Reading, Writing, and Now... Virtual Learning

The Patch is reporting Tuesday, July 19, that Borders, the national big box book store with 399 remaining locations has decided to liquidate its holdings and call it quits. After originally filing for bankruptcy in February of 2011, they were unable to successfully reorganize and have decided that liquidation is the most effective way to reimburse their creditors.

Apparently, Borders is the latest victim of the new electronic technology relating to online reading and the availability of books via the internet, specifically the expanding use of e-readers.

Setting aside any personal feelings I might have for the loss of another big box store (none) or the fact that thousands of people nationwide will be added to the growing list of the unemployed (sad and troubling); what does this say about the ever-expanding use of modern technology in our everyday lives? And how might it be a picture of the future use of technology in the classroom? 

The Mehlville School District has, for some time now, been implementing the use of “virtual learning” tools. These tools have been and continue to be increasingly integrated into the classroom and have been particularly effective in providing instruction for those students who may not be as successful working in a traditional classroom environment.

The need to embrace this new technology is apparent as it is not going to go away, and offers us an opportunity to address two issues affecting all school districts, namely, how to make learning effective for all students and how to lower ever-increasing employee costs.

At the same time, the technology can be used to reach those kids who may not be succeeding in the traditional classroom setting, we owe it to ourselves to research how it can be used to offer instruction to more students utilizing less employees, specifically, certified instructors, to achieve the goals of effectively educating our students.

Considering the fact that costs associated with employee salaries, benefits and pensions make up OVER 70 percent of the Mehlville School District's budget, the school board members elected by the taxpayers owe it to those taxpayers to consider “virtual learning” as well as other ideas that would help control those spiraling costs.

Though some failed and former school board members never miss an opportunity to complain about the taxpayers' desire to actually keep some of their hard-earned money, I think this is an idea we can all actually agree on.