Virtual Schooling-Myths (blog 2)

            The ‘myths about virtual schools’ article was very interesting, it did have a few myths on there that I am guilty of believing. However none of the things that I posted in blog post one was on there. It proved that some of the points that I made in blog post one were accurate. The myth about online courses are for gifted and talented students was touched on in blog one. I hear many people saying that online classes are very difficult and most people cannot take them; that they require a lot of discipline and additional skills, mainly technology skills. The article listed that as a myth, arguing that online learning is for everyone and that often time the opposite is true. In many cases online learning is used to help special needs students and as somewhat as a reform or alternative for “difficult” students. Based on this article, our readings and various research I can see that this statement is very true. It gave me a moment of clarity. Though I didn’t necessarily believe that online learning was for the gifted, I didn’t think of it in terms of it being useful to help special needs students. That fact alone is very inspiring and gave me a completely new insight and level of respect for online learning.

Another myth that I found interesting was the ease factor, the fact that online learning and teaching was easier than traditional learning and teaching. I know firsthand that the learning part is not true. I have had experience in both traditional and online learning, somewhat of a blending learning and I have found online learning to be just as difficult and/or challenging as traditional learning. The level of difficulty for online learning depends greatly on the class and instructor, however across the board online learning is much more time consuming. I have to admit that I did think online teaching was a bit easier than traditional. However as I have looked into becoming an online teacher I see that this myth is far from true. It takes just as much time and effort to teach online as it does to teach traditionally. It is still a goal of mine though. One of the biggest obstacles I’ve found in trying to teach online is where to start, how do people find online jobs? I know in many cases schools require some type of certification but each schools seem to have their own criteria and/or testing. Does anyone have any advice on where I should start with an online teaching career?

Virtual Schooling

Virtual schooling or cyber schooling is when someone receives a form of education on the internet rather than a physical location. The schooling can take place anywhere as long as the student has access to the internet; whether by mobile device, laptop, tablet or personal computer. It is usually done by a Learning Management System (Blackboard, Angel, Moodle etc.) which is a system by which students can receive assignments, instruction, documents, testing and reporting of their courses. Pretty much anything that can be handed to a student in a classroom can be given to a student by means of a LMS system.

As stated previously virtual schools can be done anywhere, even if the school is based in another state. Virtual schooling is done by any student and can offer programs and curriculum for all grade and all courses levels. My experience with virtual schooling is mostly with the college level. I’ve taken many classes virtually at Wayne State and even have obtained an entire graduate certificate online using virtual schooling.  In regard to K-12 and virtual schooling I still believe that it is done less in K-12 as oppose to the college level, however that I believe will soon change as well. In the last few years many programs have developed for virtual schooling for K-12. And even though K-12 may use virtual schooling less it is used frequently in education. It may not be at a point where most K-12 does their full curriculums virtually but for many students some portions of their education will be taught virtually.