More Online Education Talk

Ever since reading Clayton Christensen's "Disrupting Class", I have become increasingly interested in the impact the online education movement will have on the future of public education. I recently came across this article which summarizes a study completed by the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL). The article emphasizes some important findings, which I think supports the need for K-12 public schools to embrace, rather than resist, the online education movement.

... last year iNACOL estimates there were more than one million students enrolled in online courses. More than 30 states have state-led online programs, and more than half of the school districts in the U.S. offer online courses and services

However, even though online learning is growing at the rate of 30 percent annually, access to online schools and courses is not keeping pace with the demand from students and parents. iNACOL estimates that more than 40 percent of middle and high school students want to enroll in online courses--more than 20 million students.

"Today, every student can access a world-class education with online courses taught by talented, qualified teachers at any location," said Susan Patrick, president of iNACOL. "The barriers to entry are outdated policies restricting student registrations, funding policies that limit choice, and seat-time requirements."

Clayton Christensen argued that online education will be the "disruptive innovation" that causes public schools to fundamentally change their existing structures. He believed that as students and parents (our customers!) began to demand more access to quality online courses, public schools would either have to provide them, or their competition (private entities) would. The iNACOL study seems to reinforce that the demand for online educational opportunities is growing at a rapid rate, and as Christensen predicted, public schools are not keeping up to meet that demand. The question is why?

According to the study, the raison d'etre lies in outdated and unreasonable school policies that do not reflect the current needs of society and fail to take into account how today's students learn. Currently, most school policies focus on how to keep students from bringing their cell phones, ipods, and personal laptops to school. Instead, we should be focused on developing school policies that encourage students to utilize these learning tools in an appropriate and safe manner. We should be focused on policies that don't discourage student collaboration, but rather encourage appropriate collaboration. We should focus on altering antiquated school policies that involve required hours of seat time and limit the number of courses that can be taken outside the walls of the school building. We should focus on the development of policies that provide students with access to Web 2.0 tools that will prepare them for the rigors of today's global economy.

In short, we need to develop policies that will allow our public schools to meet the educational demands that business, parents and students are requiring in the 21st century. If we don't embrace this "disruptive technology", public schools will face serious competition from private sources who will surely react to the basic economics of supply and demand. I, for one, would like our public schools to beat them to the punch.