Online only versus supplemented In-class courses
Hello All,
How effective can elearning be, for students of career colleges that use expensive or highly specialized equipment? Are the benefits of time-shifting, robust media, etc. outweighed by the necessity to be on location to use labs?
I'm of the mind that online course loads for these programs could be great supplementary material for the in-class sessions, but will probably not be used to replace or substitute actually class time.
Comments anyone?
Tim,
I like this as well. Students are going to have to have technology in their background and the hybrid class is a good way to introduce these concepts.
Shelly Crider
I find the hybrid works tremendously in my current program. The ability to expose students to new concepts they may or may not be familiar with on-line, before they enter the classroom is truly an asset. It allows students to become comfortable with key concepts and terminology before I as an instructor present them in class. Being able to visualize the different equipment and softwares they will be using in class increases competency from the onset of class.
Sharon,
Really interesting technology - I've seen some neat stuff with it!
Jon
I will definitely look at Second Life. I am certainly feeling challenged by the availability of all of these wonderful components that we can add to the courses. Venturing into the world of the virtual classroom is exciting,yet daunting for many of us who have spent years in a traditional classroom. Although we have made progress with our efforts to become less traditional, nothing competes with this technoloty.
Stacey,
Great question - it generally helps if they have motivation to go to the online portion, for materials or for graded work.
Best,
Jon
I add an online component to all of my classes even if they don't require one.
I also teach the same course in both online and traditional/supplemental formats. So my comment is that each has its strengths and weaknesses but in an online only course I find the students are more diligent in finding information on their own and don't want to wait for an answer for questions. In the traditional/supplemental class they rely on the class time to ask questions and are almost in a sense less motivated to complete the work independently. In a 2 day a week class they might wait 5 days to get an answer rather than figure it out on thier own or email a question.
So, does anyone have any advice on how to motivate the traditional/supplemental student to be more independant?
Carl:
Teaching hybrid courses, especially the kind you are teaching, is more excisitng because of the degree of your involvement and the frequency of the face-to-face interactions with your students, and even the students with each other. The distinction you have, between the purpose of the labs and the purpose of the online instruction reflects a significant amount of thought behind the planning of this hybrid course.
Satrohan
For a number of years now I have considered teaching classes on-line. Each time, until recently, I've thought - "It won't work - there's no way that we can share the passion about this subject in a reasonable way." What I didn't see was that a great deal of the subject matter is not of a "passionate" nature.
In two days I begin teaching a hybrid course - a science course with labs on-site, the balance of the course on-line. I can not tell you how excited I am to be doing this.
The "labs" allow for traditional scientific investigations - face to face (perhaps highly impassioned) discussions - testing - and so forth. The on-line sessions offer the freedom to read, re-read, review, consider, and become involved in a dialog - about the subject material.
I suspect I will find what you, Krista, and others have apparently found - the experience only improves us as teachers.
Paul:
Agreed. "there is no substitute for immediate face-to-face interaction". Moreover, using the hybrid model as you have described it, to teach software applications is in my opinion the best approach. You may want to track those difficult concepts students do not seeem to grasp in an independent learning situation, and see if you can schedule face-to-face sessions to teach them.
Satrohan
I have just moved from teaching computer software courses in a traditional manner to teaching a hybrid model. With the hybrid approach, students are required for the first couple of lessons of a topic to introduce the ideas, and then at the end of the topic for testing.
Most of the students love it... mainly because it gives them the freedom to complete the work when they are able.
However, I do feel that there are times when they don't learn more difficult ideas as well as when they were in class every lesson. The hybrid courses are a good compromise, but there is no substitute for immediate face to face interaction.
I would be reluctant to go completely online with most of the courses I teach. Hybrid is the way to go.
Krista:
I believe online learning ishere to stay. Your enthusiasm in new teaching and learning technologies is one we should all share.
Satrohan
Charlotte,
I have been teaching in the classroom for 10+ years and in an on-line setting for 3 years. I resisted teaching on-line as I thought there was "NO way!" students could ever learn on-line as they did in my classroom. I was right ... and wrong. They don't learn the same way as they do in my classroom ... but they still learned. And I became a better teacher both in and out of the classroom because of my increased communication skills in the on-line environment.
Now I am also looking forward to new (and improved) technologies that will make on-line learning even more dynamic! And the ways I can enhance my classroom teaching using these great technologies.
Krista
Kathleen:
I have had a demonstration of a similar application. I cannot recall its name; nevertheless, it did contain the interactive components you mentioned. This demo was given to me by a client with whom I was making design and develpment decisions for several programs they wanted to place online. We were very impressed by this demo, and I asked my team to research it. The surprise in all of this is that the university was not going to adopt this development tool----three reasons.
1. Professors were not open to learning a new tool; especially "traditional" instructors.
2. Even if they were willing to learn, there was no time to train to meet the alunch date of the course.
3. The university had only one person capable of using this tool.
In a lot of cases, the launch date of the program, and the availability of the resources to meet the launch date, dictate what is doable.
I certainly wish for the day when we can easily adopt applications like Second Life. Thanks for sharing.
Satrohan
My sincere apologies Charlotte. I made an error (not including the typo) in my earlier response to which you answered. What I meant to say is whether the new modes of delivery in our educational and training systems will yield the requisite knowledge and skills people need to support the society in which we live. Here are two analogies. One is probably an extreme case, nevertheless, it does exemplify my inquiry.
A few years ago, I walked into a convenience store on Christmas day and purchased two itesm which totalled $5.79. The young man at the counter told me he cannot make the sale; so I asked why. He told me that the cash register was not working, and he does not know how to compute 15% of the total.
The other one that is on the more extreme end is one that a professional colleague of mine mentioned as a joke. In his words:
"The way we see things going, Sat, I hope that in my old age I do not show up at my doctor who informs me that I have to me given an injection of 150 ml; then turns around and asks me if I know how much 150 ml is."
Satrohan
Take a look at Second Life. It is considered an online "game" but there is a Second Life College. Many universities are coming online to create virutual classroom environments. The medium is constantly being perfected, you can show videos or play music within the environment, have voice chat, IM chat, and enter into a learning environmet that can be created by the instructor or institution...which can be traditional in nature, or not. Students and instructor create an "Avatar" which interacts with others within the 3-D environment. I believe this will be the next form of the internet. It is a community created by it's users.
If you are an educator and have not explored this medium, you should. I have been creating virtual environments since Decemeber, and am having a blast. I have met educators from all over the world in Second Life who believe this type of learning and interactive environment is the future of online education.
Satrohan,
That's an interesting thought about "not how the delivery modes will evolve, but will we have the capable and competent workforce to support it." It would depend on the direction/ vision of online learning and the technology to support it.
I'm looking forward to the next several years when online learning becomes a regular part of our lives. The question then becomes how it will be deveoped and managed.
We will have to wait and see, Charlotte. As I shar emy opinion on this topic, I recall reading a textbook in 1982 on Intelligent Tutoring Systems. The authors predicted that such systems would prevail in educational institutions by the mid 90s. Well, to this point in time, I have not seen that materialized.
My greatest interest is not how the delivery modes will evolve; but moreso, in our society being able to maintain a capable and competent workforce to support it.
Satrohan
How true. Over the next several years, it will be interesting to see what evolves with technology and education... what virtual learning will eventually look like is anyone's guess.
Charlotte:
This is a somewhat touchy situation for institutions. whether they choose to adopt a hybrid approach versus all on-the-ground, and another version online seems to be driven by cost as well as by profit. When two versions of the course are offered, there has to be adequate enrollments to support the cost of delivering both versions. The hybrid approach is suitable if the institution targets students who are within their locale. It is not suitable when an institution, with the hope of increasing revenue, targets students at the national and international level.
Satrohan
