Wednesday, September 21, 2016

An Online Education Disconnect - Rachael Cusick, Slate

I may have drawn the longest possible straw in online learning. I was signed up for a scaled-down, hybrid-classroom approach to distance learning. The course material was engaging, and so was the instructor. The professor stood a few feet away from me, and I had unlimited time to ask questions before and after the class itself. But though we were in the same room, even I had trouble paying attention while the professor stared into her computer, trying to simultaneously engage those of us in the room as well as those students more than 250 miles away. Every week, it looked like half my peers back at the ranch were dozing or updating their fantasy sports leagues instead of paying attention. I marveled at the ones who powered through and remained engaged throughout the whole section—and a lot of them did. My ultimate peeve with this technology-dependent learning platform was digital hand-raising http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2016/09/the_difficulty_of_creating_community_in_distance_education_courses.html