Online Learning and Technology, Research Paper Example

Introduction

It may be argued that the potential impact of online learning in education for grades K-12 is rivaled only by the novelty of the capability itself.  Only decades ago, classroom instruction followed traditional courses of instruction, relying solely upon teacher-student interaction, standard texts, and the occasional slide presentation.  The universal presence of the Internet in society then, not unexpectedly, made its presence known in U.S. schools, and 99 percent were employing some form of Internet instruction by 2003 (Blanchard, Marshall, 2005, p. 37).  The significance of this single element cannot be overstated, as children from the youngest ages are today taught in ways increasingly reliant upon the omnipresent technology.  Moreover, the same technology reaches beyond instructional purposes, and has a notable influence on how schools are structuring themselves and conducting assessments of students.  In simple terms, the Internet presents incalculable potentials for education because it is the most efficient and pervasive means of disseminating any form of information yet in place.  The following offers a discussion of how this occurs, and in terms of both benefits and issues demanding attention.

Presence and Applications

There can be no true understanding of the trajectory of online education without an awareness of its virtual necessity.  Schools must, in a sense, accommodate their surrounding cultures, and the children entering school will assuredly be moving in spheres inextricably linked to online interactions in all their affairs.  Nor is the usage necessarily contingent on student growth; a recent survey notes the prevalence of personal technology as currently employed by children: “Cell phone access ranged from 18% at the K–2 level to 67% at the 9–12 grade level.  Access to a laptop/tablet personal computers ranged from 27% at the K–2 level to 60% at the 9–12 level” (Hoskins, 2011,  p. 58).  These are students, then, quite literally “connected” to the Internet in their daily living.  It is all the more necessary, then, that the schools acknowledge this reality and incorporate the same technology.  Simply, being online alters the ways in which children learn to take in information, so the proactive classroom must adapt to make the most of this shift in the paradigms of learning.

If the rapid phenomenon of online education in K-12 presents difficulties, as will be explored, it is equally important to note that this vast and exponential infusion of technology occurs due to significant benefits either established or extremely probable.  It is noted, for example, that even very young students perform better when they may create knowledge, in addition to receiving it (Hoskins, 2011, p. 59).  This is a reality hardly surprising to the experienced teacher, who fully appreciates the heightened degree of engagement students offer when they are actually participants in the educational process.  As online instruction requires direct involvement from the student, the process is all the more facilitated.  Then, and equally familiar to teachers, students tend to prefer that learning which they feel will translate to external environments (Hoskins, 2011,  p. 59).  They seek to ingest what will serve them elsewhere and, given the noted omnipresence of the Internet, they are then given immediate evidence of the subject’s larger standing outside of the classroom.  Perhaps most significantly, online education completely expands the traditional boundaries of education itself, and this must have an immense influence on how children perceive learning.  Just as online course are in place to assist those opting for home-schooling, so too does the technology allow the school-based student unfettered access to resources outside of the classroom.  This is an unprecedented potential, in that the historic perception of education as confined by place and time gives way to a far more expansive ideology in the student mind.

Then, there is the distinct advantage technology offers in terms of assessing student development, and this is a priority for the Department of Education’s National Education Technology Plan.  As online capabilities are more sophisticated than traditional models for assessment, programs are developed that specifically assess in individual terms.  The NETP’s asserted concern is to use the technology to “measure what matters,” rather than rely on standardized parameters of competency based on collective assessments (Hoskins, 2011,  p. 59).

The opportunities for devising curriculums are, with online learning, as limitless as the Internet itself, and a variety of curriculum structures have been successfully implemented to address specific arenas within K-12 student populations.  The ForWord family of products, for example, allow instructors to tailor learning for special education and at-risk students, and the programs create language learning in a way responding to individual student performance.  Similarly, Reading Upgrade and Comprehension Upgrade are ancillary tools within a curriculum, assisting the student in attaining reading skills through interactive charts and story maps.  Moreover, these programs reflect benefits of the technology as evolving; they require no additional software, and may be used by the student in any Internet environment (Blanchard, Marshall, 2005,  p. 60).  In no uncertain terms, it very much appears that the advantages to online learning in K-12 are limited only by how the schools, teachers, and students seek to pursue them.

Challenges and Issues

Several issues, nonetheless, hinder steady progress regarding this extraordinary shift in education.  One is not entirely unanticipated, in the many teachers and schools at the K-12 levels are resistant to online classes and/or instruction.  The reasons are multiple, not easily addressed, and generally appear to be reactive to the actual novelty of the matter itself.  More exactly, instructors are somewhat at a loss as to what is expected of them, as the schools are only beginning to comprehend the structural changes online learning brings to them.  A documented point of resistance from instructors, for example, reflects discontent with a perceived, altered role (Miller, Ribble, 2010, p. 3).  Most K-12 teachers, even of younger ages, were taught in traditional classrooms, and consequently developed their teaching ideologies based upon these experiences.  Such traditional teaching, as noted, relies on interaction between teacher and student, yet online learning incorporates a new focus to the process, and a center of attention not the actual instructor.  It is hardly surprising, then, that teachers would question their own responsibilities, as well as the expectations of them in regard to performance.  This relates to another issue, that of teachers uncertain as to levels of administrative and technical support.  Both these concerns clearly indicate how so new and impactful a process generates challenges of very pragmatic natures.  More exactly, for the technology to be effective inside or outside of the classroom, it is essential that those offering it be familiar with its resources, and have support in addressing problems with it.

These issues, however, while challenging, are by no means insurmountable.  It is strongly felt that one means of addressing teacher discontent lies in the time-honored strategy of encouraging participation and input, and from the onset of the online processes.  On one level, such a proactive approach must translate to increased skills with the technology, as the teachers more engage with this new teaching instrument.  On another, and invaluably, such an involvement brings the teacher fully into the experience and draws upon their existing expertise.  In basic terms: “teacher involvement insures alignment with frontline needs and produces program advocates from the start” (Blanchard, Marshall, 2005, p. 122).   There can be no overstating of the critical nature of that last component, for only the teacher supportive of the online instruction will be poised to fully contribute to it.  Then, it appears likely that an exponential process will facilitate teacher engagement.  More precisely, as the schools increasingly incorporate varieties of online instruction, they will be better positioned to support instructor needs regarding it.  It seems that the novelty of the subject, again, creates obstacles that familiarity and experience will likely address.

There is also a concern generated, ironically, by a segment of K-12 believed to be ideally suited for online education: problem students, or those nearing graduation age who are likely to fail.  A range of Performance Learning Centers (PLCs) has been established to address this population, and these “schools” essentially offer spaces in which the students work on their own, as an instructor monitors their efforts through a computer.  The modules the students employ are devised by Pearson Education, as part of its NovaNET curriculum (Kronholz, 2011,  p. 27).  The results thus far are mixed.  The PLCs tend to report significant progress, but external sources are not as optimistic; in Virginia, for example, the PLC students barely moved from D to C grades, despite the vastly increased focus on the technology as addressing their difficulties.  At the same time, it is important to note that the measurement instruments used to record student development are not geared to assessing how online education proceeds (Kronholz, 2011, p. 29).  Ambiguity, more than anything, defines how actual results from this form of online education is occurring.  Nonetheless, those serving as instructors within the PLCs consistently report advances that belie any statistical assessment.

Conclusion

To underestimate the significance of online technology in K-12 education is as ill-advised as minimizing the impact of the Internet itself on life today.  As online capabilities and devices are enjoyed by children entering their elementary and high school classrooms, these children essentially come prepared to participate in a learning that reflects how they are already conditioned to communicate, and to assimilate learning.  Schools, then, are virtually constrained to utilize this immense resource.  As the technology develops and the processes of incorporating online techniques into classes occur, there are, inevitably, difficulties.  Teachers are now required to comprehend, not merely technology, but the ways in which that technology applies to the multifaceted arenas of learning itself, as they also require training and support to do so.  Then, it may be that undue optimism views online instruction as a ready means of attending to those students experiencing learning problems, when in fact no technology can achieve this independently.  What emerges from the entire scenario, however, is a truly promising vista.  The Internet is a mainstay of modern life and, just as importantly, it is a limitless avenue to information, and information in no way constrained by distance or time.  This renders it, ultimately, potentially advantageous for K-12 education as no other instrument or technology has ever been.

References

Blanchard, J., & Marshall, J.  (2005).  Web-Based Learning in K-12 Classrooms: Opportunities and Challenges.  New York: Psychology Press.

Hoskins, B. (2011).  “Demand, Growth, and Evolution.”  The Journal of Continuing Higher Education, 59, 57–60.

Kronholz, J. (2011).  “Getting At-Risk Teens to Graduation.”  Education Next, 11 (4), 24-31.

Miller, T., & Ribble, M.  (2010). “Moving Beyond Bricks and Mortar: Changing the Conversation on Online Education.”  Educational Considerations, 37 (2), 3-6.