Online Learning

Over the last two decades, America's schools have embraced tools that allow students to learn without the limitations of time and place.

Satellite, microwave, cable, and broadcast TV first gave students access to courses not otherwise available in their home schools. More recently, multimedia Internet-based technologies have provided even more powerful options for teaching and learning at a distance. With virtually all schools now linked to the Internet, a growing number of states, districts, and individual schools are adopting online courses to expand their curricula.

Online courses make sense. Not only do they expand the range of offerings to all students but they also are a boon to special populations such as homebound, incarcerated, and other non-traditional students.  In addition, they provide an alternative method of instruction, one that adults too are using for their own professional and personal development.

How Many Students Participate in Online Courses?

The number of students participating in online courses is large and growing dramatically. Exact figures are hard to come by, because the most current government statistics are a few years old.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, during the 2002-03 school year, some 328,000 public school students were enrolled in distance education courses (which include both Web-based courses and older technologies such as two-way interactive video hookups), and nearly a third of the nation's school districts were offering online courses. And we know that interest in online learning has been increasing with each passing year.

NEA Policy on Distance Education

NEA has recognized the enormous potential of online learning -- as well as some of the potential pitfalls. In 2002, the Association adopted a comprehensive policy for online learning. Some key points include:

• NEA enthusiastically supports the continued and expanded use of distance education because it believes that distance education has the potential to improve learning opportunities for students, the quality of instruction, and the effectiveness of education employees.
• Distance education can enrich and enhance the education provided to students, but distance education is not an alternative to traditional education that can in all respects and in all contexts fulfill the mission of traditional education.
• All eligible students must be able to participate in distance education on an equitable basis without regard to the economic or social status of their family.
• Students who take distance education courses should receive the preparation and support necessary to enable them to function effectively in an online environment

While NEA supports the use of online education, the Association is concerned about the growth of "cyber-charters." These are virtual schools that students attend full time, under existing state laws for charter schools. Some of the schools are run by for-profit businesses; many of the customers are home-schooled kids taught by their parents, rather than a certified instructor, notes Barbara Stein, a technology expert with NEA.