[Netizen]

LOL I saw that math stuff on the screen and laughed. Last summer my cousin’s boy stayed with us and he had classes on computer and he was so frustrated. He had questions, but no teacher to ask. Plus when he took a quiz, or test, he couldn’t retake it if necessary until the instructor gave the ok. He must have taken some of those test/quizes 20 times. He didn’t get the algebra and there wasn’t a teacher to walk him through.

I didn’t like the idea that he could retake quizes/tests over and over. He was just guessing. What good would it be to pass something after having guessed every combination?

His mother used the online system for her other son as well, but he never did the work. She was doing it for him. The computer can’t tell who is at the other end.

School, whether online or public is as good as the student, teacher and parents involved.

Our son went through the public school system and did just fine. You get what you put into it.

[RobRoy]

I understand what you are saying, however, something I saw with Encarta version one really gave me a hint of the future. It was a short video showing how a jet engine works. It was an animated CG that clearly SHOWED the engine actually functioning. A teacher and textbook images don’t always do the job.

IOW, the information was so clear and easy to understand that there was not much need for follow up questions. That said, the idea of the site in the OP is that it is broken up into small enough parts that one can watch the videos multiple times and get help from the parents that can also watch them. It’s not perfect, but it is miles above most classroom environments. Try getting a teacher in a real classroom to redo yesterdays class because your child didn’t get it.

[HiTech RedNeck]

It sounds like the computer classes your cousin’s son attended had no provision for supplemental support by a human. So if there was something in the written description he could not pick up on, he was out of luck.

[RobRoy]

>>Our son went through the public school system and did just fine. You get what you put into it.<<

My daughters did too. That said, they would have done MUCH better with this. Actually, an order of magnitude better.

[goodwithagun]

Just because it was online does not mean the modules where privately operated or consisted of quality material. Our school system uses VLA, Virtual Learning Academy, and it is he same deal. It is public school online. Answer questions and retry when failure occurs. There is no live help. This is done as a way to boost our graduation rate. The school system knows the kids are going to pass, and even encourages the teachers to pass the students regardless of work quality, so that we keep the money flowing in. When we have seniors we know are going to fail, we set them up on VLA and the teachers are instructed to generously interpret the answers. I don't think Khan is the same thing that you experienced.