On-Line Education

Dartblog author Joseph Asch is a tiny bit of a Luddite in his comments about on-line education at Dartmouth. In referencing a New York Times article in his recent blog, he points out, as does the Times, the repeated current failings of this new approach to education … see: Dartblog Opinion.  I, myself, have often seen shortfalls in the massive open on-line course's (MOOC's) approach whilst tutoring at a high school west of Boston.  However, I believe that MOOC is an economic necessity and must eventually win out as the preferred mode of pedagogy.

For this to occur, I believe that the following wrinkles need to be ironed out:

-        The courses need to be better attuned to the potential of the on-line environment.  This includes instructive animations/videos, hyperlinks to vetted sources, and oral questions and feedback responses.

-        There also needs to be better paced instruction, peer-reviewed content, and testing that stays within the boundaries of the course material.

-        I also believe that Skype-like and even social-network-like interactions with the instructors and other students will greatly increase the learning potential.  These interactions can be in real-time or even on a scheduled-delay basis.

-        The use of celebrities and well-known-experts (ala Sesame Street and Jeopardy) to capture the imagination of the on-line student might bring greater focus to the subject at hand.

-        A feedback mechanism for MOOC students need to be more obvious.  Perhaps a running ranking of a given student versus his/her peers?  Or a monetary reward in the form of a scholarship for outstanding achievement?

-        MOOC courses also should be constructed with the intent to encourage students to strike out on their own to do independent research or make real-life connections with a view toward a career (even in such things as the traditional manual trades).

-        And lastly, there also needs to be a face or fingerprint type recognition system to verify exactly who is on the receiving end of this on-line instruction.  Otherwise there is too much opportunity for fraud

And there will be other improvements that evolve here.  Much of on-line instruction that I have experienced has been class-room instruction shoe-horned into a MOOC environment … and this has often been very frustrating … to both the tutor and the student.  Too much of MOOC today is just going through the motions by those after a fast buck.  But, Joe, don’t give up on the potential of this on-line educational environment.  This does seem to be clinging to the past … in my opinion.