Virtual Classrooms

Both K-12 and higher education expect to see interest in online full-time and part-time options grow in the long term. Some view hybrid learning as a way to mitigate the negative effects of online-only instruction.

After COVID-19 forced everyone to pivot to a digital-first world, many students decided to stay there. Colleges should meet them where they are, online, by developing courses with their needs, distractions and technology in mind.

In partnership with the state's community colleges, UNI this fall will offer an online bachelor's program to students who have completed associate's degrees but cannot afford or attend the university's in-person courses.

Given plummeting test scores and worsening student behavior issues that followed months of online learning, some people are skeptical that increasingly popular remote-learning options are a wise strategy for the future.

Online credit recovery programs are an option for K-12 students to make up courses they failed during remote learning, but researchers say they should involve personalized academic support and supervision.

Hoping to stem the tide of declining enrollment and rising tuition, universities have partnered with VictoryXR and Meta to use AR/VR technology to create “digital twin” campuses and make online classes more immersive.

The ed tech company, which has created its own VR headsets, announced a learning platform for K-12 that can be accessed by any device and brings students into a virtual environment for lessons and field trips.

A study by the Pennsylvania Charter Performance Center found enrollment in online charter schools surged 59 percent in the 2020-21 school year. Boyertown School District estimated this exodus added $5.4 million to its costs.

A pivot to online tools over the past two years helped an Irving, Calif.-based company that allows entrepreneurs to build and sell educational content to increase its annual revenue by 250 percent.

The New York City Department of Education's "A School Without Walls" program includes a hybrid option which blends in-person and remote learning, and a virtual option with daily synchronous lessons in STEM or humanities.

Given the possibility of a looming enrollment "cliff," along with state funding declines, workforce needs and student expectations, the Iowa Board of Regents last week issued a report suggesting more online options.

Several metrics of student well-being failed to improve over the 2020-21 school year, from chronic absenteeism to graduation rate to behavioral incidents, feelings of safety and relationships with teachers.

Research by Human Rights Watch found that many ed-tech platforms have built-in mechanisms to track children’s online behavior for the benefit of advertisers or others, and legal oversight is very limited.

A report by the Center for Democracy & Technology says disabled students, who may need longer bathroom breaks, screen readers or dictation software, are more often flagged as suspicious by remote proctoring AI systems.

The editorial board of the Dallas Morning News cites a recent study from Harvard's Center for Education Policy Research that found that Black, Hispanic and high-poverty students fared worst during remote learning.

Special education professionals say the increasing use of technology in schools has, in some cases, helped by making families more involved and giving students a digital environment in which they feel comfortable.

The department thinks the schools could be labs of innovation to inform virtual learning practices throughout the district, but details on a start date, and who will teach and attend, are not yet public.

Carlisle Area School District is seeking state approval for a districtwide flexible instructional day program starting this fall that would give them options for dealing with snow days or other building closures.