A Day in the Life at an E-School

October 1, 2012 | 5:00 AM

These stories are the result of a reporting partnership between StateImpact Ohio and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. StateImpact reporters Molly Bloom and Ida Lieszkovszky teamed up with Plain Dealer reporter Patrick O’Donnell to examine online schools.

Part 1: Few online school graduates go to college

Part 2: Running an online school can cost half as much as a traditional school

Part 3: Virtual academies are changing the experience of going to school

Part 4: A day in the life at an e-school

Every day, 33,000 Ohio students attend class not in a building, but through their laptops. The trend of online education has been growing by leaps and bounds over the last ten years.

But what’s it like to take an online class? Or to teach one?

StateImpact Ohio tagged along with one school teacher, Treva Matalon, and one student, Clinton Zehr, to find out. Both are with the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, or ECOT – the state’s largest online school.

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Where Ohio Stands on Online Education

Comments

dijah

I graduated from ECOT this year, and it is an excellent
online high school with wonderful teachers and curriculum. The work was
very challenging and demands your focus. I excelled on my OGT’s because
of ECOT. Attending ECOT made me enjoy learning and going to school. I
felt very close with my teachers and connected with them very well.
Don’t doubt online education.

jointhefuture

This comment smells like astroturf to be honest.

dijah

Excuse you? What exactly do you mean by that?

http://www.facebook.com/kathkern Kathleen Hogan Kern

I believe that the story on electronic classes was one sided, offering information about the benefits of e-schools but neglecting to address the multiple drawbacks associated with ECOT and similar programs. While e-schools are excellent for the right student, there are many students who are enrolled for whom this type of education is disastrous. This type of school program allows problematic students to be removed without expulsion. Similarly, e-schools allow students to leave school without dropping out. Ultimately, these schools allow for districts and families to ignore, rather than addressing, academic, behavioral and emotional problems in students. I would like to know how many students graduate from e-schools, relative to the graduation rate from typical schools. This would allow for a more balanced report on this topic.

M_Bloom

Hi Kathleen: Molly Bloom from StateImpact Ohio here. This video is one part of a multi-part series on online learning. You can find all of our online ed coverage here (http://stateimpact.npr.org/ohio/tag/online-education/ You might be interested too in this story (http://stateimpact.npr.org/ohio/2012/09/30/for-most-online-school-graduates-formal-education-stops-with-high-school/ which specifically looks at online schools’ performance.

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