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.

Faceplant

I have an incurable disease ... old-fogeyism.  As a result I have no business blogging about Facebook.  I don't understand its popularity.  And I don't understand its intricate mechanics ... nor do I care to learn.  Somehow I have gotten registered as one of its billion or so users and keep getting those annoying messages that there are things pending for me there.  Yawn ...  It is just one more cyber-technology I would prefer not letting into my life.  Ditto Twitter.  Texting has me perplexed.  Why would one take the time to type a message to someone when one's voice message is oodles more efficient?  And I keep hearing ominous things about how Facebook is using or is going to use all the dumb things (I must be careful here ... my daughter is a big user) that its users post on its tens of thousands of racked computers to invade their privacy bubbles.  No thanks.

Now, this stupid company is going public this spring with a stock offering which will probably value it close to $100 billion.  That's billion ... not million (see ENews Account) ... enough money to rescue Greece from its financial predicament. And that 27-year old puke, Mark Zuckerberg, will become a multi-multi-billionaire (sidebar: I haven't seen the movie, Social Networking, either, nor will I).  Is this rational?  Not to me ... but it clearly is to the millions of Facebook aficionados who will be clamoring to buy this initial public offering (IPO) which might value Facebook at something like twenty-five times its trailing annual revenues (see: IPO Details).  This clearly is insane ... but then so was Google's IPO that came out at $85 per share and is now selling for $580 per share (= a market valuation of $188 billion).  So Facebook should get this hyperbolic initial market valuation which will likely then be even more insanely eclipsed by its soaring stock price during its first day of trading.

Caution to all of you who want to take part in this Wall-Street mania ... yes, you might make a pot of money if you buy this stock early-on.  But caveat emptor ... at some point this bubble will burst and Facebook will take a faceplant ... it might take days or months or even years.  But, be assured, it will happen ... mainly because Facebook's product is so ephemeral.  (It might take somewhat longer, but the same fate should also eventually happen to Google.)

Gotta go ... I have to take my Studebaker in for an oil change.

Anti-Social

I just got an invitation to join a social-networking site called LinkedIn.  I won't join ... just like I haven't joined Facebook.  Actually, my name is on Facebook but I don't respond to all its "friending," "you have messages" and other requests for a variety of reasons -- it takes too much time; it might compromise my privacy; it's a young persons distraction; and it seems slightly vainglorious.

This social networking phenomenon has me perplexed.  I like most people, but I don't want them to know every inane thing I do.  However, I am willing to share my thinking with them ... thus all these blogs of mine.  So, by demurring, I am willing to be lumped into the "old foggie" category ... probably because that is exactly what I am.