Distance Education and Virtual Schools

Most of the pros of distance education are that this kind of education serves a wider range of students than the traditional high school does. Students who don't work well in the traditional classroom can do this kind of education, those who are working, those who have families, those who work better in the evening, those who are home schooled but want a more challenging curriculum, those who want to work faster or who need to work slower - all of these people benefit from distance education and virtual schooling. Another benefit to teachers would be that the hours are incredibly flexible, and the pay is competitive to regular school districts. A teacher could work from home and complete the same number of classes for the same pay, but on their own time.
There seem to be several cons to online schooling. One that I found interesting was that some of the people targeted for this kind of schooling are those who are less sociable in a high school setting, but I think that if someone is less sociable, then being in an actual school with real people might be beneficial to that student to help them overcome their lack of sociability. Another con is that cheating seems like it would be harder to catch. Since you don't see these students every day - or ever - you don't know them as well, and their styles are harder to determine. I think that a setting like this allows for cheating more than a traditional classroom. Another con, similar to the first one, is a lack of face-to-face interaction. Students learn well when someone can sit them down and explain it to them one-on-one, and with that key aspect missing, I think it would make more difficult curriculum more difficult for students to master if they are having troubles to begin with. Another disadvantage of online schooling is that most of the courses, though varied, don't go as high as many high schools offer. They don't offer the same level of challenging courses as a traditional high school, and their elective courses are also more limited. For instance, one of the schools I looked at had only one art class and only one music class. This, for me as a high schooler, would have been a deal breaker.
Some of the skills needed to be successful when teaching in a virtual school are organization, flexibility, patience, and communication skills. Because of the varied environment, a teacher needs to be organized in order to get things back on time, to grade effectively, and learn about their students. It would be much harder to make excuses about not having papers graded in this kind of an environment. These teachers also need to be flexible, with their teaching hours and environment so radically different from that of a traditional school. Patience is required to help all your students equally and to help students you've never met and whose needs you might never fully grasp because you never meet them. And finally, communication skills are very important because the teacher needs to be able to explain difficult concepts over a long distance rather than in person where communication is much easier.
One key issue that I found interesting was the teaching aspect itself. The competitive pay was something that seemed appealing, along with the flexible hours. Those positives – mostly the sleeping in one! – were very appealing to me. However, a lot of it seemed very unappealing. For instance, I want to get to know my students, something that seems nearly impossible when they’re just screen names on a computer. Making virtually no connection with students that is substantial is something that takes the meaning out of teaching for me, and I’m not sure it would be worth it for me.
Two to three years from now I’m guessing that virtual schools and online courses will become more prevalent. These kinds of classes are appealing to many students, and the flexible environment for teachers is also appealing. With online courses, I’m guessing that many schools will want to expand the classes they offer. These courses could potentially enable schools to offer more classes. As for my own teaching, I’m hoping to stay mostly in the traditional classroom – I feel like I can make more of a difference in student’s lives by actually physically being in their lives. I wouldn’t be opposed to teaching one or two classes a day online – if that’s even possible – but I would much prefer the majority of my classes to be traditional.
I think that video conferencing within the virtual schools is something that could be very important. With video conferencing, it is more like face-to-face interaction, which is my biggest problem with virtual schools. With this addition, teachers can more easily explain difficult concepts, answer questions, and actually have more meaningful contact with the students.