Is Online Learning Equal to 21st Century Skills?

What a beautiful day to go to a music festival right on the Delaware River with Philadelphia's skyline and blue sky as a backdrop! Sure it was a little hot. But it was nothing water ice and a trip around the carousel couldn't cure.


An online school display piqued my interest so I stopped to by to chat with the very kind teachers manning the booth. From our conversation, I didn't get the sense that 21st century skills were part of their learning experiences. The school did make AYP.

But collaboration, creativity, problem-based learning were not central threads (or so it appeared) to learning. Overall, I just didn't get sense that students would be any more prepared for the 21st century learning through an online environment than in a traditional school. [ Please note: The was conversation was not extensive from a research standpoint and in no way am I try to be overly critical of this school. ]

Interestingly, I just blogged about this concept drawing on the history of educational technology. I go back to the questions from yesterday: Does online learning equate to better learning?

Put another 2 ways: Does the medium for delivering content make the difference? Or is the difference in how the students come to understand the content?

Alright, so maybe I'm still a bit parched.