I.E. Article Co-opted by Local Papers
Local newspapers the Seminole Voice and East Orlando Sun have both borrowed Matthew Morrison’s article (featured in our September 18 post below) about Independent Education and published it in their papers.
Posted by: editor on October 21, 2009
Channel 9 Newscast
Our August open house attracted various local news organizations resulting in a brief television spot on WFTV Orlando, Channel 9’s evening news. The story discusses how the use of online education in public schools can actually save the county thousands of dollars per student. The cost difference between a full time online high school student and one in the traditional classroom is roughly $ 3,000.
With studies consistently showing that online education is more effective than face to face teaching, we are assured that little if any academic quality would be lost by expanding the scale of online. education. The money saved through the computerized curriculums could be put towards arts and athletics programs which have suffered major cuts in the last years due to local and national tightening of education budgets.
Posted by: editor on October 16, 2009
NY Times Explores Benefits of Online Education
The New York Times published a recent write up about the superiority of online classes to traditional classrooms after reading the results of a twelve year investigation of the subject. The September 19, 2009 article written by Steve Lohr outlining results from a major study conducted by SRI International for the US Department of Education appeared online. The study concludes average online students tested in the 59th percentile while average classroom students tested in the 50th percentile on their relative subjects.
The investigation which took place between 1996 and 2008, surprised many people who assumed that students taking online classes were missing out on essential information that can only be gained from the classroom experience.
The study suggests a major increase the use of online curriculum in the near future as technology continues to improve. The widespread use of online video allows high quality audio-visual content to play a major role in online coursework of all levels, while social networking, blog and email formats create user-friendly environments for group and discussion work among students.
The study pointed to a future where students could help one another learn subject matter such as Algebra or Environmental Science online while classroom time could be spent learning how to apply the abstract knowledge from academic subjects to real world situations.
At Independent Education, we have successfully used correspondence and online coursework for years in an effort to streamline the academic efforts of high school and college students. Our students typically master their subject matter in less time than classroom students, and often find time in their schedules to keep part-time jobs.
Posted by: editor on October 2, 2009
