Ka-Ching! For-Profits Dominate Teacher Education

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1. JoJoFox says:

   October 12, 2013 at 2:48 pm

   “Broadly speaking, the expansion of online teacher preparation has prompted some soul-searching among teacher-educators. The pedagogical benefits among the various online formats aren’t clear and have yet to be extensively canvassed in research.”

   And yet they forge ahead…benefits unknown, unverified…like most else of the reform movement. Why care when the cash is rolling in and profits are being made??

   Must say…to say the least, reading this has ruined my day.

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2. Yvonne Siu-Runyan says:

   October 12, 2013 at 4:30 pm

   This truly makes me I’ll. my stomach turned when I read your piece, Diane. I know these virtual teacher ed rackets are well and alive, but reading about them here at this particular time just made my stomach turn. What kind of nation has this country become? ANSWER: DOUBLESPEAK fueled by money. Thank you. No kidding: KA-CHING!

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3. teachingeconomisot says:

   October 12, 2013 at 5:33 pm

   I may be mistaken, but I think that the vast majority of education masters degrees are obtained on line and have been for many years.

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   • Robert D. Shepherd says:

     October 13, 2013 at 12:15 am

     Not many years, TE. It’s a fairly recent phenomenon:

     http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/education/story/2012-08-07/online-teaching-degrees/56849026/1

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4. George Buzzetti says:

   October 12, 2013 at 10:22 pm

   What a game. No space, no parking, no facilities, almost no teachers and yet you pay $49,000/year the same as if you used all that. Big profits, so bean counters say go for it as they do with the foreign students instead of the California students as the foreign and out of state students pay the “Big Bucks.”

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5. Alabama teacher says:

   October 12, 2013 at 11:53 pm

   I wouldn’t trade my experiences in my teacher ed. classes on campus or in an early childhood/elementary classroom in an elementary school for anything!

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6. Brian says:

   October 13, 2013 at 12:23 am

   I am in a traditional credential program right now, but I looked into the online programs. USC was highly recommended by someone I respect. USC requires student teaching in a school where the candidate lives, to the same extent that other schools offering California credentials do, so it’s not fair to say that there are no “living children” involved. I ultimately decided that in-person interactions and interactions with my classmates and professors outside of class were too valuable to pass up while training for a career that is so much about interpersonal relationships. Due to scheduling issues, some students in my program have had to take one or two courses online from UCSD, and they say they learned a lot. None decided to complete their credential online, though. I feel I made the right decision by choosing an in-person program in the community where I want to teach. I do agree that the online programs seemed relatively expensive.

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7. Cosmic Tinkerer says:

   October 15, 2013 at 11:07 am

   “Not much interaction with peers. Not much opportunity to practice teach in classes with living children, but who needs living children when virtual children are available and cheap?”

   The online programs that I’ve taught in have had the same requirements for classroom observation hours and student teaching as the brick and mortar programs where I’ve taught. And I have honestly never heard of “virtual children” being involved in online college courses. I worked at one college where that would have been readily achievable, too, because although it was a non-profit, the university was owned by one of the founders of K12 Inc., but I never heard that possibility even mentioned.

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   • Cosmic Tinkerer says:

     October 15, 2013 at 11:09 am

     Also, regular interactions with peers in discussion forums are major components of all online courses that I’ve taught.

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