Do any of you folks in your 30s or older remember high school classes—perhaps history, political science or social studies—where the teacher asked you to fins newspaper clippings that pertained to course content? What about going to a physical branch of the library to find a book or two for a report or paper?
How interesting it would be if teachers today had their students complete a class project using only hard-copy material. In other words: No Internet or e-information allowed.
Nowadays, students from kindergarten to doctorate studies are going online to complete their coursework. It’s so commonplace now that it’s easy to forget education without the Internet.
But now, entire degrees can be earned online. Physical classrooms in which students gather in person at specific times are being swapped out for virtual, asynchronous e-learning environments. Translation: You can attend a math class in your pajamas while sitting on your bed, computer in lap, at 1:00 a.m. if you so wish.
The rise of e-learning is staggering. Many traditional colleges have or are ramping up their online curricula because it allows them to accept more students and bring in more revenue in the form of tuition.
Many teachers utilize podcasts, YouTube videos and other online resources to instruct their students. These listening and viewing tools are naturally suited to lectures and tutorials. They’re perfect replacements for a teacher standing in front of a group of students in attendance. But what about other types of social media?
Is there a way to use Twitter’s news-sharing power in an educational setting? Is there value in tweeting with other students and the teacher to keep discussions going after or in between classes? If you are a teacher and your students are glued to Twitter anyway, is it a good idea to tweet out assignments?
What about Facebook? How effective would it be to start a closed Facebook group for your class? What about colleges having departmental Facebook groups? Would nursing students gain any educational benefit from joining up with others in the nursing program? Students could share links to resources they find useful or even post their work for peer review.
Then there’s the social media driven by visuals: Pinterest. How could pinning and repinning enhance the educational experience? Some courses, like fine arts, seem to be a natural fit. But what about finance or business classes? Could analysts and accountants in training learn something useful by collaborating, sharing infographics, and pinning helpful articles?
This blog doesn’t have any real answers to these questions. However, if today’s generation of learners is already volunteering so much of its attention to social media, then perhaps today’s educators should follow suit and instruct via Twitter, Pinterest, etc.
How interesting it would be if teachers today had their students complete a class project using only hard-copy material. In other words: No Internet or e-information allowed.
Nowadays, students from kindergarten to doctorate studies are going online to complete their coursework. It’s so commonplace now that it’s easy to forget education without the Internet.
But now, entire degrees can be earned online. Physical classrooms in which students gather in person at specific times are being swapped out for virtual, asynchronous e-learning environments. Translation: You can attend a math class in your pajamas while sitting on your bed, computer in lap, at 1:00 a.m. if you so wish.
The rise of e-learning is staggering. Many traditional colleges have or are ramping up their online curricula because it allows them to accept more students and bring in more revenue in the form of tuition.
Many teachers utilize podcasts, YouTube videos and other online resources to instruct their students. These listening and viewing tools are naturally suited to lectures and tutorials. They’re perfect replacements for a teacher standing in front of a group of students in attendance. But what about other types of social media?
Is there a way to use Twitter’s news-sharing power in an educational setting? Is there value in tweeting with other students and the teacher to keep discussions going after or in between classes? If you are a teacher and your students are glued to Twitter anyway, is it a good idea to tweet out assignments?
What about Facebook? How effective would it be to start a closed Facebook group for your class? What about colleges having departmental Facebook groups? Would nursing students gain any educational benefit from joining up with others in the nursing program? Students could share links to resources they find useful or even post their work for peer review.
Then there’s the social media driven by visuals: Pinterest. How could pinning and repinning enhance the educational experience? Some courses, like fine arts, seem to be a natural fit. But what about finance or business classes? Could analysts and accountants in training learn something useful by collaborating, sharing infographics, and pinning helpful articles?
This blog doesn’t have any real answers to these questions. However, if today’s generation of learners is already volunteering so much of its attention to social media, then perhaps today’s educators should follow suit and instruct via Twitter, Pinterest, etc.