Most articles about online learning tend to focus on chat rooms or other portal-type setups as the main tool that students use to communicate with the professor and with each other. But here’s an interesting article by a professor at the University of Hong Kong, about how blogs (set up in this case on Xanga) have proved to result in much more student communication. After setting up a blog at the beginning of the course, students are required to write minimum 200-word entries on a regular basis. But the students enjoy blogging so much that they tend to write far more. Additionally, they like to comment on each other’s blog posts, and on the blog posts done by the professor. The result is a kind of “instant social network” build around a single university class. Read More Here.
Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has found a way to the social messages in that good old rock n’ roll to teach history more effectively to high school students. Through it’s videoconferencing program, the hall has brought a program called “Ball of Confusion: Rock Music and Social Change in the 1960s and 1970s” into live classrooms in over 25 states to stimulate discussions about women’s issues, the war in Vietnam, the cold war and more. Teachers report that students are tremendously engaged by classic rock music, and enjoy debating how the issues raised in it are playing out in this year’s presidential election. Read more.
The University of Pittsburg has a complete set of all 435 images that comprise John James Audubon’s “Birds of America” series. There are only about 120 known sets of these beautiful engravings and prints. U. of Pittsburg has chosen to digitize them all and post them for public viewing on a good, easy to use site. If you’re in an ornithological mood, check out Audubon’s Birds of America.
The New York Times ran a front-page story on physics professor Walter Lewin, whose energized science lectures, offered free to the world by M.I.T., have made him world-wide phenomenon. That’s rare for someone in physics! The truth is that it’s quite difficult to get to Lewin’s lectures on the M.I.T. website, but because they’re posted on YouTube, they’re easily accessible to all of us. As a non-scientist, I find some of them a bit hard to understand. There are also some issues with the video quality on many, resulting in a “big bang” moment in some of his demonstrations where the live class reacts but you don’t see very well on video. He is, however, extraordinarily engaging. Here’s a fantastic lecture I think anyone could understand, where the good professor shows how to make a powerful battery out of some cans that drip water into each other. Truly amazing:
Maybe the thought of having my entire family over for Thanksgiving has me in a marital arts kind of mood. No…I just couldn’t overlook this rather offbeat example of where people are stretching the limits on distance learning. Check out this very passionate blogger who argues that martial arts can definitely be taught effectively online. He argues that some traditional martial arts schools are “black belt mills,” and that a person can indeed use distance learning to reach the highest ranks in this area, “without spilling blod on the dojo floor.” It sounds like there are some pretty tough characters out there in those dojos. Read More…
Bet you didn’t know that online courses use 90% less energy and produce 90% less CO2 emissions than traditional courses. I certainly didn’t! I’m not sure if they counted all that electricity usage for computers into the stats, but here’s a fun blog entry on the environmental correctness of distance learning in the UK. Read More…
Four years ago, this Washington DC school started offering summer courses via online learning. Courses ranged from “criminalistics” to “the history of drugs in America” and “Terrorism and the Legal System.” The big surprise: American U has found that the overwhelming majority of students in these courses are already enrolled full-time in live-class programs on their campus. An interesting look at how students are staying close to home when they add online learning to their course of study.
Some professors aren’t too sure that dissecting an animal on your computer - or on your kitchen table as many students now do - is quite the same as doing it in the controlled atmosphere of a college laboratory. But science learning is a hot growth area on the web. It’s particularly attractive to top high school students, who are using it to earn “AP” credits before they go off to college. The parents of e-learning science students are trying to figure out why their kids are suddenly hoarding glass jars, cooking oils and strange plants. But it’s all in the name of learning without actually going to school. The inside scoop in online college science courses
Art degrees now include everything from the basic Bachelor of Art to certificates and B.A.’s in animation. Because of growing demand, schools are getting smarter and smarter about making these courses work online. Surprisingly, it’s a natural evolution because commercial artists, in particular, need major computer and online skills. One thing never changes, though: You need to find out how much credibility your teacher has as an artist if you want the best experience. Get the scoop on art education classes online
Art classes have always meant getting slightly nervous about having to go into a studio and sit in a circle with other students, drawing a corpulent model who sits naked on a pedestal. Now you can draw the corpulent model, a bowl of fruit or your most exotic fantasy in a distance learning course and get college credit for it. But you still need to do your homework, and be able to handle criticism from your teacher and fellow artists. Read more on painting classes online