Back in the 70’s I took a video course when that was rather new. I loved it. I could watch it at home, or go to the library and pop the tape in at my convenience. I very much prefer online classes to keep my nursing license current. My daughter did 2 semesters of online clasess and absolutely hated them, despite starting on a computer at 18 months old. She also wants a physical textbook in her hands, and it can’t be used, either. On top of that, the online classes were more expensive than on campus classes and she was watching recycled videos.
People learn differently and one size doesn’t fit all. School was torture for me, having a high IQ. A history teacher threatened to fail me if I missed another day of class. I asked him how he could justify that if I had a B+ and never cracked the book. In a small town, his personal war stories were crap compared to his neighbor who’d been in the Bhutan Death March. Maybe he was jealous I was friends with the guy’s daughter.
Back in the early 90s when online schools first became available, it was a Godsend for a colleague with a child that had ADHD and was being abused by his teacher and the school system. It made a huge difference for him and he finally started learning. Again, one size doesn’t fit all.
I agree with your one size doesn’t fit all which is why it’s so great to have so many options. My oldest grandson tried taking one class on-line in a core subject but just didn’t have enough self-discipline to stick with it. He’s always been an “around to it” kind of kid though. Too bad because the cost of tuition was more than off set by the cost of driving too and from campus which was quite a distance.
I have to “attend” a lot of webinars on-line dealing with all the new Obamacare changes and they just drive me crazy. But it may be the subject matter and the fact that other attendees are always interrupting with questions instead of just listening. All I want is the basics and I’ll figure everything else out!
My son teaches at a private Baptist school and they are beginning to integrate some on-line classes for the 7th and 8th graders with their regular classroom work. He loves it. Says most of the kids pay more attention to it than they do to their teachers and it also opens up whole new avenues for discussion.