e-learning: the future of learning

It is clear college tuition and the methods students are using to pay for their education is unsustainable. In looking at Forbes’ Top Colleges in America, you’ll find Colorado College ranked 29th among other elite schools. You’ll also notice a trend in tuition costs.  A recent article in the New York Times highlighted a few staggering data points:

– The U.S. has racked up more than $1 trillion in student loans

– Today 94 percent of student earning a bachelor’s degree take out loans – up from 45 percent in 1993,

– It’s estimated that the “average debt [per student] in 2011 was $23,300, with 10 percent owing more than $54, 000 and 3 percent more than $100,000.”

– “Payments are being made on just 38 percent of the balance of federal student loans, down from 46 percent five years ago.”

– State funding of education is going down, and tuition is going up, which means that the figures above will just get worse.

Out of Forbes’ top 100 schools, only 15% of those schools offer an annual tuition cost under $50,000. It begs the question, in an economy trying to recover, how do we as a nation offer college-bound students a quality education at an affordable cost?

The answer is still unclear, however, those in the education technology field see two converging trends pointing toward a future where the traditional university gives way to an online alternative. It’s a natural progression; a combination of the Web, video technology, and education; websites dedicated to offering education through an e-learning model.

Below are some of the most popular e-learning sites:

Udacity

Coursera

Khan Academy

EDX

This is not to suggest e-learning will be replacing the college system anytime soon, nor should we want them to. Since these sites are still in the early stages, what their impact will be and whether or not they will be a lasting trend, is still uncertain. It’s safe to predict a higher-ed model that involves web-based learning, but not one solely entrenched in web-based learning.

ATS Flipped Classroom workshop Oct. 25

Join Academic Technology Services and the Crown Faculty Center on Thursday October 25 (block break block 2) for a workshop on the flipped classroom. In the morning, we will explore what the flipped classroom is, the types of learning for which it can be useful, and the challenges that can arise in this mode of instruction. We also will hear from CC faculty who have experimented with flipping about what worked and what didn’t. During the afternoon, we will learn how to develop flipped activities and introduce several tools that can be used to do that, including screencasting software and quizzing tools.

Lunch will be provided, and faculty who attend will receive a $100 stipend. To reserve your space in the workshop, please email Sarah Withee swithee@coloradocollege.edu. Hope to see you in late October!

Student perceptions of the flipped classroom

Among the challenges that arise when one is thinking of inverting (or “flipping”) one’s classroom, developing materials such as screencasts and quizzes that will be used outside of class is one of the most commonly mentioned. Equally important, however, is the reaction of students to this radical change in their educational model. In his blog Casting Out Nines, Robert Talbert talks about the reactions of students in his linear algebra class to his “inverting” (or “flipping”) their class. He says that many students were resistant to this model because they believed they couldn’t possibly learn the material the professor lectured on it first. Why does this attitude exist? He blames it on a highly structured K12 environment where students “have so few experiences where they pursue and construct their own knowledge that they simply come to believe that they are incapable of doing so.” He then goes on to say that employing the inverted (or “flipped”) model can help “reverse students’ negative ways of thinking about how they learn.” This point is one of the things that make the flipped model so appealing to me. In a well-implemented flip, not only are students learning a particular subject, they are also learning how to learn. And that may be one of the most valuable skills we can impart to our students.

Robert Talbert’s full blog post is at http://chronicle.com/blognetwork/castingoutnines/2011/01/11/the-inverted-classroom-and-student-self-image/ – I’d encourage you to check it out.

Online assignment and grading

Two years ago we started the First Year Writing Requirement to assess the writing of first year students. They’re required to submit a portfolio of three writing samples:

  1. A paper from their FYE course
  2. A paper written for a course after their FYE
  3. A reflective piece

I was asked to help come up with a system to allow students to hand in their portfolios online and receive electronic feedback on their portfolios. Thankfully, our installation of Moodle (we call it PROWL) allows for online submission of documents, in addition to allowing the grader to submit feedback to the student. Combined with Google forms to collect grader/reader feedback, we’re able to gather feedback from around 30 professors who volunteered to help assess the portfolios.

Unfortunately, moving the feedback into PROWL so the students get the feedback is troublesome and proofreading the submitted feedback is time-consuming. Because it takes so long and human error creeps in, we could move to an online service which handles more of these tasks for us.

At least two such services exist:

  1. Turnitin.com’s GradeMark Demo
  2. Taskstream.com

Turnitin.com is of course known for checking for plagiarism in student work. I’ve personally had experience using Taskstream as a student to submit assignments. It’s not beautiful, but it works and allows me to receive feedback from graders.

Using an online system for homework submission makes sense for several reasons:

  • For large groups of students, I think it’s important to have some kind of system in place to give them feedback and manage the “paperwork.”
  • Doing so electronically saves printing and handing back physical files and as most students create their assignments digitally, why make them hand them in on paper?
  • One can submit assignments and receive feedback from anywhere there’s an internet connection: travel doesn’t have to be an excuse anymore (if it was in the first place).

When free software isn’t free

There is a lot of web-based software these days that says it’s “free,” but beware! Many of these software as service sites have terms of service that grant them a perpetual, irrevocable, and transferable right to use anything you post to their site in any way they like. While I have a hard time understanding how anyone could profit off the minutes of my meeting with my professional group colleagues, this sort of license becomes really problematic for any pedagogical materials you may create yourself. The company can use them any way they like, including selling them for profit. Basically, by using their service, you are giving them permission to steal your intellectual property and use it any way they like.

So, before you post substantial amounts of original work to any non-CC website, scan the terms of service. If you see something like the following, think twice before putting any of your original work there:

You understand that by posting information or content on the Website or otherwise providing content, materials or information to Company (referred to collectively as “Submissions”), Company hereby is and shall be granted a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty free, perpetual, irrevocable, and transferable right to fully exploit such Submissions (including all related intellectual property rights) and to allow others to do so.

Online conferencing software in a residential liberal arts environment

In spring 2012, CC purchased a license for Blackboard Collaborate online conferencing software. How can an online conferencing tool like Blackboard Collaborate be useful in a residential liberal arts environment? Below are two ideas.

1) Bring in a guest speaker without having them fly halfway across the country (or drive down from Boulder). While our location in Colorado is lovely, we are a bit off the beaten path. Being able to bring in guest speakers without the hassle of travel may allow you to have someone speak to your class who couldn’t otherwise fit a speaking engagement into their schedule.

2) Facilitate collaborative projects with geographically dispersed colleagues. Are you collaborating on research with colleagues at other universities? Or maybe you are working on a joint project with other members of your professional group. BBC not only provides a great way to talk with multiple colleagues in different locations, it also enables you to collaboratively produce documents, look at web pages and software together, and record your discussions for later review.

CC faculty interested in trying out the Blackboard Collaborate software can contact their academic technology liaison http://www.coloradocollege.edu/offices/ats/department-liaisons/ to schedule a demonstration session.

Salman Khan: Let’s use video to reinvent education

In this TED talk, Salman Khan talks about how Khan Academy is being used personalize instruction in mathematics by “flipping” instruction. Students watch Khan Academy lectures outside of class, enabling them to proceed through the lecture at their own pace. Students then complete exercises which give the instructor information on which concepts they understand and which are presenting difficulties. In class, students work with each other to solve problems and peers help each other work through difficulties.

Make homework smarter

This op-ed in the New York Times takes an interesting angle on how to improve education: improve the quality of the homework we give.  It describes three techniques – spaced repetition, retrieval practice, and interleaving – that can be employed to develop more effective homework assignments.

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