Synthesizing Education

There is a considerable amount of buzz going around about “virtual classes” and where they belong in the educational landscape. Much of this (I think) has to do with Clayton Christensen’s book, Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change The Way The World Learns as well as the economic deficits that districts are facing as state (and federal) aid is diminishing while enrollment is rising. I read the book, thought it was very good, made a lot of sense, and dealt directly with a lot of the problems that education will encounter in the future (specifically the economic efficiency component). In addition, I took much of it to revolve around a potential paradigm shift in the future that will resemble a “Sputnik-like” implementation where we will wake up one day and realize that these types of disruptive changes are occurring immediately with little delay once the decisions have been made.

My discussion here is not whether or not the model Christensen promotes would be effective in education. My goal is to get you, the reader, thinking about the process for HOW we can get to that point. Some public schools are already implementing online classes as a potential avenue for students to pursue specifically when the district does not offer an AP class or foreign language. My argument for implementation is that these changes should be attempted in every district simply because, as Christensen points out, the current system is antiquated and designed for a country (and world) that no longer operates in the same framework.

In 1906, Carnegie units became the model for how students would go about their school day1. Since then, schools have made little progress in adapting a new style of structure for the school day despite the fact that these Carnegie Units were designed to promote a “factory system” of schooling. That is, turn kids out like widgets to work in the context and setting of that time period. This is the same basis for the practice of tracking, which was used, in part, to Americanize immigrants starting as early as the 1830s and 1840s2.

Now there is discussion over students taking online courses that are more affordable and will award more choice based on student-driven learning. The crux of the problem: how do we find a way to test effectiveness without pushing this type of structure on a deeply rooted cultural organization and jeopardizing the success of any kid’s future?

My thought: begin allowing students to “opt-out” of traditional classes to enroll in them online. For instance, I teach United States History I in a high school. I am convinced that I can teach my entire course online using Moodle, WizIQ, Camtasia, and a 45-minute seminar every other week after school. I would never be so bold as to suggest we do this for all students taking a course, but it would be great to have a control group of students doing this, which would allow us to examine flaws, needs, and improve for the future before all students take all classes online. Think this wouldn’t work? How about also offering kids the ability to take classes over the summer to meet requirements while also giving teachers an opportunity to work on these skills necessary for such a task3?

Think about the positives of this type of pilot program:

1. It would open up another period during the day for students to take an elective class that interests them but does not fit in their current schedule.
2. It would open up the freedom of choice for students to finish traditional course loads sooner in their years of schooling thereby optioning to take even more electives that they would normally miss out on or graduate high school early.
3. It would provide them with exposure to a growing field of self-directed learning at an age where more support is available.
4. Given that it would be administered “in house” students would have easy access to their online instructors.
5. It would provide teachers with opportunities to develop the ability to teach online courses should more students elect to pursue this opportunity.
6. Finally, consider Christensen’s recent blog post:http://disruptingclass.mhprofessional.com/apps/ab/2009/11/19/105m-prek-12-students-to-take-online-courses-by-2014-research-firm-predicts/

Doesn’t this seem like a feasible way to introduce online classes in a very rigid K-12 system?

1http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/faqs#1

2 Oakes, J. (2005). Keeping Track: How Schools Structure Inequality, Second Edition (2 ed.). New Haven: Yale University Press.

3 Gladwell, M. (2008). Outliers. London: Little, Brown and Company.

For more on why summer classes are vital to student success I recommend reading Chapter 9 of Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Understand that I do not consider this to be legitimate research on this topic BUT the logic makes sense and should strongly be considered when analyzing why students have varying degrees of success in the current structure of K-12 education.

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