered by many virtual programs also attracts certain populations of online learners. The Brookings Institution noted in 2017 that students enrolled in online courses at for-profit institutions are more likely to be single parents, working a full-time schedule, and older than the average college-age student. Students attending large, for-profit institutions who were unprepared for college-level academic work performed poorly in online courses, however, and were more likely to drop out of the program.
Increases in the cost of higher education at traditional brick-and-mortar schools, technological innovations, and competition have resulted in the majority of colleges and universities offering online courses and a rapid expansion in nonselective online-only institutions. Statewide university systems, such as the University of Wisconsin Flexible Option, offer accredited degree programs and certifications. The State University of New York system offers fully online degree programs ranging from associate to doctoral degrees taught by on-campus professors. In January 2018 California Governor Jerry Brown proposed creating a public and statewide online community college aimed at career training and certifications. Alternatively, the for-profit online higher education industry experienced a continuous decrease in enrollment starting in 2010. Two private nonprofit online universities, Western Governors University and Southern New Hampshire University projected that if their growth continued at 20 percent annually, they would overtake enrollment numbers at the University of Phoenix, a for-profit, accredited institution, in 2019 or 2020 to become the largest online universities.
Another development exclusive to online education is the advent of massive open online courses (MOOCs), first popularized in 2011 by several Stanford professors who wanted to make their courses available to anyone online free of charge. At the time, more than 160,000 students signed up for the opportunity to participate. The professors founded Coursera, an online platform offering courses in a wide variety of subjects, taught by experts at universities worldwide. In 2015 the Harvard Business Review estimated that between 2012 and 2015, more than 25 million people signed up to participate in a MOOC, yet only a tiny fraction actually completed the coursework. Of students who completed a course, the majority reported benefits to their education and career. Students in developing countries constituted 60 percent of participants and reported the greatest personal benefits. Some argued that MOOCs would upend higher education models, making a college education universally accessible and free of charge to millions of students. The model has evolved, however, from purely free and open courses to unaccredited fee-based badges and certificate programs with loosely defined value toward formal academic credentials or career paths.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2020 Gale, a Cengage Company
Source Citation
Source Citation
· MLA 8th Edition
"Online Education." Gale Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2018. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, link-galecom.db16.linccweb.org/apps/doc/PC3010999233/OVIC?u =lincclin_mdcc&sid=OVIC&xid=d715621f.