Posted on 04/01/2020 7:40:27 AM PDT by karpov
The coronavirus, combined with the public and private reactions to it, has affected every aspect of Americans’ lives, including the ways they learn. From pre-K to graduate seminars, many classes are moving online for the duration of the pandemic and perhaps beyond. That may spur pedagogical reforms that will lead to the creation of more Emersonian independent thinkers, people who can quickly find, analyze, and synthesize available data to come to reasoned conclusions on important matters—a resource that seemed in mighty short supply when the coronavirus hit the proverbial fan in mid-March.
Many colleges and universities will evidently have to tighten their belts for some time. Counterintuitively, it would be the lack of resources rather than a surfeit of them that could spur positive change among our very costly but not very effective schools.
Business, education, and policy leaders tend to think in terms of inputs. Achieving goal X will require inputs that cost at least a certain amount. That common approach, which often spends more than anticipated for something less than the stated goal, will be forestalled for the foreseeable future. Budgets will be tight at public and private schools (the former due to state government budget cuts and the latter due to endowment and donation losses because of the stock market crash). Planned educational “essentials” like rock climbing walls, expanded sports stadiums, and new buildings for administrators will have to be put on hold and possibly canceled altogether.
If, as seems likely, a recession or depression hits, student applications may well increase. They have in previous downturns because people who are out of work have a lower opportunity cost of time. But schools shouldn’t count on revenues increasing since many applicants will need more financial aid than they previously would have.
(Excerpt) Read more at jamesgmartin.center ...
No reason colleges cannot be totally online other than lab classes.
K-12 could certainly transition high school to online classes for 90% as well, saving taxpayers billions.
Good article.
It wouldn’t have taken much to push many, especially private, colleges over the edge. This is a good thing.
Anybody looking for a seasoned gender studies professor? I hear they’ll work for peanuts.
The very finest minds in science (math, physics, chemistry, engineering) could teach thousands at home, or after work. Students could take part time jobs to pay for it. No need to go into debt. And the teachers thus could be evaluated, separating the real from the fakes, allowing students to select which ones they valued.
All faculty are terrified of this. It yanks the rug out from under the special ‘godlike’ status they have cultivated for themselves.
The whole thing reminds me of what the invention of the camera did to the world of ‘art’.
For one thing, portraiture died... who wanted to sit for a portrait, when a snapshot produced a much better and accurate likeness, cheaper, faster, etc.??
The same holds for automobiles, airplanes, etc. All of it alters totally and forever.
Technology keeps altering lifestyle... and that’s certainly guaranteed with higher education.
A whole class of people and a lot of stuffy egos will get a cold shower.
Once the social culture of college life collapses from no sports, or social gatherings or even town bars and restaurants closed, students will delay tuition costs and take online classes. September will be interesting, I expect to see many deferred freshman.
I have attended two online schools and there is a difference in the teaching patterns. One should know the pattern used by the school and use that information to select what works best for them.
There is one pattern where students read the course material, are required to comment in a chat session, and then provide feedback to other students. The course normally requries one or two papers be writen as well. To me, these types of on line classes provide little value. Once the student learns how to play the game, it is easy to get through the material and get a good grade.
I find the second pattern of learning more engaging. This pattern provides the course material in small lessons. Each lesson has a set of videos or readings available to the student. Some even have simulations that the student can get close to hands on experience. Then the lesson based set of flash cards and a lesson focused quiz. The end of the course is either a paper, a course final or an industry certification / test. I find this to be far more effective than the first pattern. Perhaps that is just me.
“K-12 could certainly transition high school to online classes for 90% as well, saving taxpayers billions.”
Do you actually think that our precious ‘at risk’ students would study online? They’d sell the tablet immediately and then sell their sister’s tablet.
Yes, I posted that exact thought a while ago. When they realize that a lecture can be recorded once and used infinitely at no further cost, the “ tenured professors “ will be unemployed...................
Just pray for all the students that are having a bad time learning.
Yeah, maybe they will now teach Science instead of gender dysphoria!
“I’m having a hard time trying to explain math online.”
uhh . . . Two Plus Two Equals Four ??
Hard time explaining because lots of the kids can’t read well enough to understand the book.
America was (then) entering the beginning of a renaissance and we won't know how it will all turn out until it's complete.
People sitting at home with a computer and THE FREEDOM TO USE THEIR MINDS UNENCUMBERED WITH FLUFF, TRIVIA AND NONSENSE ... will discover what the founders had planned.
If left to himself, a man can devise something, develop it and promote/sell it, and become very wealthy making others wealthy building the thing.
THAT was America and THAT America is coming back.
The brick and mortar school is done and will become specialty housing for the elderly.
We're gonn'a have a ton MORE "educated" ditch diggers pretty quick. building houses for the kids they scoffed at who went to VOTECH
I’m not teaching basic math. Try explaining pde’s or ode’s on the phone. Try explaining Topology or Abstract Algebra on a phone. My students are not stupid. They are suffering because I was not prepared for this situation.
This would be fantastic to release the stranglehold grip of the communist infiltrated colleges and universities. As someone said above, any degree worth having can be learned completely online except for lab classes, and hopefully not much use for gender/social justice garbage in a lab class! Maybe education can turn back to something important like teaching young people an actual skill they can support themselves with!! And stop the federal funding, let most of the universities crash and burn if they need to! Pare down to STEM and business type classes for the most part. We could save so much money and stop using our tax dollars to indoctrinate kids against our country!
What about using ZOOM or SKYPE?
The short term effects of coronavirus on the economy will be devastating, but the long term effects will be amazing. The shutdown was engineered by the progressives of the world to undermine free market capitalism, with a single short-sighted goal of unseating people like Donald Trump and Boris Johnson. They are playing with fire around their most precious assets. Media will be thoroughly discredited, educational institutions will lose their ability to hide their indoctrination techniques, teachers will lose the threat that drives their ability to strike for higher pay which is the they will send your kids home for a week.
Most of all, President Trump is now President, whether they like it or not.
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