There is a lot of discussion out there about K12 education - "it is outdated", "we are still teaching students to be citizens of the industrial world" and "we are not responding to the technology that is all around us."
It is hard to argue that the style of K12 education has changed very little. Driven by enforced standardized testing, teachers lecture, write on whiteboards and drill in the same style that they did 20 years ago. But today's world is very different and today's students are very different too. Information is readily available and accessible at students' fingertips. The teacher is no longer the sage on the stage and can be questioned and challenged at every step, but they still behave as though they are the only ones with the answers.
Schools need to become proactive in deciding their future, especially at the high school level where the regular brick and mortar building is quickly losing its value. When anyone can grab their phone and instantly become researchers and experts on any subject they like, we need to be teaching students how to disseminate information, how to verify and analyze, how to problem solve and how to be a useful participant in today's information driven world and workplace. Instead, we are still placing way too much emphasis on teaching things that students just do not really need to know anymore because they carry a pocket encyclopedia with them everywhere.
Distance learning has been with us for decades but now it is being pushed to the forefront of education in the world's demand for convenience of life. Society expects to get what it wants, when it wants and education is becoming a commodity that is being packaged in every shape and form. Whether we agree that is an effective form of education or not, it is what the people want. They do not want to be tied to regulated class times and they do not want to learn according to the whim of one person.
And yet, the K12 school continues to teach in the way it always has, expecting students to show up every day for class, to sit and be lectured to, to do their homework and repeat the process every day till graduation. Rural schools are steadily losing students - many because parents have to move to the cities for work, but many others to home schools and online schools because the regular school is no longer serving the needs of their consumers.
In order to survive, high schools are going to have to reevaluate their whole structure. If students can get information anywhere, why are we forcing them to come to a building to get it. The flipped classroom model touches on this, let students ingest information at home and then making the classroom and interactive space where students work on projects and get one-on-one attention from the teacher. The blended course also provides the benefits of allowing for students to learn material at their own pace, in their own style and then providing face-to-face time with teachers for feedback and interactivity.
So, what if a high school became a tutoring and social center instead of a regimented typical high school? Students could learn subject matter at home and come into the school at their convenience for extra support, to work on projects or to participate in extra-curricular activities. Not only would this allow for freedom of scheduling, but would seriously lighten the financial burden on the smaller schools that are constantly struggling to provide enough teachers to cover every subject at every grade level. Teachers could alternate between being on call at the school for support and interacting with the online modules from the comfort of their homes. Students could come in as needed or connect with teachers via video if transportation was an issue.
A few high schools have already started programs like this, allowing students to work from home but requiring them to come in once a week for some face-to-face time. This blend of both online and face-to-face seems to have better results than pure online classes as high school students need some monitoring, some real feedback and some time to interact with teachers and peers.
Yes, blended learning is the new catch word but if the K12 high school wants to survive, it had better start taking it seriously!
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