Rethinking Education – Part 4, Virtual Schooling – For and Against

Nowadays it is not uncommon to live and work on one continent while you study on another at the same time.

Thanks to online schooling, it is possible. But we focus this time on primary school and its approach to virtual education.

Thanks to Internet, self-directed learning already takes place. We can find many free online courses, videos from lectures, download many books and find articles without having to go to library.

There are attempts in “live” stream schooling, after successful trials with online tutoring.

Teachers still stand in front of the whiteboard and this time a video camera substitutes students.

The students attend classes from their homes, with program similar to Skype.

They do all they would usually do in class: answer the questions, write down but they don’t have to stand up in front of the class and be embarrassed in front of the whiteboard.

The schools that encourage this type of learning are available in private schools in Germany, Canada, US and UK.

On the other hand, online education allows developing countries with sufficient technological equipment to transform the educational system.

In future it might be possible to have international online schooling free of charge. It is something that our foundation does, for example.

This kind of education is also suitable for children with disabilities or long term illness as well as for older people or any adults who didn’t have enough financial support to continue schooling.

There are still many questions left open such as group work, doing something else during the class (like Facebook or chat) or “cheating” on exams.

It’s your turn. Tell us what you think about it!

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jakehayman/2016/07/11/the-virtual-school/?ss=education#424e1b02ca3f