Online Learning in K-12 schools

While contemplating this assignment and how I wanted to approach the idea of online learning in my school, in my assignment I kept returning to one thought over and over; "We need to utilize this idea in my district."

It is not uncommon for students to be pulled out of school for a week, two weeks, a month to go with their family to visit "their country." I have at least two to three students go on these trips every school year. Teachers are asked to send work with them to complete and we all know how difficult that is to do. Our classrooms are flexible and fluid and what we send with a student to complete independently may not be what is actually is covered in class.

Online modules can help alleviate this problem by allowing the traveling student access to the classroom instruction despite the distance. I know there will be cases where the student may not have Internet access but more times than not in my experience I have received emails from my students while they were away. If they can email they can participate in online learning.

Online modules would allow the student to set their own pace and fit their learning in around their schedules as well. I can also envision incorporating whichever country they are in to a social studies or science lesson in a way that would allow the traveling student to give a unique perspective to the lesson that would benefit all learners in the class.

Another gap that online learning could help close is students who are on home instruction for medical or behavioral reasons. These students are isolated from their peers and missing the collaboration piece of their education while at home. Online modules could allow for them to interact with their peers and regular teacher while receiving instruction from the home instructor simultaneously. Videos of classroom discussions, labs and activities could easily be shared to allow the student on home instruction to have similar experiences as their peers that are in the classroom.

To be honest, when I first was considering how online learning could be used in elementary school, I had nothing. They are too young, too inexperienced with technology and many parents would not support this style of learning. I then realized I was right, but wrong too. They are young and inexperienced, but at the fourth grade level no one is saying you need to use all the features of an online module like Moodle. Start simple, it does not have to be an elaborate lesson in the beginning. Elementary school is the time for exposure, not mastery, of technological tools and approaches. Introducing the basics of online learning, allowing the students to interact with each other and just exploring this tool would give them general knowledge to build on as they get older and more proficient.