An uncommon option for schools to do is distance learning where as students can attend classes from home. Now, some of the students who use this wouldn't use this option how it is supposed to be used. I do not agree with this option of attending classes from home, because some students would use this as a way of " skipping " school. As well as I believe the learning style and retaining the information wouldn't benefit the student as if he or she was at the school in class.

If attending classes from home was a common option then everybody would do it, but some students would abuse this option as " skipping " school. I believe that the majority of students would sleep in on purpose and not attend any of their classes during the day. Furthermore, if the online class or video conference has an attendance chart then I would suspect that students would " play the game " almost. For example, the student would wake up on a normal school time, log into their computer and join the video conference, but they would just attend their class so that they don't get an absent mark on their attendance sheet and then leave their computer running while they go back to sleep or do whatever the student does. The teacher doesn't know if the students are even there and following what he or she is teaching. All they know is if the students are attending by seeing how many people are in the teacher's conference chat. At this point, neither of the two, teachers and students, are benefiting from this option at all. The teacher is teaching for no reason and the students who skip the video conference aren't being educated at all. Now, it's not the teachers fault if the students who skip don't learn, it's the students fault because they chose to not attend class.

I also believe that students don't retain the information as well as they would if they were in the classroom. It is the learning style that most students benefit from and that is with a pencil and paper and actually being in the classroom listening to the teacher. Studies show that you remember more and excel more in your classes by writing down your notes and studying them instead of just using your computer to type your notes and etc. I get that the students could join the video chat or conference and grab a pencil and paper and write down notes as the teacher is talking, but I think most students are going to want to pull up another tab on the computer and type in notes on Google Docs or Word for example. Yet again, how would the teacher know if their students are even taking notes. I believe that students aren't going to perform well in their classes by attending video conferences rather than actually being in the classroom because of the studies that proved this situation. The students are not going to benefit from typing their notes rather than writing and retaining the information and being there in class.

Some may say that students might need to attend their classes by video chats. However, I would definitely allow this option to a student who is in need for it. For example, a student could have the chicken pox or a virus that requires them to be out of school for a long period of time before heading back to the school. They need the video chats to keep up with their classes and maintain their grades until he or she recovers from what they are fighting. This would be a great option to set aside for these purposes only and the student will benefit from it as well.

In conclusion, this wouldn't be a great idea for schools to make this an option unless a student really needs it. In the past, teachers would give the student a bunch of worksheets and mini quizzes that he or she will be missing with the time being. That's still around too. As for the future, I can see this maybe becoming a thing where we might not need to attend school anymore, but I strongly believe that students will benefit more by writing their notes, listening to the teacher, and being in the classroom. Once again, unless there's a student who really needs it. We should all just accept the fact that there's basically no difference from distance learning and being at school other than the location and the learning style. 