In today’s online era, the concept of a classroom extends beyond a walled room with desks and chairs and into the realm of cyber space. Computer screens are replacing the blackboard and keypads are replacing chalk.her findings:
To provide learners with the best experience, many educators are opting for a blended approach: a traditional classroom with face-to-face interaction supplemented by online resources. One University of Missouri researcher has found that while this approach is currently not necessarily more effective, there is hope for developing an effective hybrid approach to learning.
- "Strickland discovered that there were few statistical differences between the effectiveness of a traditional course delivery method and a hybrid one."
- "The student satisfaction evaluation also revealed that students in the hybrid classrooms are more frequently confused regarding course requirements."
- "It also was noted that the students who completed the course in a traditional setting were more pleased with the course outcomes than the students who completed the blended course."
“While there was slightly more confusion regarding hybrid classrooms, the results favor the continuing practice of blended learning environments as a viable option for course delivery in health care education...”
Effectiveness Of Traditional And Blended Learning Environments
Brace yourselves.
We the people are going to be buying a lot more of this stuff.
High Tech Heretic by Clifford Stoll
"It also was noted that the students who completed the course in a traditional setting were more pleased with the course outcomes than the students who completed the blended course."
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised. This semester one of the classes I'm teaching is a regular, remedial algebra class. I've had students not in my class approach me and ask if there was any room in my section - they had unwittingly signed up for the computer section of the algebra class, and were desperate to get into a regular classroom.
Computer learning is overrated, methinks.
Is this math?
ReplyDeleteThis is a homework assignment for a fifth grader. Find the num. values for the letters.
SEED
+ICED
________
SPICE
C= D= E= I= P= S=
anon - yes, it's a problem solving assignment that calls on the student to use what he knows about number bonds and be logical.
ReplyDeleteEdutainment games such as Cluefinders have different problems that get at the same concept.
"Is this math?" (for a fifth grader)
ReplyDeleteFor fun, maybe, but not on a regular basis. There are other skills in fifth grade that are much more important, like manipulating fractions. What math curriculum is this from, or did the teacher add this in?
How about
S=0
P=0
I=0
C=0
E=0
Homework problems like this for fifth graders should set off a lot of warning alarms.
It's for extra credit.
ReplyDeleteIt might take a kid hours to puzzle this out. As SteveH says, that time might be better spent on fractions, etc.
Hi Niels --- why is that, do you think?
ReplyDeleteI love computers & gadgets of all kinds, and it makes sense to me intuitively that computers ought to add something useful to teaching & learning....and yet thus far, in my own experience trying to learn from computer screens versus trying to learn from books, books win hands down.
I assume there's a problem with screen readability, which has apparently been solved by the new "reader" technology....but there's something else...
I've also begun to wonder how much "screens" and "software" etc. in fact signal students being required to learn from heavily visual texts -- are students simply being distracted to death?
Having to juggle to much "stuff"? (Password, URL, bookmark, hyperlinks, etc, etc.)
The whole thing is a great mystery to me.
btw, the good private schools have TINY amounts of technology, generally speaking. We made the rounds last winter: Dalton, Hackley, Rye Country Day, Brunswick.
ReplyDeleteBrunswick & Rye had all of their students on laptops, but no one had invested heavily in SMART Boards.
Dalton didn't have a single SMART Board.
Hello, Catherine -
ReplyDeleteOne of the impressions that I get from students who would rather have a regular class, as opposed to a computer section of the same thing, is the interaction with flesh & blood. Computer sections might be okay if the student is sufficiently motivated and disciplined to learn more or less on his own. As I mentioned previously, this is a remedial algebra class, and remedial students aren't particularly known for self-discipline and picking things up through what amounts to self-study.
What I've heard from students who took both types of sections is that even students with the best of intentions wind up falling behind and having to repeat the class. I have no idea, however, of the actual recidivism rate (so to speak).
Another thing is that I'm not familiar with the structure of the computer section - how closely it parallels the regular section, for example, or if it relies on additional software/frippery to cover the same material.
All I know is that it doesn't seem to go over well with those for whom it is an option.