In today's society
one hears many different opinions about the youth of today and the use of
technology. Some teens prefer to have a conversation via text than to
actually walk up to someone and speak with them. They might find it
easier because they can edit what they write or even embolden them to
"say" things they would not normally "say". In the words of
Voltaire "With great power comes great responsibility" and
technology is exactly that, a great power that can be used for good or for
twitter updates.
Distance
or e-learning can revolutionize the way we teach our students. Daphne Koller a Stanford professor and one
founder of Coursera, a program whose goal is to bring a quality education to
everyone by providing free college courses online from the top universities and
professors in the world. Her TedTalk entitled Daphne Koller: What we are learning from online education, has data
that she and her colleagues have collected from Coursera. The ultimate incentive
of any distance learning program is that it can be personalized and self paced
to the students needs and wants. In my
short teaching career in a “brick and mortar” setting I find it impossible to
individualize the learning for every single student all of the time. With e-learning the
one-on-one time with a student can be greatly increased with Skype, e-mail,
phone conversations and in the case of blended online learning even office
hours where students can get face to face time. But
what Dr. Koller has found in her research is that not only do these students
have the teacher to help them they also have their peers. The global reach of e-learning can open up so
many opportunities for students to work with peers around the world and to help
each other. Another positive aspect about
e-learning is it can be done anywhere. I
have had students over the years who because of medical or mental issues cannot
come to school. The school then tries to
find a home-bound instructor for the student.
With distance learning this would not be necessary.
However, distance learning is not for everyone. I want my mechanic to know how to physically put
together an engine after I wreck my car. The fact that he could do an online
simulation does not mean that he can do it in real life. Same for a doctor,
online simulations do not prepare some students for the careers that they have
chosen. Online learning is not the answer to all of our problems with
education. Further more this idea that
anyone can have access and complete an online course is idealistic. The prerequisites to this type of learning
are that students need to have access to a computer with internet, they must
have basic technical skills and even problem solving skills to use the hardware
and software required, and finally they have to be SELF MOTIVATED! Those can be
some monumental setbacks. There is also something to be said about learning
interpersonal skills. I find that some students have a hard time being in
normal social situations because they don’t feel like they know how to act or
react to others. A computer, even with
video capabilities, is not going to give you practice at socialization.
