My observation with both of my children is that their math abilities increased far more using computer-based education versus sitting in a classroom. They each used different programs. My older boy used one which communicated the lessons primarily as text, while the younger one uses the Stanford program, which communicates information through ‘mini-lectures’ with accompanying visuals. Each of them has been, on average, at least 3 years ahead of their peers in math once they began working on those programs. Before that, they were often less than a year ahead. Because they could work at their own pace on developmentally appropriate material, they were able to accelerate significantly.

What I’m saying is that students do not learn by sitting in classrooms…students learn by actively engaging in the material, and lectures are the worst way to learn. Computers may not be the best way to learn, but they often are better than lectures.

Me, I happen to think that for a “traditional” university to offer entirely online courses is absurd — the whole point of having a university in the first place is to have a campus, classrooms and humans as teachers. Those who see no value in that, who would rather take online courses, have already many online universities to pick from, no need for each public institution to duplicate that (one would be enough — it’s online anyway). Either most students end up making that choice, in which case one can argue that traditional education has outlived its usefulness and should just be phased out, or the majority continue to believe that classroom teaching is superior, and that is how public colleges and universities should continue to operate. My opinion. My blog.

I’ve had enough lousy lecturers as well as enough experience with my kids’ education through online courses to know that online content can be very beneficial, and in many cases, superior. My one son takes accelerated online math classes through Stanford, and I can tell you that it’s far better than what he might get through a lot of in-class lectures. (There are few other places where a second grader can learn set theory, probability, and algebra.) Even in on-line learning, there is still a person available at the other end to answer questions and help through rough spots.

There is *already* a two-tier system in place. What I find interesting is that it’s places like MIT, Harvard, and Stanford that are pushing this as much as anyone else. How is this creating a two-tier system? Also, this has already been the status quo for gifted elementary and secondary education through places like Stanford and Johns Hopkins universities for two decades. It’s got a pretty decent track record among younger students. Universities are just late adopters.

Though there’s classes online (fully online, hybrid, or just a syllabus slapped into a course shell), there’s also the registration system, student accounts, financial aid and transcripts all online. And what a friggin mess. Glitches, bugs, and firewalls. Connectivity drops. Seemingly inscrutable error messages. But nothing really gnaws at the faculty/staff member and/or the student like the glitches, bugs, firewalls, connectivity drops, outdated plugins (which Firefox decides to block) and other incidents that affect the online classroom–all the time.

And why? Because it’s about grades, tuition money, honesty (“Did you really submit that paper?”), integrity (“I really did submit the paper!”), frustration, and frustration, and frustration. That’s an awesome learning environment.

I’m sure quite a few go on without a hitch (for most). Yet I’ve wandered around in so many of these “online classrooms” wanting to tap on the screen at their interface. Is there really a “classroom” in there?

I dunno. I think they are mostly nifty as a repository for supplementary materials. Otherwise, it’s like it’s trapped. Boxed. Booked.

Lastly, I was recently reading/watching the debate in The Chronicle of Higher Education about classroom technology and lecture “fail” when I started to think about how labor intensive it can be prepare lectures in the classroom and how labor intensive it is to build them online. And how university and college administrators may start to seek the “best presentation”. Then I realized we could very well end up in a future with standardized courses containing the most “relevant” materials distributed into online classrooms. Tried and tested videos! Totally remove the professor! Cost effective! Standardized! Validated learning outcomes! Nations of students all watching the same TV program! Or playing the same educational video game, to which you alluded.