I took ai-class and am currently taking saas-class.  In the forums, I feel like there as been an inordinate amount of complaining.  In ai-class, it was about the grading of homeworks/exams “not being fair.”  In saas-class, it is about being expected to learn Ruby and having deadlines.  And technical issue during the quiz.

Both classes are free and you don’t get university credit.  Which means any grade you get is just for you and has no impact.  So why all the discontent?  If you get something wrong without actually being wrong or mis a due date, your “grade” goes down, but not your knowledge.

In college, I liked taking my liberal arts classes “pass no credit.”  As a good student, I wasn’t worried about failing.  Knowing I’d get a “pass” let me enjoy learning and not having to think about the grade.  That’s the feeling I get in the classes online now.  Enjoyment learning.

I bought the book so none of these classes was free per se.  But it was the absence of a grade that counted that mattered.  In a way this is similar to why coding on your own is different than the coding you do at a job.

Thoughts?

I attended Social media Week‘s classroom of the future talk.  See my notes from the higher ed version or my notes on the K-12 version in this post.

Tools in physical classroom

• Twitter like tool (since twitter blocked at some scools) – back channel during class and after class
• Social media study groups
• Blog about what learning so understand it more
• Text – questions, announcements, ask someone outside school like parent to get outside perspectives. Let cell phones enhance learning and not be a distraction. There is a program that strips out phone number and saves history

Cool: showed live demo of interactive quiz to see comprehension

Be an early tester but a late adopter of technology. It needs to fit your work/life flow. “twitter is for old people”. When did that happen?

Computer acceptable use policy better than filtering because teaches responsibility. [hmm. Maps to coporate america]

Schools behind companies in terms of tech. And companies behind what you do at hone. Income divide. Not everyone has a cell phone. And the district doesn’t have ebough money to lend laptops. Same for connectivity. Not everything is on broadband. Schools making money advertising on billboards and lockers to pay for things like this.

When not everyone, has a phone, pair/triple up. she also can get laptops. [what happens when everyone is poor?]. In India, very poor people have a phone because it is a life changer. Don’t need a smartphone. Can learn by SMS.

We’ve been hearing about the disuption of the textbook market for years. Think will be delivered on tablets and the real question is how to get people to pay for them. Need to take advantage of tech and not just make paper look nicer. A textbook limits you to one point of view [or collates info]. Also allows making it better suited for ESL or kids reading below grade level. The White House announced last week that they will be pushing a guide/advice for digital textbooks.

I attended Social media Week‘s future of higher ed talk.  See my notes on the K-12 version or my notes on the higher ed version in this post.

• Traditional schools didn’t start online classes because didn’t think could do it as well. Included a shot at University of Phoenix. Social media is the first time the tools are there to support it. [I got my masters at Regis University. I think they did well because they had started with correspondence classes and saw how to enhance that model online.]
• Anything you learned in college you could have learned from a textbook. It is higher ed done right that makes the impact. Goal was to recreate campus online. Only let in students who could get in on campus and add interactions/networking with students. However, it is also about socialization and a safe environment to learn how to interact with the world. More undergrad interest in a semester online than an entire undergrad degree online.
• Expects more grad school online because more mature students, less expensive, fits life better. [regis had a work experience requirement to "screen" for maturity].
• Education outstrips inflation by two to three percent a year because salaries go up and we add technology. Since this compounds, it is approaching infeasible. [it isn't now?]. Can be less expensive by moving lecture online/interactive/self quiz. The classroom is for discussion. Or the online classroom. [regis did this well]
• Interesting conflict: onkine students can learn at different pace but need to engage/discuss together.
• Small programs don’t scale. Need a lot of students to recover investment for good course/program. To build scale, you need funding. At sone point, you can’t add more strong programs.
• It is much harder to teach online. You have to prepare much more.