Does Online Education Threaten Rural Schools?
Posted on | October 19, 2009 | 6 Comments
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In the June 2009 edition of Adminfo- a publication by the BC Principals’ and Vice Principals’ Association - Dan Kenkel, Principal at Valemount Secondary School, writes how online learning threatens the future of his small school.
In his opinion, rural schools need to be viewed as fragile ecosystems.
Yet while lauding online learning as an empowering educational choice, he takes the stance that classroom instruction needs to be defended against all threats, even those that are well intended.
He uses the example of his school’s Physics 11 class which, with current student numbers, he is only able to offer every other year.
“This year, on one of our ‘off years,’ three students in Grade 11 chose to take it online. Out of the pool of potential students for Physics 11 next year, which I could run at 10 students if I had to, I now have seven. As a direct result of their ‘choice,’ the course no longer becomes viable.
I may also lose funding for the other seven students, who may now be forced to take Physics 11 online, too. They lose their choice to learn in a classroom. Their only option is now online.
With every lost funded block in a school my size, I jeopardize the ability to keep subject-specific teachers employed. That is a real threat to face-to-face teaching in small communities. As a result of losing Physics 11 this time around, what is the scenario that brings it back in two-to-four years? What do I get this teacher to do instead? What subject area is next? How could I ever attract a senior math/science teacher to come here under this level of uncertainty?”
He offers no solutions.
It’s clear Kenkel’s beef is with funding … not with virtual learning itself, per se … although it’s difficult to see where he draws the line.
Do the learning rights of seven students trump the learning rights of three students? What about student schedule conflicts? Or alternative learning supports that online education can provide? The issue is not as simple as the keeping of brick-and-mortar classrooms.
And while there’s no denying the impact of face-to-face learning, online educational opportunities increasingly have a role to play to enhance and revitalize rural, remote, and rurban schools.
Online learning is here to stay. Virtual learning is redefining education as we know it, and is becoming a norm on university and college campuses across North America.
School, community, and political leaders need to more clearly identify the advantages of a well-balanced, blended approach to learning.
In fact, the loudest voices supporting this debate should be rural school districts and their communities … so that solutions and programs are built that support – not penalize – blended learning opportunities that suit school districts and their constituents.
Our future depends on it.
Read Dan Kenkel’s full article here.
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Tags: blended learning > Education > online education > opportunity > rural > rurban > virtual learning
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6 Responses to “Does Online Education Threaten Rural Schools?”
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October 19th, 2009 @ 8:49 am
As with other complex issues, the solution lies in looking at the problem of ‘teaching’ as a whole. People look at ‘online teaching’ or ‘rural classrooms’ and we end up with deadlocks (or inefficient compromises).
Some subjects are probably better taught online only. Some should be restricted to classrooms only. For rest, online teaching can complement classroom teaching, rather than replace it.
October 19th, 2009 @ 12:01 pm
@Zeeshan – I agree … it’s about finding that balance; every school is different. Opportunities and solutions, not fear, need to be created as virtual learning, especially, is one trend that is here to stay.
October 20th, 2009 @ 8:52 am
Distance Ed is the saviour of rural schools. I was taking satellite calculus in 1998, and it prepared me to get a 94% in first year calculus in university.
October 20th, 2009 @ 1:16 pm
@saskboy – Thanks for sharing your example … online learning has its benefits, but not without requiring a different approach to the development and management of teaching … and change is always slow!
November 24th, 2009 @ 10:07 am
I am a parent of one of the 3 students who took online physics 11 last year. The course was well designed and all 3 students did very well in the course.
But what Mr. Kenkel does not say it what prompted them to take the course was he could not say for sure that he could or would offered the course the following year, their grade 12 year, or if he could offer it that it would be in the first semseter so they would have an oppertunity to take physics 12 as well, which is not offered at his school.
I am fully aware that students taking online courses takes away students and funding from his school but when your are in a rural community it allows the students to stay home, and not to have to move away for school. If they take a course or 2 online he is still getting them for other subjects. If they move away to take course that are not offered in the rural school then he looses them for all subjects.
I know he is walking a tight rope but in the end parents have to do what is best for their own children. Students in rural schools should be able to graduate on time with all the courses they need to enter what ever they want to do after high school without have to go somewhere else to upgrade themselves in order to meet the requirments to get in.
No I don’t want to see rural schools close but I think online schooling is only going to become a bigger part of todays students schooling.
November 24th, 2009 @ 11:28 am
@ Susan – Thanks for sharing … I couldn’t agree more.