E-learning Everywhere - the growth of E-learning - various types and sources are discussed

School Administrator, Oct, 2001 by Alexander Russo

Online courses are spreading through K-12 education amidst questions about cost, effectiveness and accountability

In Charles County, Md., Superintendent Jim Richmond's voice rises with excitement when he talks about providing academic courses to students online, allowing them to learn wherever--and whenever--they want.

"I've been working on it for the last six months," he says. Though the exact number of online courses being offered by his school district this fall remained undetermined by mid-summer, "I'm very much sold on the use of online technology and its capabilities for our students," says Richmond, whose fast-growing 23,000-student district is located in southern Maryland. "With the use of technology, we could double the [Advanced Placement] offerings. The capability is going to be unlimited."

The newest form of technology-based learning--increasingly called "e-learning"--is gaining a foothold in school districts across the country, some of whom like Charles County are devising their own approaches. A larger number of schools and districts are buying into online services offered by a handful of proprietary firms or statewide agencies, all of who tout this as a viable alternative to traditional classroom instruction and a superior method of learning for some students.

Despite its growing popularity and the companies' unbridled promotional claims, questions remain about the appropriateness of online learning for the majority of students in elementary and secondary schools, the lack of research data on its effectiveness and the high costs and complicated logistics of developing online programs.

Next New Thing

Just when you think you have the federal E-rate application process figured out and know how to talk confidently with your technology specialists, along comes e-learning--also known as cyber learning, virtual learning, e-education and (if you're old-fashioned) distance education.

It's a whole new world out there. Now VHS stands for a virtual high school, not the videotape you put in the VCR, and it's no longer good enough to know about networks and servers and processor speeds and all the rest that came before.

The technology has come a long way since the primitive days of computer-assisted instruction and videotapes. "In 1989, the primary delivery mechanism was satellite-delivered courses," says Linda Roberts, former director of the Office of Education Technology at the U.S. Department of Education. "Today, the technology delivery systems have indeed become much more affordable, much easier to use and more amenable to meeting the needs of school districts around the country."

Now you can stream video over the Internet, create course-based chat rooms where students can discuss ideas and thread conversations together over e-mail. Chat rooms and instant messaging can simulate classroom discussions. Computerized simulations can replace lab experiments, and homework assignments can be sent, graded and returned as e-mail attachments. Neither students nor teachers have to be in a designated location at any particular time, and they don't have to go through the material at the same pace.

In theory, online learning eliminates the tyranny of scheduling classes, finding classroom space and coordinating students to do roughly the same thing at the same time. That flexibility is proving tremendously appealing to some superintendents and district administrators around the country.

"We want to be able to provide more opportunity for our students for them to be able to achieve on their own time and at their own pace," says Cindy Loe, associate superintendent for the 115,000 student Gwinnett County, Ga., schools. "Online courses allow us the opportunity to do that."

For the most part, these new online learning programs are targeted at secondary school students, on the assumption that younger students may not have the study skills, reading abilities and self-discipline to fare well without a class to go to. But it's not just home-schoolers, high-achievers and dropouts who are flocking to online courses, say those familiar with the programs. Others include highly motivated students who need flexibility in their schedules because of jobs or extracurricular activities. Some districts and companies providing these courses, such as K12, launched this fall by former U.S. Education Secretary Bill Bennett, plan to enroll younger children.

Online learning also is looked to increasingly as a way to deliver professional development for teachers and other staff, which is no surprise given its origins in the corporate training and postsecondary education environments. For teachers, says Roberts, formerly of the U.S. Department of Education, "the opportunity to learn online is a whole new ballgame."

A Rapid Spread

E-learning already has captured the attention of the corporate sector and much of higher education, with 70 percent of colleges and universities in the United States now offering at least some courses online, according to Market Data Retrieval, a research company specializing in technology in schools. Forty percent have created online degree programs, and this fall Arizona becomes the first state to formally recognize an online graduate degree in educational administration toward principal certification. The leader in the field, University of Maryland University College, had more than 62,000 online enrollments last year and offers 20 complete degree programs online.