Written in response to
NYSCATE 11th Annual Riding the Digital Wave Conference
Erie 1 BOCES - March 13, 2015
Keynote speech on Virtual Education by Scott Merrick
"The unacknowledged design flaw in American education" is the school day and school year.
- 1994 report by the National Education Commission on Time and Learning
The infinite options presented by tech integration beg the question: Is it really necessary for humans (grouped by birth dates) to gather together, at the same place, at the same time, in an effort to "work together"?
A conference I recently attended opened my eyes to a whole new world...virtual schools!
Students:
Would you like to be gainfully employed during the day?
You can! If you attend a virtual school.
Are you in Europe training for a professional soccer career?
That's great! Just log in at your convenience.
Is your dad a rock star and you need to travel the world?
No prob! If you are a virtual school student...
The option to graduate early
In the traditional model, students are grouped by age and many decisions related to graduation are based on age. What if students could truly work at their own paces and on their own time schedules?
Students can "fast forward" through material that comes easily to them, and focus as much time and energy as needed to work through more difficult concepts.
Graduate when ready!
What are the options? Graduate when you're not yet ready? Or when you've been ready and waiting around until your scheduled time?
Scott Merrick asked, "Are students prisoners of time?"
A National Education Report states, "Learning in America is a prisoner of time. For the past 150 years, American public schools have held time constant and let learning vary."
Read the full report here:
Prisoners of Time - Education Commission of the States
Optimize energy
"The American Academy of Pediatrics declared the chronic sleepiness of our nation's teenagers a public health issue" (Netburn, 2014).
See the full LA Times article:
Do sleepy teens need later start times? Pediatricians say yes.
More from the article:
"The exhaustion has serious consequences. The AAP reports that the average teenager in the U.S. regularly experiences levels of sleepiness similar to people with sleep disorders such as narcolepsy. Adolescents are also at higher risk for car accidents resulting from drowsy driving. And, as many of us know from personal experience, lack of sleep affects mood, attention, memory and behavior control."
And:
"When high school classes begin early in the morning, we ask teens to shine when their biological clock tells them to sleep."
What if students had the option to start the school day at noon? 6 pm? Whenever and wherever suited their ambition and energy levels?
Furthermore:
What if a student wanted to work on just math one day and just science the next?
What if a student wanted to focus on school on the weekends and hold a job during the week?
What if a student wanted to surf on sunny days and complete assignments on rainy days?
Want to read the full list of reasons to go virtual with your education?
Check out this list from the MNPS website:
MNPS Virtual School - Why Enroll?
Of course virtual schools are not for everyone!
This extreme option is for motivated and independent individuals.
Just like in business - People who can push themselves, focus, and rally others make great bosses, while people without that drive benefit from the motivation a boss provides. Likewise, the freedom of virtual schooling will cause some students to flourish, while some will need the structure of the school day, schedule, building, and all that comes with it.
Tech integration is rapidly changing the "details" in education.
It will be interesting to watch virtual schools gather momentum.
Intrigued? Check out these related items:
MNPS Virtual School
How about just one virtual day? A PA school tries it on 4/6/15
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