Monday, 17 February 2014

Web based learning

This past week we had a presentation from Sophia Palahicky on Web Based Course Delivery in Manitoba. I have never taken a course online, however it is something I find interesting. The sense I got from everyone in class, is a general hesitation about the idea. It seems as though many people have had a bad experience with them in the past. I am sure that there have been improvements, and I feel like I can see the value in them, but I also feel that they can not completely replace the physical classroom.
As we have talked about before students are different and the way that we teach needs to be different, I feel like there may be a place for web based classes, my hesitation would be more so to commit to a completely virtual school. Web based classes would be useful for students such as athletes who need to travel often, students who want to accelerate their education, and students who need more time or need to re-do a course. 
This is still something I feel that I don't know much about, it makes me somewhat nervous to think that I may teach a web based course, but it is good to know that there are resources available for me to find out more information.

Sophia shared this video of the active learner to emphasis the how learning has changed.


1 comment:

  1. I like that web courses are available, but I do not in any way advocate that we move towards an entirely web-based high school, let alone other levels of it. I think there's value, if nothing else, in getting students to arrive at a place according to a set routine. But more seriously, I think that there's a real benefit to face-to-face interaction with instructors and fellow students. My actual experience with web-based courses was not actually all that positive.

    That being said, however, it's an extremely valuable option for those who have difficulty with traditional course delivery methods, for whatever reason.

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