The Shape of Things To Come in American Education

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

The Shape of Things To Come in American Education (http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/DrMatthewLadner/2008/06/26/the_shape_of_things_to_come_in_american_education)

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Projecting from data available and based upon past experience, the authors estimate that 50 percent of K-12 courses will be delivered online by 2019.

This “out with the old, and in with the new” prediction is pretty bold. In this case, however, the “old” is the labor-intensive method of classroom instruction that has gone more or less unchanged since Socrates. Could we really be on the verge of displacing the basic method of education content delivery?

[Timberwolf]

Designers may improve online programs to the point that they will be of demonstrably better quality than the tried and true methods. For example, innovators are working on computer-based learning programs that will adapt to the individual learning styles of children. These programs present information in a variety of ways, figure out which way works best for each child and adapt the presentation accordingly.


Personalized, self-paced learning also offers enormous promise. Both fast and slow learners often find themselves frustrated by the pace of teaching that suits the average learner.
Whether one loves or hates the thought of online ed, the above quote from the column, does make for a good argument in support of it.

[DesertFox]

Some kids will do well with puters, but most need the human interaction of a teacher to praise, to guide and direct, just to be there.

In high school we had a new kid come into geometry one day early in the second semester. He'd had no geomtry at all, and the teacher told him that if he thought he could do, he was free to start at the beginning of the book and try to catch up to the rest of us.

That dude had a head for math. In less than a month he had caught up with the rest and was asking the teach if he should go ahead and finish the book or work with the rest of us.

That kid needed no math teacher. Some kids are like that with puter courses. But most need more.