In the days of appointment TV
Today is the start of what should be an interesting three weeks. Well, interesting for me at least. This afternoon C. starts an official MCPS online course that satisfies a Maryland state graduation requirement. I’ll be curious to see how the class is structured and what the interface is like. The entire experience of it. The course goes for three weeks, three hours a day (they say; hopefully less), bookended by two mandatory four-hour, in-person classes. A semester’s worth of work. Done. Out of her schedule so she has room for more interesting things down the line. Less cool is that we’re paying ($310) for the privilege, despite it being a mandated course. Sigh.
Nonetheless, I am increasingly thinking this is the way to go–or at least one option that needs serious attention. I am getting so tired of bogus online discussions about how to meet the needs of gifted kids–or more accurately why we can’t. I’m tired of hearing how my kids (and kids like them) have to diffuse the pool of underachieveing students so as to improve the overall discipline of a school (this was actually argued on a gifted listserv over the weekend.). I am tired of hearing how it isn’t cost effective (let alone “fair”) to meet their legitimate learning needs via grouping because “it’s just a few kids” yet people continue to insist that there is something magic about arbitrarily grouping kids from the same birth year and zip code.
How about this? Set them free! Teach a child what he or she is ready to learn. Once they’ve learned it, let them progress to the next thing. If they finish “early” so be it. Let them go into the world to learn, to volunteer, to apprentice, to further studies at the college level, regardless of their age.
And psssst. (Sotto voce) Welcome to the 21st Century. There is this thing called the interwebs. It is the opposite of appointment learning. It uses things like VOIP and IM and blogs and webcams and “webinar” technology. It allows people to connect whether they’re across town from each other or across the globe, to collaborate in real time–or not. Problem is, if MCPS were to consider this, they’d spend a few years considering it, then a few more years piloting it to just a few schools, then issue a study, and then (maybe) consider it to be a viable means of meeting the needs of accelerated learners–but by then you and everyone who has kids in the school system would be long gone.
As it happens, online learning is in the news this morning. A group of all-girls school, including local Holton-Arms, is piloting the Online School for Girls
For now, the online collaboration will allow the four participating schools — Holton-Arms, Harpeth Hall in Nashville, Westover School in Middlebury, Conn., and Laurel School in Shaker Heights, Ohio — to offer classes that would not have generated enough student interest or teacher support in any one school. When the classes open to the public a year later, the educators hope that students around the world — including homeschoolers and girls at coed schools — will be able to take part in a version of the girls’ school experience. And they want to prove that single-sex online education works. They can’t find anyone who has done anything similar.
I don’t really have an opinion about the all-girls aspect, but the fact that this is being done by “hoity-toity” private schools is encouraging. Maybe if MC”we’re the best”PS sees it being done they’ll consider it too. Because if it’s a choice between an online class and my kid sitting in a real class being bored out of her mind (or disrupted by classmates who have no interest in learning), I’ll choose online learning any day.
P.S. Check out what online courses MCPS currently offers. The array of AP’s is quite impressive actually. But why can’t kids take them during the school day? Is it because then they couldn’t charge $700? Would they allow a profoundly gifted kid to give an AP class a go in middle school? And of course there is the array of courses offered by CTY, EPGY and others that have been around for ever. Has anyone ever heard of MCPS allowing a child to take one in lieu of MCPS classes? Readers, what are the online options in your state or district, and how do they mesh with brick and mortar school?
The teachers’ union would have a cow if MCPS allowed kids to be enrolled in online classes during the school day. The district wouldn’t need to employ as many certified teachers, which would mean less dues money for the union.
Sadly, it’s all about the Benjamins…
It’s something I should look into more closely. What is the teaching load of an online teacher?
I think it will work well for incredibly self-motivated kids like C. I can’t begin to guess what percentage of the population would fall into that category.
And that idea doesn’t work too well, if you need to occupy the children for a set period of time (until the parents can get out of work). Well, I guess the self-motivated can read in the library after finishing all the available material in the online course.
I couldn’t even get my kid to comply with a hundred-dollar ALEKS course on her own. No way would she have managed an AP course without peers and a teacher.
Well I think there are different ways an online course could be arranged. There is something like Aleks which is solo, completely online…no human interaction. Then there is something like EPGY that had a scheduled meeting time…a virtual classroom where kids and the teacher actually spoke to each other in real time, all looked at the same things on their screens. Assignments were emailed to the teacher and and feedback received that way, with the option to call him if ever there was a question.
Bottom line: I think there are ways of getting creative to blend both the online and the peer/teacher components.
Only reading/writing instruction per se Kid got in 3rd grade as student at MCPS was CTY online. Great experience, fabulous teacher interaction, and even some interaction amongst peers, though they were a little young to really do that well. CTY licenses the EPGY for math, and that has been less of a stellar experience. Time for a major upgrade, EPGY!
Would love to see more options in future from the district, but am seriously skeptical. Thus continues the schism between kids with parents who research as well as afford online classes and others whose parents don’t know and/or can’t afford.
And yes, YMMV on getting the kid to actually sit down and do it. If both parents work, you seriously need to look at the adult supervision and evaluate whether they can be “supportive” when faced daily with smart, motivated-to-procrastinate child.
Newbie, tell me more. How did you arrange this? Was this in lieu of MCPS or supplemental? If in lieu of, did MCPS pay? Who gave the okay…principal or higher up?
We are at a tiny, rural K-12 public school in the very upper midwest and our district has offered online classes for the last 3 years. My son has taken mythology, journalism, creative writing and Spanish III. All classes not offered at our school. These online classes are offered through a multi-district education coop.
The school counselor has okayed his enrollment in classes meant for students 3-4 years older, and these have been in place of the standard core of classes normally required, including the standard language arts classes. The district pays about $300 per semester for these classes.
Previously, I had been homeschooling him for language arts since 7th grade (at age 10), because this is the area where he is most asynchronous- mechanical skills and reading comp. at the college level and fiction-interest pretty firmly rooted at his age level!
These classes were not aimed at gifted students, but served my highly-gifted+ son quite well. He has learned to follow a syllabus, keep track of his progress, and work independently. The assignments were definitely more rigorous that the regular classes offered in the building. The teacher feedback was always very rapid, usually within 24 hours.
This is such an easy way to help school to increase offerings. The classes are taught by teachers from participating districts. Some teach all online classes, others do a combination of regular classroom and online teaching. Some of the classes seem to be using “canned” curriculum (Aventa Learning is the spine for some), but others are clearly original.
Jodi S.
Thank you for chiming in with your experience, Jodi! I KNOW that districts, in fact whole states, offer online options, and that they can be very successful. But most people in this area have no idea that this exists and can be a viable option. Going back to Crimson Wife’s comment, I wonder if the resistance here in MD is coming from the teacher’s unions.
I don’t really have an opinion about the all-girls aspect, but the fact that this is being done by “hoity-toity” private schools is encouraging.
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I read that piece too. I’m the one who regrets not having started homeschooling earlier. As I read that, I thought, why would I send my daughter to an exclusive tony private school, only to have her take courses on line. Why not just do the on line, bag the school part and call it a day?
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