Online courses in strange places
by Chris
There’s an interesting piece on the Wired Campus blog about teaching online courses at liberal arts colleges. I think the most interesting observation was near the end of the post:
Just how professors could make use of time in their classes, if the computer took over some of the basics, was something that everyone wondered. And nobody had good answers. “We’re in uncharted territory here,” said Ms. Cassidy.
The fact of the matter is that most of us don’t know what a college classroom looks like without lecture — it’s what we grew up with, and what we expect to be doing. Anything else tends to feel like I’m not quite fulfilling my obligation to the students, and they tend to feel the same. I’ve followed with interest the posts over on Casting Out Nines about the inverted classroom, and I sometimes let my mind wander to what such an inversion may look like in my classes. I read a description of the wholesale re-imagining of physics instruction and feel inspired, but overwhelmed.
Installing a system of online content and exposing students to the basic facts before showing up for class is without a doubt essential, but it’s only a first step, as the Wired Campus post indicates. What happens after that is where the innovation needs to happen. In a recent article in Science, a group of science educators, including the author of a leading introductory biology text, reported on their success in employing more active learning in their intro biology course, including what the authors describe as much more practice with the information. Producing a class with the right kinds of practice problems and group exercises seems to be where the magic lies, as the study authors indicate themselves.
