The 10 myths on on-line course work reading this week was not very earth moving for myself. I have had more than 20 on-line course just in my post secondary experience plus 50 more in my automotive training. I have been using on-line course work in my CTE classes each year that I have been teaching, 8 years now. What I have found out is the students learn more theory, more on how a system works, and can learn from their mistake by redoing problems till they correctly answer to the question. The on-line programs that I use are designed in a manner that moving forward cannot had till a student has answered a question correctly. The other benefits of using these courses is that in my CTE classes students are learning not just automotive systems they are learning trigonometry, calculus, and science. They are learning these academic by being able to apply it in a real world setting. One student’s comment I will never forget was from one of my special education students. He told me “ I cannot do this because I am stupid” I told him that he wasn’t not stupid, you just learn in a different way. So that student keep trying and doing on the problem till he got it. Once he got the correct answer I told him that he just did trigonometry. He said “NO I did not”. I told him to take the problem to his math teacher and ask her. He did and as soon as she told him that he did trigonometry he came back to my class to tell me he did it and that he was not stupid. This was something I could have never done on my own so for that reason online coursework is a great tool to use with your curriculum. I am using it more in my classes but I am only using it as an addition to my curriculum not as a replacement for it.
What a wonderful story, thanks for sharing, I really appreciated the work that you did and how you were able to reach out to that boy. The things that I have learned in this class have really open my mind up the the possibilities of learning on line. Like you I have taken many classes myself, but I had never considered taking virtual learning to hs, ms, or elementary. Now however I can see the very real possibilities.
ReplyDeleteBy looking at E-learning as a tool in my toolbox I have found it to be useful to teach students the theory and thus opening up more time in the shop for refining their skills just learned.
DeleteThat is really inspiring. I've had students give me the "I'm too dumb to do this" attitude before, but once they discover that academic/book smarts and applied smarts are not the same thing, that can make all the difference in getting them motivated. Bravo!
ReplyDeleteThat is what happened with this student. Once he seen he could do this task he excelled. The reason for this is do to the fact the this type of E-learning suited his learning style.
DeleteThis story is awesome Gerald! It's amazing when students are motivated to do well. It just reiterates how valuable both the online learning tool is and how important teacher-student interaction is. Phenomenal!
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