Throughout the videos the one thing that came to mind is how are we assessing the students work and how are the free websites being created without being sued by the original providers. I enjoy the fact of knowing that there are free options available to the public, but how free is free. Just like how they say we have a freedom of speech, but if we say the wrong thing then we are being penalized for our words.
In the video for the open house school if Utah, I feel that it has pros and cons for availability in the state of which it is used, if this was to be used over a wider range of school districts would it be as successful. I am interested to know the growth of the comprehension levels of the students because when we are in the classroom we have a wider range to judge the levels of the students understanding. But if everything is done online the students have the upper hand to use the tools provided (books, internet sources) to establish a virtual understanding that will get the job done for grade purposes. I think that the teacher who has the mix classes with 2 days online and 3 days face-to-face allows for flexibility and also it doesn't confine the students and they are able to access there own understanding with the outreach of the professor/teacher being present.
All in all the free sources come with a price to pay and the open High School of Utah also has a price to pay for providing all courses via computers. In my personal experience I feel that as a young educator I feel that having a open class with the free range of computer usage has several faulty flaws. Ranging from understanding and being heard throughout the course, I also feel that proving your understanding takes additional measures because you don't have the face-to-face interaction. I think in the end what my major concern is being more concerned with assuring that the students are gaining all the information that is being provided to them. I would love to see the score reports and the average success rate of the students that are allowed to partake in the open school and also I would like to see the criteria for being involved in the school.
I have similar questions around student learning outcomes. I would be interested in the outcomes of students in the open high school compared to traditional high schools as you indicated. I am impressed with the flexibility offered by the open school. How do you think our world would change if the majority of high schools were open high schools?
ReplyDeleteYou bring up some good concerns. I always think of security and how secure a system must be when displaying student information.
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