By Nila Venkat, WQED
Youth Radio’s Nila Venkat weighs what’s lost and what’s gained when taking a course online instead of in the classroom. I’m a sophomore in high school and this semester, I started taking an online psychology course on top of my regular workload. There are assignments due every day by midnight — like reading an article by a psychologist, or watching a TED talk and then making a comment on the video. I participate in Skype chats, discussing lessons with the other 15 or so students, who live all around the globe — from Beijing to Pennsylvania. But in my online course, I can determine my own learning environment. I usually go home, have a snack, and then lock myself in my bedroom to seal out potential distractions. And it works. I’m not saying I would swap all my in-person classes for online ones. There’s something about the human connections I get at school. Like fist bumping my math teacher in the hallway.
http://www.kqed.org/a/perspectives/R201510220643
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