Today I am reflecting on Bonnie Stewart's article about massive courses and digital literacies/participation. http://jolt.merlot.org/vol9no2/stewart_bonnie_0613.htm. She included these terms "sage on stage" and "guide on side" while discussing the evolving role of a teacher in online courses. After reading this, I happened to see a promotional video referencing a past event on the Google+ "Technology and Education Community" page for a conversation with Sal Khan.
- promotional video- Sal Khan and Google+ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3J-7QEJ-ioQ
- conversation- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfhj2OU1b3Q
So what do you think? Where does Mr. Khan fit in... sage or guide? Where does Mr. Khan fit within the online learning community? What does the Khan Academy represent? Is it just presentation from an expert, is it performance-tutoring, or is there a higher level of epistemic engagement ? Can it be all three? (Terms from Week 1 resources- Going the Distance with Online Education, Jorge Larreamendy-Joerns and Gaea Leinhardt). Is the Khan Academy centralized expertise or open network? Does it live up to the description of a global classroom with a global community- About Khan Academy. I have read articles about the Khan Academy, I have watched some of the videos, but I haven't used the Khan Academy in a systematic way, or as a student. What I have seen, I am very impressed with how engaging, informative, and open the materials are for anyone with Internet access. It may truly change education through empowerment of students and teachers.
For that matter where does Google fit in with their Technology and Education Community- is this just a further extension of an "open and networked" class or is it something different, evidence of the sociocultural shift in digital literacies? Or is it just a reincarnation of a Usenet newsgroup ?
Stewart defines and explains the history and examples of cMOOC and the xMOOC models. Does the MOOC model and its success depend on the subject matter (mathematics and science versus education and literature)?
So many questions, is technology still the answer?...
image from openclipart
I also hope to write a separate blog soon about my experiences with AdaptedMind Math. I think of this website as an example of adaptive online learning/tutoring . AdaptedMind Math is a website with a pay model (monthly subscription). The site uses some of the Khan videos as well as their own for "lessons". As a subscriber they did offer me a month free for blogging about the company, and I might take them up on that. You can post a comment if you would be interested.
No comments:
Post a Comment