So often, when we talk about educational technology, we assume we're talking about school-based technology. But, as Michael Christensen (Christensen, 2008) suggests in "Disrupting Class," revolutionary educational technologies will take hold first at the fringes of the school system, not in the regular education classroom.Gwinnett County Public Schools, the largest district in Georgia, is beginning implementation of home-school data communications program to better serve 600-700 of it's home-bound students. This latest technology will be an upgrade from simply voice communications to include video and interactive graphics. This experiment in distance learning will surely borrow from and lead to advanced insights into computer mediated teaching & learning.
Aronowitz, Scott. (2009). "Georgia's Largest District Expands External Education Capabilities," T.H.E. Journal, 3/23/2009, http://www.thejournal.com/articles/24169
Christensen, C., Johnson, C., & Horn, M. (2008). Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns: McGraw-Hill.
Gwinneth County is addressing the home-bound student. This does not apply to homeschooled students, correct? When you say home-bound, are you referring to students with health difficulties that make it impossible for them to attend school?
ReplyDeleteA larger arena for "disrupted classrooms" are homeschooled children. I hope that this is where revolutionary educational technologies will take hold first. Personally I have met some of the parents that do this and my reactions have ranged from pure fury to congratulations. I certainly hope that the homeschooling parents are utilizing online sources in order to access state sanctioned materials. These kids are still subject to the testing and diploma restrictions as publicly schooled kids. Florida does have standards for homeschooled kids (http://www.flsenate.gov/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=Ch1002/part04.htm&StatuteYear=2003&Title=%2D%3E2003%2D%3EChapter%201002%2D%3EPart%20IV).
Also, take a look at http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?acc_num=ohiou1204138318.Parental sovereignty is well and good as long as it does not become parental sophistry in an effort to avoid adequate child care. All children should have the opportunity to learn. Effective distance education could insure this ideal.
I went out the the website of Morse Communications of Melbourne, FL(the company running the Gwinneth county experiment) and found to my surprise that they are specialists in commercial VoIP. They normally do communications work for large companies. I wonder how much different the educational experience will be.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.morsecom.com/index.php