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May 1, 2003
Building Dreams, Extending Opportunities
By Steve Blatt
When most public school teachers and students go home at the end of the day, the learning stops. Sure, there are occasional nights of homework for students and grading papers for teachers, but for the majority, learning ends when the final bell rings. In California, schools have tried to maximize usage of their school buildings by running year-round programs in which the buildings are always filled with students. Good thinking. But what about maximizing the 24 hours in the day? Good teachers have more content, activities, and curriculum than they know what to do with. It's a constant struggle to pick and choose the few elements they have time to introduce. In addition, teachers are forced to carefully introduce content to make it effective for a majority of student in the over-capacity classrooms. The solution is simple: "Anytime, Anywhere Learning" via the World Wide Web. Public education teachers across the nation are on the cusp of utilizing a tool which will broaden access to resources, individualize learning, and enhance education.
Logistics
Teachers across the nation need to be trained by their districts on using basic HTML editors. This simple tool will enable teachers to create curriculum for the online medium. Note that to maximize its effectiveness curriculum must be created, not merely converted for the online medium. Districts need to build technology infrastructure, including operating dedicated servers and purchasing Couseware Management Systems. In addition, districts need to invest in their teachers, rewarding them for working longer hours and offering a greater learning experience for their students. Then, when teachers have the know-how and the tools at their disposal, they can start building online supplements to the face-to-face courses. Their online "tutorials" can include discussion forums, links to Web resources, frequently asked questions, parent resources, syllabi, tutorial explanations, homework assignments, unit letters, learning activities, practice tests, and greater communication allowing for additional feedback from their instructor.
Effect
With additional resources available to students from anywhere around the globe, teachers will effectively broaden the learning experience. Students are already adept at utilizing the Web for research. It's only a small step to see them completing course requirements and extending their studies in depth and breadth through online offerings. The student who is ill at home, the student on vacation, or the parent who wants to get involved in his child's education can access these resources. The resources will allow the struggling student to review the concepts in the "tutorials," and the accelerated student to develop an understanding that goes further and goes deeper than the time constraints in the classroom allowed. In effect, the online tutorial will facilitate students getting the educational nourishment that they crave outside of the regular school day.
Conclusion
When school districts recognize the monumental increase in student learning opportunities that come with a small investment in utilizing online education, the movement will be vast and strong. Each district will hire consultants, experts in online education, to enable teachers to extend their teaching online. In the very near future, offering online tutorials to face-to-face instruction will be the standard of excellence in public school teaching.
Email: Steve Blatt
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