If you're thinking about online school, you're probably wondering how socialization happens for those students. It's true the advantages of learning online give your K-12 student much more convenience with learning by having access to teachers and lessons online. In effect, online school removes the physical need for attending a brick-and-mortar building with pre-set class schedules.
What about that "s" word, socialization? The fact is that students who attend online school have more opportunities for socialization. Let's take a look how.
- Online School Allows More Offline Activities – Without set schedules, students can complete lessons online at their own pace (often faster than traditional school.) Online students can also re-arrange classes around activities. This allows learners more time for developing talents, such as music, arts, and sports. Plus, they can join more community clubs, take more field trips, and bond with other local student groups.
- Online School Has More Student Diversity – When attending traditional school, classmates are generally from the local geographic area. With online learning, classmates can be from any place around the world. No country boundaries are here! Online schools let your students make global friends and gain a world-wide perspective.
- Online School Has Fewer Stereotypes – Students usually associate with like-minded peer groups. After defining their circle of friends, students stay in that group and differentiate themselves from other student categories. Not so with online learning. Here appearances do not determine value. Online students can go beyond stereotypes and easily make friends with the homebound, international learners, and so forth.
- Online School Promotes Mature Socialization – Parents often complain about bad habits learned at school. Peer pressure and bullying can harm student development, both physically and emotionally. With online learning, students are modeled a more mature approach by online teachers and more time spent with parents.
- Online School Offers Online Socialization – Digital literacy is essential to student success. Learning how to communicate online is a critical step toward building relationships in the 21st century. Using email, online meetings, instant messaging, discussion boards or forums, students can become more social online, bridging the Internet with friendships and interaction.
- Online School Builds the Family Unit – With online learning, students can learn from the comfort of home. This also means students can be around family members more. Siblings, grandparents, and parents can all help with educating. Plus, interaction is for longer periods, building stronger relationships.
- Online School Fosters Academic Interaction – Just as in traditional school, online school can build relationships through classes by using lessons or curriculum. Class projects, discussion questions, and research papers assigned to teams requires online students to work together, learning the value of long-distance cooperation and collaboration.
As the definition of school changes, so does socialization. More students, whether learning online or not, are communicating differently in the digital age. Today more students are interacting through texting, online social media networks, and email than through face-to-face relationships. Human interaction is going online; so is learning.
What is your favorite way to socialize online?