Pam Carnahan's Blog

Can I Teach Online?

Online education is one of my interest as I pursue my masters degree.  But only in the college level, I am not totally sold that K-12 online education is the way to go.  I feel kids at that age need to have the social interaction to be ready for the workforce.  There is always an exception to the rule, children with disabilities I feel would totally benefit from this service, along with teenagers that have discipline problems. I am hoping I will be able to teach online courses in the community college level with the balance of teaching an in-person class.

As for the teachers it sounds great, but having listen to a virtual online educator speak, she mentioned her hours are from 8am-5pm and some extra hours for developing the program or discussing problems with the students.  It seemed liked they work more hours, but have the advantage of being home most of time.  After reading about certification, I feel that there should be a special certification for online teaching.  It would be helpful for the teacher and school when the teachers are prepared to teach an online class.

As the online schools grow and develop it is important that the curriculum is entirely online ready to teach and the lessons are clearly written for the students to understand.  According to one of the articles there is a school from Texas that has half and half in person class and some classes online.  This method seems to be growing more and more to  keep up with the 21st century of technology.   I hate to say I believe there will be more and more k-12 online schools because how students are constantly using technology and never seem to talk to each much.  Because of this the students seem to used to this type of interaction if it be by friends, family and/or a teacher.

The only way I could understand why online education could possibly work is using high-quality technology.  For instance being able to talk to student using Skype or something similar and having several students talking to each other at once. I still feel having interaction with each other is so important. I read some teachers experiences with online teaching, it is clear that there needs to have standards written to improve the curriculum.  This would also help with consistency in the classroom, so the teachers would be teaching the same curriculum.   I thought it was interesting reading the teachers comments on their experiences: some teachers seem to love it and it is working great for them, while others are struggling with technology support and curriculum organization.

Finally, I am not 100% for K-12 on line education. I feel teaching students half in-person and half on-line would be the best way for students to learn.  I strongly feel students need to have social interaction to improve on their soft skills. On-line education in the college level is a better choice and plan. As I begin my search to teach on-line classes, I may change my opinion but at this time I feel this is something I will enjoy.

Below is a site that is trying to sell K-12 online education- has some good testimonials but still I am not convinced this is the future of education.

http://www.k12.com/

Kids today are so much more technically educated and experienced from 5 years ago and especially 10 years ago. Not only are they getting the experience at home using computers, video games, cell phones, but also at school. It seems more and more schools are working with students that have iphones, ipads, etc. to help them develop and be more creative and expand their social skills in a different way. Such as working together to study or tutor each other.
Today’s generation is all about social networking using Facebook, Myspace, Orkut, etc., even though it seems like a problem they are finding out that it may be helpful in the classroom. One teacher is trying to challenge her students to be more multi-tasked, by letting them text in class while she is teaching and talking about the lesson. She feels it will help the student develop great working skills in the future.
After listening to Katie Salen I am convinced that game playing is a great way to get students to learn and expand their thinking- like thinking “outside the box”. When students have to explain the process of the game and have them put on paper has proven to be very interesting and successful. Using more tech tools in the classroom will be a challenge for me, first I am not teaching on a regular basis as of now and secondly I am still learning the tools. I want my students to be informed about all the options of technology. Overall I feel that using technology is the only way to go in education. Trying to fight it will be too difficult and a lost battle.

1. Topic: Writing a Business Plan- Online Course

2. Grade level: Introductory to college (Community College)

3. Remembering question: Create a list or bookmark web sites of sample business plans you can use to begin your business plan, and explain why they will be helpful?

4. Understanding question: Using your bookmarks or list of the sample business plans that you would like to model your plan from. After you have found the business plan sample you would like to use, write a 2-3 page summary of what parts you like most about this plan and why?

5. Applying question: Review your business plan and make sure you have downloaded information you will need to have to be able to share with others. Will your business plan be one that will work in the real world?

6. Analyzing question: Using your computer skills to review blogs, watching videos, wikis, etc. now compare what you have written for your business plan summary. Does the information you put in your paper reflect what you have learned from the blogs and videos?

7. Evaluating question: Begin writing your business plan using your reviews, blogs, wikis, and be sure to complete a blog of your own for others to comment on your business plan. Are getting positive feedback or do you need to do more work on your plan?

8. Creating question: Now that you have done your research and rough draft plan. Do you feel you are ready to write your business plan? What have you done to be prepared to create your plan? Finally, you will be required to post your plan using a vodcast to present your plan. Have you used your technology skills to complete this assignment?