TWIN FALLS, ID (KMVT TV) - With technology growing, more and more students are turning to online classes.

It only takes a few clicks of the mouse and some keystrokes, for kids to get online and begin their journey.

Is this the wave of the future?

It seems to many that it is, but how does it compare to a public school education?

KMVT’s Michelle Costa shares her findings in a two part series.

Here’s the first part.

"Flexible, challenging, new,” said Mary Lu Barry, Online Teacher.

It's how Mary Lu Barry describes online learning.

For her, it's just another day.

She spends hours behind her laptop, grading papers.

Barry's an online English teacher.

After 32 years of teaching in the classroom, she's now retired, but hasn't hung up her pen and paper just yet.

For three months, she's been teaching 21 students over the internet.

It's something she's found has its ups and downs.

"Research has shown that kids like instant feedback and sometimes in face–to–face classrooms, they don't get immediate feedback and there is constant communication. I'm finding I'm communicating more with these 21 kids then I was ever able to one–on–one. I'm finding they're maybe not as daily–oriented as in a face–to–face class,” said Barry.

Students and teachers can interact online and they don't even need to be face–to–face and teachers said that's a part of the convenience.

“I can check the students work at any time and anywhere I am,” said Barry.
The Twin Falls School District Superintendent, Wiley Dobbs, is also seeing a jump in the number of students signing up for online courses.

"We can't shy ahead for it. There's not just one way of learning. We need to blend them,” said Dr. Wiley Dobbs, Superintendent of Twin Falls School District.

But, of course, not everything's an A+.

"The activities are so important for our school kids and being able to do hands–on learning in some of our professional technical courses. Being able to out into the workforce,” said Dr. Dobbs.

Online classes through Idaho Digital Learning Academy cost $75 a course and if you take them through the Twin Falls School District during normal class time, they're paid for.

For teachers like Barry, they only make $100 a student, adding up to about $2,000 each class.

Even though Barry explains that's not much, she's glad to be on the other end of the computer that your child may be learning from.

Of course, it's not all about what the teachers think.

It's also about the kids so I sat down with some students as well.

Hear what they think about it on Tuesday on KMVT News at 6 pm and 10 pm.