I wouldn’t try to change the basic curriculum for the different subjects. I would make some changes to the atmosphere of the “traditional classroom”. Instead of having students rush to the physical classroom, they would be able to log on to an internet classroom to listen to lectures and get their assignments. I’m talking about college students, not K-12. I do think that it’s important that students, before college level, go to classrooms and learn how to work together and get along while they are learning everything else. (They should be able to interact with each other instead of being socially independent. They need face to face contact, not just all text messaging and IM contact.) Actually, college students need some face to face contact, too – not all their work should be through the computer. I took one of the MCCC online courses this past summer. It was a bit weird not ever meeting my fellow classmates – I knew their names and read what they wrote, but there were no faces to go with their names. I guess I am basically saying that I like how this class that we are taking right now works, and I would want to produce more classes that would run this way.
February 10, 2008 at 8:01 pm
I agree, classrooms are so stable in how they are now that there isn’t much that needs to be done. Children struggle enough with learning the way it is now that adding technology might just complicate and distract.
February 10, 2008 at 9:12 pm
yeah i definatley agree about the “change the traditional classroom setting” idea. I find that classes that step outside the box and use new technologies, as well as different styles of classroom settings are easier to excell in, because you feel like you aren’t being force fed boring knowledge. Instead you feel like you are being enganged in a stimulating experience.
One of my favorite non-major teachers i had at mercer, was professor theresa capra. She was my sociology teacher. Instead of going “by the book” she would just come in and have us talk about social issues, while sprinking in the facts we needed to know about sociology.
It was great because when you got to the tests you really knew the material because she had been teaching it in a way that related to us. Instead of talking about random abstract concepts, she would teach us the different aspects of sociology by engaing us in deep discussions like the death penalty.
February 11, 2008 at 7:48 pm
i was thinking the same thing. i feel that the face to face social interaction is very important in the k-12 education. this interaction is very important in a childs development. i believe once college level is reached, the option of having online classes is a very good idea, since by this age many social characterists have already been learned.