The article that was most thought provoking to me was How Customized Learning will Benefit Students. In the first two
sentences, the author mentions that many schools are moving to cloud based
computing because it makes applications available anytime, anywhere. I am big proponent of cloud based storage and
applications for students, but have recently learned some possibly disturbing news
regarding how advertisers are using our free storage space to their advantage. The article located on Byte, proposes that
the new Google Drive’s Terms of Services leaves the door open to scan your
documents to provide advertisers with information regarding your
preferences. True or false? If it is true, advertisers could start tracking
your preferences beginning in elementary school. I think this would be a great discussion in a
future online course: What is the real
cost of free applications?
The other interesting discussion in the article is the idea
of the “School-as-a-Service” philosophy.
I do find several of these ideas beneficial to students, but also find that
some of the dimensions could be potentially detrimental to instructors. Undergraduate schools in the past five years
have been slowly catching on to this philosophy and are working to tailor
education to the customer. Since recruiters
and admissions representatives are competing for a smaller group of students
(due to the decreased population numbers in the U.S.), they have begun to treat
students as consumers. This article reflects
how learners may also start to be treated as consumers.
I believe that educators have always tried to tailor their
instruction to individual students. When
I did not understand a concept in school, the teacher would provide extra
assistance to me or other students individually to help understand the task at
hand. I think this has always been a
core philosophy of teachers who care about their students’ success. I believe the only difference is that now
instructors have additional technological tools to aid them in student
comprehension.
What did I not agree with in the article you ask? Get the point
Kelly! Well, I did not agree with the idea of individual scheduling for
students discussed in #4 & 7. Our institution is trying to implement this
strategy and many hurtles have suddenly appeared. Our administration is going to have rolling
start dates for online classes where students can enter on one of three
different dates until the class is full.
Thus, instructors will have 3 different groups of students to track in
one course. Yikes! Additionally, the
course will not end until the middle of the following semester. What happens when the next rolling class
starts? Then, you will have to track 6
different groups of learners and continue to teach your 6 other traditional
face-to-face classes. How can an
educator keep all the deadlines straight, help individual students, grade projects
and maintain all of the other responsibilities associated with teaching 6
traditional classes?
The other problem derives from the financial aid system in
the United States. FAFSA is a first
come, first serve program. The sooner
you apply the more likely you are to receive aid. Once the money is gone, you are out of luck
for receiving aid. If students start at
later dates, will they receive any financial aid?
Finally, did the article mention working year round? YIKES! I
can’t imagine working 60 hours a week year round. Many people who do not work in education do
not understand the time that is exerted during the school year by
educators. I work weekends, nights, and
holidays to keep up. I could not keep up
that same pace for 12 months. Administration
would need to drastically alter their teaching assignment philosophy to
implement a year round schedule in higher education.
I think that the philosophy outlined in the article has many
valid points, but also has many other institutional forces working against the
comprehensive implementation of these dimensions. I do believe many undergraduate institutions are
moving in this direction, but I think there are many roadblocks that will need
adjusting along the way. I am not a
negative “nelly”, but I do think that this philosophy does raise some
legitimate concerns for instructors and students.
Garden update!
HOT, HOT, HOT!! Although it has been extremely hot and humid that past week, the rain we have received has kept my garden happy. The raspberries have been amazing! I made some raspberry pie, cobbler and sorbet. I will have pickling cukes ready next week. Yahoo!
As my garden continues to grow, so does my knowledge about assessing students online!
