Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments on line learners at school?

If you (or anyone else out there) would share how it went with your school and the online learning subject I would really appreciate it. I see this in our future and have alot of learing to do about online learning.

To my understanding, CTY at John Hopkins uses the same EPGY program that Stanford developed for the early grades. It may change around algebra. I'm not sure. I know nothing about gifted learning links. We chose Stanford EPGY initially because, based in CA, they are aligned to the CA math curriculum and, thus, we were hoping it would be easier to argue for the substitution/inclusion of EPGY.

If you pay the full amount, EPGY comes with an instructor and a call center to answer your math or technical questions. I do the math with my DS5 and we don't call unless we can't technically figure it out. The instructor sends weekly e-mail monitoring his progress. She hasn't done that much for us although I have heard that she does if you need it.

I personally think that online instruction will be the dominant mode of instruction in the future. With all the incompetent teachers, I can't imagine that online instruction will not prevail. Then all the competent teachers can work along side the children providing supplemental instructional, and we would no longer be having a discussion about differentiation in the classroom. But this will take at least a generation to happen because those unions are really strong. Online instruction will also save big bucks. I think our son's school is interested because of the cheaper cost factor.

I was wondering if you had talked to your school about on line learning? I wish I could have a copy of that recorded. I wonder how this is working in schools with gifted kids? Anybody?

I've thought that since my school is wireless in all the classrooms maybe somehow in the future I could provide a laptop and let him accelorate in Math. I feel like my ds9 needs a bit more maturity to do this or he will be too high maintance for the teachers. Ex. I tried to get him to correspond with the teacher with mail and he was not so interested as he used up his brain power/attention for that time on the writing course. (He also does not like to talk on the phone.) I thought he did well in the course and learned alot about online learning, time management and writing.

The same age restrictions don't apply with the EPGY open enrollment program for LAW. It does still start with second grade as opposed to K in math.

I have a question about those with experience in this. Were your kids allowed to do online learning while the other kids in class had the regular classroom worksheets to do? Did they do that in the same classroom? DH is worried that if this is the case with DS, then the other kids may react badly that DS is privileged with extra computer time.

I'm wondering how this works in the class room too. Maybe there are not many people here taking online classes at school here. It might be good to talk to different online learning places and see how their students make it work. Let me know if you needs a list of places to check out. I bet the DYS people would have experience with this.

Having a student do something different must take into account the other children's reaction and how the teacher handles the situation.

My son has been allowed to go ahead in his Math book for past 2 yrs and then he gets out his extra fun Math. He loves this privilege and doesn't make it a problem by bragging.

I did have to put a stop to him bringing extra pages for the other boys to do at playground time because that the teacher's job. I think they all wanted to be apart of something together but were not mature enough to understand it was not the right thing to do. Some of the work he brought was to hard for the boys.

DS9 was taught that doing work that is just right for you is what really matters. Everyone can feel good at learning no matter what their level or method is. If a teacher can employ this attitude than that will go along way.

Have other students done online learning at your school? How did that work? If we get to do online learning, we will be breaking new ground.

Please let me now if you talk to your school about this and if you get to do this. Best of luck

Ds9 did online CTY math for 3 months in his previous school. I was lucky to get the Principal's support for 3 months. When we left, I heard that the school has to do away with their special support group because of lack of support and funds.

He did it (AL1) during Math class on a laptop in the classroom. I would say it is a good experience for him but unfortunately, it wasn't very well structured in the sense that, he would have friend hovering over him, trying to find out what he was doing sometimes. He told me he couldn't concentrate. He was not spending enough time on it too. Just maybe 15mins daily or none at all when the teacher has some "specials". Part of him wanted to join the class sometimes, esp. when they were having math games- (although easy but still fun for him). I think unless they do it in a separate room, there will be distractions. The teacher's support is also crucial in ensuring it's success.

The downside of doing an online course is obviously the lack of interactions with like-minded peers. I find discussions and brain storming lacking, which should benefit any child greatly.

Now that the new school doesn't support this program, I have continued to let him do it at home after school. I make sure he spends time doing one chapter daily. (I told him we need to get the money's worth!!!) I don;t think we have explored all avenues of CTY's online learning. There is supposed to be online discussions and white board but we have yet to use them due to timing differences (we are in Asia). So far, we just communicate with the instructor via email.

I brought up online learning at school regarding Math just to introduce the topic and see if in the future it would be possible. They seemed possibly open to it in the future but I'm really not sure. We ran out of time for our meeting and I really didn't get a read on how they really felt.

I don't think DS9 would be ready to do it next year. If he does it this summer and became very independent then maybe I could say it would be easy for him to do the following year. Maturity and needing to communicate to the teacher which was hard last summer with his 1st online class. I'm thinking he may try again this summer but I'm conflicted about what to do. I want to get him to the point where I could say, no problem he can do it and very independently.

Should I try for an online Math enrichment. Math is where he is most talented and that is what I would like for him to do online the most at school. I'm a little afraid it will be so awesome he will hate Math at school more.

OR should I try a writing class that he is interested in because if he writes better in school that would help him be challenged in areas that require writing. Writing might be his weakest area. Maybe this will be close in communication and requirements to prove he could handle an online Math at school.

I know there are less complex programs like Alex. They might be a great alternate if an online course like thru John Hopkins Talent search is not reasonable. I'm not sure I could afford this type of class for his schooling. He did it last summer because I received a scholarship. I do feel like a online class with a teacher to communicate with and class of student would be better. In an online class because he could share his passion for math with the other students. If he did Alex he would be doing it alone. That's a little sad. But it could work for a year or two. Alex is more obtainable finacially. So I could try that for him but I don't want to push him ahead in Math than he already is right now. I really need to figure out what to do because I need to apply soon.

Maybe there is something else he could do that would not push him ahead but give him the experience needed to give the school confidence for a Math online class. I feel like I can't talk to any one at school about this right now. I maxed out on their allotted time per student.

Any suggestions?