Cyber Learning: Pros and Cons

According to Kowch (2009: 41-48), a cyber school (typically referred to as a cyber charter school) can be defined as an educational institution that teaches courses mostly or entirely online. Cyber schools serve students in elementary and/or secondary school.

This paper presents the findings of a literature review conducted to determine the advantages and disadvantages of cyber schools. Prior to conducting the research, this writer knew only that cyber schools were of interest to many students and it was believed that they were fairly effective but probably not as effective as regular schools. The purpose for conducting the research is to learn both the advantages and the disadvantages of these schools. Only in this way can it truly be know as to how effective or ineffective cyber schools truly are.

There are several advantages associated with cyber schools/cyber charter schools. First, such schools are attractive to an increasing number of students (Cavanaugh, 2009: 28-31). Indeed Cavanaugh (28) reports that there are 180 such schools in the United States located in 25 different states with many more being started. Cavanaugh (28) also notes that there are additional, and even more important, advantages of these schools. For example, cyber schools can make curricula available to students at any time and place. In addition, students can work on the material at their own pace. Further, the cyber school can design curric

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rriculum as well as being prevented from letting their child go to cyber school part time and attend public school the remainder of the time. It is also noted that often parents sending their children to cyber schools were home-schoolers who specifically home-schooled their children so as to help them learn religious content. However, unlike the home setting, there is a need to make sure that any religious information that is offered to students as part of instruction is not offered in a discriminatory manner. This can upset some parents. An evaluation of both single district and multi-district cyber schools was conducted by Salmani and Mohammad (2008: 1-5) who noted that this type of school is primarily the outgrowth of no-child-left-behind concerns. The evaluation examined schools using a variety of instructional practices including: Instructor-led Training, Collaborative Learning, Computer-based Training, Web-based Training), and the Electronic Performance Support System. Although it was noted that there were both advantages and disadvantages associated with cyber schooling, the authors concluded that the results of their evaluation showed that students learned no better in cyber schools than they did in regular public sch

Category: Science - C