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Cyber schooling may be a viable option for students with special needs
Filed Under Blogging in and out of the Classroom, Computers In The Classroom, Engaging Assignments and Activities for Students, motivating students, Special Education, The way I see it, underachieving students, Web 2.0 tools and technologies
Cyber schooling may be a viable option for certain students with special needs. What is cyber school? I think of cyber schooling as form of home schooling where students use the internet and advanced technology, sometimes called Web 2.0, to earn credits toward graduation.
I’ve found that some students with special needs, especially those students who have social and/or behaviour problems, find it difficult to be successful in the hustle and bustle of a regular high school classroom. Usually, students with special needs who have difficulty coping in a regular classroom have the option of working in an alternative setting. At my school, we call this alternative setting the Contact Room. Other schools call it by different names. Students can go to the Contact Room to get extra help, where the pace is not as busy and chances of conflict between peers is reduced. Over the years, I’ve found that this alternative setting doesn’t necessarily meet the needs of all students.
Some students with special needs, despite everyone’s best efforts, still cannot cope in a bricks-and-mortar high school. I can think of some students that I gave support to over the years who were school phobic, had severe anger control or other behaviour issues for whom the alternative setting of the Contact Room and its support didn’t help them cope in the regular high school setting. Eventually these students either avoided school entirely by not coming to school at all or they were asked to leave school because their behaviour was inappropriate in a school environment.
Cyber schooling sounds like a promising option for some students with special needs. Of course, there could be some challenges for students who might want to access cyber schooling. First, students would have to have access to computers as well as high-band powerful internet connections. Some of the applications students with special needs use require high speed internet to function properly. It’s been my experience, that not all families can afford computers and the powerful highband internet connections a cyber schooled student would need. Second, some students are not independent learners and would need the support of an actual person. Who would that person be- a parent, a sibling? Who has time to be there to support the student? Who feels comfortable enough with the advanced technology to help the student? We can’t assume everyone is comfortable with or able to use the the internet and the advanced technology. What if students’ learning styles are such that they hate doing lessons online? I‘ve had students like that when I was giving support to students who were taking online courses. These students were totally engaged by the computer when they were playing games, surfing the net, accessing FaceBook etc, but absolutely hated doing lessons online and actually refused to do them.
The first time a student told me he hated doing lessons on line even though he loved being on line, I was quite astonished. Who knew? I thought because students loved being on the computer most of their free time, they would love using the computer to earn their credits. Boy, was I wrong.The only way these students would do a course online was if sat at the computer with them the entire time they were doing the online course. That one- student- to- one -teacher ratio every day isn’t practical in a high school classroom, alternative classroom or not.
I guess all we can really say at this point is that cyber schooling is another option that could be available for students. Certainly there are some concerns that need addressing. Who is going to pay for computers and the high speed access students need for cyber schooling if families can’t afford computers or high speed, broadband internet access ? Who is going to give cyber schooled students the at-home support they might need? It will be interesting to see what happens as parents advocate for cyber schooling to help meet the needs of their children. Will cyber schooling be an accommodation that finds its way into students’ individual education plans or IEPs? That is an interesting thought.
Reference: Educators Weigh Benefits, Drawbacks of Virtual Spec. Ed.
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My cousins completed a cyber-schooling program this past year. For one it was ideal, most of the time. For the other, it was a parental chore to stay on top of him. It is a great tool for some, as long as they are self-motivated and parents are able to guide/monitor the process.
kontan´s last [type] ..Manic Monday…another try
konan,
Self-motivation, that’s the problem for many underachieving students. Expecting them to be successful using a tool like cyber-schooling that requires self-motivation is asking a bit much I think.
I would imagine that for special needs students they need the one to one ineraction and contract with a real human more than anyone. However I can see the benefit in cyber schooling when kids really can’t regularly attend school or whatever reason. It would be interesting to see who if anyone would subsidise high speed internet conections to allow pupils to make the most of this.
I work with at-risk high school students and we are having difficulty devising a schedule for some students who cannot manage time in school. We were discussing the possibility of cyber school and gaining some perspective on the implementation is interesting. I had thought students would need monitoring and not be able to work independently- it is interesting that this is fact. We were considering having a quiet space in our ‘school’ (an old office building in a strip mall) to see if students who were not participating in class would participate online. It is still under consideration so thank you for addressing this.
Gabrielle,
A student of mine who was considered at-risk came back to visit me this week to let me know how things are going. He was not successful in school and is still finding his way in the world. After he got kicked out of school, he tried alternative programs with little success. He told me he needs one-on-one teaching. Perhaps cyber school would be successful for him if he had the computer and a real live teacher at his side. When I was teaching in the alternative program, and we used cyber courses, my students told me they did not like the computer explanations. They wanted a real lie teacher to interact with. We’ve just got to keep trying- different strokes for different folks.
Depending upon the students cognitive functioning level this would determine if the student can function independently in a cyber class. As we all know some special education students are very articulate in specific content areas, and this would determine if the student could learn in a cyber setting. I also feel this is an area that further research needs to be conducted in order to provide this option for individuals in special education.