[ OUR OPINION ]
A "virtual school" where Hawaii children attend classes online introduces a strategy that should be explored for possible expansion in public education. The concept may provide another option to traditional classroom learning and deliver broader education services more efficiently. Online education opens
a world of possibilities
THE ISSUE A charter school delivers lessons to students across the state through computers at their homes.
The online charter school, named the Myron B. Thompson Academy, has 112 students in grades 9 to 12 who live on Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Kauai and the Big Island. Most of the students receive assignments and lessons through laptop computers at their homes from six teachers based in Honolulu. Students and teachers talk with each other via e-mail and telephone; teachers also travel to the neighbor islands weekly for individual sessions.
Parents like the online school because each student has a personal study plan and receives more attention from a teacher than in regular classrooms. Courses are intensive, generally focused on two subject areas for about six weeks and are adjusted to fit a student's pace of learning.
For teachers, the school's system frees them from keeping order in a room full of kids at the expense of conducting lessons. It also allows them to track a student's progress more closely.
The school's enrollment is a mix of straight-A students, others who need remedial aid and those who have jobs or children and can't attend regular classes. It doesn't suit all children; students must be disciplined and self-motivated.
The program has disadvantages in that some subjects are difficult to teach without visual communication. However, as the school develops, technological equipment may help overcome these problems.
Students also don't have the daily contact they may need to develop socially. There are no school dances or talking story in the cafeteria, although children are required to participate in discussions and are encouraged to form clubs. There also are field trips, work projects and recreational activities that bring them together.
Virtual schools and distance learning have been developing steadily in other parts of the country. Schools in rural regions, such as South Dakota, have found that the time and money used in transporting children across vast distances to a classroom are better spent providing equipment and online services at their homes.
In Hawaii, online schools may be able to better furnish education to children who live in rural areas. Even in urban districts, online programs may give students more choices in the type of instruction they may need or want, such as foreign languages or other specialized courses. The method also could be used where schools are short of space; students could take some lessons at home and attend classes when necessary.
There are, of course, a number of obstacles in establishing virtual schools. However, the state Department of Education would do well to step up study of the possibilities.
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