Posted on 04/07/2011 4:57:56 PM PDT by sueuprising
Jack London was the subject in Daterrius Hamilton’s online English 3 course. In a high school classroom packed with computers, he read a brief biography of London with single-paragraph excerpts from the author’s works. But the curriculum did not require him, as it had generations of English students, to wade through a tattered copy of “Call of the Wild” or “To Build a Fire.” ne courses are increasingly common in high schools and middle schools. Is this the best way to teach that age group? Mr. Hamilton, who had failed English 3 in a conventional classroom and was hoping to earn credit online to graduate, was asked a question about the meaning of social Darwinism. He pasted the question into Google and read a summary of a Wikipedia entry. He copied the language, spell-checked it and e-mailed it to his teacher.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Can't be any worse than the pubic schools we have now.
I don’t know that they are motivated to “learn something.” I think that perhaps they just want to get through it, the quicker the better, which is okay, I guess, because sitting in a classroom with an unenthusiastic, untalented drone of a teacher is a lot worse.
I think this is a good thing. It keeps the students out of the toxic public school facilities while giving them privacy and some level of time flexibility.
I didn’t read the whole article (it’s the SLimes after all), but a true “on-line course” requires more than simply cutting and pasting articles and sending it to a teacher! Just as those on free-republic comment and discuss articles, on-line courses require such discussions as well as responses in essay form. A good teacher comments on essays and requires rewrites...the only way to truly learn to write.
Just as in any school, the “learning” is dependant on fair and demanding teachers and willing students. It’s not the whole answer, but for many kids who do not do well in traditional classrooms OR for assistance to home-schooling, a “digital” approach can be a great alternative. For many reluctant learners, they can thrive on the visual and interactive nature of computer learning.
I taught “To build a fire” through the old movie narrated by Orson Welles. My students really enjoyed it.
Technology and the free market are threatening the Government-Education-Teacher’s Union-Democrat Fundraising Complex.
We’re going to see more and more attacks like this.
Ping a ling!
Good point. I teach in an online school, and we run term papers through an automatic plagiarism-checking program. Even before we had that, it was easy to tell when a student who formerly only communicated using the language of text-messaging suddenly is using PhD-level phrasing and vocabulary. Then you do a simple Google search to see where they copied it from, and then give them a zero. I used to teach in public schools, but I won’t go back unless we are literally starving and about to start living in a box.
Oh yes. The union people hate online teachers. Most of us are independent contractors. Plus our companies have the flexibility to actually give parents and students what they want. Advanced students can move forward at their own pace and can excel without being held back by the kids who are just there to sell drugs and find sex partners. It's all a nightmare for the socialist government schools.
Maybe the monopoly of the Commie Public schools will end. Thomas Sowell, Ph.d spoke of the usefulness of online schools in breaking the PC monopoly.
I teach in public school now...we live in south Jersey and it’s not TOTALLY corrupt. My daughter is leaving her public school job because it’s in North Jersey and crazy! She’d like to try teaching in an on-line school, but hard to find them here since it’s Jersey after all. But you are right about how to catch papers that have been copied. I tell my students that, believe it or not, they have a style of writing. My first assignment is always in class. From that point on, I can tell what is their writing and what is not. I tell them....Cheat by Google....Get caught by Google.
Good motto!
On-line schools in NJ are probably hard to find because NJ public schools are the best in the nation, especially schools in the northern part of the state doncha know.
The reason the establishment is worried about online education is because it exposes just how awful the government schools are. When people realize that they can learn what they want when they want, nobody will want to be tied to a school desk in a windowless school for 12 years.
If we had the kind of progress in transportation that we have had in education, we would still be riding in horse-drawn buggies. When the dinosaur school system becomes extinct, we will have an explosion in innovation and progress in education.
I have taken many college level online courses and found them to be just like building courses; some were very tough and some were so easy it was silly to get credit for them. I imagine online classes that are properly accredited are the same. It depends on the instructor as it always has.
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