Distance Education

5 Pros:

1. You get to work from your own home. -This makes it easier for parents that are not comfortable with having their children in the public school system and gives them a chance to teach their child.
2. You get the advantage of collaborating with others from all over the country (or state). -This can help with subjects of diversity and learning about other places based on who your "classmates" are.
3. There are deadlines. -So it isn't like a correspondence course where you have to pace your own self. You can still have the structure of doing work but without being in a classroom.
4. Sometimes there are more choices. -Some rural schools may not be able to offer some of the classes that an online one could. This could help with those that are looking for more challenging classes.
5. You can set your own pace. -While there are deadlines to help you, you still have the freedom of working at night, in the morning, after work, etc. The day is more flexible.

5 Con's

1. Little to none face-to-face interaction. -While some online schools offer meeting times or other get-togethers, for the most part you will be interacting with students over the computer and don't get the personal communication you would in a traditional school setting.
2. It may be more difficult to get help when you need it. -If you are struggling with an assignment or any other part of the curriculum you may not have the direct and immediate help that you would from a teacher in a traditional classroom.
3. You have to rely on your equipment and Internet services. -If you have technical difficulties you may have trouble using your computer or the Internet, which means if an assignment or any other work is due and you are unable to get online to post it then you may be penalized.
4. The freedom. -While this is also a pro, it can be a con as well. Sometimes students need the structure of an everyday school setting. If a student does not have this then they may be more apt to "blow off" assignments since they have their own time to do and there is not a teacher there to penalize them.
5. May not be the "best" education possible. -Without a teacher right there instructing you, you may not be getting the best education there is. An example is science. If a classroom is doing a science experiment in a lab in a traditional classroom, will the video or instructions of the experiment be as beneficial as the hands on experiment? Probably not.

Emerging Technologies

The emerging technologies in the world are almost endless. There are things that we have now that 10 years ago many would have thought impossible. When choosing 3 items for this assignment I chose 3 that I understood and have seen used before instead of finding something that I was unfamiliar with. They are blogging, online/networked classrooms, and wiki’s.

The first one, blogging, has been around for a few years now but is becoming ever more popular. A blog is a “web-log” or journal type style. It is online and under a username that that person can post whatever type of information they want to in their blog and it is available for everyone to see. This could be used in the classroom in a variety of ways. A teacher can create an assignment that they post in their blogs and that way classmates can see everyone’s responses and comment on them. This creates a sense of community between the classroom because everyone has the opportunity to share their ideas.

The second one is online classrooms. This is becoming very popular in college and even in high school. It is a way for students to be taught by a teacher that is not at their school, or to teach students that aren’t at your school. It is a virtual classroom. Students will be able to watch, listen, and interact with their teacher, even if the teacher isn’t there. I think that this technology offers a lot of advantages because it makes it possible to get the best educators because you are now able to have them even if they are at different schools. Of course there are many downfalls to this, but I think that it is going to become even more popular very soon.

The third and final emerging technology is wiki’s. They are websites that anybody can add to. It would work great in a classroom because a teacher could create a site and the students could add questions, comments, insights, or whatever, to the site as needed. It creates a very interactive environment for students and can continue their education at home. The internet makes it great for students to check into the wiki while they are at home and then parents can see what is going on in their child’s classroom as well.

All of these technologies will soon have a greater impact in classrooms and as a future teacher, I as well as all the other future teachers, should prepare for a classroom that includes all of these and many more. Not to embrace these emerging technologies will most likely hurt us in the long run because they aren’t going to go away, and if we have the chance now to learn about them then we will be able to understand them better in our own classroom.