What Do the Student's Think?
Zach Werner, 14, loves the freedom he has in his cyber courses at Strayer Middle School in Quakertown. “Instead of being textbook based, it’s a more open world,” he said. “It’s not placed right in front of you.”
Yes, most kids jump at any chance to play educational games, search the Internet to research a project, connect with classmates and others online, and even do their homework digitally.
But many students also saw drawbacks to the increased use of technology in schools. In particular, students worry about the distractions and temptations of “self-paced learning,” something many advocates of digital education have touted as a way to get away from one-size-fits-all education to a more personalized experience.
Jonathan Wulffleff, 15, an eighth grader in Quakertown, is a fan of the cyber courses he’s taking in addition to his face-to-face classes. “If you have issues, you can watch the video again,” he said. “With a class, you only get it once and you have to remember it. ”Still, he said, “I slipped for a little while and was really upset, because last year I did really well.” The reason? “It was distraction related."
“I decided I could do all my classes at home and get it done faster,” said Maia Costanzo, 14, an honor roll student at Strayer. “It was pretty good, except I didn’t get a lot of my work done.”
There will always be drawbacks to everything someone tries to do to make our lives easier. But what we need to decide each individually is if our classrooms react well or not. It really and truly is different for everyone.
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