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Once Considered Non-Traditional Learning Is Becoming a Tradition
For over forty years, Blueprint Education has provided accredited Distance Learning courses to students worldwide. Historically this type of learning was often referred as non-traditional or alternative learning. So in reading a recent report put out by Alliance For Excellent Education titled The Online Learning Imperative: A Solution to Three Looming Crises in Education, I am reminded that what was once considered non-traditional learning has become a traditional accepted practice for learning environments:
The number of students taking advantage of this learning opportunity is growing rapidly; K–12 online learning enrollments in school districts was 1,030,00 in school year 2007–2008, up from 700,000 just two years earlier. The authors of Disrupting Class predict that even without policy direction, one half of high school classes will be online within ten years.
I agree with the former governor Bob Wise of West Virginia, we are seeing a change with the role of a teacher. As technology evolves so will the teacher. This is evident and practiced within @BlueprintEd own Charters and Alternative Education Programs:
The use of such technology will require a shift in the teacher’s role; he or she will no longer be the sole or major source of the knowledge imparted to students. Rather, students will take more responsibility for their own learning, and teachers will serve as facilitators and guides to the high-quality educational content that is now coming into the classroom from many sources.
He wraps it up with this -
The goal of enabling all young people to gain the knowledge and skills they need to succeed—resulting in much higher high school and postsecondary school graduation rates—requires the United States to think creatively and expand the use of online technology in education. As technology has revolutionized the way Americans get news, communicate, listen to music, shop, and do business, now is the time for American students in thousands of underperforming classrooms to realize the same gains.
Technology can no longer be thought of simply as an add-on tool in education, but an integral part of the total educational environment.
Comments
This is a great post
This is a great post regarding non-traditional learning evolution into traditional learning. Bill Gates recently made a statement about how technology, society and other specific "ecosystems" have changed over that last 100 years, but the traditional style of educating has not (1 teacher standing up in front of 25 kids). Distance learning, homeschooling, charters, etc. all have a place and continue to redifine traditional learning. We all have different styles, like/dislikes and learning preferences (whether we have realized it or not). In a recent forum of educators, I heard teachers in a charter explain it bestl, "Some of our children have been hit hard by the economic downturn. Their parents have lost their jobs and they have had to drop out at the age of 16 to take a job and contribute to the survival of the family. Having the option to take online classes or attend a charter that starts school in the evening is the ONLY avenue that they have to attend class and increase their chance of graduating." This is not the only example, but alternative delivery of education is paramount. In the not so distant past, this option did not exist and they dropped out permanently.
Nicely phrased and thanks for
Nicely phrased and thanks for the comment, we often think of "alternative education" or "non-traditional" as a negative, times are changing as these terms are becoming mainstream forms of learning environments.
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