Online learning is not new. You may have even taken an online course. This week’s article presents information from a report that was conducted for the Department of Education in the United States. Go to the link below and read the article. Write a reflective comment that shows you have read the article, expresses your views, and addresses my questions.
The report indicates that most of the studies were done in colleges and adult continuing education programs. Do you think that the results would have been similar if most of the studies were done in K-12 settings? Do you agree that online learning tends to be better than conventional instruction? Why do you think people learned better with online learning? What advantages and disadvantages do you see in online learning? The dean of Arizona State University’s Online and Extended Campus program said, “Learning has to occur in a community.” What is your response to this remark?
12 comments:
Well I think that if the research was more K-12 based you would have better results because the students are still young and will absorb more information faster. I believe that online learning is much better than conventional learning as long as you don't get distracted by things like Facebook while your trying to learn. I think people learned better online because it's more 1:1 so you can ask all your questions and have as many examples as you want. The only disadvantage I see are social distractions online other than that it's only advantages. Well if you think about it, learning online is in a community because people are always talking on MSN and Skype and all types of instant messaging. So your basically still in that community.
oops, Greg=Tristan.
I think that this study is practically invalid. Sure, it is somewhat significant that a margin was found between the results of a classroom setting and an online one. But what does that matter if it only applies to people in their late 20s and early 30s? This margin won't mean much until it impacts students in the K-12 section and those in universities/colleges. They are the ones who are most in need of better education, as they are essentially the future.
I think the results could have possibly been similar in the K-12 setting. People from K-Grade 5 or 6 would most likely greatly benefit from online education, but I doubt that much would be done, if anything, for students past that point. It doesn't seem likely that high school students (or those preparing to be ones) would be able to learn as well from an online program as they would from a qualified, good teacher.
Personally, I find online learning to be more difficult to follow and absorb. Having a teacher show me how things work and explain concepts just creates a better connection, making things easier to grasp. I would have never learned how to apply equations in math from an online explanation, no matter how visual, because their simply wouldn't be a real person in front of me, explaining things thoroughly and connecting to me, for example. Sure, online learning gives you a 1 on 1 situation, but any good teacher knows how to present information in a way that relates to everyone, and when it relates, people get it.
They probably learned better with online learning because it didn't include a classroom. These people are past their college days, most likely have jobs, and are probably raising a family or married. Sitting at home and studying something online before having to prepare dinner or take your kids somewhere is more accessible than having to rush home from class to do so. Online learning gives these people continuing their college education the freedom to study but not have to worry about moving from place to place - they can be a part of the life at home and indulge in their studies in the same space. If one had to rush back and forth between the two, he/she would most likely be stressed, tired, and annoyed - things you most definitely do not want to be when trying to learn.
There a very few advantages in online learning, in my opinion, but they are strong ones. The accessibility to advantage I mentioned above is the key quality of online learning. But the fact that you are out of a classroom setting and are learning with just the information that you need, rather than annoying classmates and what not, definitely makes online learning more appealing. Being alone also contributes to the disadvantages of online learning though. With no professor or classmates, you have virtually little help available. Who do you turn to for help when all you have in front of you is what you are supposed to learn? No matter how precise these programs are written and how engaging they are, they cannot replace a instructor's or classmate's guidance. Other disadvantages are the lack of handwritten work, which has been proven to be linked to memory, and the distractions of the internet - social networking sites, game sites, etc.
I think the dean is correct, because of what I said earlier about there needing to be a surrounding for the learner (teachers/classmates who can help and consult). Online learning does not host this community naturally - you'd have to fabricate it through chatrooms and such.
The studies would have been different if they were broadened to the K-12 age. Those who are in university or are adults returning to school already have a basis of knowledge (assumed) and understand elementary subjects such as Algebra 1 and U.S. History. Students in K-12 are still in that basic learning process, the 12 year old is going to know much about Algebra 2 or Biology because they haven't taken it.
Online learning, in my opinion, is not very useful. I have taken a course online and found it extremely difficult to even understand basic concepts and on top of that, there was no one to help me because it was solely online. Many students benefit from learning with a teacher and peers, from sitting in a classroom and listening to discussion or copying notes.
The scores were better online because people Googled the information.
The disadvantage to online learning as I said before is that there is no one there in person to help you; you are for the most part on your own learning new information. However a key advantage is that the internet is a plentiful resource that provides all types of videos, pictures, text, sounds to supplement learning. But that is the thing, I think the internet should be used as a supplement, not a sole source of learning.
I fully agree with the dean at ASU, learning is a community thing. Groups of people learn better together because they share ideas and are able to teach and learn from each other instead of a screen. Some people may not understand a concept when it is explained by a teacher, but once explained by another student is becomes clear. A learning and teaching community is important.
This is the class of the future:
Up-to-date information on the web where you won't have to worry about any out-of-date info, such as Pluto,
USB/CD/Floppydisks used as notebooks
all-style documents as pages,
webcam connection via teacher to all students' desktops
projectors for boards,
no need for printer.
The class of the future is green!
I think that the online learning is so much better. I think this because at a college with people and teachers and everyone being there, that you might get distracted easily. Also, you tend to have more work when you are at school. Teachers pushing you and having to do more work. On a computer, you might get distracted but you tend to work more, you are more focused with what project or work you have on the computer than you are with what's going on around you.
Having K-12 might help you. Depending on how much you remember from that time. For some it might help you to review. And if you get distracted from facebook, skype, etc. then log off of those things and don't touch it.
I don’t think that the results would have been similar if this study was taken with students in grades K-12. In my opinion, younger students especially need to be in a community setting to learn and understand though dialogue and group work. Online learning may be better for older students because of their ability to concentrate. Also, older students would have the option to do work when they “feel like it”, so it that respect, it’s better than the traditional 8 hour day. I think that responsible and busy students would learn better with online learning because they could choose when they had the time to do their work. This is the best advantage for online learning; choosing when to do work and learn. Online learning has the most obvious disadvantage to some students who need to be in an environment where they are disciplined in order to get work done. This also removes teacher interaction which can be very helpful for students who are lagging behind. Instead of waiting for an email, the student would be better off, in my opinion, asking the instructor in person. I definitely agree that “Learning has to occur in a community”. Students who understand are able to help other students who don’t by simplifying it to a way that the instructor might not be able to because he/she doesn’t think like the typical, for example, 12-year old.
Online Educations are sometimes really better than the classroom education. In Korea, people take online educations to study instead of having tutors. Since I was in Middle School, I tried to save the money for tutors, so I was taking an online course for my studies except my english. I learned very much with it like having a tutor. I think it is likely to be 1:1 and if you miss something, you can go back, if you need to take notes,you can just pause it for seconds. I think it is very useful and I would like to recommend it to the people who don't want to have tutors but if they have to study. It is very useful.
If research were to be more K-12 based things would be much easier for the students because they could pass easily due to early achievements from a K-12 setting.
Online learning would beat conventional learning because it's all typed up & if you suddenly forget it, you can always go to that page & reread.
Advantages of online ed is that it's never out-of-date.
The only disadvantage I can think of is the fact that one day you will find yourself without an internet connection, & would get you "behind schedule".
I would have to respond by saying: "possibly on an online community where everyone has contact to one-another in one network controlled by a teacher in order for us to learn". So basically on facebook, myspace, twitter, youtube, blogger, linkedin, there are all possible websites to create a community.
It is somewhat obvious that online teachings is showing better results in whole but there are somethings that online education will not be able to teach. Success on education online can be driven from the concentration level a student shows when confronted with a teaching method that has been created by dozens of teacher while the less-efficiency of the traditional learning is only created and thought by one person. One of the major disadvantages in online learning would be the lack of social interaction the student confronts. Even without online schooling there are already social problems that impede the social growth of a student. Such is the result of growth of technology.
I think that if most of the studies were done in K-12 settings that they would have been significantly different because I believe that a student in Kindergarten would have more trouble using a computer than a college student. I would, however, believe that online learning tends to be better than conventional instruction but only to certain groups of students. Mostly students in high school or college would benefit from this source of knowledge. I think that people learned better from online learning because they have a computer while learning, you can do anything from googling the information to asking a friend what the answer is through IM. The big problem, in my opinion, is the Internet. People will constantly update their status message, check their email, check sports sites, etc. and will easily get distracted. I think that an advantage through online learning is that you can google information as soon as you learn it, while disadvantages are the distraction, and the surroundings. It will not feel the same to read information from your home computer than it will to read from your history textbook. I strongly agree with out the Dean said, learning does have to occur in a community because people tend to learn better when they are sharing ideas with their peers, and having an actual person who knows such knowledge will greatly help too.
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