Issues in Online Schooling

Issues in Online Schooling

Kendra Kennedy

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Issues In Online Schooling
Kendra Kennedy
4-12-2015

For the last couple of hundred years education has remained mostly the same: students go to school, listen to a teacher lecture, go home, do their homework, and return to school the next day. But, within the last couple of decades, thanks to the leaps and bounds we’ve made in technology, an alternative to the tried and true traditional way of schooling has finally arrived with the advent of online courses. Now, students can access their classes from almost anywhere with use of the Internet. No longer do students have to wake up before the sun to catch a bus to school or walk to their university classes in the cold. Now, they can learn from the comforts of their own homes, even while still in their pajamas. Not only that, but with access to free university level classes online, this is surely a godsend to all desiring to further their education or even keep up with changes in their areas of interest or employment. But are online classes all their cracked up to be? With growing trends towards online education, surely this must be beneficial to society. However, just because there are trends supporting a change, doesn’t always mean the change is a good one. There are currently many ethical and even legal issues surrounding online education. Issues like whether or not online classes prepare students as well as the traditional classroom, whether or not online degrees and programs should carry the same weight as their traditional counterparts, whether moving to online classes worsen the digital divide in the United States and the world as a whole, and whether the students and professors really are who they say they are, not to mention the disparity of internet availability nationwide, especially the lack of affordable internet options in rural areas.All of these are major concerns when it comes to online education. Throw in the idea that the futures of grade school children at stake, and we have the full weight of these legal and ethical concerns on our heads.

Generally when we think of online classes we first think of online college or university classes, but even grade school classes are offered completely online now. Without ever having to leave home, children can complete their kindergarten through senior year in high school solely online with online schools like K12 Public School (K12, n.d.), Connections Academy (Connections Academy, n.d.), Forest Trail Academy (Forest Trail Academy About Us, n.d.), and many others. Many times, these students can even complete their grade school curricula early and go straight into college. However, while these classes are convenient, are they really preparing these young students for college or the real world? According to Liz Blau of Demand Media, home schooled children tend to lack experience socializing, and “As a result, they might not develop communication skills and won't know how to interact in group settings.” (Blau, n.d.) Some online k-12 schools do have measures to counteract the limited socializing aspect by having online events where students can virtually take part of extracurricular activities or chat with classmates online to make friends. Many online schools also encourage their students to take part in community athletics, clubs, and organizations so they can get some social interaction. Some online schools even schedule meet ups for classmates in the same area. However, lack of face to face time with instructors and classmates still tends to be a major concern with parents of grade school online students. It just seems to dehumanize the whole education process, which may not create empathetic citizens for tomorrow.

The social aspect of online schools isn’t the only issue for primary and secondary online education students according to one CNN report, “Data from the Virginia Department of Education showed that, as a group, students at Virginia Virtual Academy did not perform as well on state reading, math, science and history tests as their counterparts at brick-and mortar-schools in Carroll County, where K12 has a contract.” (Jones, 2012)Meaning, not only are there issues with the lack of social exercise, there is also the issue of online students preforming at a lower level than traditional schooling students. Most supporters of online schooling attribute discrepancies between scores and content learned to the individual student’s will to learn. Which, according to former cyber student Nate Kusich, is changed by the response and encouragement (or lack thereof) from instructors be it online or in person (Kusich, 2012).

While many studies show that online learning may not be as effective for learning in grade schools, a substantially larger amount of studies show that online courses for college level classes are either as effective or possibly even more effective at teaching students course covered material. In a 2002 study it was found that there was no significant difference in grades, test scores, or final exam scores between students who took the traditional course and those who took the online course. (Neuhauser, 2002) Later in 2009 the U.S. Department of Education released a meta-analysis and review of online classes that showed that students who take all or some of their classes online fared better overall. (Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones, 2009) From these and other studies it is easy to see there is no substantial statistical evidence that online courses of accredited universities are of lesser quality than the same courses taught in the traditional setting.

While online schools have mostly proved themselves for college level learning, whether or not degrees earned from online universities should carry the same weight as those earned from traditional institutions is still in question. While many employers are beginning to view online and traditional degrees equally, some employers will still pass up an applicant from an online institution in favor of one from a traditional university (Zupek, 2010). One issue with weighing online universities is accreditation. There are many online institutions where one can learn their field and graduate, but whether or not the college or university is really accredited is sometimes hard to tell. There are even illegitimate groups who will hand out false accreditations for schools meeting minimal standards that are not recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. So it is very easy, for online students, especially international students, to be lured into a school that may seem great at first but in reality is not truly recognized as an institution of higher learning. (Haynie, 2013)Another issue with many employers is they see online schools as a lack of dedication. “These days, there are no excuses. Your job will pay for school; colleges have day-care facilities that are usually free…” (Zupek, 2010). While finishing an accredited program should be a testament to a person’s dedication, many employers just don’t trust new online institutions like they do the tried and true traditional institutions we’ve had for hundreds of years. In their minds, there’s just too big a divide between a traditional education and an online one.

Another one of the big ethical concerns with online schooling, as with any new technological advancement, is that it may worsen the digital divide within the U.S. and internationally. If all schools were to move to solely online classes, there would be many in the U.S. who would not have access to school. The digital divide is not just a division of the have and have not’s, it is more of a gradient from the have not’s, to the have some’s, all the way up to the have great’s, especially when it comes to internet connections. If a person still has dial up, then there is not really a way for them to do online classes even if they wanted to. Unfortunately, as of 2011 only 60% of rural Americans had broadband internet, and 25% of Americans didn’t even use the internet. (Severson, 2011) With the number of rural American’s without decent internet being so large, there will be many left behind in this change to online schooling. While those with access to fast internet will be able to learn more, faster, those in the rural United States will be left behind, and at a disadvantage for jobs when competing with those who come from the privileged towns and cities with good internet access. This will happen on a global scale as well, until we can get decent and affordable internet access to all parts of the globe, the digital and intellectual divide will only grow more dramatic between the have more’s and the have less’s. However, on the other side of the argument, the movement to online schooling can also shrink the digital divide. Once everyone has access to dependable and affordable internet, they will be able to learn about and learn how to utilize new technologies and be able to get a hold of newer technologies with more ease than currently possible. Thus, slowly shrinking the digital divide.

Perhaps the largest ethical issue that online instructors have to deal with is academic honesty. When a teacher is not there to keep a student from phoning a friend during a test, or having their friend from Spain take their Spanish test for them, what would keep them from doing so? What keeps them from googling the answer to the question when there will be no consequences? In a recent survey 33% of college students admitted to cheating in at least one of their online classes. (How Students Cheat Online, 2013) This percentage may seem relatively small, but when we take into account the many thousands students that take online classes this percentage becomes substantially more important. There are many ways that online instructors have come up with to reduce cheating. One method is the webcam proctor, where the student turns on their webcam and they are monitored throughout the duration of the test to ensure they are not cheating. Another method is keystroke recognition programs, these programs monitor the rhythm of the students typing and if it notices the typing pattern is off, it alerts the instructor to let them know that someone else is taking the test for the student. One more method that online instructors use a lockdown browser that forces the student’s computer to stay on the one site until they close out of the lockout browser. Each of these methods has proved relatively effective for keeping students from cheating during tests. However, when it comes to assignments, it is a little harder to judge whether or not a student has done their own work. Unless an instructor knows what to look for in a document, they cannot tell whether a document is a student’s own work or not. The way this is remedied is simple enough, just training instructors what to look for before having them teach an online class.

Now, analyzing the whole of online schooling from different points of views. From a utilitarian point of view, online schooling is definitely something ethically good. The overall benefit to those who will have access to it, will greatly outweigh the costs over time of lost teaching jobs, less socialization between peers, and the temporary increase in the digital divide. From the stand point of Cultural Relativism moving toward online schooling would be an okay move morally, as trends are showing more and more movement toward and acceptance of online learning and schooling. From an Ethical Egoism stand point, if an individual is capable of using online schools or they would benefit from online schooling, then the move towards online schooling is completely moral. On the other side, if an individual does not have access to the Internet, then the move towards online schooling is unethical. Finally from a social contract standpoint the move from traditional schooling to online schooling would be seen as either good or bad from a societal point of view. On the one hand, online classes limit social interactions, making teamwork and working together for the good of society a little more difficult. On the other hand, as online learning tends to slightly improve learning among adult students, the right answer would be, for grades k-12 no online schooling unless accompanied by some traditional schooling, and for adults moving to online schooling would be the moral choice.

In closing, as technology has changed and evolved over the past couple of decades our methods of learning have been able to change and evolve as well. With the introduction of online learning and schooling came the introduction of various different ethical and legal issues too. Are online classes to be seen as the same as traditional in the aspects of preparing students, especially younger ones, for what comes next? Should online degrees and programs be weighed the same as traditional ones? Will the spread of online classes worsen the digital divide among the have less’s and have more’s? Or will it help to bridge the gap between the two? And will the cyber students really do the work they’re assigned or will they cheat and hand it off to someone else to deal with? Is the move to online learning right and moral or is it not. Most ethical viewpoints seem to support it, but is it really the right thing? Would it be better to go to all online classes, just stick with what we know that works, or mix the two together to get the benefits of both? The choice is ours to make.

Works Cited

Blau, L. (n.d.). Social Disadvantages of Home Schooling. Retrieved 4 12, 2015, from Global Post:

Connections Academy. (n.d.). Retrieved 4 12, 2015, from Connections Academy:

Forest Trail Academy About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved 4 12, 2015, from Forest Trail Academy:

Haynie, D. (2013, October 13). How to Tell if an Online Program is Acredited. Retrieved from US News :

How Students Cheat Online. (2013, March 3). Retrieved from OnlineSchoolCenter.com:

Jones, A. (2012, 1 30). Virtual Schools on the Rise, but are they Right for K-12. Retrieved 4 12, 2015, from CNN:

K12. (n.d.). Retrieved 4 12, 2015, from K12:

Kusich, N. (2012, February). Review of Online Learning Studies. Retrieved from

Means, B., Toyama, Y., Murphy, R., Bakia, M., & Jones, K. (2009). Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies. The U.S. Department of Education.

Neuhauser, C. (2002). Learning Style and Effectiveness of Online and Face-to-Face Instruction. American Journal of Distance Education, pp. p99-113.

Severson, K. (2011, February 7). Digital Age Is Slow to Arrive in Rural America. The New York Times.

Zupek, R. (2010, March 29). Employers on online Education. Retrieved 4 12, 2015, from CNN.com:

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