Research and Online Schooling

More and more I am convinced that online schooling has the potential to solve so many issues we face with our "education crises." If we put the time and money in to research, if we take the time to teach our teachers how to produce and execute a really good online course there are so many benefits. In a regular face to face environment, a student may get 20 minutes 3 times/week to develop literacy skills. That may be all the time they get for any course, not just literacy. In an online course, we have the opportunity to be sure the students are understanding by using ongoing assessment tools and adaptive learning. And now as we are moving toward core curriculum standards in so many schools, the challenge in face to face schools will grow greater and they will be re-developing their curriculum regardless. There is so much that can be done, and the flexibility is so much greater than in a face to face environment - hopefully as time goes by we will have more case studies to evaluate that have been developed over time and as a result carry more validity. We have never needed this more.