Micaela Salerno & Sarah Engleman

EDU 315-604

Jeffrey Radloff

Edu Tech Research Paper

February 20, 2021

Technology is used in our lives every day in some shape or form; this is especially true

when talking about education. Technology has become a major factor in student’s education,

whether it be how it’s used in the classroom, how they use it to view and complete assignments,

or how they use it when they go home. The topic we chose to write about in relation to

technology in education is virtual elementary school. Virtual elementary school is similar to

being home schooled, but not quite the same. Home schooling is done by the parents of the

students, while virtual school is usually arranged for the student through the local public school,

or the school in which they’re enrolled in. You might be asking yourself “Why would a student

want to do virtual school at such a young age?” The answer to this question varies depending on

the student. Some students learn better virtually, some have obligations that they must attend to

regularly making in- person schooling difficult, others could have an illness, etc. It’s much easier

to tailor a curriculum to fit a student best through virtual schooling. Although virtual schooling is

done through technology, the concept of it began around 1830-1860 through postal services. At

that time this was considered “distant learning.” Once computers and the internet were invented,

virtual learning was taken to the next level. At this point, there were colleges that offered a fully

online college university (The History of Online Schooling, 2022). This is related to K-12

education because there are many students who struggle to learn in a traditional school setting
because of their ability to focus, conflicts outside of school, etc. The purpose of researching this

topic is to weigh the benefits and disadvantages of education in virtual elementary school.

As technology advances in our society, especially from the current Covid-19 pandemic,

virtual learning has led to parents and children to look into virtual education in elementary,

middle, and high school levels. While this idea seems far-fetched from the idealistic ways of

learning, there are several benefits for students as well as their families. Virtual schooling

“provides individual instruction to meet specific needs and learning styles of students, flexibility

in both scheduling and in geography, opportunity for students who are not physically able to

attend a brick-in-mortar school, and higher levels of motivation” (Barbour & Reeves, 2009, pg

407). There are different ways that these benefits are implemented in students' lives. A major

factor that children notice is when they are most productive. Students that fail to be productive

during a typical school day have noticeably poor grades. Having an education source that is

flexible for students helps build their motivation and improves grades. Not all children that

attend virtual school have the same schedule. Some may focus on one subject a day, children that

are not morning people may start later in the afternoon, or even start school at a time where they

are most productive. You may be wondering how children build interactions with their peers and

their community when partaking in virtual schooling. “High-quality virtual K-8 schools address

this concern by arranging for frequent school field trips and social activities among families who

live near one another. School personnel should encourage families to continue or expand their

children's existing community-based activities,” (Revenaugh, M., 2005, pg. 2) such as community

service, volunteer programs, youth sports leagues, etc. Some of these outside community-based

activities can account for credits that children do not receive in the virtual learning environment.

Children that participate in a sports league may receive credit for their physical education
requirement. Although these are great ways for children to interact with each other and build

connections, there are also online communities where students can participate in clubs, trivia

quizzes and even collaborate with each other online building relationships with other virtual

students. Along with the rise of virtual education there come some challenges. There is a process

that virtual schools must undergo to validate that online education is equivalent to the brick-in-

motor education that students normally will receive. Administrations must consider the high

start-up costs associated with virtual schools, access issues surrounding the digital divide, and

the approval or accreditation of virtual schools'' (Barbour & Reeves, 2009, pg. 409). Virtual schools

can be pricey because of the course content that needs to be purchased as well as hiring staff that

will be able to deliver specific courses through an online system. Computer and WIFI access

issues arise too. Students that attend public schools are guaranteed to have access to the internet

and a computer, but when it comes to students' access to this technology at home, White and

Asian children are more likely to have access to a computer than Black and Hispanic children.

Since states need to get approved accreditation for virtual schools, it is a challenge to get the

public to view virtual schools the same way that administration perceives its overall benefits. A

main concern that might impact the decision of parents enrolling their child in a virtual education

program is whether their courses will be approved in post-secondary institutions. Although the

concept of virtual learning is growing, making more children and parents aware, virtual

schooling has not been fully accepted by the public as a beneficial learning environment

compared to classroom instruction (Barbour & Reeves, 2009, pg. 409). The main tradeoff regarding

virtual schooling especially as Covid-19 surfaced was the concern between public health and

student success. Many states have made significant efforts to make virtual learning instruction
accessible for students to limit the spread while supporting students' yearly learning

achievements (Olneck-Brown).

There are several tensions that arise from virtual elementary schools regarding Spector’s

ethical principles for educational technology. Spector discusses the institution's issue of

expecting students to be interested in a subject or topic area in which that specific student may

not hold a strong suit or any interest in that subject matter. If this is a struggle in public

educational facilities, then it will be harder to control if virtual schooling is added in the mix.

Even though there are many successful online websites and databases that can help engage and

keep students interested and focused on a learning topic, it is still hard to control, understand,

and assist a student through a computer screen. Since these students are not in a typical school

setting, it leads to more distractions when they are learning virtually at home. Spector continues

to address that formative assessment is the most important and useful form of evaluation. While

this is true, virtual education still fails to help learners succeed. There is too much surrounding

educators to timely provide feedback to each student individually and to overall improve their

performance. It is hard to move from the common practice that educators use to evaluate students

and using technological advances to teach children can harm their educational career if not given

the proper feedback and resources to improve their learning.

Kimmon’s discussion of values and beliefs about technology highlights all viewpoints of

technology between teachers and administration staff. There are many aspects that educators

must consider when integrating new technology into their curriculum, but teachers are the main

component when it comes to executing new technologies in their classroom setting whether it is

completely virtual or in-person using technological tools. It is hard to integrate new technologies

especially through virtual schooling. Teachers have a more difficult job compared to
administrators when it comes to learning and teaching other students as well as themselves on

how to use the new technology that the administration wants to incorporate. Teachers want

evidential proof that virtual schooling and the tools used will help improve students' learning, but

if it does not show any accurate results then valuable time was wasted which could have been

used to learn actual material. If teachers must invest personal time to learn and provide tutorials

to students, then those teachers are less likely to use the technology whether it is virtual learning

or in the physical classroom setting. A problem that occurs for both teachers and administrators

is finding ways that these new technologies ensure security as well as security for students. This

is hard to do when administrations set up browsing filters and block certain websites even if they

are educational resources. This creates hardships for teachers that want to implement this in their

lessons. Especially for virtual students, how do you control what resources they are using when

they are on the other side of the computer screen? Even students that have technology that are in

classrooms have ways of going around these website blocks. Virtual private networks (VPNS)

have created much controversy for schools that have incorporated iPads or Chromebooks into

their curriculum, and many teachers are highly taking advantage of lockdown browsers when

students are taking tests online. All the problems seem drastic and time consuming for everyone.

Teachers and administrators that incorporate new technologies like iPads or Chromebooks have

long-term effects that they will have to consider if they are worth it. The price to purchase as

well as educational resources such as apps, software updates, damages and even replacements.

All the ideas in Kimmon’s discussion should make the point that virtual schooling/virtual

technologies is not the best way to integrate into a school's curriculum.

After the rise of the Covid-19 pandemic and moving in-person schooling to virtual, more

data and research of students' performance has been noted, but because virtual elementary
schools is still a new concept to the public, there is still not enough research on virtual

elementary schools showing any beneficial factors compared to physically sitting in a learning

environment. Even though students quickly adjusted to the change, it is hard to get back into

regular schooling and daily life post pandemic. For students that choose to participate in virtual

elementary schools by the time they move up to secondary and post-secondary school they will

experience a hard time with that transition.

Our research explores both the negatives and positives of virtual elementary school. It

recommends virtual learning for students who need an adjusted learning environment due to

scheduling or other reasons that would interfere with a more traditional school setting. Virtual

elementary school is supported by our research and is recommended if the student can’t be in a

physical school building to get their education, however there are some negative aspects to

receiving an education like this. One of these being that it is fully accepted as a form of proper

education, and this could create an issue in considering the courses that were taken as legitimate.

Given that research provides us with all of this, it’s important to take everything into

consideration before deciding what would be the best decision. I think something that would be

the best for leveraging the potential of virtual elementary school is making it more available to

families and providing more information on it as a viable option. Virtual education isn’t widely

discussed and although there is information online that you can find, it isn’t an obvious option to

most people. I think making this information more readily available to families and making it a

more possible option would create a lot more potential. Having tabs on school websites with

information, pamphlets in school buildings/offices, etc. I think something regarding virtual

elementary that needs to be researched further is how students handle virtual learning with

ADHD. This could be more of a struggle with students that were learning in-person and were
switched to virtual due to COVID, but if a student with ADHD enrolled in a virtual elementary

school was struggling there needs to be a sufficient number of resources to help that student. I

think that there needs to be more research done in this area because students with this type of

medical condition, and one’s similar, can struggle to learn in a virtual environment. Although

they still have the option to be in a traditional setting, this still might not be feasible for some

families. There needs to be an abundance of resources and techniques at hand for teachers,

families, and students involved in virtual elementary to help resolve any issues that may arise

with this. Further research on this would be very beneficial.

Technology has advanced greatly since the start of the 21st century, leading major

businesses such as schools, hospitals, and corporate companies to invest in them, so they can

incorporate them into their daily work lives. Especially as schools are expanding their learning

environment due to this new technology, the question of whether to enroll your child into a

virtual elementary school program still stands. Since this topic is still under statistical review as

years continue, it is important for families that are looking into this form of education to evaluate

the positive and negative and decide if this is the best route for your child to take on their

educational journey.
References

The History of Online Schooling. (2022, January 10). Online Schools. Retrieved February 17,

2022, from https://www.onlineschools.org/visual-academy/the-history-of-online-schooling/

Barbour, M. K., & Reeves, T. C. (2009). The reality of virtual schools: A review of the literature.

Computers & Education, 52(2), 402-416.

Revenaugh, M. (2005). K-8 virtual schools: A glimpse into the future. Educational Leadership,

63(4), 60.

Olneck-Brown, B. (n.d.). [web log]. Retrieved February 19, 2022.

Reckdahl, K. (2020, November 12). 5 Ways to Support Kids With ADHD During Remote

Learning. Edutopia. Retrieved February 20, 2022, from https://www.edutopia.org/article/5-ways-

support-kids-adhd-during-remote-learning