• E-mail: [email protected]
  • Login
Online Schooling
  • Future ready, Today
  • The Tribe
  • Online Education
  • Get in Touch
  • Curriculum
No Result
View All Result
Online Schooling
No Result
View All Result
Home Future ready, Today

Confused About Choosing an Online Homeschool ?

Parents have known set criteria for evaluating an offline school, which may reject a child in the end. Contrary to this approach, online schools are easy to enrol in, but come with their own set of challenges. A thorough evaluation will help you choose the best, and ensure you are making the right decision for your child.

Online Schooling by Online Schooling
September 15, 2021
in Future ready, Today, The Tribe
0
Father and son looking for Online homeschool
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Already decided that Online Homeschool, or an Online Virtual Education is the way to go for your child, but are confused which one to choose?

Do all the online schools look the same? Do all of them state that they are:

  • The best replacement to home schools
  • Have the best online curriculum
  • Are the best online high school
  • Have the best online high school classes
  • Have the best online high school programs
  • Have the best online school programs
  • Are the best virtual schools
  • Are the best home schools online

It is understood that in this era of hyper-marketing, and tweaking of messaging, it is difficult to decide on a trusted online school for your child’s education, and ultimately their future. Additionally, at the pre-admission stage, it may also be difficult to know whether the information provided is true, or the curriculum elements are really those which are delivered.

To help you decide on your decision to choose an online school, given below is a framework of topics that should form part of your evaluation criterion list.

Accreditations

An online school’s accreditation is an assurance that your child receives:

  • Standardised education
  • Tested and designed education
  • Recognisable education

An accreditation also implies that the online school is responsible and accountable from a third party, or an independent body for its student outcomes. An accreditation should be the first and most critical filter that one should use to decide on an online school – the accreditation will impact your child’s future schooling options, and future higher-education avenues.

There are various bodies which provide accreditation for online American, British, IB, CBSE, IGCSE and other curricula across the world. 

Make sure you go through the accreditation body websites to understand the course content to be delivered and request the online school’s admissions support teams to provide you with relevant accreditation evidence should the need arise.

The Online school credentials

Every online school needs to be registered or recognised as a credible educational institution, which has produced stupendous student outcomes in a consistent manner. The assessment that needs to be carried out here is whether the years a student would spend at an online school would be considered as credible education years by higher-ed or other educational institutions, and will they result in desired student outcomes.

This may be assessed by asking the online school admissions team to connect you with a past student, or help you track a past student’s education trajectory. Check for online discussions forums on online schools under evaluation which would help you assess the schools under your consideration set

Non-Academic ancillary services 

Online / virtual / digital schooling has an inherent heavy reliance on the tech elements for dissemination and assessment elements of the learning process. At no point would you want to find you or your child scrambling for help should the:

  • The school video platform stop working for you
  • LMS becomes inaccessible to you while chasing a homework / assessment deadline
  • Class teacher is unreachable when you want to schedule a discussion about your child’s immediate issues

Moreover, the start of the online schooling process can be overwhelming for both the student and the parent, and considerable hand holding may be required from the school’s end to make the student and parent comfortable around tech systems and general pedagogical practices for e-learning platforms. 

Make sure you are fully aware of the school’s processes in student on-boarding, issue escalation and turn-around time for enabling tech platforms.

Father and son looking for online school

Non-Academic ancillary services 

In any educational setups, different students have different needs, and in scenarios where one may require special interventions, provisions such as tutoring, remedial sessions, personalised coaches, counsellors, robustness of parent community help stakeholders cope up with children’s issues and tackle them effectively.

The lack of any of the above elements can make the schooling process sub-optimal for your child and affect long-term outcomes. During the admissions process, ensure you have required discussions and access to observing such interventions, which should help allay any concerns on the support system available for your child on the academic front. 

Faculty credentials

As in any educational setup, the faculty credentials and background have a direct impact on the learning pedagogy, and thereby the student learning process.

The added requirement in an online process is the need to have a faculty which is abreast of latest educational practices aligned with the online mode of teaching on e-learning platforms. There are more than enough elements of the online school platform that are not present in the physical classroom.

Hence, the parents, through conversations with admission teams, should request for information on faculty qualification and training on online e-learning platforms.

Acceptability and transfer

Complete e-education in India is still a new concept – at some point, you may be required to shift your ward to a physical school. At that moment, it may be a heartbreak moment to find out that the score, results, and grade outcomes of your child earned at the online school are not acceptable at the physical school.

At this point even the accreditation comes into play – parents need to be completely aware of the transfer process, required documents, alignment to accreditations and any other details that the online school should make you aware of.

Moreover, the situation will be further profound, when the child is applying for higher education, as that may require a robustness in documentation and compliance to university standards.

Extra-Curricular Activities

The off-classroom elements for a child are pivotal in their overall development and complement a child’s education through social conditioning and application of concepts. 

The course should be designed in such a way that it encourages students to partake in off-classroom activities that may promote:

  • Physical activities
  • Cross-collaboration
  • Interaction with peers
  • Celebration of festivals
  • Understanding the culture and one’s roots

While the above evaluation criteria are non-exhaustive, they are nonetheless critical to your evaluation of online schools for your child. Do keep in mind that the admissions team at the online school will be your best guide for obtaining all information related to the above metrics.







Tags: CleverE-learningEducationGradeIdeas
Previous Post

Prepare Your Child for Online Schooling – Know How!!

Next Post

Implement Creativity in Online Classrooms – A Primer

Online Schooling

Online Schooling

Online Schooling Blog Post Author

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Archive

Most commented

5 Tips to Re-fall in Love With Teaching

Studying MBBS abroad – Everything you need to know

How can Consultants help when opting for education abroad?

Canada Vs. US- Educational System- Which one is better?

Why Do Indian Students Go Abroad To Study?

7 Most Successful People with Online Degrees

Online Schooling

Quick Navigation

  • Best Online Schools
  • Virtual Schooling
  • Homeschool Curriculum
  • Advantages of Homeschooling
  • Online Extracurricular Activities
  • Cheapest Universities in the World

Tags

Clever E-learning Education Grade Ideas Knowledge Library Online learning Online Schools onlin homeschooling Progress

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Loading

Copyright onlineschooling © 2022 All Rights Reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • Future ready, Today
  • The Tribe
  • Online Education
  • Get in Touch

Copyright onlineschooling © 2022 All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In