And nationally, blending learning has already caught on in some areas.Students also can enroll in virtual charter schools, and school districts can contract to use the Florida Virtual School model, create their own virtual schools or contract with private virtual providers.īecause virtual education has no defined borders, families can choose to enroll their students in virtual schools anywhere in the state.īut during the legislative session that ended in April, lawmakers put a cap on how many out-of-district students a county school district’s virtual program can accept. Other variables include “the maturity and sophistication of the student,” he said.ĭespite some complaints about the virtual teaching method, administrators said e-learning labs were here to stay. A facilitator who only monitors student progress and technical issues within virtual labs would not be categorized as part of a blended-learning model, he said. He said, however, that research and his experiences had shown that proper design and teacher instruction within the classroom were necessary. Moore, who is also editor of The American Journal of Distance Education. “There is no doubt that blended learning can be as effective and often more effective than a classroom,” said Mr. This is called the “blended learning concept.” Moore, a professor of education at Pennsylvania State University, said programs that combine virtual education and face-to-face instruction could be effective. The first part of the day should be for learning with people.”īut Michael G. “I think there should be learning on the computer,” Ms. Kirchner questions the instructional effectiveness of online courses, she said there was a place for them at some level. The panel works with the school toward “getting issues on the table and working proactively,” said Patricia Kaine, the association’s president. In response to parental confusion about virtual classes, the Miami Beach High parent-teacher association created a committee on virtual labs. Jodi Robins, the assistant principal of curriculum at Miami Beach High, said that even if students struggled in certain subjects, the virtual labs were necessary because “there’s no way to beat the class-size mandate without it.” School administrators said that they had to find a way to meet class-size limits. This was not something they chose to do, and it’s a really bad situation to be put in because it is not your choice.” “None of them want to be there,” Alix said, “and for virtual education you have to be really self-motivated. There are 445 students enrolled in the online courses at her school, and while Alix chose to be placed in the lab, she said most of her lab mates did not. Fourth- through eighth-grade classrooms can have no more than 22 students, and prekindergarten through third grade can have no more than 18.Īlix Braun, 15, a sophomore at Miami Beach High, takes Advanced Placement macroeconomics in an e-learning lab with 35 to 40 other students. Under the state’s class-reduction amendment, high school classrooms cannot surpass a 25-student limit in core subjects, like English or math. “It’s totally different from what classroom teaching is like, so it’s a completely different animal,” Ms. Sutter recalled her “jaws dropped.” Neither of them had been told that Kelly would be in one. When Kelly said that she had been placed in a virtual lab, Ms. A representative from the district said in an e-mail that the system “provided lab facilitators, training for those facilitators and coordination” between the district schools and the virtual school. The 54 participating schools in the Miami-Dade County system’s e-learning lab program integrate the online classes differently. Students log on to a Web site to gain access to lessons, which consist mostly of text with some graphics, and they can call, e-mail or text online instructors for help. The virtual school has provided online classes for home-schooled and traditional students who want to take extra courses. The online courses are provided by Florida Virtual School, which has been an option in the state’s public schools. Others said they were not given the option to choose whether they wanted this type of instruction, and they voiced concern over the program’s effectiveness. While most schools held an orientation about the program, some students and parents said they were not informed of the new class structure.