Online school

thumb|right|A staged example of an online classroom using [[Jitsi. The teacher is sharing their screen.]]

thumb|Number of Students Taking Distance Courses by Level (2012–2015)

[[File:Percentage_of_Students_Taking_Distance_Course_(2012-2015).png|alt=|thumb|Percentage of Students Taking Distance Courses (2012–2015) In 2015, more than 6 U.S. million students were taking at least one course online; this number grew by 3.9% from the previous year.

Virtual education is most commonly used in high school and college. 30-year-old students or older tend to study online programs at higher rates. This group represents 41% of the online education population, while 35.5% of students ages 24–29 and 24.5% of students ages 15–23 participate in virtual education.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, students around the world were forced to attend school online. The number of online students decreased in 2022 and 2023, but remained well above pre-pandemic levels.

Technology

Virtual classrooms are made possible through the use of educational technology with the help of the internet. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States began to encourage social distancing in the education system. One use of technology that was found to be resourceful in the collaboration of students and teachers in virtual learning was the use of video conferencing. The utilization of web video conferencing allows students to communicate virtually with their teachers and simulate a classroom environment, with many using services such as Zoom and Cisco WebEx. To engage virtual students even further, a process known as gamification can be used to teach a student learning material in a form of a game to bring more enjoyment in a student's learning experience. Secondlife, an online virtual world, is a type of gamification system that is used for online educational purposes. Secondlife has qualities that resembles an in person curriculum such as class discussions, participation in lectures, and completing assignments. Gamification can also serve as an aide to increase a student's intrinsic motivation. The use of rewarding points while a student is using a gamification system can enhance internal motivation and motivate the student to accomplish learning goals from the game's objective.

Costs and accessibility

Students with cognitive and/or physical disabilities oftentimes face issues accessing online schools. One of the groups of disabled students who have difficulty accessing online learning platforms is students with severe visual impairments. They most often use screen readers in order to use online school, but there are many instances where activities, files, etc., don't support the use of screen readers.

Advantages and disadvantages

Potential advantages

Personal circumstances or health disruptions, specifically contagious viruses such as COVID-19 and the common cold, or injuries will not halt learning since the physical demands are much less.
Digital transcripts of lessons can additionally help absent students with learning missed curriculum.
Online learning is ideal for students and families who need flexible arrangements. However, synchronous learning does impose limits due to time zones.
The integration of Internet resources provides a huge library of content, and students quickly become proficient with online research, resources, and tools.
Greater flexibility enables independent students such as self-learners or gifted students to explore learning beyond the standard curriculum, pursue individual skills and ambitions, or develop at their own preferred pace using online resources. Part-time students with jobs or family commitments may benefit from the flexibility of online schedules.
Online schools can be equalizers, as age, appearance, and background are far less obvious, and therefore this can minimize harassment, prejudice, or discrimination. Instead, groups are categorized by personal ability.
Students may benefit from exposure to others in different cultures of the world in online schools, providing an array of different perspectives. Through this exposure, students may develop greater cultural awareness and competency.
Online education may collaboratively engage in or discuss universal or real-world issues, which are necessary skills for a successful career.
Increased accessibility to remote education for poor or rural areas where commuting to schools or lack of resources are concerns.
Online courses may be less expensive for students than traditional classes since less resources may be required. Additionally, many learning resources online are free, easy to access, self-paced, and beginner-friendly.

Potential disadvantages

Remote learning can reduce engagement and interaction and lead to a lack of socialization, which can potentially decrease a student's social competence or skills, such as their ability to cooperate with others.
A home or online environment may potentially be more distracting or disrupting than a physical school environment.
Those without access to technology or devices would not have access to virtual education. Although some schools may offer students borrowed devices, those who do not have access can easily fall behind.
Technology or the Internet can be more unpredictable since it may be vulnerable to power outages, Internet outages, hacks, exploits, online trolling, glitches, or errors that can potentially be more difficult to fix or deal with when online.
Online can be potentially limiting since physical activities or hands on activities, specifically for courses like physical education, Art, and Chemistry, may be more difficult to engage in or occur less frequent. Online classes might take away the value of the active elements that some courses require, and do not offer the same teacher-student relationships. Students might also not experience the same critical thinking, observation, and creative skills.
Because online learning has 24-hour flexibility, work-life boundaries can be difficult to establish, which can cause mental and emotional health issues to arise.
The immediate availability of AI technologies to assist with students' coursework leads to less interactions with course staff. This also leads to the student not properly learning the material and not properly developing study skills.

Technology

Costs and accessibility

Advantages and disadvantages

Potential advantages

Potential disadvantages

See also

References