What is Telelearning?
According to Taleah Bernard, a student of the Oregon Connections Academy, online learning is “like a classroom, except it’s electronic”. Online learning is basically taking lessons, like a person would at a school, but on the Internet. Rather than having to wake up at 7am in the morning to go to school, many students have opted for an online education. For example, the Oregon Connections Academy is a statewide school, which currently serves about 2,400 students ranging from kindergarten to the 12th grade. The Oregon Connections Academy is a virtual charter school that is accredited through the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools. The curriculum of these online schools is not much different from a traditional public school. Students are still required to take classes, such as math, science, history and even physical education. The classes are just online, in which the students usually log in at a set time to watch a slide show or interactive lesson given by their instructor via the Internet.



IT Systems
Internet
Internet access allows the online classes to be accessed anywhere around the world, not just at one place. The students at the online school have the opportunity to do their school work, wherever they have Internet access.

Personal and public communications
In order for the instructors of the online class to give lectures or further explain their lessons, they use interactive programs, such as an electronic white board to teach their lesson and also online chat rooms to communicate with their students, if they have any questions or need clarification.




Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages:

• As long as a person has Internet access, they have the opportunity to get an education.
  
• Examples: Professional Athletes, Hospital Patients, etc.

• Learn at your own pace
• No set time for classes (except for scheduled interactive classes)
• Work around your personal schedule
• No commute to school

Disadvantages:

• No face-to-face interaction between students and teachers
• Social aspect of school is depleted
• Needs more self-motivation to stay on task, since there are no teachers
• Cost of maintaining hardware (computer, printer, etc.)
• Cost of Internet service
• Need for increased network bandwidth (Video/Graphic applications require more bandwidth than normal text applications)
  
• 
  

Social/Ethical Issues
Equality of Access
Online learning has opened up education to everyone who has Internet access. Not only can students in the United States opted out of public schools to take online lessons, but as long as a person has Internet access, they have the opportunity to take the online lessons and get an education.

Authenticity
How do you know that the work submitted online is authentic? Instructors do not have the capabilities to check if the work submitted to them is the work of their students. Since the majority of the class is online, who know if the student's parents have been the ones doing all their work?

Policies and Standards
Although basically everything is online, the online institutions should impose policies and standards for their students so that they do not take advantage of the "freedom" from the online classes. The online institutions need policies and standards to ensure that their curriculum is being followed, whether or not a student takes an hour-long break or not. Even though the lessons are online, the students should not be able to skip a lesson just because they wanted to. Rules and regulations should still be implemented.






Sources
Article: "Logging on for learning"
http://www.eastoregonian.info/main.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=48&ArticleID=83314&TM=61909.28

http://books.google.com/books?id=vBB7necTXbUC&pg=PA58&lpg=PA58&dq=network+bandwidth+%22telelearning%22&source=bl&ots=OEsEgxzUFN&sig=oIVgVoUIV2BhM6O4nffX6pniJ0w&hl=en&ei=QOzjScvrDNSLtgf4wcXvDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#PPA58,M1

Images:
http://www.alumni.mcgill.ca/NewsCentral.php?id=MTM2
http://www.eastoregonian.info/SiteImages/Article/83314a.jpg