Is Blending Computers into Classrooms Radical Redesign?

Barbara Martinez wrote an article about a blended education program in New York's P.S. 100 and called the program radical redesign.

I thought the program sounded interesting, but didn't meet my standard for radical redesign, so I sent Barbara the following note.

Barbara:

Nice article and I get it, but don't drink the "kool aid" that this is radical redesign of the schools. Evolutionary restructuring yes, tinkering, yes, but not radical redesign. The students are still in brick-and-mortar buildings arranged in age-based groups (grades), that measure learning based on seat time. (Those kids got to the 4th grade by sitting in classrooms for the previous 3 180 periods of time called grade 1, 2, and 3.

Blended learning isn't new -- well maybe it is in NY City, but it's not innovative in education -- not when there's already research to show it's effective.

That's not to say that what you write about isn't good, won't benefit kids, and is something different in P.S. 100. But, I think you've got an obligation to your readers to not just incorporate labels given you by the school as fact. If you'd attributed the "radically redesigning" term to the school I wouldn't have bothered writing, but you accepted it and incorporated it into the article giving credence to this tinkering as radical redesign.

I hope, in the future, you'll challenge or at least attribute terms like that.

Does anyone think this is a good idea?

15 Chicago schools could see longer days
Pilot program would add 90 minutes of online education using nonteachers
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-08...ine-initiatives

In an effort to extend what is one of the nation's shortest school days, Chicago Public Schools plans to add 90 minutes to the schedules of 15 elementary schools using online courses and nonteachers, sources said.

By employing nonteachers at a minimal cost to oversee the students, the district can save money and get around the teachers' contract...

The program's cost is expected to exceed $10 million, the majority of which will be spent on capital improvements like technological infrastructure, wiring and broadband, a source said...

I need to see more about this, but it doesn't pass the "on-the-face-of-it" test. For those of us concerned about quality in online education, this doesn't sound like it's an effort to improve student learning, just something to extend the "seat time" mentality of judging learning.

I hope there's more to it than it appears with this article. The journalist adds a nice sentence at the end of the article which is basically accurate:

While there is limited research regarding the effectiveness of online schools, what is out there is largely positive. In some cases, research has shown that online learning can be better than face-to-face instruction.

but I'm not sure how it applies to the program in Chicago.

Comments.

DoJ may put websites under disability rules.

The Department of Justice is considering including websites under the ADA coverage. In 1990 when ADA was enacted the Internet wasn't what it is today. If they move forward with that action the impact would be far-reaching.

Some organizations today use the 508 standards when designing websites, but those technically only apply to government-owned websites. A decision by DoJ to apply ADA to websites more broadly, would have impact on higher education as The Chronicle article states, and also on public school websites as well.

This has been an issue I've been pushing for years. Public schools take federal funds, but many don't consider access issues when they put their websites together. I have taken to task, the folks at District Administration for a while on this because when they used to review school district websites they wouldn't mention accessibility. I think they got tired of hearing from me, because they've been better the past year. They also did mention the issue in an article they did a while back.

The problem however, is most folks don't have a good understanding of equity and access issues. I did a workshop this spring on equity and access for the Innovations in Online Learning conference sponsored by the UT Telecampus. After my session, one of the participants came up to me and said she'd not ever thought about color schemes for her online courses even though she has a son who is color blind. (I had started the session with some of those simple color blind tests.)

It's clear this is an issue that needs more than just a statement that websites should be accessible. There will need to be more training done to increase awareness of just what that means.

Virtual schools soon reality in Mass.

The Boston Globe published an article on May 5th about virtual schooling. While Massachusetts has lagged behind other states in the adoption of virtual schools, the reporter seems to forget that Massachusetts is host to the Virtual High School, arguably the country's first virtual education program. The Globe has printed a number of articles on the Virtual High School going back to the mid-1990s.

Florida Virtual School, now one of the nation's largest programs, has been educating students in Florida and internationally for as long and is considered the nation's first state-wide program. So, the concept isn't new, though it's hard to tell from the article, and the comments. (If you read the article, be sure to look at the comments too.)

The proposed National Technology Plan supports virtual schooling. There's interesting research on the strengths of online learning as compared to traditional learning. It's too bad the reporter didn't pursue any of that information. That would have been interesting contrast to the quote by the State's Chief State School Officer: “...Learning at its heart is a social endeavor. . . . I think for most students face-to-face instruction is the medium that gives them most benefit.’’

It's unfortunate the Massachusetts Chief doesn't understand that good online education is a social endeavor, and there's research to show that online can be as good or better than traditional face-to-face instruction.