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Lesson 1: Overview of K-12 Online Education

Does K-12 TLO Work?

Understanding K-12 TLO effectiveness is a difficult and unfortunately politically loaded problem.

The research on this topic is very difficult to untangle. Your text is mostly on the positive side, but does present a fairly balanced view of the various aspects of online learning effectiveness across students, course designs, instructional factors, and so forth. They devote chapters to these areas, but not all the research is presented. For example, there is compelling evidence that most charter schools (cyber or otherwise) tend to have a more homogenized student body, meaning that they will often end up with a far less diverse population particularly where race is concerned, than a traditional school. This fact has created some concern that charter schools allow families to choose a private-type education and insulate themselves from some of the important social orientation that our schools help our population realize.

Figure 1.3: Sticky Concepts on E-Learning

In the end, there is research on both sides of this question that is compelling, and in time experts believe we’ll come to a place where we are more certain of the true effectiveness of K-12 TLO in terms of traditional measures. 


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