Playing Hookey

I guilty admit I once had a penchant for playing hookey. In my high school one could miss five days of each six week period without having these absences questioned. (Sounds absurd these days, but believe me it was true at the time.) Needless to say, I missed my five each semester. I did not waste a one. My grades were good, I graduated on time, with extra credits, which now makes me wonder what I could have done if I had actually been there all those missed days. However, at the time, going to school each day was equivalent to having a daily root canal. Necessary but painful.

Richard Ferdig's article in this week's MOOC not only gave me insight into the research, or lack of research, behind online learning, but the readings suggested made me appreciate how online learning may reform hookey players such as myself. In many schools online learning is most often seen as a means of credit recovery or as an alternative to traditional schooling. A way to prevent students from "dropping out." I feel a burning question on the minds of many educators is, "Does online learning work?" Ferdig discusses the problem of this question. In fact, he reframes the question to better describe the conditions necessary for online learning to "work." Ferdig also discusses the problems of obtaining data sufficient enough to determine "best practices" associated with online learning. Data that is difficult to obtain as the field currently vast and diverse.

The readings associated with this article further illustrate why research is needed. Online learning has the potential to offer students more choice in both what they are learning and the conditions in which the learning may take place. Research that is necessary in order for the field to advance and grow. I cannot help but yearn for this growth to take place. I know what it feels like to want to learn, to desire knowledge, but to feel restricted to undesirable means of obtaining those goals.

Barbour, M, (2012). "Research into the design of K-12 online learning." Virtual School MOOC. Retrieved from http://virtualschoolmooc.wikispaces.com/design. 21 September 2012