Seed2009 > Agenda > Quality Online Classes
This session also included the Mary Mary Quite Contrary discussion.
Kim and online classes
- Non-face-to-face teaching is not as high-quality
- Body language and spontaneous interaction are lost
- Higher attrition and failure rate
- People who do these often do it because they lack the motivation to go to school
- Goal: make students feel that they're involved in their education
- Currently:
- Students are only looking at a "blackboard"
- Might start doing audio, but Kim isn't comfortable having video of herself
- Students aren't required to be online at the same time; they can go to "class" anytime
- One student is a soldier in Afghanistan
- Students can ask each other questions or send anonymous questions to Kim
- Students have to peer-review each other's papers
- Debbie: There's always a dropout rate
- Kim: Higher-level (community college) classes have higher dropout rates
- "Working-class people often sabotage each other" because they don't want friends and coworkers to move ahead and leave, or "take more than their share"
- Misattributed "Mandela" quote: "Our greatest fear is our own power"
- Don't "play small" because you're afraid of making people uncomfortable
- "Letting your light shine" encourages others to do the same
- Preventing negative remarks about a group, another person, or yourself builds community in regular real-world classes
- Thinking of each other as people:
- Virtual students writing about themselves and responding to each others' writings helps
- Even video of Kim talking that only shows a stuffed animal or puppet could help
- Debbie did a lesson for "Plato" TV learning that had fun stuff in between segments