SARS Pushes Schools To Go Virtual

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the that's-all-it-takes? dept

For years people have been predicting that online schooling would take off. Who knew that it would take a deadly virus to help push that idea forward? Schools in Hong Kong have been shut down due to worries about SARS, but students are keeping up thanks to a move online for teachers and students. Both students and teachers say they don’t think it’s a replacement for classroom learning – but it certainly beats completely halting all studies. Some companies that provide technology for virtual classrooms have been donating their services for the past few weeks to help people in Hong Kong deal with the crisis. Some are saying this could become a “showcase” (or at least a case study) in online learning on a wide scale.