Learning online is becoming more popular at colleges and universities, and it's also growing in high schools, where e-learning helps students get better at using technology.
Experts say using technology in the curriculum, including typing, tweeting, texting and blogging, helps prepare students for a post-secondary education and entering the workforce.
E-learning consultant David Miller works with school boards across southwestern Ontario to implement technology in the classroom. He says "students can actually do much more than just with a paper and pencil."
His main purpose, he says, is to "make sure that the right tool is used for the right purpose."
The Waterloo Region District School Board says it wants to teach students how to use technology safely, and give them the skills they'll need as they enter college, university or the workforce.
Mike Harper of the Waterloo Region District School Board says "Things like the ability to collaborate, problem solve, the ability to think critically, the ability to write and edit, writing and peer edit, and peer assess, and all those kinds of things."
Online learning and technology are growing, but it's unlikely to take over traditional education.
The Ontario government has announced plans for an entirely virtual school, The Ontario Online Institute, to make post-secondary education more accessible.
But e-learning experts say the idea of blended or hybrid learning, combining online and in-class instruction, is the real ideal.
Miller says "We're not going to replace the traditional face to face classroom. The face to face classroom is where we want to go and get our education. But if there's a tool that makes education better for a student, let's use it."
At Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute in Kitchener, students can blog and use Twitter, and log on to an online portal to check course notes, chat and submit assignments.
But they also talk to their teacher and classmates in person.
And whether or not the computer becomes the new classroom, some say integrating the two is one way for students to succeed and survive in today's technology savvy society.
