Jonathan Elder
“Originally the plan was I would just do fourth grade in virtual school and then go back to public school but once I got into this virtual school we (my parents and I) realized just how wonderful it was and how much I loved it. It gave me so many new opportunities.”
– Jonathan Elder
A blended learning structure is a relatively new, but great alternative to standard brick and mortar education. It allows much more educational freedom than the type of schooling that was always considered normal.
Blended learning environments give students much greater opportunities to focus on problem areas of education. In a typical school setting there are so many students working with one teacher, they all have to go at the same pace. In a blended learning course, a student can spend more time on subjects that they find particularly difficult, and less time on those that come more naturally.
“A big, big plus for online schooling for me personally was being able to work ahead and have some grace since my family has had severe health issues and I never knew when I’d need to be there for them.”
There is a bigger focus on specialized courses with blended schooling, as there is much greater access to these resources. There is only so much room in a physical school building, so only a certain number of classes can be offered to students. In an online or blended structure however, there are many more available courses and programs, purely because there are nearly unlimited resources to spur education. Thanks to the additional available course options, students can focus on subjects that help them become better employees after school. For example, a student who wishes to become a software engineer can get a head start by taking computer science classes through his or her blended learning environment.
Personally, I feel that my educational self-reliance has greatly improved since I began blended learning, I have become much better at teaching myself various subjects. I feel more pride and accomplishment after completing a hard objective now than I did when I had a physical teacher watching over me. The ability to work at a pace that best suits me is another positive regarding blended learning. My family has a lot of health issues, so there is often great uncertainty with my learning schedule. In brick and mortar school I often struggled to stay with the class due to being absent with medical problems, but that is no longer an issue thanks to blended learning.