Anthony Grattini

13 June 2003

Article Critique #1

Borja, Rhea R. “Online Learning Fills Void in Nations Coping with SARS.”

Education Week 22 (2003): 6-8.

This article focuses on how online learning has helped students coping with SARS in Asia and also Canada. The outbreak of this potentially deadly respiratory illness forced many government and school officials in Asia to close school for more than 2 million students. Instead of just sitting at home, thousands of Asian students logged in to Web-based, virtual classrooms, where they took notes and spoke to their teachers and classmates using technologies such as Web cameras, audio-video phones, Web-conferencing software, instant-messaging tools, and multimedia animation programs. Some programs used included AOL instant messenger, Blackboard, and Macromedia. The use of web-based learning by many Asian nations during an outbreak such as SARS can be a model for American educators as they make contingency plans for a host of different emergencies.

I thought that this was a very interesting article whose implications can be used by American educators in the event of an outbreak or other crisis, most recently the sniper attacks in the fall of 2002. Web-based learning can also be extended to continue the learning process during a much less drastic event such as a snow-day. Assignments can still be given through blackboard for students to complete during their day or two off from school. There are however many practical problems with focusing on web-based learning. The first is that not every student is going to have the hardware/software or computer access at all to complete assignments or communicate with teachers and peers. A solution to this problem could be assigning buddies. Pair up two students who at least one of them has the computer capability to complete the assignments. And another problem is system shutdown. I fear relying heavily on technology…I don’t trust it very much. We have all had or have heard of papers being lost or servers being down. It is sometimes very unpredictable and very frustrating. It would need a lot of patients and understanding on the students’ part as well as the teachers’ part when using such technologies. And be prepared for the excuses…, “My computer ate my paper,” or “The server was down,” or “I sent the assignment to you, it must have been lost.” I do feel, however, that web-based instruction is going to be a very important tool in the education of our students in the near future, if it isn’t already.