Coach Bob Sikes put together a blog about the corporate supporters of Jeb Bush’s crusade for digital learning.
If you go back and read the report of the “Ten Elements of Digital Learning,” I suggest you scan the acknowledgments and you will find a representative of almost every corporation trying to sell hardware or software to the schools.
The other thing you need to know about the report is that it is based on zero evidence. It cites a US Department of Education study of evidence-based policy for online instruction, and that is supposed to impress the casual reader and make him/her think there is evidence to put every child online as much as possible. But I read that study and it says (p. 53) we don’t know enough about online instruction to make decisions in the K-12 area. There have been only five studies, not enough, the report says.
The accumulating evidence from places like Ohio and Pennsylvania is that online virtual schools are driven more by profit than by a desire to produce better education.
I just finished a chapter on this subject, and feel incensed that so much effort is being expended to spread the gospel on virtual schooling in the absence of evidence about where, where, and to whom. Certainly online instruction is important and necessary, but there is no support in research to have millions of chlldren home schooled in front of a computer, with the virtual school collecting millions of dollars while teachers have classes of 60:1, 100:1, even 200:1, at low pay.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Having been a high school teacher for 16 years, I often wonder if the people who come up with these ideas have evey met a teenager or thirty of them in a classroom. I love my job and young people, but they are not little adults. They need encouragement, reinforcement, explanations ( usually more than once) along with a respect and connection to their teacher. Have any of these education reformists done any reading on how the teenage brain works let alone their emotions? It certainly doesn’t seem like it.
LikeLike
Oh, no, they never talk about adolescent psychology when they bring their products to market. The more they enroll, the more money they get from the state. It’s that simple. Think of a first-grader online for his or her education. Even nuttier.
LikeLike
If these corporate pirates have their way, we are going to produce generations that can only communicate electronically in Textish. Over time, thumbs will evolve into communication instruments specifically designed to precisely tap on little screens. Seeing as how education is devolving in bubbling skills, fine motor skills will probably be an important job skill for the masses. Critical and creative thinking will be reserved for those who were fortunate enough to be able to afford a real education.
LikeLike
Do not the parents see the social skills that will be lost with do much on line learning? I know the corporations don’t. All they see are $$$$$.
LikeLike
Whoops! do should be so.
LikeLike