Friday, October 22, 2010
Social Media and Education
The rapid pace of improved technology has brought society to a place where people do not have to speak face-to- face. Facebook allows people who are your "friends" to see what is going on in your life without you ever knowing they were there. Facebook, Twitter, text-messaging and plain email allows people to communicate about everything from relationships to business deals to education. I have taken fifty-six hours through Baker since May 2009 and have never met a student or professor in person. Every class has been online. My teammates and I became friends and got to know each other purely online. The first time we will meet is at graduation in December. This technological change in society and especially the education environment is interesting to me. I'm curious to know if a student taking on-ground courses gets more out of the course than a student taking it completely online or vice-versa. I wonder if students are more willing to share ideas and personal opinions and experiences online than they are in person. What do you think?
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This is my first class online. I must say for my personlity I enjoy being in a classroom. I like face to face conversation. This class is going better than I thought it would. I have learned a lot with this class and I may even finish the rest of my fine arts credits online.
ReplyDeleteI'm working through a Master's program at Baker; this is my 3rd class, each on-line. I plan to mix some on-ground courses in after the first of the year, but my schedule has been too full so far. My undergrad work was all on-ground, and I miss the give-and-take of a classroom full of smart people talking about interesting things . . . at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI've found each professor so far at Baker has been, at least to some degree, an absentee landlord -- there's been very little personal dialogue and guidance. I'm interested to know if that's a function of on-line courses or of graduate-level study regardless of the format. I'll be in a better position to figure it out with a few on-ground grad courses under my belt.
I have, however, learned a lot more than I thought I would in my on-line classes, and the sense of discovery and accomplishment has been very different than in a stand-and-deliver setting.
I've just completed the undergrad program through Baker and and the professors are mostly absentee landords. I've had a few that participate but mostly not so I do think that has something to do with the online environment. I did the entire program online and what I liked was the ability to work on my own time. If I had to be in class once per week there is no way I would have made it. I have three children and two retail stores which creates no sort of "set" schedule like the on-ground course would require. I think a mix of on-line and on-ground would probably be a good thing.
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