A Virtual Nightmare?
Is it just me, or does this story give you pause?
There is no doubt that there are some benefits to a virtual education. But at the K-12 level, I think it is important that students are exposed to other students.
Socialization is extremely important in shaping future adults. If a young child misses out on those important life lessons that exist in school – academic, respecting authority, learning social norms, being exposed to diversity – are they truly receiving an education?
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Comments
Hi John-John,
Well, you could say I'm biased because of the company I work for (live eLearning and web collaboration solution provider). However, you could make the same comment about socialization and home schooling.
The bottom line is that the virtual classroom provides many and varied opportunities that many students would not normally have. We have K12 teachers telling us that there is plenty of socialization online, including experiencing diversity, learning social norms, and respecting authority.
As the education paradigm continues to change from focusing on the traditional physical classroom to embracing blended, multi-medium teaching and learning on a global level, there will remain significant opportunities for face-to-face socialization.
- Beth, Elluminate Goddess of Communication
Posted by: Beth Gallob | September 13, 2007 7:31 PM
The difference in an online education vs. a classroom setting has nothing to do with socialization - the only difference is what kind of socialization you want your children to have. The socialization of the classroom is a melting pot, with parents having no choice over the kinds of children their children are around (bullies, snobs, etc) vs. an online education where the parent has some control over who their children socialize with - at various functions and extracirricular activities.
Posted by: Kimberly | April 7, 2008 9:12 PM