Distance Education: Good or Bad?

Distance Education

Kimberly Schutte

1. Identify and briefly discuss 5 advantages of distance education
After learning more about distance education, I can see that there are several advantages to it. The first of these advantages is pace. With distance education, students can self-pace themselves during the course. Students who like going through at a quicker pace may do so while other who learns with a slower pace may do that as well. Another advantage of distance education is independent study. With distance education, students learn to become independent in their studies which allow them to need to depend on themselves and study on their own. A third advantage could be described as time or course constraints. This means that students who cannot fit courses into their schedule because of the times or availability of courses, then taking them online may be a way that they can take these courses. An additional advantage is using technology. Distance education is a way for students to use technology in their education where they may have not been able to before. They can make use of the internet, videos, images, chats, and conferences online. A final advantage of distance education is students need alternative way of school. Some students may not perform well or enjoy classic brick and mortar schooling so distance education is an alternative way for students to learn.

2. Identify and briefly discuss 5 disadvantages of distance education.
Though I can see several advantages to distance education, I can see that there are several disadvantages to distance education as well. One of these disadvantages is interaction. Because distance education takes play generally online and independently, students lose out on interaction with peers and with their teachers. This can be disadvantageous for students because they lose out on the social aspect of school. Another disadvantage of distance education is motivation or self-discipline. Students who cannot be disciplined or motivated by themselves will truly lose out with distance education. In fact, students who cannot be motivated or disciplined on their own will fail to learn or fail to complete the necessary components of the course. A third disadvantage could be described as teacher involvement. Through distance education students lose that one-on-one interaction with teachers where they can easily answer questions for whether they need more help, are confused, or want to learn more. As well, the interaction that they have online with their teachers may not be very strong. I mean students may not get the interaction they need from their teachers because their teachers are not easily available or do not reply to students. One more disadvantage is physical aspect of school. Distance education is primarily done on the computer or online which only requires students to only work on a computer and be sitting. This causes students to lose out on the physical movements of their body as well as physical activities such as giving presentations in front of a group of people or running in a physical education course. A final disadvantage of distance education is cost. While some distance education courses or schools are tuition free and provide the necessary equipment, this is not true for all schools. In fact, some schools require tuition and that students obtain their own technology which adds up to be quite pricy at times.

3. How you would determine the readiness of students to participate in distance education?
When considering distance education, especially in my classroom, there are many things to consider. The first thing I would need to consider and determine is the readiness of my students to be able to participate in distance education. I would determine this by how well students can work independently. By this, I mean how well students can keep on a schedule, how well disciplined they can make themselves, and how well they can work and study on their own. The biggest key of distance education is that students are on their own and they have only have themselves to be accountable for their education. They do not have their teacher physically there to remind them that they have assignments or tests coming up.

4. What would you need to do to be ready to teach in an online environment?
Though I have taken several online courses and been emerged in the distance education environment as a student there are several things that I would need to consider to be able to be a teacher in this environment. To be ready to teach in an online environment I would need to several things. These simply begin with that you need to be aware that you are teaching in an online environment. This encompasses a whole different environment and a whole different group of students. Just going into an online environment without ever been teaching in a real classroom would be difficult. Instead, teachers need to be experienced in teaching this age and this subject in a classroom rather than just in a virtual classroom. This allows teachers to understand some of the difficulties that students may have including time, subject or conceptual difficulty, and questions that students may have which will be relative to students in virtual classrooms as well.

Engaging Students with Concept Mapping Activities

Concept Mapping Project: "Engaging Students with Concept Mapping Activities”
Kimberly Schutte

When looking at concept mapping uses, I find several possibilities for incorporating concept mapping in the mathematics classroom. Concept maps are a type of special diagram as a way for students to explore knowledge while also gathering and sorting this information as well. Concept maps work in a way to share information with students in a different and unique way that allows them to find connections between concepts, events, and processes. They act like a network of cells and links containing concepts and relationships within a topic. A concept map contains a main cell where the question, topic, or concept of the map is placed with links between the main cell to other cells with other answers, concepts, items, and information connected with the main cell. The links between the cells consists of arrows drawing the connections between the different concepts in each cell. These links contain relationships between the concepts such that when reading the concept map it will read just like a sentence to create a paragraph. Concept maps are used for several reasons in any classroom such as to perform brainstorming, act as a visual learning aid, communicate complex ideas, connecting old knowledge to new knowledge, act as a summary of the information, express relationships within knowledge and help to assess where there is understanding or misunderstanding. This allows connecting knowledge in different visual ways with different learning styles as well.

With these general ways that concept maps are used in all types of classrooms, I can see several specific ideas for how the use concept maps in a mathematics classroom like I plan to have in the future. One of the first ways that I see concept maps being used in the classroom concerns mathematical processes. Just like biology or chemistry, mathematical concepts have processes that occur in order to find the final answer. One specific example is the process of factoring second degree polynomials. Not only will it show how to use the quadratic formula but also how to use other factoring methods as well. By using a concept map, one can see how these are connected to each other as well. Another way that concept maps can be used in the classroom is connecting different mathematical concepts. This connects with the idea of observing relationships among mathematical concepts. Specifically, in calculus, one can connect the concepts of derivatives and integrals to see the fundamental theorem of calculus and how they are connected. As well concept mapping could be used to connect mathematics to other disciplines of knowledge. A specific way that this could be explored is the historical connections between the mathematics being studied and its purpose in history. Exploring the ancient proofs of the Pythagorean Theorem can show how it has evolved to being used today. Even further, students can see applications of the Pythagorean Theorem or Pi in historical times. As well students could see the real life connections between the mathematics that they are studying in class with applications of it in the real world. Examples include percentages and ratios with their connection with banking and business. Another way using concept maps can be useful in the classroom includes determining what previous knowledge students know. By taking this previous knowledge, teachers can determine what students know and what they do not which is extremely important in mathematics because the basics are important to build up on. Specifically, students cannot perform higher level mathematics such as geometry or algebra without prior knowledge of arithmetic. Connecting different aspects of triangles in a concept map can show how the concepts being learned in geometry about triangles all come together. All in all, concept maps have several applications in the classroom, even mathematics classrooms.

The impact of using concept mapping on the students in my future classroom could be quite significant. Concept mapping can serve as a visual aid which allows it to impact students in my future classroom who learn best visually. Even more, concept maps can allow students to see relationships between different mathematical concepts. Often students cannot see how different ideas or concepts are related, especially in mathematics, but a concept map can connect these different concepts to form relationships that students may have never realized before. Further, student learning could be impacted by seeing the connections between math and other disciplines, history, and the real world. Mathematics is often a discipline where students want to know how they will use what they learn in the classroom in the real world. By creating a concept map that creates relationships between the real world and what they are learning in the classroom, students may begin to change their attitude on math and see its real world applications. Finally, students may reach an understanding of mathematical concepts and topics. Often students may learn the concepts of mathematics but may never really understand what the concept means, how it is used, and its purpose. Understanding is a very important aspect of mathematics that is often forgotten about but using concept maps is just one way that student understanding of mathematics can begin or occur.

When deciding whether or not to use concept mapping activities as a part of a lesson for my students will be determined by a number of reasons. The criteria that I would use to decide whether or not to use concept maps in my lessons begin with what I am teaching and what I want students to gain from the lesson. One of the criteria that I would use in my decision to use Concept Mapping activities would be deciding whether or not the use of concept maps would simplify understanding or further frustrate students. I want concept mapping to help students gain understanding and see relationships between concepts or processes. Concept mapping should not hinder students’ learning but improve it. Another criterion that I would use is if I want to assess student learning without testing. Concept mapping could be used as a reliable way to pre-assess student knowledge and used as summative assessment as well. If I am unsure of where students stand on the understanding of something taught, concept mapping can be used to check this as well as a pre-assessment for where to begin a lesson. These are not the only two ways that I would decide whether or not to use a concept mapping but are two criterion I will consider when making this decision on where concept mapping can fit into my lesson or curriculum.

This is an example of a concept map about the history of Pi that I could use in my future mathematics classroom.

Reflections on Using TeacherWeb

Looking Back on Using TeacherWeb and Its Capabilities
Kimberly Schutte

After having created my TeacherWeb and discussing in our groups the possibilities for the use of a TeacherWeb in our future teaching, I see a few ways that it could help support my classroom and my students. TeacherWeb can be beneficial for both teachers teaching and students learning. First, TeacherWeb can support teachers and their ability to teach because it allows parents, guardians, care givers, students, and other teachers to be involved in the learning process for their classroom. By providing information on a TeacherWeb kind of website, everyone involved in the student’s education can be aware what is occurring in the classroom. It is important to understand that teaching and learning is going to be a team effort in order to be effective. Another way that a TeacherWeb type of website would benefit teachers is that it allows for quick assignments, reflections, or review quizzes. I think using the review quizzes is beneficial specifically for teachers because it allows teachers to make a quick quiz and have students take it to be a quick assessment of student progress for a certain subject, topic, or lesson. In fact, these quizzes will be scored automatically as well as can provide the students with the correct answer so that they may see the answer right away when they take the quiz. For the teachers, it can provide them with information about the students’ progress in a quick and easy way. In addition, using a grade page on the TeacherWeb allows teachers to have students’ grades be easily accessible but private as well so that students do not have to wait for paper grade reports. However, the TeacherWeb pages are not just beneficial to teachers but to the students as well. Learning can be enhanced with this type of website because on TeacherWeb, teachers can provide students with a wide variety of resources available especially such as web resources and web 2.0 resources. Even further with the web 2.0 resources, students can connect with other students on educational wikis and blogs to collaborate on projects and homework. As well, these resources provide students to become engaged in their learning with a fun, interactive website placed on the TeacherWeb. Another specific way that students can benefit from a TeacherWeb is that it can provide a class schedule for homework, tests, projects, and important school dates. This allows for students to be aware what is going on in class, what is coming up and what is do so that they may focus on what they are learning. As well, when students are absent from class which may be due to sickness, family obligations, and school-related activities, they may check the TeacherWeb to see what has happened in class that day. This allows for them to not fall behind as well as obtain class handouts that they may have missed. As well, students can access these handouts at home if they forget them at school, misplace them, or lose them. All in all, a TeacherWeb kind of website can be beneficial for students and teachers in their collaborative learning experience.

Blogs and Wikis in Education

The use of blogs and wikis in education
Kimberly Schutte

With the growing use of the internet and technology in the classroom, teachers are always looking for new and interesting ways to engage their students in their education along with integrating technology. Such a new way to integrate the internet into the classroom is through the use of blogs and wikis, especially since more and more are being created today for the use in K-12 educational settings. In fact, there are a number of interesting and innovated ways to integrate a wiki or blog into the classroom. On interesting aspect of using a blog or wiki in the classroom is the ability for students to do collaborative work. With the ability to do more and more group work, students are becoming engaged in their learning which is exactly what happens with the ability to do collaborative work. Students who have the ability to use an educational blogging webpage or a wiki can work on projects with other students outside of the classroom. They can discuss the project or issues they are having as well as decide how to divide up the work load. Another innovative or interesting way blogs and wikis are being implemented into K-12 classroom include creating online class publications such as a class newsletter where not only students can access and read the publication but they can be part of it by writing their own articles to be part of the online class publication. This allows for students to be part of their classroom as well as reflect and express themselves to the other students, the teacher, the school, and the families of the students. Finally, another very interesting use of blogs and wikis in the classroom setting is the multimedia that students can use to access at home as well as at school. By have resources from school such as videos, podcasts, photos, and songs, this is a way for students to access these resources outside of the teacher’s classroom in order to learn from them even more. Further students can make comments and collaborate about these resources as well as use them for future reference, in homework, or in future projects.

An RSS reader or an aggregator could pose as a possibly helpful tool in the classroom setting. Just as a teacher provides news to students frequently, especially new information, the use of an RSS reader or aggregator could serve as a similar provider, without the use of extra paper. A teacher could have the students join and create a RSS reader or aggregator for themselves. Then the students could subscribe to the teacher’s blog, the class wiki, news websites relevant to the subject for the classroom, and any school related blogs, wikis, or news web pages. This way, when students log onto their RSS reader or aggregator they can receive the latest news from their teacher, their classmates, their school, and the news. As well teachers could have parents or guardians create an RSS reader or aggregator so that they may as well get the latest news concerning the education of their child.

The use of blogs and wikis in the classroom can have both beneficial factors as well as disadvantageous factors. Blogs and wikis can enhance education in ways that simple traditional teaching cannot reach alone. With using a blog or wiki, students can collaborate on homework, projects, or discussions outside of the classroom through the use of technology. This allows for the possibility of more small group projects as well as engaged learning. As well, just as wikis and blogs are important for interaction between the students in the classroom, wikis and blogs are resources that allow students to gain outside resources from other students in other towns, areas, states, or nations through connections online. As well, teachers can share resources and ideas online allowing for different possibilities of activities and lessons to occur in the classroom. However, using wikis and blogs in the educational world does have its setbacks. Because we still live in a world where technology is not readily available to everyone, as a future teacher, the use of wikis or blogs outside of the classroom just may not be a feasible option with the diversity of technology available resources to students. As well when considering the use of the internet in any classroom activity, teachers have to be aware of what may be found on the internet, placed on the wiki or blog, and who is reading the blog because some material may not be appropriate. Even further, the internet may not always be a dependable tool with the loss of internet connections and web pages being deleted, this could affect the student’s ability to use and actual use of a wiki or blog in an educational setting. Nevertheless, there are a vast number of possibilities that are becoming available for use in the classroom through the integration of technology and no matter what, as a future teacher, one must consider both the pros and cons of the use of these technologies in the classroom.

Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom

Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom
Kimberly Schutte

Just as with learning styles, students vary across the different multiple intelligences. After completing the multiple intelligences inventory online, I was able to rediscover information about myself as well as make new finding about myself concerning the different multiple intelligences. When looking at my results concerning the multiple intelligences, I have a relative consistency of ranking fairly the same in all of the nine different intelligences. However, I have especially high strengths in the multiple intelligences of logical and kinesthetic intelligences. When looking at each of these types of intelligences, one can see that there are a number of core characteristics that relate to that strength. The core characteristics surrounding the logical intelligence include a range of different types of reasoning ranging from linear to concrete to even abstract. Within each reasoning of the core characteristics include more specific characteristics such as working to find order in the world around us, taking a system and then breaking it down into the different parts of the system, and using symbols to represent elements of the real world. After reading about the core characteristics surrounding the logical intelligence and considering my own learning style, I can see that the characteristics of linear reasoning which involves working to obtain order as well as consistency in the world and the ability to use abstract reasoning to use symbols to represent real world elements as a major part of my life and learning. The other intelligence that I found high strength in is kinesthetic intelligence. Some of the core characteristics surrounding the kinesthetic intelligence include being task oriented which is where someone strives as well as reflexive through swift and intuitive responses to physical stimuli. The core characteristics that best relate to me and my learning including being a task oriented learner as well as being concrete by being able to express my feelings and thoughts with body movements.

After learning what type of multiple intelligence strengths represent myself and my learning makes me consider the different multiple intelligences that my students will have as a future teacher. Looking at the multiple intelligences that I find strengths in and relating it to students who could possibly have similar strengths, I find a group of characteristics that many students would have in common. Students who would also have strengths in the logical intelligence often would look for order, enjoy problem solving, find working on puzzles amusing, and work at a rate quicker than most. Those with strengths in the kinesthetic intelligence enjoy activities through hands-on work, rather work in “learning communities” or with other students rather than at their seat alone, and find games that are done in groups enjoyable.

Realizing that there are different types of multiple intelligences allows us to see how there will be a number of different students with different strengths and different ways of learning. After considering these multiple intelligences, then we can take this knowledge and apply it in the classroom when creating lessons and activities. Students who find strength in a logical sense be allowed to take part in the building assessment rubrics for class assignments, use safe and healthy debate in the classroom, and have puzzles as a part of the “learning environment”. Teachers should set goals for the entire classroom that are not only concise but reachable. As well teachers should use tasks in the classroom that are open-ended giving the class options as well as involve problem solving. When considering the kinesthetic intelligence found in some students, they should be offered activities that allow movement in the classroom due to rhythm and music as well as using manipulatives when involved in mathematics instruction which is something I find especially important as a future math teacher. Teachers should also have students involved in hands-on experiments specifically in science and in order to make lessons interesting use “creative drama” in teaching.

With the growing number of opportunities that technologies allow in the classroom, this must also be taken into consideration when considering the different intelligences in the classroom. In order to stimulate learning among students who have strong logical intelligences, teachers should utilize technology in lecturing, use of webquests, problem solving tasks involving technology, and graphing calculators. Strong kinesthetic intelligence students also have ways for technology to be integrated into the classroom to inspire learning to occur. Such technologies that can excite students to learn include the use of construction tools, pulleys, simulations that use eye-hand coordination techniques, and digital probes.

As one can see, a firm understanding and use of learning styles and multiple intelligences can really improve learning within the classroom. In fact, as a future teacher I find that understanding that there are many different multiple intelligences and learning styles that I must have diversity and excitement in my lesson plans in order to intrigue all different students in my classroom. Even further, having a solid knowledge about how different students with different intelligences learn is important in order to see how all of the students in a classroom learn. Looking into the future, as a future teacher I find that I want to learn about how my students because it will be important in order to allow for learning to occur in the classroom.

Learning Styles Project

What learning style am I?
Learning Styles Project
Kimberly Schutte

Everyone learns differently which makes learning and teaching fun and sometimes challenging. In order to determine what learning style I was, I used a learning style inventory test called the Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire. This questionnaire was developed by two North Carolina State professors. The instrument consisted of forty-four multiple choice questions where you had to answer with a choice a or a choice b. The responses made by these forty four questions were used to evaluate the type of learning style of those individuals completing the questionnaire. This questionnaire was found online at the following URL: http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html.

After completing my learning styles questionnaire, a set of results was presented to me. The results consisted of four different scales with two different styles on each side of the scale. The numbers of the scales represented how much of a preference that you had toward that learning style based on the answers one gave in the questionnaire. The first scale was for active versus reflective learners. My answers resulted in a value of 5 on the active side of the scale. This means I have a moderate preference towards the type of learning that is active. The next scale was sensing versus intuitive learners. This time I scored a 7 on the sensing side of the scale, again stating that I had a moderate preference for this type of learning. The third scale was testing for visual versus verbal learners. For this scale, I scored a one on the verbal side of the scale. This time this means that I had a more fairly well-balanced preference for both types of learning on the scale. Finally, the fourth scale, testing sequential versus global learning, resulted with a score of 3 on the sequential part of the scale. This again defined that I had a fairly well-balanced preference for both types of learning.

Once completing this assessment and reading over my results, I found that this assessment did a fairly good job and assessing my type of learning as well as was able to supply new information to me about my own learning style. I have always found myself to be have a number of learning styles and not just set on one type so when these numbers of the scales were relatively low meaning that I had a fairly well-balanced preference towards both types of learning styles of the scale, I did find that I was indeed a flexible and variable learner. However, I did find that I was higher on the scale for verbal learning than visual which was something surprising to me because I felt like I was more a visual than verbal. However, I feel that seeing these results shows that I can learn in a variety of styles which is helpful for my learning.

Understanding different learning styles and seeing my own learning styles questionnaire results has allowed me to see how important these are when implementing lessons in the classroom. As a future teacher and a current student as well, I can see that incorporating a variety of types of activities and types of learning is important in the classroom because like myself, I will have a variety of different students coming from different backgrounds and perspectives providing me with a wide variety of different types of learners. When developing lessons, I find that I would want to do a variety of things from lecturing to providing visual aids as well as allow for individual work as well as group collaborative activities. Besides just doing simple writing, reading, and at desk work, I would also like to have some active fun activities to go along with my lesson in order to get students active in their learning as well. This will allow for students to learn facts and concepts and well as use these facts and concepts to make relationships between different aspects of the lesson.

It is often hard to sway away from one’s personal perspective, however, I have found from doing my own personal learning styles questionnaire and learning more about myself as a learner that there are a wide variety of learning styles out there making every student unique in their learning. Thus, as a teacher, one must keep this in consideration in order to allow for flexibility in lessons and well as diversity in teaching.