When this blog first started in 2007, our mission to promote online learning for everyone everywhere at little or no cost was aspirational. Fast forward 15 years (to October 2022), the infrastructure for mass online learning generally exists and the reasons for moving in that direction are ever more compelling.
In our last blog post, we talked about the teacher shortage facing US K-12 schools as they reopen for in-person fall classes. School administrators seem focused on potential solutions that have the potential to water down the learning experience (increasing class size, reducing in-class student time, using less qualified individuals as teachers), with few schools turning to online options for providing the missing instruction.
Recently, the US K-12 public school system was given a D+ grade based on failing infrastructure. Many schools, especially in low income neighborhoods, have no air conditioning as temperatures rise to unhealthy levels due to climate change. Some schools have no heat, leaking pipes and crumbling buildings. Others have bug infestations. The go-to solution for these infrastructure problems is to find scarce public funding to renovate and rebuild. No schools seem to be looking at totally rethinking how to provide public education to avoid the infrastructure problem altogether: moving the education online.
One common argument against online learning, especially for younger students, is that in-person connection is critical to helping children learn to work well with others, to know how to behave in a community. I’m going to push back on that argument and suggest that interpersonal skills can be addressed through online instruction, and are also addressed well through family interactions and extracurricular activities. In the business community, there is increased recognition that in-person contact is not the only way to develop connection and a desired group culture. Paying attention to interpersonal connection, being intentional about promoting that skill and opportunity, is highly effective.
I believe, however, that the biggest resistance to online learning is fear of change. Many school districts pivoted to online education during Covid. This was done under time pressure, so the results are not necessarily ideal, but they were a good first step and demonstrated that providing universal K-12 education virtually is doable. The lessons learned from these crisis experiments can prove useful in designing a more effective online education system of the future.
A family can choose to do online learning now. The amount of available materials is overwhelming. Tuition-free online public school exists as an opt-in endeavor (examples here and here). There are free curricula for homeschoolers (examples here and here). Subject-specific courses are available online to supplement the existing in-person school curriculum (state-by-state available courses here).
But, for now, it’s up to each family to decide whether to pursue online learning for their children, and the in-person public school system continues to struggle. Here’s hoping for a future where our mission has been accomplished, and all K-12 students can go to school online and excel.
