Keyes 1 Chris Keyes Nancy Elliott English 111 19 November 2013 Learning in the 21st Century As the advancements

of the 21st Century make themselves apparent, inventions that once were cutting edge like the personal computer become obsolete. New inventions like tablets and smartphones connect the world in a way that could have never been imagined. Supporting these creations is the Internet; it connects the world in a matter of seconds. Whether a person is chatting with a friend down the street or sealing a business transaction across the world, everything is tied together through the Internet. With the potential for greatness due to the Internet, more innovations like not needing to have teachers in a room with students occurred. People looked for problems in society that they could fix, especially in the area of technology and education. How could schools teach a large curriculum when they have a limited supply of money to employ teachers? The answer was simple; have one teacher at a computer teach 100 kids at computers. Create an online class with its own courses, tests, grades, and assignments allowing students to have a greater variety of classes that they can choose from. Not only will a student be able to more freely choose his or her courses, the instructor could teach the student from across the country. Without the need to be in the same building to teach a student, more opportunities will become available. The availability of the class is not always the main priority. Since the class is online, it brings the quality of the class into question. How can administrators and parents be assured that their son or daughter is receiving a quality education through the online course that he or she is

Keyes 2 participating in? To parents, learning is face-to-face with a Socratic style question and answer method. This is a more classical approach to learning, and it is the most traditional way that most people think of when they hear the word classroom. If a person wants to receive an education, they need to understand the true meaning of education. It is not just going into a classroom or logging onto a computer and receiving grades for work. It is applying what a person learns to the real world, using it in everyday life, and then making connections with it. Could online classes provide this opportunity? Learning online makes students think in a whole new way that most young children are not yet prepared for. This causes inconsistent learning which is the biggest problem when it comes to learning in an online environment. When schools look into programs, they try to see if the class is consistently good or consistently bad. With online classes it should be the same way. Studies show that the online environment is beneficial to a student, but how do the students actually taking it feel? Students taking online classes may have a different opinion about them after their experiences. Of course, students have more possibilities with online learning, but along with these opportunities, comes the ability to cheat the system. Students have the temptation to cheat with online classes. There is not a teacher standing over the students shoulder waiting for him to whisper to his neighbor What did you get for number six? Online students have many more opportunities to cheat; it is as easy as opening a new tab and going to Google. This causes the inconsistency, or even a false sense of consistency. If a majority of students look up an answer on the Internet and use it to get the question correct, teachers may think that their online course is working and teaching the students. Also, the effectiveness of the material is brought into question whenever online learning is brought up. Scott Jaschik, editor and co-founder of Inside Higher Ed, claimed that the teaching techniques and assessing of students does not appear to

Keyes 3 enhance learning (qtd. in Jaschik, 2), and that is the goal of education. As a student who has participated in three online classes, I support this statement. My classes were through the highly used Blackboard Learning System, and I can say that I was not pleased with the quality of education that I received. Currently I am enrolled in a history class through the Blackboard System, and I just recently finished an exam which is crucial to the final grade. Not only the entire class, but the exam itself was inconsistent. Some multiple choice questions had the same exact answer for multiple choices. Other problems had no answers correct. There is no benefit to reading the lesson because the tests are like this, asking vague questions and having irrelevant answers. The quote that Jaschik used says the use of online quizzes are not effective; it supports my own experiences with these classes. If the entire class is inconsistent, how should a student receive a consistent education? The teaching techniques are not adequate for modern learning. Sure some students will benefit from the graphs and activities that the class offers, but the majority of students will not even take the time to click on the different tabs that the class provides. Through online learning there is no way to have a discussion with the teacher about why a student thinks a particular question could be a different answer. This has happened many times in my experiences causing damage to my grade because the only choice I have is to select one of the answers and hope that it is right. Another frequent problem with students who participate in online classes is procrastinating. When a student procrastinates in an online class, it is different than a traditional class because once they get behind, they feel like there is no chance of getting out of the hole. Together with problems in the system, students may suffer psychological problems in an online environment. While Jaschik focuses on the enhancement of learning, Anna Ya Ni centralizes the point that students might not stick with the class. She states that students may lose interest in the

Keyes 4 class, (which happened to me on all three occasions), they may become perturbed, and they might suffer from a feeling of detachment. Through the inability to have contact with their teacher directly and with the other problems, students become irritated, affecting proper learning (Ni, 201). Eventually a feeling of isolation occurs. This also affects a students learning in a negative way because it causes a feeling of hopelessness. All of these problems together are what cause the inconsistency of online learning. These variables need to be taken out when the class is made if the quality of education online should be taken seriously. Many people do not understand the preparation that goes into designing classes that have a positive outcome for the students. Along with this, there are many different factors that go into judging the quality of a class when it is created. According to Kaye Shelton, Ph.D., quality ...depends on a range of factors arising from the student, the curriculum, the instructional design, technology used, [and] faculty characteristics (qtd. in Shelton, 2). The creators of online classes recognize these importances and try to design their classes around them to give the student a consistent, quality education. For the learning to be effective and consistent, the type of student is crucial. If a student has a terrible attitude about the class, he or she will be less likely to learn. Also, the type of learning that a student uses best is critical. A student who is primarily a visual learner that would thrive in an online environment may be hindered in a traditional classroom by a teacher that gives lectures. This harm would be caused by the barriers in a classroom like the fear to share opinions and have enriching discussions with the class (Ni, 201). This largely affects a classroom; if a group of kids are afraid to say their opinion on a topic, the classroom has no flow to it. However, students who utilize active learning enjoy working in groups. These types of students would feel isolated and detached from their class causing a negative effect on their learning.The United States Department of Education found that

Keyes 5 combining learning in a classroom and online learning, also known as blended learning, is the best option to chose. The Department of Education claimed that according to individual studies [the effects] were significantly positive, favoring the online or blended learning condition (13). It allows students to have the benefits of both learning styles while maximizing their choices in classes. Perhaps the most appealing part of online classes from a students perspective is the choices when it comes to an online environment. Like larger schools, small schools can only afford a certain number of teachers. The small schools are injured more because the amount of teachers employed means the number of classes that can be taught. With online learning a student can pick class choices that would not be available at their school. Inconsistency with online learning also comes from the fact that the types of classes that students take on a computer are not for everyone. When designing an online class, the creators cannot make a one-size-fitsall type of class. With the advancing technology in todays world who knows where the next idea in learning will come from or consist of. Online learning is a new possibility to many students, and it has no limits. I believe that if school systems really want to be great, they will look into their current online programs and revise them. As long as the classes could become a consistent way of learning, they will have a place in education. It is a fantastic way for students to get an education and take classes that were never available to them previously, but the online learning system as a whole needs work. Traditional classes should never be forgotten because of the great perks that they bring with them. The face-to-face learning will always be better for some students, and some students will not like to change or adapt to new things like online learning. Since online classes are increasing rapidly in popularity every year, school systems will need to balance between them and traditional classes. With some of the most intelligent people in the

Keyes 6 world working to improve the system, I believe that education will become more easy and more accessible to students, giving them more learning possibilities than ever before.

Works Cited Jaschik, Scott. "The Evidence on Online Education." The Evidence on Online Education. Inside Higher Ed, 29 June 2009. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. Ni, Anna Ya. "Comparing the Effectiveness of Classroom and Online Learning: Teaching Research Methods." Journal of Public Affairs Education 19.2 (2012): 199-215. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. Shelton, Kaye, Ph.D. "A Review of Paradigms for Evaluation the Quality of Online Education Programs." Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration 4.1 (2011): 1-12. Web. 12 Nov. 2013. United States. Dept. of Education. Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development. Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning. Ed.gov. Dept. of Education, Sept. 2010. Web. 12 Nov 2013.