What will the future classes of higher education look like?
Well apparently it looks like some will consist of three formats: face-to-face,
online, and hybrid classes. This probably isn’t new news, but I was surprised
as to how mainstream the latter two are becoming. For example, at the
University of Central Florida (UCF), one of the country’s largest public
universities, more than half of the students will take online or blended (all
three formats) courses this year. Along the same lines, the University System
of Maryland requires undergraduates to take 12 credits of alternative learning,
including online. Texas is also planning to do the same. Minnesota State
Colleges and Universities plan to have 25% of credits acquired online by
2015. The Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation which includes a $20-million education-technology grant, plans to
incorporate blended learning as a basis and is looking at UCF as a model. Objectives
for the endeavor is that it will expand access, completion of degrees faster,
save money, and manage classroom needs more efficiently. Students who favor
online instruction claim that it allows them to have more time for leisure
activities. In addition, some say online classes are much easier. Lastly, they assert
that they would rather watch a lecture in their residence rather then sit and
listen for a two-and-half-hour long lecture in person. http://chronicle.com/article/Tomorrows-College/125120/
In another article I read, it discussed how effective
on-demand video learning is and how it will revolutionize learning and assessment.
The main proponent is Salman Khan, director of the Khan Academy. Khan claims
the old system of teaching core classes doesn’t work anymore. It’s neither the
professors’ or the students’ fault, he blames the system. Khan states that
students learning core classes--which are to be the foundation of a student’s
understanding--are not taught how to think. Students are passed through assembly
lines of learning e.g. lecture, problem set, exam and no intuitive learning is
occurring. And at the end of line, most do not retain anything they’ve learned.
Khan concludes that the current system allows students to progress with gaps in
their knowledge; therefore, students began to “learn to get by through pattern
matching and memorizing. They learn to fake understanding, not to think.”
Khan’s solution to the problem is his organizations’ on-demand
video content. It can produce video content to students anywhere anytime. They
can rewind, fast-forward, or pause it as much as they wish. Students can focus
on material they need to know. Khan says content producers can have data on
when a student does a problem and how long it takes. They can provide this
information to the student, professor, parent or administrator in real-time. Also
available is step-by-step explanations of every problem. Students can redo
exercises until they get them all correct. There are applications that will be
storehouses of teacher-student generated questions so that both can evaluate
the system and improvements can be made on what works and what doesn’t. Khan
maintains that this will be more effective and economical for the institution. No
more dealing with the multi-billion dollar textbook industry that doesn’t take
into account instructor or student feedback. For profits sake, the textbook
industry has institutions believing that a new version of a calculus textbook
is needed every three to five years when the subject hasn’t changed much since
Newton or Leibniz. Khan’s organization has decided to do this as a
not-for-profit venture because they do not want learning to conflict with
profit maximization. Khan predicts that in ten years from now students can
learn at their own pace with appropriate content that will be analyzed to
optimize their learning style. Real-time reports will take the place of grading
and transcripts so what students know and don’t know can be looked at
critically.
By using this new technology the classroom, Khan hopes to transform the classroom into an
interactive environment as opposed to a lecture hall filled with passive
listeners or daydreamers. The instructor can be a mentor or coach guiding
students through the lessons rather than a test writer, lecturer, and grader.
Khan is convinced that institutions that will embrace this new system will
remain. Others that don’t, it will be their demise. According to Khan, their
apps and 2,000 plus on-demand video library, is being used by more than a
million students per month. And the number increases significantly every year.
The technology is here, it is free, and open to all to utilize. Also
interesting is The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Google support Khan’s
Academy. With all the support, the technology is improving by the minute. Khan
predicts in two years they will have unlimited exercises pertaining to every
major math concept through calculus, and they’ll keep going from there. In one
of our readings, Arthur Levine stated that we are now an information society
that is global and puts a premium on intellectual capital. That capital is
knowledge and the people who produce it. Could it be that Salman Khan is one of
those people?
In closing, one cannot ignore the fact that online
learning is here to stay and getting better. It’s speeding up the whole higher
education process. As we should expect it to, I mean, technology by nature
makes life easier and faster. Just as businesses adjust to meet the demands of
a new generation of customers, maybe its time for higher education to adjust to
their new customers. Perhaps the on-demand video content may work for college
core classes. Right now it is free and it sounds like it can be tailored to fit
a student’s learning style. Students could also save money by not buying
expensive core textbooks year after year. On the other hand, upper level and
graduate courses involve deeper critical analysis. In my opinion, these courses
should remain taught in the classroom with our peers and professor. Only then can
a student absorb, process, and implement into practice what he/she has learned.
http://chronicle.com/article/YouTube-U-Beats-YouSnooze/125105
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