Week 12 Blog Summary/Presentation

Week 12 Blog Summary/Presentation
By Heather Bennett

Thank you everyone for their great responses!

1. The “Illinois Online Network – Online Education Overview” lists many strengths and weaknesses about online learning. Keeping them in mind, how do you feel about online learning? If you have any experience with online learning, please explain the strengths and weaknesses you encountered.
Most people agreed that online classes are great depending on the type of learner. Lauren makes an excellent point when she states: “Online courses don't offer lectures to listen to so auditory learners will not benefit as much as if they were in a traditional classroom environment.” From the article and the posts, some strengths of online learning are the classes are student centered and it can be accessed anytime and anyplace. Some weaknesses are you must be computer literate and no teacher/student interaction in person.


2. In the “Illinois Online Network – Online Education Overview" find the link labeled Distance Learning Calculator. Complete the distant learning survey and calculate your results. Do you feel like you would have saved money if you completed classes online? Do you feel you would have benefited more from taking classes online or in the classroom bases on personal commitments?
This was an interesting website as it presented you with the amount of money you would save if you completed classes online. Gretchen and Theresa were the only two who answered this particular question and their results proved that they are not spending that much money to commute. However, I know there are students who travel over an hour to take classes at Cortland. In this case, it might be cheaper for them to be taking classes online but it also depends on the student and how they learn.


3. Teachers are considered lifelong learners. If online classes were FREE, do you think you would enroll in classes to further your education and learn new ideas you could incorporate into your classroom. What features/elements would you expect from the course to assist you as a learner?
Everyone agreed for the most part that they would participate in taking more classes online for FREE. Amy made a good point about when there is a free lecture on campus or in the community, how many times do we actually drop what we are doing and go? Most of the time, we don’t. I think this all depends on if you’re interested in the topic at hand or not. More than likely, if you are interested in the online class being offered and feel you can benefit from it, I think people would take it.


4. In the YouTube video titled "E-Teaching", how does the teacher connect with his students and allow them to express their ideas and thoughts using technology? He also states “the internet is used for a means to provide more opportunities for students”. Do you agree with this? Explain.
I think most thought this video was interesting. Cory and Jessica both commented on the quote Andrew Mercer uses, "give student the skills and the encouragement.” It is important to give student encouragement so they feel like they can accomplish a goal and feel good about it. Distant learning is definitely a new thing!


5. After watching the YouTube video titled “Voices from the New American Schoolhouse”, do you think this type of school would be for everyone? What did you like about it? What didn’t you like about it? Do you think they would benefit from more technology? How do you feel these students would do if the class was presented online?
This video was also very interesting and many of you agreed by the comments on your blogs. We all agreed that it takes a special student to benefit from this type of school. It definitely was an eye opener.