EdPsy 490I

Dianne Fulton

Monday, June 4, 2001

Virtual Education Initiatives and Their Place in the Educational Arena

Virtual education is an excellent opportunity to enhance the learning experiences of students restricted to a classroom. Being a teacher of considerable experience, we are aware that personal experiences for students are ideal; seeing and hearing the experience is more valuable than reading and discussing in abstracts. For the sake of anything better, we use the Virtual Tours of the White House, and of the Illinois State Museum. Additionally, we explore other Internet sites to experience the virtual reality of certain effects and aftermaths of a volcano. Due to technological limitations in the particular classroom, many opportunities to use additional virtual educational initiatives pass us by.

“Virtual Schools (K-12)” by Jennifer Cerny

http://www.chem.vt.edu/chem-dept/dessy/honors/papers/cerny.html

After reading Cerny’s article, our definitions of Virtual Education were different. One of Cerny’s general benefits was to provide students with a better understanding of geography and different cultures from pen pals through email. Another benefit used the Internet for the transference of records, teaching ideas, using email to contact parents, and using “Homework Hotlines.” Since District 186 initiated such programs several years ago, a lapse of consideration for other school district’s programs and how difficult it is to implement the “Virtual Education Initiatives” was eye-opening to me. Cerny also mentioned several limitations to the Virtual Education Initiative, which includes funding. Concurrence on this point coincides with similar experiences. Making the appropriate changes and upgrading systems is as much of a challenge as convincing teachers to employ new experiences. Cerney’s list of schools and their achievements demonstrate the variety of experiences that exist.

Virtual High School

http://www.isbe.net/secondaryed/ivhs2.htm

The advantages stated in the Introduction indicate that the Virtual High School is prepared and researched to succeed. My children were unable to take such courses in their small high school; therefore, these advantages have a personal impact. Out of curiosity, we conducted a personal assessment of the “nuts and bolts” part of the video teleconference to determine what students actually use and how the websites work.

The website itself provides many necessary features such as the sign-in, the help line, the self-assessment, the technical requirements, and the academic information system. This system links to the tuition component, the AP scholarship information, and the course catalog. Other features include a student union on the personal student Homepage where students can talk with others enrolled in the classes. Additionally, this segment reiterated that the success of VHS is due to the teacher involvement. Students must also be motivated and have a mentor to achieve success. Personally, the course work was similar to the SUE Project, which we completed in the ASA490 course last summer. The web page also provides a sample course to demonstrate an example to students, teachers, etc., of how a course will transpire. There is a plug-in component for foreign language and ESL courses.

The information is very interesting and the curiosity factor for the results of the first semester for both statistical and personal experiences are very high. The improvements and additions to the program will pique this teacher’s expectations even further.