NEW YORK TIMES: …About a third of school districts in the United States already have “significant one-to-one initiatives,” where students and teachers are given laptops and can work away from school on some assignments, said Ann Flynn, the director of education technology at the National School Boards Association. A byproduct “could be their application in times of health crises or in weather emergencies,” Ms. Flynn said…
In a usual 48-minute period, it is difficult for every student to express every thought on a given topic. But online, Ms. Marchiano said, the students’ postings became “individual stages” to fully relay ideas. Students wrote openly about their problems with anxiety, adolescence and identity…
Alexa [Hirschberg], a senior at Pascack Hills High School, reviewed assignments for a government class and watched a lecture her calculus teacher had posted from home. There was an act of “Hamlet” to read, an online physics lab to carry out and historic artwork to review. Her French teacher, Jane Conboy, sent her a text message to make sure things were clear. And her laptop offered no interruptions: It blocked most social media sites and did not allow instant messaging… (more)
Given the money that is spent on buildings, busses, and lost time, distance learning makes a lot of sense.