On line Learning

According to the Boston Globe article, the number of students taking class on line is increasing, though I was a little shocked that they counted the number of virtual seats filled as opposed to the number of students taking on line courses. Could they have calculated the number of students enrolled in what would be considered a full-time education?

i can see both the advatages and the disadvantages of this. A major advanage is that students from across the country will all be receiving the same education from the same teacher. The freeing up of the students time was also a very strong point. That allows for the fostering of child parent relationship which is often compromised due to the educational demands of students outisde the class room.

The Downside is that the amount of the information the student retains may be compromised. It seems that most kids, who do not see the value of education, wold go to great ends to take advantage of this new system, and have all of their resources present when taking a test. Also the personal relationships between teacher and student would be lost. I know that side questions that were not covered in class could be emailed, but it seems that some of the students understanding of a concept could get lost in the email exchange