Re: Online classes

[Hugh Haskell <haskell@ODIE.NCSSM.EDU>]

There is no question that on-line instruction is a valuable adjunct
to the traditional methods in those cases where it is the only way to
get teacher and students together (the Australian Outback comes
immediately to mind). But this bloke Draves scares the Hell out of
me. The thought of all education being done in the way he is said to
have predicted sounds downright Orwellian to me. It's bad enough that
we have live professors lecturing to auditoriums filled with up to
1000 students, but to have a talking head doing that is a travesty on
everything that we call education. At best a class with hundreds of
students is a one way street, with information flowing from the
professor to the student, probably through an impedance mismatched
filter. There is already a huge impedance mismatch in a regular small
classroom with only a few students and plenty of opportunity for
feedback. It's probably OK for students to get a few of these
mega-classes, but if that's all they get, I fear for the future of
the country.

Hugh

> I could not agree more with Peter.  I have been teaching an online
> junior-level course on energy and the environment -
> http://energy.fullerton.edu - for the past few years.  I can't even imagine
> offering such a course to more than 25 students at one time.
>
> Draves is just another one of those educrat/administrator types who views
> education as a commodity rather than an experience.
>
> Mark Shapiro
> http://www.IrascibleProfessor.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter Schoch [mailto:pschoch@NAC.NET]
> Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 1999 8:46 AM
> To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
> Subject: Re: Online classes
>
>
> The literature on Online courses, etc. states that no more than 15 - 20
> students should be enrolled in a class per instructor.  After having
> taught several computer courses n-line, I can attest to the needs to
> limit class sizes.
>
> As someone who is isolated by 2 hours, without traffic of any kind, from
> any university where I might take courses, the allure of distance ed.
> classwork is undeniable.
>
> Peter Schoch
> Sussex County Community College
>
> DEVARAKONDA VENKATA NARAYANA SARMA wrote:
>  >
>  > FORECAST CALLS FOR MEGACLASSES
>  > William Draves, head of the Learning Resources Network, predicts that
>  > within 20 years, online classes of up to 1,000 students will replace the
>  > traditional face-to-face lecture format on campus. Driving the trend will
>  > be increasing demand for an educated workforce, with about 50% of U.S.
>  > workers seeking continuing education after college by 2020. Draves says
> the
>  > megaclasses would benefit students, who would work collaboratively in
>  > learning a subject. Instructors would rely on multiple-choice exams graded
>  > by a computer. "The more people who contribute, the more you learn," says
>  > Draves. He suggests that universities should slash tuition for online
>  > classes to about $100 per student, noting that with enrollments of 1,000,
> a
>  > university could still earn $100,000 per course. (Chronicle of Higher
>  > Education 10 Dec 99) http://chronicle.com
>  >
>  > Source: NewsScan


Hugh Haskell
<mailto://hhaskell@mindspring.com>

Let's face it. People use a Mac because they want to, Windows because they
have to..
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