Online Courses Are Harming Students Who Need the Most Help\" by Susan Dynarski A
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Online Courses Are Harming Students Who Need the Most Help" by Susan Dynarski A single teacher can reach thousands of students in an online course, opening up a world of knowledge to anyone with an internet connection. This limitless reach also offers substantial benefits or school districts that need to save money, by reducing the number of teachers. But in high schools and colleges, there is mounting evidence that the growth of online education is hurting a critical group: the less proficient students who are precisely those most in need of skilled classroom teachers. Online courses can be broken down into several categories, and some are more effective than others. In "blended" courses, for example, students don't do their work only online: They also spend time in a classroom with a flesh-and-blood teacher. Research suggests that students- at nearly all levels of achievement- do just as well in these blended classes as they do in traditional classrooms. In this model, online resources supplement traditional instruction but don't replace it. In the fully online model, on the other hand, a student may never be in the same room with an instructor. This category is the main problem. It is where less proficient students tend to run into trouble. After all, taking a class without a teacher requires high levels of self-motivation, self regulation and organization. Yet in high schools across the country, students who are struggling in traditional classrooms are increasingly steered into online courses ADVERTISEMENT For example, in so-called credit recovery programs, many students who have flunked a course in an old-fashioned classroom retake the class online. The negative consequences may not be obvious at first, because the pass rates in these courses are very high and students who take them tend to graduate from high school instead of flunking out. What could be wrong with that? But there is something wrong with it. In reality, students who complete these courses tend to do quite poorly on subsequent tests of academic knowledge. This suggests that these online recovery courses often give students an easy passing grade without teaching them very much. Consider a study conducted in the Chicago high schools. Students who had failed algebra were randomly assigned either to online or to face-to-face recovery courses. The results were clear: Students in the online algebra courses learned much less than those who worked with a teacher in a classroom Online courses have many real benefits, of course. They can help high achievers in need of more advanced coursework than their districts provide through other means. This is especially true in mall, rural districts that offer few specialized, traditional courses for students working ahead of their grades. A study in Maine and Vermont examined the effect of online courses on eighth graders with strong in schools that didn't offer face-to-face algebra classes. Students were randomly assigned either to online algebra or to the less challenging, standard math offered in traditional classesExplanation / Answer
Studying online opens up a world of knowledge;
especially for high achievers.
A single teacher can reach a thousand students in an online course. It also offers substantial benefits for school districts that need to save money, by reducing their number of teacher.
They can help high achievers in need of advanced coursework than their districts provide.
Claim Textual SupportStudying online opens up a world of knowledge;
especially for high achievers.
A single teacher can reach a thousand students in an online course. It also offers substantial benefits for school districts that need to save money, by reducing their number of teacher.
They can help high achievers in need of advanced coursework than their districts provide.
Studying 'only' online does not benefit students. Research suggests that students- at nearly all levels of achievement- do well in 'blended classes' as they do in traditional classes. In this model, online resources supplement traditional instruction but don't replace it. Lack of a physical teacher is not beneficial for less proficient students. This category is the main problem. It is where less proficient students tend to run into trouble. After all, taking a class without a teacher requires high levels of self motivation, self regulation and organization. Online courses are less competent than traditional classes. Many students who have flunked in a course in an old fashioned classroom retake the test online and the passing rate in these tests are very high. However, they tend to do quite poorly in subsequent academic knowledge. This suggests that these online recovery courses often given students an easy passing grade without teaching them very much. Online courses are a bad idea for learning of concept based subjects such as Mathematics. A study conducted in the Chicago high schools showed that students in the online algebra courses learned much less than those who worked with a teacher in a classroom.Related Questions
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