In high-tech schools of the future, Facebook in class is boosted -- not banned

Computerworld - SEATTLE -- If you remember high school as a haze of boring lectures by uninspiring teachers broken up only by grinding homework, then you might wish you were a kid today.

Pushed by new social networking technology and successes in e-learning among universities and corporate trainers, K-12 public schools are starting to adopt high-tech tools that let students create their own curriculums, satisfying their intellectual curiosity and passions while avoiding the stifling rigidity that many associate with traditional public schools.

Take the 11-year-old Florida Virtual School, which served nearly 64,000 students last year nationwide. Courses offered by the Orlando-based Virtual School range from remedial to honors.

"One third of our students come to us because they are failing, one third come for our [advanced placement] classes, and one-third like the ability to take classes anytime of the day," said Andy Ross, vice president of global services and development at the school. "We track everything, so we know we have lots of kids logging on at 4 a.m. in their time zone."

Among the school's innovations are a "virtual Shakespeare festival" and an upcoming game called Conspiracy Code, developed by 360Ed Inc., that students will be able to use instead of taking a U.S. history course.

Students are also allowed to retake courses multiple times "within reason" until they master the content, which is the ultimate goal, Ross said. "Not everyone's on page 43 of the same textbook." he said.

At Philadelphia's School of the Future, students tote Gateway laptops, not textbooks, and take part in cross-disciplinary online projects rather than standard English, math and science classes.

"Our kids use MySpace and Facebook. They are posting their work online and having online conversations," said Rosalind Chivis, the school's "chief learner" or principal.

Ross and Chivis were both attendees at the fourth annual School of the Future Summit sponsored by Microsoft Corp. and held here this week.

According to keynote speaker Michael Horn, head of the Innosight Institute education think tank and author of the book Disrupting Class, the number of high school students taking classes online has grown from 45,000 in 2000 to 1 million last year.

In his presentation (download PowerPoint presentation), Horn argued that the "disruption" theory developed by close collaborator, Inventor's Dilemma author Clayton Christensen, can be applied to schools.

When computers are stuck in classrooms with ill-trained teachers who use them to supplement the lecture-and-textbook mode of instruction, they add little value, said education consultant and blogger, Will Richardson.

"You might as well give them the airline pretakeoff speech: 'Please turn off all electronic devices,'" Richardson said. "Policies today make it very difficult for kids to explore the fruits of social networking."