Cyberschools

An online friend introduced me to a new cyberschool in South Africa, Cyberschool SA.  I'd never heard of that cyberschool.  Abeka, , Monarch and BJU's HomeSat, but a South African one?

I am aware of cyberschooling, and do believe it does play a role in the homeschool movement, even if we all have different reasons for homeschooling.  Cyberschooling can be an answer to certain challenges faced by some families in South Africa.  It wouldn't suit us all of us ;-)  but I decided to take a look....

Cyberschooling SA launches in 2012 and offers online, live schooling, for Grades 5-12.  Using an Internet connection, and webcam, the student accesses live teaching sessions, where they can ask questions and interact.  There are also quizzes and assessments and files to print out.  Certain grades require additional textbooks.  The fees are R 13 080.00 for a year, excluding text books.


These are the points I could make out about Cyberschool SA as I looked at their site:

Mostly importantly, their curriculum is not shown, nor any details given, nor are there any real examples/samples, which I am not happy with.  To say the curriculum adheres to the NCS is not enough, I have to "see" things.  The varied applications of the NCS can be about as wide as the Indian Ocean, even with the new CAPS .  I also am unable to find a framework or scope and sequence for any grade. 

You have to e-mail the company who will notify and inform you of a convenient time to observe a teaching demo, so I was unable to see the teaching session system in action.  There is no screen shot of the virtual  classroom so I cannot pass comment on that, and there is no Youtube video showing a classroom/teacher shot. Either of these would have helped and are relatively standard features on Cyberschool websites..

The sample of the "interface" with which the student will be working with to download files and such, appears to be well organised and set out, though as I mentioned I cannot see content, the curriculum.  It is a very plain, ordinary screen, not interactive, certainly not revolutionary, as the words at the top of the screen proclaim.  Well, maybe it was, ten years ago.

If your child has spent anytime on educational sites such as Time4Learning and Starfall, you are going to struggle to get them to enjoy this interface, even if it is just for the printing- the interface is very boring, more like the type of programs we worked with years ago.  Children have got used to colour and " interactive child friendly" sites.  This is a very text based site and so it'll involve a lot of reading.  I expected a whole lot more.

Learning does not always have to be fun and bells and whistles, I know, but should be a enjoyable and rich family experience, to my mind. Reading the Cyberschool SA site, they don't make any promises about theirs being a fun learning experience. That's probably completely true.  The main component, is, after all, the mysterious teaching session.  But perhaps it's a really fun teacher like Mr Steve Demme of Math-u-See fame!  A teacher can really make or break it, lets face it.




 In connection with how much time your child will be online, Cyberschool SA says:

"Students will spend about 4 hours per day online. Wherever possible, they will be given extra work offline or have tasks that they can complete using their text books."   

I am a little confused about the "wherever possible."  Sounds scary.
Four hours in front of the pc, is really not good in my opinion. (even for a teen) I know all pc related learning means you're in front of the screen, but I do believe some programs are completed in much less time than four hours.  Dr Raymond Moore (author of Better Late than Early) does not recommend straining the eyes of the child for longer than 15 minutes of clos-up work.  The fact that it mentions other extra eye work on top of all that pc work- it sort of destroys the idea of homeschooling, doesn't it?

The other thing that I found confusing, was two statements, found within the same paragraph.  Cyberschool SA states that their service is "designed to supplement what a home schooling parent is already teaching his or her child." and then they say "We offer a fully complete and comprehensive program that covers a full school day" Well, something doesn't line up.


I think a cyberschool can really be a benefit to homeschools, such as where a parent is working, for a high school student, or a child who simply loves this mode of learning.  It is sometimes the only way a family can homeschool, such a single Mom.  Also, where you really need a tutor for certain subjects but your location doesn't allow it, or you travel.  But you've got to be so careful where you put your money. 



I believe the more you can see of something before you commit, the less risky it is.  (the exception being marriage, of course) I think reading reviews about cyberschools and asking other homeschool families is probably the best thing to do if cyberschooling is your only choice.  A good recommendation from another South African homeschooler is worth looking into.



I guess this is the one of many companies who are going to be providing services for homeschoolers in SA.  Whilst this is a good thing for us, we need to remember that we are getting to be a real market now, a place to make money.  I guess time will tell what the Cyberschool SA service is like.  Reality is, we need more of this type of support in South Africa, but it will probably take years to tweak it to the standard of live SOS and Abeka.

I believe we need companies to listen to what we South african homeschool families really need and actually get an inside understanding of homeschooling, the way Marc and Ivana from Love2Learn  and Greg and Sonja Wood from Oikos do.  People who will provide things for a unique South African homeschool market.  But then we need businessmen to be informed about the legalities of homeschooling, and not to make inaccurate statements such as this one that I found on the Cyberschool site: " Legally, all home schoolers up to grade 9 are obliged to register with the Department of Education"

To conclude, I think the concept of cyberschooling is upfront and the homeschooling movement in South Africa is ready and waiting, and well done to Cyberschool for breaking ground in SA.  However Cyberschool SA  would do well to look at upgrading their interface to current standards to appeal to the modern child.


I welcome comments, especially from those who have used, or plan to use this or other cyberschools ;-)