Reading about the tech myths was interesting the ones that I related the most to were tech teachers have it easy, online students have it easier, and students are more likely to cheat online.
This year I took into to action flipping a class and thought that once I figured it out I could easily pass it to other classes. It turns out that flipping one class was not easy I have to work more carefully on putting content together and I can’t have impromptu lessons as I do in all my other classes. I need to lesson plan in advance have my video setup at least a week before instructions. I have tried passing it on to one other class and that is not easy either, mainly because one-to-one communication is greater. There is a benefit to that because I get to know students better.
Online learning is easier for students, not true either. Scheduling group meetings is a hazel and my accountability for all my work is just as strong as meeting in class. When I was an undergrad I took two online classes and I was getting the impression that online classes were easier, but since then online classes have come a long way. I mentioned earlier accountability still needs to get met. Having control over when I view my online lecturers is is nice because, unlike my friends who need to fly to school after work I get to go home afterter work relax and like a night owl do my school work late at night.
Students being more likely to cheat online is also a myth that caught my attention because, during my grad school classes, cheating online was never an option. I never had a multiple choice test, nor short answer problem without a case study. Everything has always been more problem based. In K-12 setting I can see how this can be a problem, but is project based assessments are set in place with learners explanation, cheating will be less of a problem.
I think cheating in online classes is more prevalent in courses that are graded objectively. While objectivity in grading is usually viewed as optimal, because students know what to expect and what is expected of them, objectivity is less useful when teachers cannot monitor the physical location or control the ability of students to procure information via search engines. Essentially, in an online course, every test or quiz becomes open-note. Open-note exams have their own difficulty, however; students still need to be familiar enough with the material to locate specific answers before they get timed out.
ReplyDeleteYou are right Jeremy, I was thinking project base learning and forgot about objective grading. After reading the case study Strategies for Showing Computations in
DeleteMath in the Online Environment I realized thatthe amount of cheating depends on the class and subject. Your post also made me rethink that.
Yes. You must have considerations regarding testing and ability to cheat. Some schools require online tests to be proctored (i.e., while online most of the time, the students must take a test at a physical location). You can also do lockdown browsers (won't let you open other tabs), and some systems have webcams that have you take a photo at the start and then take them at random times to prevent students from having friends (or parents) take the test for them. These don't prevent cheating 100% (e.g., just have another computer sitting next to you, etc.), but again, it has to be part of the considerations for test design.
DeleteRosio,
ReplyDeleteI have used flipped classroom in my Calculus class before. I used google classrooms for this. Just like you mentioned it was a failed attempt. It was not easy to prepare before hand. When I created and uploaded resources, videos and pdfs after a long hours and hard work, for the students to view and study at home as homework, most of them did not do their job or homework. The next day in the class I had to start from scratch teaching the same lesson in which I had already put in lot of hours. It was a waste of time and energy. Mainly the reason of this failure is that our students are not trained to do this, and after one failed attempt, we teachers, give up and change our strategy. This process has to be learnt efficiently by students and by teachers also, for it to be successful.
The lack of 21st century resources; skills, training, and tool, for both students and teachers are limited. Many times I feel spit between teaching content and introducing new tools. I goal this year was to flup my classroom, and despite modifying it a lot, I want to stick to it for this school year. Perhaps is because I stubborn, but I am just hoping I find a way to make it work for me.
DeleteRosio, I haven't had much experience as online instructor but definately have online experience as a student which can be challenging as you have briefly noted.
ReplyDeleteThe myth with students likely to cheat with online classes is a falsehood. A well planned out online class will include learning surrounding structured material that will involve activity where students used problem solving techniques and self directed strategies for learning knowledge. This type of strategy lesson is based on subjective and objective type of assessment. Cheating is would hard to do based on this type of method.