As I stated in my 9-1 discussion post, I think the virtual schools could mesh well, but should not replace brick and mortar schools. That being said, our high school is part of the VHS program and “students who are interested in taking a class that [is] not currently offer[ed],” (Hall, 2013) can participate online. I didn’t realize until now that VHS also offers middle school courses. The only classes our students have accessed, that we don’t offer at the middle school level, is high school math and Spanish. In those situations, our kids go up to the high school, which is conveniently on the same street.
I looked at three, To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM), Physics (Honors), and World War II Through the Eyes of Dr. Seuss. Both and the Dr. Seuss History course look awesome - in fact, if I may have to contact them about the lessons because I’d love to use Dr. Seuss’ books to connect my kids to history. Both these course’s syllabuses offered activities (journal entries, research, discussions, and internet explorations) that I’d expect to see in a traditional classroom. The Physics class, however, just had a list of topics, similar to a textbook’s Table of Contents, so I don’t know how a virtual program facilitates a hands-on based curriculum. For both the Dr. Seuss and TKAM courses, the students were responsible for acquiring, either purchasing or borrowing, the required texts.
I did look at a few of the other science courses to investigate the lab/investigation component. In several the shipped media kit was a textbook; in one the required text was available online. In regards to the labs, I found a required purchase of a Virtual Lab CD. I could run a bunch of my labs online, in fact, some of the simulations we’ve found are awesome because kids can push the limits they couldn’t with real materials, however, kids do have a genuine curiosity that only a hands-on lab can encourage. Also, there is a component of the lab group, the dynamics, collaboration, and problem solving that an online discussion board does not provide.
Reference
Hall, T. (2013). Welcome Back 2013-14 - YHS. [online] Retrieved from: http://yhs.yarmouthschools.org/Principals-Office/welcomeback2013-14 [Accessed: 23 Nov 2013].
Hi Megan, I thought your daughters went to VLACS. I guess I am thinking about someone else that I was in a couple of classes with.
ReplyDeleteNope, not me. No kids here ; )
DeleteMegan, I really enjoyed reading your post. It is interesting that there are extreme differences in the syllabi between the courses. It may be that the syllabi are approved by different department heads and one of them may require a more extensive syllabus. I like that you brought about the virtual labs.The fact that students can push the boundaries further in these labs then they would in the actual hands-on lab, can be an invaluable learning experience. The could be some collaboration in the virtual labs, but I agree that it may not be a suitable replacement for working together face-to-face within a group of students.
ReplyDeleteI like this virtual lab idea and think that the kids would have a lot of fun with it while learning not only the content, but learning to work and have discussions with others. An online discussion board is great for some things, but with something like science it's much better to try a hands on approach. I can't really knock online discussion boards because I enjoy them at this level of my education. However, I do love actually talking in a collaborative group mainly because I like to see faces and the inflections in voices help me to determine how someone really feels about an issue. Great post!
ReplyDeleteVirtual labs are neat too and I even spoke with a Chemistry teacher who teaches for SNHU through a hybrid course. She was finding it challenging and had the labs face to face rather than through virtual learning. I think there are some great resources out there for students to watch real world experiments like with physics, etc. I think there are some great pros and cons and it is really about the learner and their individual situation.
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