[Air-l] Technology Transforming Education

[Dr. T. Michael Roberts]

Kevin, 
Thank you for a thoughtful response to random thoughts
I threw out there hoping someone could help me polish
up a few ideas. What I am seeing happen in my own
practice as a teacher is DL increasing the gap between
haves and have-nots at the level of knowledge and
academic credential. 

Distance is the best thing that ever happened to
bright, motivated students that already have jobs and
families. They can do courses and degrees online that
they could not do on-ground because of constraints of
time. Many such students use scraps of time to be in
school. This is possible because they do not have to
be at a particular place at a particular time every
week. Many students who could not fit on-ground
classes into their already insane schedules manage to
do a course or two a term by using every scrap of time
they might have throughout the week to get their class
work done. This is great for a single mom trying to
increase her earning potential by getting more
education assuming that she is motivated enough to do
her coursework in scraps of time with no one
monitoring her and assuming that she is reasonably
bright. 

I see distance as making opportunities to learn and
grow available to students who are bright and
motivated that were not there before. The pattern I
see is that the person who would have made an “A” in
my ground class if he or she could have fit that
course into his or her schedule will also make an “A”
in my online course doing the course in scraps of time
stolen from a very busy life when and were these
scraps can be found. However, many students who might
have made “C” in my ground class end up flunking
online because they can not motivate themselves to do
the work without a live person standing there making
unhappy noises when they do not have the assignment
done on time. It seems to me that, over time, distance
will increase whatever gaps in educational attainment
already exist between bright people who are motivated
to learn and people who are less bright and/or less
well motivated. 

All of this is based on what I think I see happening
in my classes and not on any time at all spent looking
at actual research on these issues. If the research
says that I am wrong, I will humbly accept that. This
is just how it looks from where I sit. 
T. Michael  

--- Kevin Guidry <krguidry at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 5/22/07, Dr. T. Michael Roberts
> <dr_haqiqah at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> > We are moving, in practice, toward an educational
> system where the good
> > students learn online and the students who need
> lots of help are taught face to face.
> 
>    I can't help but view this discussion through the
> lens of (a) my
> student affairs background and (b) current trends in
> funding,
> financial aid, and access in the United States.
>    Given that, it seems to me that ideally the
> decision of how one
> should "attend class" would be made primarily based
> on the learner's
> desired learning style.  But I think it's pretty
> clear that many other
> factors play into this, including economics (on both
> the supply and
> demand sides) and pressures related to cultural and
> personal
> circumstances.  Further, it has not been my
> experience that many
> students, particularly undergraduates, choose to
> "attend" online
> classes because it's their preferred style. 
> Instead, they seem to
> choose it because of the flexibility in scheduling,
> geographic
> independence, and course/instructor availability.  I
> am sure that is
> changing over time but it relates strongly to a
> previous comment about
> demand outstripping supply as institutions try to
> balance or increase
> their resources.
>    On a broader scale, SES *has* to play a role in
> this.  Will we
> eventually move into a future where only the rich
> can afford (a word
> with many denotations and connotations) a
> traditional, face-to-face
> education?  Will residential liberal arts
> institutions remain the
> domain of the elite as others "choose" distance
> education (because
> it's cheaper, not because it offers an equivalent or
> better
> education)?
> 
> 
> Kevin
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“We have to think of ways to use games not just to escape reality but to re-engage with reality.” Henry Jenkins


 
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