Courses in Online Learning to Be Encouraged at Colleges of Education

As part of its Transforming American Education campaign, the Department of Education is going to encourage Colleges of Education to provide courses on online learning in K-12 classrooms. The proposed overhaul by the Department of Education strongly emphasizes the advantages of interactive and online learning for students as well as teachers.

Over the last few years, technology has become a staple in our lives. Online education has become almost mainstream, particularly for post-high school levels. This makes sense for many reasons, not the least of which is that most of us are connected all the time. Many children are raised in homes with everything hooked up to WiFi or, at the very least, a computer with Internet. For these children, providing online education at school is simply taking an activity they are familiar with and enjoy and making it educational. For those children who don't have access to technology at home, having online learning programs at school is a way to prevent these kids from falling behind and creating a "technology gap" to add to the many other gaps underprivileged kids face today.

In light of this, it makes perfect sense for institutions to turn out tech-savvy teachers. As online learning and online classrooms become the norm, those folks who are running the classroom should be able to confidently use the equipment, therefore getting better results. The technology doesn't work by itself. It needs teachers to use it effectively so that it can perform at optimum levels. Teachers should be aware that online learning requires different forms of assessment, different kinds of homework and follow-up activities, and different levels of monitoring. In return, students and teachers have access to far more resources and more personalized lessons despite the class size.

The Department of Education's proposal also suggests that professional organizations encourage teachers to learn about technology in the classroom. This will reach the teachers who are already in the classrooms who struggle with and don't always see the benefits to online learning. Many current teachers prefer using chalkboards and paper instead of SmartBoards and computers. They don't know how to use the new equipment and end up wasting class time pushing buttons and being embarrassed instead of creating a positive learning environment. More professional development and more focus activities for these teachers is also crucial to the success of online learning.

Teach the teachers and the students.  Then you'll get the best results.

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