Before entering Ed 205, I had not given much thought to on-line learning. If you’d have asked me about it, I might have sounded a little skeptical about the possiblity for quality education without face-to-face interaction. However, having experienced it for eight or so weeks, my attitude has dramatically changed.
Not only am I signed up for “Computers in Ed” this semester, but I’m also in “Intro to Computer Science” which meets for three hours a week “face to face.” I’ve learned so much more from my on-line experience than I have sitting through three hours in the classroom because I can attack the work at my own pace, and I can study what I don’t already know. The on-line experience really allows me to sculpt the curriculum to meet my needs.
I’d certainly take another on-line class, although I’m sure that some can be set up poorly. If I were setting up an on-line class, I would first, make sure to have a mandatory discussion portion which follows the material I’ve asked my students to cover. I might also add a 10 or so question quiz each week just to make sure my students have covered the reading and to let my students know what I thought was important in the readings they were supposed to do.
I wish that I could have taken my Intro to CS class on-line because I definately think it could be an on-line class. I think that certain geography, economics, English, and some history classes could be on-line although ideally, they would meet face to facel occaisonally because some things just can’t be done without body language. Good science classes might be a little tricky because lab is integral although I’m sure there are on-line experiments that are quality. Art classes might be alright on-line. Certainly graphic design could be made into an on-line class. I never thought PE could be on-line, but looking at the example of Minneapolis Public Schools, I see that it can be. From the syllabus, it looks that students would learn much more in the on-line PE class that I did in my year long Freshman PE class.
To conclude, I’m very happy with my on-line learning experience so far, and I’m looking forward to integrating some on-line components into my own classroom.