Reading, Writing and Video Games. The Trouble With Online College. First, student attrition rates — around 90 percent for some huge online courses — appear to be a problem even in small-scale online courses when compared with traditional face-to-face classes. Second, courses delivered solely online may be fine for highly skilled, highly motivated people, but they are inappropriate for struggling students who make up a significant portion of college enrollment and who need close contact with instructors to succeed.
Online classes are already common in colleges, and, on the whole, the record is not encouraging. According to Columbia University’s Community College Research Center, for example, about seven million students — about a third of all those enrolled in college — are enrolled in what the center describes as traditional online courses. These typically have about 25 students and are run by professors who often have little interaction with students. The online revolution offers intriguing opportunities for broadening access to education. The dirty little secret of online learning: Students are bored and dropping out.
Online education has been around for a long time. But massive open online courses are finally making it respectable. Maybe even cool. Let’s not forget, though, that they are still experiments. And despite being “massively overhyped” (even in the eyes of their most dyed-in-the-wool supporters), they are not actually having a massive impact on students yet. So let’s review what we’ve learned so far. Hundreds of courses are now available from dozens of the world’s best universities and professors. So far, though, online courses are not building a massively better-skilled workforce. Sure, a few free, open, online courses have generated eye-popping registration numbers, upwards of 200,000 in some cases. Not So Massive After All So why are all these students falling asleep, virtually, in their digital classes?
Another big issue, especially for non-traditional students, is that learning has to fit in between life and work. Let’s start with mobile first. Here’s why schools are wary of edtech: Coursesmart crashes before student exams. By Erin Griffith On April 25, 2013 Earlier this month, edtech company CourseSmart was awash in press for its new, albeit somewhat controversial, learning tools. Using digital textbooks, CourseSmart shows teachers and professors exactly how much time each student has spent with an assignment. Naturally this ignited concerns about privacy and the message it sends to students. (Are we educating them or babysitting them?) CourseSmart deftly batted those criticisms away with talk of engagement and data and improved teaching methods. But this week, the company experienced a software company’s worst nightmare: It crashed. What’s worse is that CourseSmart isn’t a lean startup iterating its way to success. @coursesmart This is more than an inconvenience, we have exams.
Wrong day for coursesmart to crash on me. @coursesmart I have a final exam tomorrow at 9 am with two chapters left to read. Ever feel like spending a crap load of money on something that will fail when you need it most? Why Professors at San Jose State Won't Use a Harvard Professor's MOOC - Technology. By Steve Kolowich Professors in the philosophy department at San Jose State University are refusing to teach a philosophy course developed by edX, saying they do not want to enable what they see as a push to "replace professors, dismantle departments, and provide a diminished education for students in public universities.
" The San Jose State professors also called out Michael Sandel, the Harvard government professor who developed the course for edX, suggesting that professors who develop MOOCs are complicit in how public universities might use them. In an open letter this week addressed to Mr. Sandel, the philosophy professors decried a dean's request that the department integrate a MOOC version of "Justice," the Harvard professor's famous survey course, into the curriculum at San Jose State. San Jose State's Experiment Under Mohammad H. Students in that section passed at a much higher rate than those in the traditional sections. Peter J. "I think he will answer it in good faith," said Mr.
Why K-12 online learning isn’t really revolutionizing teaching. (By Shamus Ian Fatzinger/ Fairfax County Times) Online learning is our present and our future, or so many school reformers and entrepreneurs say. Here in the first of a few pieces on the subject is Larry Cuban, a high school social studies teacher for 14 years, a district superintendent (seven years in Arlington, VA), and professor emeritus of education at Stanford University, where he has taught for more than 20 years. His new book is “Inside the Black Box of Classroom Practice: Change without Reform in American Education.” This post appeared on his blog. By Larry Cuban For those familiar with past efforts to install new technologies in schools, the many claims for online instruction transforming traditional teaching and learning in K-12 public schools either cause snickers for their hyperbole or strike a flat note in their credibility.
I absolutely do. Such hype from academic gurus is unfortunate. Web courses also differ in delivery. The quality of online instruction also varies. 1. 2. Khan Academy: The hype and the reality - The Answer Sheet. This was written by Karim Kai Ani, a former middle school teacher and math coach, and the founder of Mathalicious, which is rewriting the middle school math curriculum around real-world topics.
You can find a response to this post from Sal Khan by clicking here. By Karim Kai Ani In a new profile in Time magazine, Sal Khan, founder of the popular Khan Academy, explains how he prepares for each of his video lessons. He doesn’t use a script. In fact, he admits, “I don’t know what I’m going to say half the time.” During a recent address to Washington D.C. -area educators, Secretary (BLOOMBERG ) of Education Arne Duncan highlighted the importance of teacher education and professional development, and urged that we as a country provide teachers with more time to collaborate and plan lessons for their students.
The narrative surrounding Khan Academy has, it seems, gotten a bit out of hand. It’s not Sal’s fault. But there’s a problem: the videos aren’t very good. Or rather, it’s not. Sal Khan responds to critic - The Answer Sheet. A guest post I recently published critiquing the Khan Academy received a great deal of response, including an e-mail from Salman Khan, founder of the academy. Now here’s the next part of the debate: A response from the critic. Salman Khan, founder of the Khan Academy, in 2010. (Courtesy of Khan Academy) For those who may not know, the Khan Academy is essentially a library of more than 3,300 videos on subjects including math, physics, and history that are intended to allow students to learn at their own pace.
Questions were raised about the quality of some of the math videos in the guest post mentioned above as well as in others elsewhere on the Web. Below is Khan’s e-mail to me, and following that is a response to Khan from the author of the original post, Karim Kai Ani, a former middle school teacher and math coach who started a company called Mathalicious.
I’ve also posted some responses to the debate that I received from readers. Here’s Khan’s e-mail: Hi Valerie, regards, Sal. Khan Academy: Readers weigh in - The Answer Sheet. Recent posts on the Khan Academy — including an e-mail I posted from founder Sal Khan — sparked a lot of interest and reaction from readers. The Khan Academy is essentially an on-line library of more than 3,300 videos on subjects including math, physics, and history that are designed to allow students to learn at their own pace and for teachers to use as Sal Khan (Courtesy Khan Academy) instructional tools. One post, titled “Khan Academy: The hype and the reality,” by Karim Kai Ani, a former middle school teacher and math coach, and the founder of Mathalicious, took issue with the way Khan Academy videos deal with the concept of slope.
Sal Khan sent in a response to the critique, which you can find here. I asked readers to weigh in and following are several of the responses I received. The positions are different, showing how complex something that seems simple can be. Here they are: All seven slope interpretations are closely related and together create a cohesive whole. Stump, S. Parody Critiques Popular Khan Academy Videos - Wired Campus. Image Courtesy of John Golden Khan Academy has 150 million YouTube views, 320,000 subscribers, and major support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—but that doesn’t mean the free online library of educational videos is perfect. It doesn’t even mean the site is especially effective, say two math professors at Grand Valley State University. The professors, John Golden and David Coffey, have released a parody video calling out what they consider inaccuracies and poor teaching methods in the much-hyped project. They modeled their video on the TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000, the cult comedy in which characters made running commentaries on low-quality science-fiction movies.
In the professors’ video, they stand watching one of the Khan Academy videos as it is projected, noting a few inaccuracies, such as when the site’s creator, Salman Khan, uses positive and negative signs inconsistently and mixes up transitive and associative properties. Other critics share his concerns. Mr. Mr. The Trouble With Online Education. Study Finds That Online Education Beats the Classroom.
Much Ado About MOOCs. The debates are just beginning to boil. Last week, Georgia Tech plunged into the ether by announcing it will award a Master's degree in Computer Science to students who go through its program with Udacity. Faculty around the U.S. are raising plenty of questions about what such programs will mean for them, their institutions and their students: From the philosophy department at San Jose State University to Harvard professor, Michael Sandel, whose course, JusticeX, is offered via edX: "There is no pedagogical problem in our department that JusticeX solves, nor do we have a shortage of faculty capable of teaching an equivalent course. " And the response from Professor Sandel: "The last thing I want is for my online lecture to be used to undermine faculty colleagues at other institutions. " (A full piece from the Chronicle of Higher Education here.)
Dip a toe in the blogosphere and you will find plenty of thoughtful debate: This is hardly a comprehensive survey of the debate. How about you? The Reality of Virtual Schooling. Follow the links below to download this show as a podcast:Internet ArchiveAudioport (podcast) In this week's program, we explore the proliferation of virtual schools. Virtual schools offer on-line education to primary and secondary school students without the added expenses associated with brick and mortar structures and unionized teachers and support staff. We hear opinions on virtual schools from well-known education scholars Jonathon Kozol and Diane Ravitch. We investigate one such virtual school, the Massachusetts Virtual Academy in Greenfield, Massachusetts. We talk with the superintendent of schools, Susan Hollins, who was the driving force behind the opening of that school in 2010, and we also speak with two Greenfield School Committee members, Maryelen Calderwood and Andrew Blais, who opposed it.
Daphne Koller: What we're learning from online education. How Not To Flip » Physics of Learning Blog. In this post I would like to deal with the classroom half of the flipped classroom. What type of homework that is given, be it a video, a reading or practice questions, is almost irrelevant to my musings today.
The main purpose of this post is to show two examples of what a flipped math classroom can look like. One is a constructivist environment and the other is a Khan Academy classroom. I think most people will find the difference to be quite shocking. First, let’s take a look at Khan Academy. [flowplayer src=edblog/video/khanA.mp4 width=640 height=320 splash=edblog/video/khan.PNG] Here are a few things I’d like to point out and have you consider for analysis: 0:27 student gets help from the teacher (not fellow students) 0:32 “less lecturing more interaction”. Now please have a look at what I would consider to be a constructivist math classroom. [flowplayer src=edblog/video/app_math.mp4 width=640 height=360 splash=edblog/video/maths.PNG] Now consider the points below for your analysis: Why I Gave Up Flipped Instruction.
A little over a year ago I wrote a post about the flipped classroom, why I loved it, and how I used it. I have to admit, the flip wasn’t the same economic and political entity then that it is now. And in some ways, I think that matters. Here’s the thing. When I recently re-read the post, I didn’t disagree with anything I’d said. Yet my brief love affair with the flip has ended. When I wrote that post, I imagined the flip as a stepping stone to a fully realized inquiry/PBL classroom. What is the flip? The flipped classroom essentially reverses traditional teaching. When I first encountered the flip, it seemed like a viable way to help deal with the large and sometimes burdensome amount of content included in my senior Biology & Chemistry curricula. My flipped experiments I first encountered the flip in a blog post.
My students loved the idea of trying something that very few other students were doing. We began to shift What was my role? The flip faded away The flip is gone for good No. The 5 Most Overhyped Trends in Education « Looking Up. For your perusal, a completely subjective list of five things happening right now in education that are getting lots of notice, energy and resources but don’t deserve it, and why I think we need to reconsider our collective love affair with them: 1.
Flipping The Class: What is it? “…a form of blended Learning which encompasses any use of Internet technology to leverage the learning in a classroom, so a teacher can spend more time interacting with students instead of lecturing. This is most commonly being done using teacher created videos that students view outside of class time.
What’s The Problem? The problems with flipping are well explained in “The Flip: End of a Love Affair“. The short form is: What is it? What’s the problem? I’ve written before about the problems with BYOD. It’s inequitable. 3. What is it? The consistent message at ECOO12, from top thinkers and all corners, is that when considering using devices in education, pedagogy must come first. 4) 1 to 1: What is it? What is it? Are iPads and Other Classroom Gadgets Really Helping Kids Learn? For the last six years, the buzz about educational technology has grown deafening. Schools across the nation are scrambling to figure out just how a new generation of technology—software and devices both in the marketplace and still to be developed—might better educate kids.
The experiments are far-reaching. Currently, there are roughly 275,000 K-12 students from 31 states who are taking classes online. School administrators all over the nation are handing out iPads and asking teachers and students to come up with new ways to learn with them. Some schools are experimenting with flipped classrooms, in which kids read or watch videos of a lecture for homework and work through problems or questions with an instructor during class time.
Other schools, including a rapidly expanding chain of charter schools that serve low-income children, are employing what they call a “blended learning” model. Many teachers are embracing ed tech—blackboards and worksheets seem so last century. Why Teaching Digital Citizenship Doesn’t Work « Looking Up. Given Tablets But No Teachers, Ethiopian Kids Teach Themselves. Books, Not MOOCs. E-Learning for College Students. Straining the Quality of MOOCs: Student Retention and Intention | Open Education. U.S. schools not making the grade when it comes to education technology. Technology Is Changing How Students Learn, Teachers Say. Minnesota bans Coursera: State takes bold stand against free education. The False Promise of the Education Revolution - College, Reinvented. Bill Gates’ $100 million database to track students. Textbook Publisher Pearson Takes Down 1.5 Million Teacher And Student Blogs With A Single DMCA Notice. With Costs Rising Faster Than Tuition, Can Textbooks Last Long?
How a single DMCA notice took down 1.45 million education blogs. How Even Highly-Targeted Censorship Can Lead To Overblocking. Flaw In YouTube Takedown Process Exposed. How Computerized Tutors Are Learning to Teach Humans.