2008 Woodie Awards
What are We Learning in Online Classrooms?
Donna Story: Muleskinner
Issue date: 3/5/08 Section: Opinion
Do online classes really work? Are the students actually learning? Are the teachers really teaching? It seems as though online classes could just be a giant waste of time and money, at least on the part of the student.
When you take an online class, you seem to become your own teacher, which would be fine, except you do not have a clue what you're doing. A faceless individual gives you assignments through your e-mail Blackboard account, with a due date and little more information.
You spend the next three days trying desperately to navigate your way through the text in an attempt to reach an understanding of the topic. However, without any interaction between teacher and student, you have no real way of ensuring that you are grasping the concepts.
At least not until you receive an e-mail from your instructor, an e-mail that contains a grade for the paper but no substantial feedback.
Nothing in the e-mail lets you know if your perceptions on the topic are accurate. The only information you have is that you misspelled three words, costing you five points. At this point, you have no idea if you have learned anything, but you really don't have the time to worry about that anyway.
Another assignment message just came in and you have only four days to read the next chapter and write the paper.
It used to be that you signed up for classes and sat through lectures taking notes, asking questions and engaging in dialogue with your teacher and classmates.
These days, you often do not even have the option of choosing a lecture class over an online class. Many classes are only offered online. So when faced with the decision of take it online or don't take it at all, what do you do?
You take the class. But do you really learn the subject matter or do you just learn how to fake it?
Shouldn't you have the choice? Obviously, you know yourself well enough to know whether an online class will fulfill your educational needs. Some students just do not do well when they cannot ask the teacher a question, when they receive no feedback, telling them if they are grasping the subject.
Classes that are offered online should also be available in a lecture format, so that those students who know they will not benefit by going to class can take it online, and the rest of the students that like the idea of their teacher actually teaching them can have the option of learning something, too.
When you take an online class, you seem to become your own teacher, which would be fine, except you do not have a clue what you're doing. A faceless individual gives you assignments through your e-mail Blackboard account, with a due date and little more information.
You spend the next three days trying desperately to navigate your way through the text in an attempt to reach an understanding of the topic. However, without any interaction between teacher and student, you have no real way of ensuring that you are grasping the concepts.
At least not until you receive an e-mail from your instructor, an e-mail that contains a grade for the paper but no substantial feedback.
Nothing in the e-mail lets you know if your perceptions on the topic are accurate. The only information you have is that you misspelled three words, costing you five points. At this point, you have no idea if you have learned anything, but you really don't have the time to worry about that anyway.
Another assignment message just came in and you have only four days to read the next chapter and write the paper.
It used to be that you signed up for classes and sat through lectures taking notes, asking questions and engaging in dialogue with your teacher and classmates.
These days, you often do not even have the option of choosing a lecture class over an online class. Many classes are only offered online. So when faced with the decision of take it online or don't take it at all, what do you do?
You take the class. But do you really learn the subject matter or do you just learn how to fake it?
Shouldn't you have the choice? Obviously, you know yourself well enough to know whether an online class will fulfill your educational needs. Some students just do not do well when they cannot ask the teacher a question, when they receive no feedback, telling them if they are grasping the subject.
Classes that are offered online should also be available in a lecture format, so that those students who know they will not benefit by going to class can take it online, and the rest of the students that like the idea of their teacher actually teaching them can have the option of learning something, too.
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