Guest Commentary: A Kid's View of Online School

Adora Svitak has written two books and both have been published. She has taught at more than 400 schools and her public service efforts have been recognized by national and international organizations.
Not bad for a 13-year-old.
In a recent column for the Huffington Post, Svitak wrote about her experiences with online classes and her hopes for the future of digital education.
"Every school district should have an online learning framework, so that 'blended learning' (partially online, partially in-person) can be an option for students," she wrote. "Students could read more of the fact-based lesson material online, so that when they came to class in-person, time could be used on higher-order thinking skills like experiments, projects, and the like. A lot of excellent learning takes place when students are face-to-face with each other and a teacher, yet there are situations where students may not always be able to make it to class. Should students not be able to continue doing any of their work simply because of a school flu epidemic, school staff on strike, snow days, or absences? "
"By shifting more content online," Svitak continued, "we could cut some of the spending that would go toward giant reams of paper and industrial-size printers and copiers."
Click here to read more of her essay.