Question 3

The role of online learning in schools is not an option or a theory but a practice becoming more and more widespread. The growth of computers in schools has been considerable in the decades since personal computers became mass produced. Technological advancements have always been incorporated into learning environments and online learning is being discovered as a class room tool in the same way as the printing press improved classrooms through the use of standardised texts.

The key technological improvement for online learning is not computers, which have existed for two generations already, and nor is it the ability to network two computers together. The key change which enables online learning is the relatively cheap price of personal computers and the commonplace knowledge of the online environment. Only the combination of these two will allow for online learning to be fully realised.

Online learning allows lessons and the information associated to be provided via an electron means, an example of this is students sitting at a computer completing an online tutorial which the teacher has prepared before hand. This practice is already used in undergraduate university courses. More futuristic improvements could include the use of virtual classrooms, virtual lessons and virtual environments where experiences can (virtually) be given to the students which are beyond the capacity of the current standard schooling system. In short online learning could be defined as any learning experience where the means of handing knowledge to the students is only possible through an electronic connection.

One of the key elements of online learning is that the learning environment is no longer defined by the four walls of the classroom. This is true in two ways: 1) students do not need to be necessarily sitting in the classroom to be participate in the lesson and 2) the resources available to the student include all the knowledge from all over the world which has been made available via the web.

The implication of the first point is that the need for classrooms themselves may disintegrate. Generally a classroom is currently designed so that a group of 30 or so students might sit together and all participate in the same lesson. An online learning environment means that students could participate in the lesson from anywhere, even at home. Furthermore students are not required to all participate in the lesson simultaneously, online learning can allow for what is called “asynchronous learning”. Students can take a lesson at whatever time is better suited to them.

The second point is perhaps the more interesting of the two. It has always been known, implicitly if not explicitly, that the limits of the students learning is defined by the knowledge of the teacher and the amount of resources which that teacher is able to carry into the classroom. With online learning this is no longer an issue. The online environment is created an immense number of contributors from all parts of the world, occupying most if not all of the sectors of their respective societies. The online teacher now has the option of directing students to pursue their learning through whatever sources can be found online.

The phrase “directing” is also important in the philosophy of online education. With online tools available students the teacher can take a more supportive and less prescriptive manner of teaching. The teacher can gradually become a role of facilitation of learning and assistance with learning as opposed to a source of knowledge and a singular authority.

Online learning certainly has a place in schools and there are three reasons for this: 1) the efforts of independent schools to demonstrate their use of computers and technology is a sure sign of the need for computers and online learning, 2) the flexibility and reproducibility of online learning can be used to overcome administrative hurdles of timetabling etc. and 3) the online environment gives a greater flexibility to tailor a lesson for each student or each type of student.

Regarding the first reason: it takes only a cursory survey of information made available from schools to see that technology and online learning is one of a school’s strongest selling points. It would not be cynical to say that the purpose of the school is first and foremost to aid the parents rather than the students, after all, Pope John Paul II stated firmly in various encyclicals which dealt with the principles of catholic education that it is first the job of the parents to educate the children. And so it is that if the parents are concerned that the children be given access to the latest technology and whatever advantages this may bring then such technology and its advantages have to be made available in the education system.

Flexibility is also a key issue for online learning. Clearly an online learning system creates enormous possibilities in terms of the timing, location and design of lessons. Given that schools are charged with the responsibility of giving students more than just an enlarged volume of knowledge it is imperative that extra curricular activities (sport, pastoral care, music etc) be made available. With a flexible online learning environment, these things can be arranged without interfering with the learning process. The flexibility of online learning also means that students can participate in subjects which do not have a very high participation rate. Students from various schools can be merged into one class and all the lessons could be delivered online. There would still be a need for only one teacher even though students might be located on opposite sides of the country. This is one example of the many changes that can happen due to the flexibility of online learning, it may even happen that the very definitions of school, class and teacher will be radically altered as online learning environment progresses. There is also however a draw back to these approaches and this has been termed the lack of communality. Since public schooling became widespread every person in society has shared a common experience of going to school. The limitations of traditional schooling mean that every person has had to participate in the basically the same system wherein the difficult task of receiving an education has been shared in a classroom with all the other students, forming one of the rites of passage in a very secularized society. The fact that school has not always been fun and in fact has sometimes been exceedingly difficult is preparation not so much for exams but rather for life itself. Any online revolution should be designed so as not to lose this valuable experience.

The third reason is perhaps the most important: online learning allows each student to learn in a way which best suits them at the pace which best suits them. The idea of helping each student according to their needs and abilities is not new but in a standard classroom the possibilities are severely limited. An online learning would allow a student with a higher visual capacity to perform a series of visual exercises to help learn the material while a student with a more musical ability could learn in an entirely different way. There can not really be any drawbacks to this sort of outcome. The better the student learns the material the more successful the educational process. It is primarily for this reason that online learning has a place in education and should be pursued further in terms of research and experimentation.