WEll, first of all there have been a lot of social web sites created like Facebook and Twitter. Faculty need to be aware of their College policies before attempting to use these to build learning communities amongst their students. An offial online course ware system is preferred.
melissa ,
How do you think it helps specifically? Do you think it raises engagement or more than that?
Dr. Ruth Reynard
I think the internet has great uses for teaching I myself use youtube clips for certain discussion. I think it really shows the students and helps them out with their learning process
Robert,
I agree - with varied inputs, the material can be presented differently each time which increases the likelihood of more students understanding it.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
I think the student who is having a problem understanding how a system works can find multiple ways to view it from different sources.
The internet has brought flexibility to the instructional process. The student now has access to material, anytime of the day, whenever it suits his or her schedule. The students I deal with have many varied schedules and needs, and being able to access the course material at any hour they have available ensures they can complete the courses in time, rather than work stringent available hours into his schedule.
Jaime,
Good points! The technology also changes the role of the instructor and the ways in which students an learn...
Dr. Ruth Reynard
It has provided instructors with other ways to help students improve their learning process. Nowadays, we all are connected somehow and the use of the internet during the instructional process is what students are looking for in their classes.
Lance,
Very true - yet, now hige supportive skill is to understand how to decipher the best information and use it well ...
Dr. Ruth Reynard
The internet has allowed students access to endless amounts of resources.This gives students even more control over their learning experience and helps them understand so much in the automotive field.
KIZHAKKEPARAMPIL,
Great points! The variety of inputs also enhances the learning for various learning preferences in students.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
Scott,
Yes, and your communication can be both direct and focused.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
There are many changes when it comes to instructional process, from instructional videos to applications on tablets that have allowed students to become more effective in their learning process.
I used to teach normally a lecture combined with hands –on laboratory for the better understand of the subject concept. Now the explosion of technology and it is everywhere. The Web allows the incorporation of animation, moving pictures, and sound into lessons. Great advantage of using multimedia is to convey information quickly and effectively to all students – and keep them interested in learning.
Traditionally, students would ask questions and teachers would provide answers verbally. But now I can answer students with email attachments and web links that back up the answer. That gives more credibility to the teacher and more references to the student.
abdalla,
Yes, new technology can really help with subjects like Math - also finding the reasons for the Math in real life contexts really helps provide relevance for students...
Dr. Ruth Reynard
I teach Math and most students do not like math or find it hard to understand, the internet makes it easier to understand by watching Videos from different sides or reading different way of solving problems or help each other through a discussion forum like this.
Reply
Peter,
How does learning alongside students from all over the country alter the learning experience for the students do you think?
Dr. Ruth Reynard
I, too, have provided links to YouTube "how to" videos to supplement lectures and to provide visuals. Access to online libraries 24/7 provides students with incredible access to reputable sources of information. The ability for students to send a file or post an assignment for timely feedback is a great tool in engaging students.
We presently use Moodle at my home institution, i.e. where I hold an emeritus professorship. That has changed modes of communication giving a class a central area to which to relate. Moodle also provides forums and chat possibilities. However, the class I mentioned is a 3 hour student-led discussion class and the class size is between 5 and 10. So there is no chat-room, forum, or blog discussion.
The wider internet has particularly provided information for the participants in a course I taught that always had a waiting list. In a few circumstances I had to be careful about the internet's treatment and student understanding. But I was grateful for my students' use of the internet to read previously secret material.
In most of my courses, however, I must admit that nothing replaces the one-to-one discussion in the office or in the laboratory. My greatest difficulty is not in conveying information, nor is it in getting the student immersed in the material. It is in changing the student's mode of thinking. We were all brought up in a world that remains fairly Aristotelian in physical thought. I must try to bring students from that to first Newtonian thought and then to Modern thought. And with that I must bring them to a deeper understanding of mathematics as more than a language.
For the students who are somewhat "on the way" the internet becomes a greater source. They become interested in what is "going on" in physics. And they will bring things to me that I may or may not have seen. These I communicate with the class at large, usually by email, because I can be certain they will check email.
We also have standard mathematical packages, e.g Maple and Mathematica, that students use. The companies that produce these have information that the students access. This is often helpful.
I have had to accept that discussions among my students, at a small college, mostly take place in the cafeteria, the snack bar, the labs, and in my office.
I hope this is helpful. You are posing an apparently simple question to which I could give a nice canned answer. But the answer is actually nuanced.
