Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Communication in the Classroom
As students we are very used to the concept of a teacher standing in front of the classroom and lecturing. We sit, absorb information through taking notes and then prove ourselves through testing. However, as life becomes more chaotic and college becomes more expensive, many students are looking to online courses. Online courses are relatively new, and most are still working out the kinks. How do you give a test online without the student using his notes? There is no way to make sure. But more importantly, you lose the human to human contact and interaction. You do not develop that relationship with the teacher. It is much more difficult and time consuming to ask a question and get a response. There must be a way around it. New technology is paving the way. At some major Universities, professors are beginning to post videos of themselves lecturing. The online classrooms are becoming more interactive. Who is to say that in the future students will step foot into an actual school? Their work may all be completed over the internet.
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This class alone has already shown what is capable over the internet when it comes to education. We have worked in groups, participated in discussions, and debated all online and we only stepped foot in a class room once! This step could even be cut out with the use of on online lecture, chat or live group discussion. Think about it – instead of meeting at the Bristol Campus which is very far for me (I live in Bedminster) we could have met online - possibly in a lecture hall in Second Life? – and had our group meeting there.
ReplyDeleteIn my computer class we also worked in groups and had discussions and this class was completely online. Not once did we meet or speak in person. I never saw the people that were in my group or who I depended on to do their part of the assignments.
I think in a very short time most colleges and universities will offer classes that are completely online. There would be many benefits including cost savings from not having to use a facility, make copies and travel. In addition it would cut down on the use of resources helping use move in a greener direction.
For me personally I am not a huge fan of online courses. I like to meet in person and interact with my classmates. To see who I am talking with and learn hands on, but I think that this type of teacher would be good for those who are not able to travel, have issues with group or public settings or enjoy doing their work on a computer.
~Angela (A Bag of Tricks)
I did some research earlier for our Second Life project that discussed the technology as an educational tool. One professor who taught in Second Life classrooms believed the effort was unsuccessful because “avatars don’t communicate as richly as people do”. He stated he could read body language in the real-world classroom. He could also identify and react to students who are tired or look quizzical indicating they may not understand. These may be legitimate criticisms to all types of online education as well.
ReplyDeleteThis is my 19th online learning course and I really prefer it. I love the flexibility and haven’t had any communication issues that hindered my learning or performance. I liked having to go to the testing center to take tests rather than online. These tests are the same that classroom students take and I thought it was a great way to gauge the online versus classroom effectiveness. Not completing my degree when I was younger always bothered me – it was a lost opportunity. You can complete an Associate’s degree at Bucks entirely online if you wanted to. I chose to take just 1 course in a classroom and I can complete another 60 credits online between Bucks and another school. There’s plenty to criticize about most anything, but I don’t really see a downside to anything that offers such great opportunity.
Online classroom- here is an example of the recently developed trend in educations. Online courses are taking off and offer great opportunities for full time parents or people who hold full time job positions. I agree with the huge disadvantage of not having live communications between individuals and I definitely prefer being present in a real classroom rather than doing the entire work online. But as technology keeps changing it changes people’s perspective and the concept of communications is becoming different. Some individuals are choosing online learning not only because of convenience but also because they learned to communicate this way better than face to face
ReplyDeleteThis is so true. I hope that schools really don't disappear though. I think that if they take schools aways its going to far. Kids need the human contact to be able to act and to relate to things. Not just a computer. Jen Hight
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