Tracy asks this (and several other important questions) in a comment on her “Whats in a grade?” post:
“Are we trying to learn how to effectively set up on-line classes for an educational environment?”
It points out an important disconnect that may well be at the root of much of the confusion about what it is we’re doing here because, oddly, the answer to this is “no.” We WILL be doing it anyway, but that’s not really one of the goals of the class. Perhaps a quote from the syllabus:
- Understand the concepts and history of distance education
- Select the appropriate distance learning tools to maximize student learning
- Analyze and discuss current practice in distance education
- Research and identify effective distance education practice
- Discuss learning theories and how they relate to distance education practices
For those who have been twitting me all semester about not stating the goals upfront, these *have* been posted since before the semester started. They *are* the goals established by the curriculum committee for this class and which I am bound to teach. Please pick out the goal that includes “implement.”
There isn’t one and there’s a good reason for that. This is not a class in application. It’s a class in background. When we’re done here, the idea is that you have an understanding of what distance education might be and how that varies from what you’re told, taught, and believe about education in general. You’ll be able to look at education research and begin to start taking it apart to look for flaws and fallacies. You’ll have some experience in working with the tools and with the process of tool selection. As a capstone you were *supposed* to write a research paper, but I balked at that — instead requiring a capstone project for each of you to demonstrate your understanding of the underlying content. Technically, the implementation isn’t a goal. It’s just the mechanism I’m using for evaluation because I wanted to give you some practice in performance based assessment by being subject to one.
There’s a really good reason for this.
The probability is very high that few of you will ever be allowed — and I use that term deliberately — to do much of what we’ve talked about in terms of distance education using online tools and affordances with your K-12 classes. Some of you have run into the bureaucracy already. There are a lot of good ideas for using bits and pieces. Since I believe that even your classroom based classes are “at a distance,” I think that a LOT of what we are talking about has direct application in your classrooms — something you’re pretty much all fighting me on because, as you point out, I don’t really understand classroom teaching with kids. And if there’s little direct applicability for actual implemention because of the political, social, and financial realities of your practice, then why in the wide world would we spend your time teaching it to you?
In hindsight, I should have twigged to this earlier. There’s plenty of evidence that nobody read the syllabus, and while I knew that a lot of your frustration was based in a disconnect between your expectation for the course and the experience of it, I completely missed this aspect of the disconnect. The title of the course is “Principles of Distance Education” but I missed the fact that many of you were unaware of the distinction between “principles” and “practice.” I hope this post clears that up and you can relax a bit and pay attention to what’s going on IN the course and not what you thought the course was “supposed” to be.
November 3rd, 2007 at 10:58 AM
Granted, this class has been a lot of work. I think I’m probably out of the loop, though, as far as wanting there to be the application. I have felt all through the semester that, since I don’t teach in normal situation and don’t have access to technology at all, that I sort of have to imagine what it would be like to use these tools in a classroom. I can draw a little from my limited experience in public school, but not much. I have, however, thought the reading and thinking have been very good for me. This is probably why I haven’t pushed too much for more direction. I did, by the way, read the syllabus, but that was what seems like very long ago and I have not gone back to it except to read about the final project. Just trying to stay afloat week to week has been more than enough for me. Oh, and thanks for balking on the research paper! I have written enough of those….and never felt like I did a good job of doing anything but reporting other people’s ideas.
November 3rd, 2007 at 11:36 AM
If it makes you feel any better, I haven’t been dissappointed in this class at all. Frankly, most of the education classes I’ve had (and I’m working on my second masters in ed) have been in principles rather than practices. I guess I’ve just come to expect that the purpose of universities is to present us with the framework for understanding how all this stuff comes about and then leave us to implement it. And I think that is probably for the best. I’m sure most people in this class would agree that college faculty for the most part have no idea of what goes on in k12 classrooms and are ill prepared to tell us how to use any of the stuff they teach us. While it would be nice for someone to lay out a step-by-step map, it just isn’t going to happen in a college class.
November 3rd, 2007 at 1:35 PM
Well, and I’m not sure it should. Remember that I believe teaching is an artform. With that kinda perspective NO artist can have somebody else tell him or her how to paint a painting. The *best* we can do is show ya how paint works in relation to the brush and canvas. The application of the paint is the point … but it’s something the artist needs to do for him/herself.
November 4th, 2007 at 9:51 AM
I too, am getting everything I expected out of this course. In most classess I expect my views and opinions to be challenged. I enjoy questioning what I believe, this is where my love of arguing comes into play. We learn from each other when we debate our opinions whether we will ever change our opinion later is irrelevant. Arguing will either strengthen the opinion you already have or it will make you question that opinion to the point of reevaluating, and changing that opinion. Sometimes are views are simple-minded because of our lack of exposure, this exposure at least allows us to form a more educated opinion.
November 4th, 2007 at 3:03 PM
I would like to make reference to your statement above: The probability is very high that few of you will ever be allowed — and I use that term deliberately — to do much of what we’ve talked about in terms of distance education using online tools and affordances with your K-12 classes. Don’t sell the program and the class that short because it just so happens that one doesn’t neet a lot of funding to implement blogs! For example, my high school students have just recently taught several 4th graders how to set up their own blog along with a “gator” for the purpose of teaching other 4th graders at two other schools in our county which all three schools will be consolidated next year. The students will be utilizing the blogs and the gators for the purpose of sharing thoughts and ideas about the new school along with becoming the teacher of new found technology! I don’t know about all the others in this class but I “ALWAYS” try to implement new concepts that are presented to me! I feel I would be a failure as an educator if I didn’t!
November 4th, 2007 at 3:20 PM
Excellent news!!
Most schools in the nation block blogs, blog services, and anything relating to it, so you’re blessed to be in one of the few that allows it!
That’s *really* good news.
November 4th, 2007 at 10:14 PM
My chemistry classes are blogging to do their outside reading assignments as well as for discussion of homework. They have responded well to the idea and there a lot of helping one another with concepts or problems they don’t understand. I monitor all their blogs with my gator and give feedback as necessary, but pretty much let the go at it on their own for the most part. Next semester, I am going to start adding extra credit discussions and discussions of what is coming up in the classroom so they can be better prepared. Not all my students are blogging, primarily my honors courses this year, but I plan to add my other classes next year.