Running Head: THE POTENTIAL OF THE ONLINE CLASSROOM

This is the Title

Lindsey A. Jasinski
UIS 350 (02)
Regent University

THE POTENTIAL OF THE ONLINE CLASSROOM

Abstract

This paper will go through the common difficulties teachers assess with online learning and will
suggest ways to remedy them. Then the quality of online education comes into question and is
compared to the quality of traditional face-to-face classrooms. Later the suggestion that online
learning can help students advance in education better than with traditional education is brought
to the forefront of the discussion. Lastly the benefits that online learning has for the teacher is
evaluated.
The Potential of the Online Classroom
Being a teacher has an automatic association of being in front of a class full of students
and instructing them on how to do skills that range from basic math and reading to dissecting a
frog or a work of Shakespeare. Now that nearly every home, if not every person, has their own
personal computer formal teaching and learning is not limited to the classroom environment.
Online classes are at many times necessary to people who wish to pursue higher education, but it
is also used in many places for public education. Online learning opens up a world of
possibilities that may not have been available to many people including: college students with a
restricting schedule, children who wish to achieve more specialized education, and people who
wish to have quality education in the comfort of their own home. Many people believe that
classes taken over the internet are vastly different than traditional face-to-face instruction, but the
reality is that they are more similar than the general public perceives.
In the article Everybody is their own Island: Teacher Disconnection in a Virtual School
the differences and similarities of teaching online classes and traditional face-to-face classes is
brought to the spotlight. In the study that the article was based upon there were three major
points of disconnection for the teachers who participated and they were: a disconnection from
their students, from their traditional notions of what it meant to be a teacher, and from their

THE POTENTIAL OF THE ONLINE CLASSROOM

fellow teachers, (Barbour, Graham, Hawkins, 2012). The first way to do this is to set up a sense
of being able to freely communicate with the teacher and peers as a student would find in a
traditional classroom. The article mentions that there is an unfounded belief that students of
online classes want to be left to do work solitarily. All students, especially ones of online classes,
must be motivated by their teachers in order to know that the coursework has purpose. The
interactions that occur during the period of an online learning experience need to be genuine and
pertinent to the course and must be able to be transferable to real life scenarios so the class has a
sense of community and familiarity with one another.
When issues like feeling disconnected from students the question of how effective online
learning is comes to mind. Once communication lines and methods of spurring students in their
studies have been mastered there are many possibilities for an online classroom to take place.
There can be anywhere massive worldwide classroom where minds from opposite corners of the
world can collaborate easily to one person classes where the student has a very personalized
curriculum. The quality of online courses should not be the big issue, but the quality of any
course. It is difficult to measure how effective any learning is because it is subjective to the
learner. Robert W. Mendenhall states that using the technology to teach, to deliver the content of
a course, we are able to free all students to study what they need to learn, and to do so at their
own pace, (Masie, McCormick, Mendenhall, Salmons, Twigg, Veletsianos, 2010). Janet
Salmons brings the reader to the conclusion that because there is more physical feedback from
online classes the quality of the class can be improved upon easier than in a traditional
classroom. After reading the article it seems that the majority of scholars believe that online
learning is as good as, if not better quality than face-to-face classrooms.

THE POTENTIAL OF THE ONLINE CLASSROOM

With this conclusion it is easy to see how many children that require a more challenging
course load can be left feeling bored in their classroom, happily online learning can remedy the
situation. It is said in the article Supporting Online Learning for Advanced Placement Students in
Small Rural Schools that many rural areas are unable to have advanced studies for students
because it is difficult to acquiring qualified professionals to teach such subjects in these areas.
Online learning provides qualified teachers to students that are in need of more challenging
studies conveniently. An online classroom does not require a teacher to move from their home to
a rural area in order to foster the young minds out there. Distance learning is not just beneficial
to students living in rural areas, but teachers as well. It gives teachers who may have lost
employment due to the closing of a local school the ability to make a living with their hard
earned degree without moving their roots.
Online learning has the ability to bring out the best that a student has to offer no matter
what type of situation that student is dealing with at home. With the proper communication,
expectations, and encouragement from the teacher a student is set up for success in a virtual
learning environment. The numbers of ways that online learning can be utilized are endless; it
can bring students from all over the globe together in one digital space. Whether the students are
from a bustling big city or a small town they are able to collaborate with the advancements in
technology that we see today. Students are not the only ones to benefit from the online classroom
experience. Teachers are able to gather data in order to improve on the quality of their
classrooms. Teachers also have a plethora of new job opportunities without even needing to
uproot their lives. The potential that virtual classrooms has is great, all that we need to do is take
the step into the world of online schools and seek to better the experience that is already
thriving.

THE POTENTIAL OF THE ONLINE CLASSROOM

References
Barbour, M., Graham, C., & Hawkins, A. (2012). Everybody is their own island: Teacher
disconnection in a virtual school. The International Review in Open and Distance
Learning, 13(2), 123-140. Retrieved December 13, 2015, from
http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/967/2143.
Masie, E., McCormick, A. C., Mendenhall, R. W., Salmons, J., Twigg, C. A., & Veletsianos. G.
(October 31, 2010). Forum: Has the quality of online learning kept up with its
growth?. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved December 13, 2015,
from http://0-chronicle.com.library.regent.edu/article/Forum-Has-OnlineLearnings/125117.
Farmer, T., Hannum, W., Irvin, M., Keane, J., & De la Varre, C. (2009). Supporting Online
Learning for Advanced Placement Students in Small Rural Schools: Conceptual
Foundations and Intervention Components of the Facilitator Preparation Program.
Retrieved December 13, 2015, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ876131.pdf