Web 2.0 could play key role in schools of the future

at their own pace, mentored and guided by teachers using instant messaging and, in some cases, Facebook.

"Distance learning doesn't mean being distant from the student," Stevens said.

e4 Academy today is mostly used by students as a replacement for summer school. But Stevens envisions a not-so-distant time when virtual courses will be widely available, and "kids, instead of going to first or second period, will head to the Internet cafe to take their classes."

It may not be surprising that cutting-edge use of technology is making headway in an affluent suburb such as Clear Creek, the home of NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, but it is no guarantee that such methods will be accepted by everyone.

"Parents don't always want to risk their child's future on a program that is not proven," Horn said.

Other times, it's the schools providing the resistance. One administrator from Hawaii related a story about a female student who, prevented by scheduling conflicts from registering for an AP course, resorted to computer hacking to get in. School officials were unsure whether to "reward her [ingenuity] or punish her."

For the Florida Virtual School, the "biggest competition" is the state's public schools, Ross said. "By law, they have to release them to us, but they don't want to lose the funding," since funding for a school is determined in part by the number of students who attend.

That hasn't stopped the Virtual School's massive growth. It has more than 800 full-time teachers, all certified in Florida and the vast majority holding at least three years of experience at a traditional school.

Some attendees said the theories advanced at the summit ignored reality.

"I think there is too much of an assumption that we can simply throw this out there and let kids choose," said one member audience who identified himself as a middle school teacher from Philadelphia. "Students don't always do what's best for themselves. Often they will hold onto tradition: 'Define what I need to know, tell me, and then I'll give it back to you.'"

Others argued that the vision of pro-technology advocates didn't go far enough.

"We haven't changed learning," said John Zook, adviser to the Ministry of Education, United Arab Emirates, during one session. "I'd like to see us get rid of courses, and create classroom delivery models that are more about how we work in the real world."