As we move forward with online education, it seems to me that more and more we will be depending upon the creation of video. For the instructor, it is wise to start making video to more lead content than to support text.
Of course, we want to see quality video but sometimes a phone video quality is enough of an option. Still, we can do more with a studio and software to produce lessons that offer valuable learning outcomes.
Will writing essays, though, go the way of cursive writing in schools as video becomes more valued?
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Friday, February 12, 2016
Saturday, January 30, 2016
I have been reading documents of the past in preparing lectures for an online education class. I came across James B. Conant's 1960 checklist for what to look for in a comprehensive high school. Conant was a former Harvard president who studied the topic of comprehensive high school through a Carnegie grant. This checklist was provided in his 1960 book, The American High School. Since I attend K-12 in the 1950s through the 1960s, it is interesting to apply this checklist to my own education.
1960 Checklist to Assist in Evaluating a Comprehensive High School
A. Adequacy of general education for all judged by:
1. Offerings in English and American literature and composition.
2. Social studies, including American history.
3. Ability grouping in required courses.
B. Adequacy of nonacademic elective program as judged by:
4. The vocational programs for boys and commercial programs for girls.
5. Opportunities for supervised work experience.
6. Special provisions for very slow readers.
C. Special arrangements for the academically talented students:
7. Special provisions for challenging the highly gifted.
8. Special instructions for developing reading skills.
9. Summer sessions from which able students may profit.
10. Individual programs (absence of tracks or rigid programs).
11. School day organized into seven or more instructional periods.
D. Other features:
12. Adequacy of the guidance service.
13. Student morale.
14. Well-organized homerooms.
15. The success of the school in promoting an understanding between students with widely different academic abilities and vocational goals (effective social interaction among students).
Monday, January 25, 2016
The American High School Today - By James B. Conant
Reading my way through James B. Conant's report, "The American High School Today." The printing was done in 1960, so it has been around a spell. It also cost me a penny. The shipping cost more, of course.
In the book Conant makes several suggestions as to how to assure students succeed and the pillars of a comprehensive high school are in place. I began high school in the late 60s, and it is interesting to note that many of the recommendations were guiding my public school education.
Now as a teacher, and long before online learning, I have been curious as to whether or not the delivery method I am using to teach, online, of course, is helping or hindering high school learners. It is a mixed, I think, as most certainly online learning gives students in rural school setting more choices. It is, though, a different culture and seems to be in conflict with other guiding elements of the comprehensive high school objectives, such as the development of good citizenship. This can be done through online courses, of course, but the student's immediate community is not necessarily the one to which the online learner is connected to when it comes to civic engagement. Of course, this also opens up possibilities to connect to communities throughout the world, one of the goals of the 21st Century Learning Skills.
Some things remain the same. I recently heard from a student involved in sports who wrote to say he was not able to complete his assignment because of his after school activities. Conant called for "protecting" the student's study time. Although extracurricular activities are of value. They can not come at the expense of academic development. Some things never change.
Reading my way through James B. Conant's report, "The American High School Today." The printing was done in 1960, so it has been around a spell. It also cost me a penny. The shipping cost more, of course.
In the book Conant makes several suggestions as to how to assure students succeed and the pillars of a comprehensive high school are in place. I began high school in the late 60s, and it is interesting to note that many of the recommendations were guiding my public school education.
Now as a teacher, and long before online learning, I have been curious as to whether or not the delivery method I am using to teach, online, of course, is helping or hindering high school learners. It is a mixed, I think, as most certainly online learning gives students in rural school setting more choices. It is, though, a different culture and seems to be in conflict with other guiding elements of the comprehensive high school objectives, such as the development of good citizenship. This can be done through online courses, of course, but the student's immediate community is not necessarily the one to which the online learner is connected to when it comes to civic engagement. Of course, this also opens up possibilities to connect to communities throughout the world, one of the goals of the 21st Century Learning Skills.
Some things remain the same. I recently heard from a student involved in sports who wrote to say he was not able to complete his assignment because of his after school activities. Conant called for "protecting" the student's study time. Although extracurricular activities are of value. They can not come at the expense of academic development. Some things never change.
Thursday, January 7, 2016
Re-designing an online course
I have been hard at work re-designing an online educational foundations course. It is an interesting process to rewrite a course after five years with the same approach. The re-design became more of an immediate need as in late December the Obama Administration signed into law the Every Student Succeeds Act, updating the No Child Left Behind Act. Suddenly, all textbooks dealing with the NCLB were suddenly out of date.
The re-design had been in the works, but it is a huge undertaking. At the same time, after five additional years of experiencing teaching the course, as instructor I find myself making new connections across concepts. It is a fascinating process, really. A teacher really learns the content when responsible for teaching it to others.
With online learners at the community college level, I am focusing upon also developing critical thinking skills. I find online learning instruction a challenge for many reasons. First, one has to find ways to encourage students to read the lectures and textbook, which, honestly, is no different from live classrooms. As a live classroom instructor for almost 30 years I have often seen the textbook, still wrapped in its cellophane cover, tossed into the trash can, never having been open. I usually claim these for future students, just in case someone really needs a textbook. My answer to working the content is, of course, to include quizzes that cover the content, but I also have students summarize content, provide answers to worksheet items, and reflect upon material in journal responses. That seems to be a useful strategy. It is a good approach, I think, as it moves students through Bloom's taxonomy upward through the glossary of content, into discussions with each other to clarify concepts, and then into one-to-one responses that focus on their reflecting about the concepts.
Online learners need to acquire self-assessment tools to help them with the ah-ha of learning. That is, they have to help themselves to find ways that identify for themselves that they have really learned the material.
The re-design had been in the works, but it is a huge undertaking. At the same time, after five additional years of experiencing teaching the course, as instructor I find myself making new connections across concepts. It is a fascinating process, really. A teacher really learns the content when responsible for teaching it to others.
With online learners at the community college level, I am focusing upon also developing critical thinking skills. I find online learning instruction a challenge for many reasons. First, one has to find ways to encourage students to read the lectures and textbook, which, honestly, is no different from live classrooms. As a live classroom instructor for almost 30 years I have often seen the textbook, still wrapped in its cellophane cover, tossed into the trash can, never having been open. I usually claim these for future students, just in case someone really needs a textbook. My answer to working the content is, of course, to include quizzes that cover the content, but I also have students summarize content, provide answers to worksheet items, and reflect upon material in journal responses. That seems to be a useful strategy. It is a good approach, I think, as it moves students through Bloom's taxonomy upward through the glossary of content, into discussions with each other to clarify concepts, and then into one-to-one responses that focus on their reflecting about the concepts.
Online learners need to acquire self-assessment tools to help them with the ah-ha of learning. That is, they have to help themselves to find ways that identify for themselves that they have really learned the material.
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Seeking a musical noise
Once in Ireland I visited a church service as there was advertised a choir performance that appeared attractive. I recall this was St. Mary Church, although it was the protestant church, not Catholic, which one may think so, given the status of Mary in Ireland.
While I was in... the church, there was music vibrating below my feet in my pew. This seemed odd to me, but it must be a practical matter for pumping music throughout the church.
A man, David Jacob, saw me as a stranger in the church and I inquired of the vibrations at my feet. It turned out his wife, Hilda, was the church organist. He introduced me to her and she later invited me to see a small pump organ in a country church. She described the organ to me as a two-person job, one person, in this case me, would pump the organ with a bevel at the side, while the other, her, played.
The organ was worth a trip, but the adventure was ever more delightful. We first had to go see the church elder, who was in a farm field at the time of our stopping. We needed his permission to enter the church. His wife made us tea while we waited for him to join us, and I enjoyed some Irish stories during the chat. Soon the church elder came in for his tea, and we chatted some more. All of this took about an hour. Then he gave us the key to the country church. Well, he gave us a key to the lockbox at the back of the country church. The lockbox stored the huge key, about 10 inches long, to the front door.
I wish I had a photo of the small church organ, and I hope it is still there. Hilda told me then that there were only two left in all of Ireland.
While I was in... the church, there was music vibrating below my feet in my pew. This seemed odd to me, but it must be a practical matter for pumping music throughout the church.
A man, David Jacob, saw me as a stranger in the church and I inquired of the vibrations at my feet. It turned out his wife, Hilda, was the church organist. He introduced me to her and she later invited me to see a small pump organ in a country church. She described the organ to me as a two-person job, one person, in this case me, would pump the organ with a bevel at the side, while the other, her, played.
The organ was worth a trip, but the adventure was ever more delightful. We first had to go see the church elder, who was in a farm field at the time of our stopping. We needed his permission to enter the church. His wife made us tea while we waited for him to join us, and I enjoyed some Irish stories during the chat. Soon the church elder came in for his tea, and we chatted some more. All of this took about an hour. Then he gave us the key to the country church. Well, he gave us a key to the lockbox at the back of the country church. The lockbox stored the huge key, about 10 inches long, to the front door.
I wish I had a photo of the small church organ, and I hope it is still there. Hilda told me then that there were only two left in all of Ireland.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
