-- Dr. Seuss
Every five years, we teachers have to accumulate
enough continuing education points to renew our teaching certificate for the
next five years. We can get those points
by physically attending classes or in-service trainings, but now many classes
are offered online and are free. I have to renew soon, so I enrolled in an
online class to get the necessary points.
The online class I’m taking sounds so
appealing: free, work at your own pace, work at your leisure, interesting topic. I have from October until
January 5 to get it all finished. I’ve got this covered, I thought.
Like most people who first get into a
project or class, I was super excited to get started. I worked hard for the
first couple of weeks and got everything in on time. I was feeling proud of myself
because I was making great scores since the assessments are mostly essays,
which is a piece of cake for an English teacher.
But then the reality of work
deadlines, flu, and just life in general took precedence. My momentum dropped to nil, and I didn’t work
on the online class until I got a friendly reminder from my teacher. At that
point, I fooled myself into thinking that I would get busy and finish a majority of the work; however, I collected research papers from my students that I had to
grade and return. Now I’m behind again, and I think my Thanksgiving holiday
with family will make the assignments even later.
Online learning sounds
great. It is convenient and with free wi-fi available most places, you can
literally work on the Internet anywhere.
Remember the TV ads for Pajama University?
Many of the online
courses available are free, as well, which makes them attractive. Also, the variety of
courses means there is something for everyone, for class credit, for your own
information or just for fun.
One site, Coursera.org, has a very inspirational
statement on its home page:
Coursera is an
education platform that partners with top universities and organizations
worldwide, to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free. We envision a future where everyone has
access to a world-class education. We aim to empower people with education that
will improve their lives, the lives of their families, and the communities they
live in.
If you have ever
dreamed of going to Yale, now’s your chance. Other universities offering
classes which are taught by top professors are Emory, Georgia Tech, Duke, Peking
University and of course, the University of Florida (“GoGators!” from proud
Gator mom) to name a few.
Another well-known
free online learning site is Khan Academy. Started by a man wanting to help his
niece with math, Khan Academy has grown exponentially to include courses in
just about everything.
The institution has partnered with the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation as well as the White House to provide online academic help to
all ages. Khan Academy states that it offers “A free world-class education for anyone anywhere" and:
is an organization on
a mission. We're a not-for-profit with the goal of changing education for the
better by providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere. All of
the site's resources are available to anyone. It doesn't matter if you are a
student, teacher, home-schooler, principal, adult returning to the classroom
after 20 years, or a friendly alien just trying to get a leg up in earthly
biology. Khan Academy's materials and resources are available to you completely
free of charge.
Khan Academy sounds
great, and several of my students attest to the program being useful and easy
to navigate.
The largest on-line
instructor by far is YouTube.com. Who hasn’t searched YouTube for tutorials in
knitting, making balloon animals, clogging or repairing your 1976 BMW
motorcycle?
I use YouTube several times a week to show my students movie clips
or when my granddaughter asks me how to do something. YouTube videos are posted
by normal people who have the same issues that you do, which makes them easy to relate.
Will virtual school take over and
be the death of the tangible teacher and traditional classroom? I don’t know.
In my 34+ years in the classroom, I’d like to say no; however, more and more
classroom instruction is tied to online sites. Our new literature textbooks have
online, interactive components which I assume are included to better engage
students in learning. It’s the new way of going to the board and writing your
answer.
The best/worst point of e-learning is
that, for the most part, you have to teach yourself even if there is a teacher
sending email reminders or calling once a month for a required phone conversation.
Some people work better simply reading the material and answering the
questions. Others, like me, enjoy the human, physical interaction in the
classroom.
Success in an online class (like the
one I should be working on right now instead of writing this post) rests on the
student, just like education in the traditional classroom. With young adult and
old adult learners, it’s their choice to stick with the program, suck it up and
complete the work in the online class.
That’s just what I have to do.
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