Virtual learning days -- that's what snow days could turn into for three Illinois school districts if Gov. Bruce Rauner signs a billto begin that trial program.
The measure passed both state legislative houses but, even if Gov. Rauner signs the bill this week, the virtual learning test run would not begin for the three districts until the 2017-2018 school year.
Rebecca Butler, a distinguished teaching professor at Northern Illinois University, says the idea is great in theory, since it could save make-up class time.
But it might be a little tricky in practice, considering student accountability and accessibility for internet and hardware.
"Are you going to only let wealthy suburbs in Chicago, let's say, do it, because most of the kids can do that, then? Or is the state going to provide all this stuff?" Bulter said.
Butler says another factor to consider would be copyright laws, since that's a gray area even for educational fair use.
However, Butler says, if a teacher could argue the posted material will benefit students and could also be used in a traditional curriculum, then the material is generally permissible to use over the web.
"So it couldn't be for a reward -- 'Hey, you've been good today, so I'm going to give you all a movie I'm going to show you over the web,'" Butler said. "That is not legal, then, unless you've got the right licenses."
At any rate, Butler says fair use is one huge gray area, even when it comes to educational purposes. It could mean the difference between posting a picture from the internet versus posting the link to that picture.
Butler says the program could also beg the question of whether or not teachers would need to create two different lesson plans -- one for live teaching and one for virtual.
