Online Education, Do We Need It?

Hello Readers,

       This week in "Internet For Educators" as a class we experimented and learned about online conferencing and its applications within education. Online classrooms can either be organized to be Asynchronous meaning students on their own time accomplish a given task collaborating online, or Synchronous where all of our class met online at the same time to collaborate and conference from where ever we wanted. Usually we meet as a class twice a week but through the Zoom application to experiment and experience what learning from a distance can feel like, and discover what uses this application has during a planned Synchronous online class.

      Overall I had a very good experience with trying out a synchronous class on Zoom for the first time. I tuned in for class from the comfort of home as other students did the same, others were at the school, or else were on the go, all you needed to fully participate was a microphone and Camera. The application was very well organized and thoughtfully laid out, When someone spoke it would highlight that persons video projecting it to others in the class. You were able to view all participates in one screen or scroll person to person. Zoom did a very good job at highlighting and showing who was talking in real time to really give you the full experience of feeling like you were at a real conference in person. One problem we dealt with right off the back was the fact that all mics had to be muted to avoid echo and any students without a camera or mic instantly were at a disadvantage of fully being able to participate.

Example of Zoom conferencing multi screen view
Source: https://zoom.us/home?zcid=2478 

        During our online class we had many different discussions on what online classes look like? How they can be used? Why use it? What experiences we already have, and from these experiences what pros's and con's is there to the online method?

      I know this is allot of questions on a very broad topic but lets begin with What experiences I already had with online classes. During my undergraduate degree I had taken two online courses in the summer to gain some extra credits, at the time I thought it was a great idea until I had to take the actual courses. During the online courses I had taken were asynchronous with not much collaboration. it was more of read the instructions and submit my work. I felt a large disconnect from the whole learning / educations portion of taking a "university class". All communication to the teacher was done through email or instant message, which really removed the humanity out of the course of speaking face to face and meeting a new teacher or classmates. As discussed in one of my previous blog posts https://internet-to-educate.blogspot.com/2020/01/technology-and-its-roll-within.html the presence of emotions and compassion is critical to building meaningful relationships and academic performance. In my experience the lack of face to face communication really effected my learning process and was a major con, but with applications such as Zoom this could be negated rekindling the human connection. The pro to this course was the fact I could work at my own pace, work from where ever I wanted and not be stuck to a strict schedule.

 So why use online education, and what purpose do they fill? 
      I believe online education if not already has, will become a major contributor in how the world receives its education. Its applications are endless but with the world turning to a more nomadic lifestyle giving individuals the opportunity to not be stuck to a given schedule or place to be will allow for more flexibility in the life we live. During out Synchronous online class experiment sure we had to meet online at a certain time, but it didn't matter where I was. I could have been in a different town or country and it wouldn't matter as long as I had my mic and camera.
      So with this point more remote education settings such as the northern communities in Manitoba online education can help these communities get the resources they need. Many school divisions up north struggle with equipping each school with enough resources (Teachers, Tech, Textbooks etc..) due to the vastness of the area. Using online education these divisions have been able to centrally locate resources and video conference synchronous classrooms so instead of having ten history teachers for example they may only need three and video conference classes to the schools around. The teacher then could make weekly visits to talk face to face with students instead of having a teacher there everyday of the semester. Its hard to fill teaching positions in the north as it is a less desirable location, Video conferencing in the classroom is a great tool to stretch resources within the division.

Whats the draw back of this technology? 
     As discussed on our Zoom Conference there is lots of room for distractions, disconnect and logistical problems with online education. Many of the synchronous classrooms already embedded within divisions these students are left on their own with no real supervision. This can lead to cheating, distractions, surfing the web and other tactics to get out of the task of "being in class" which in reality is logging into a class online and being visible on a web cam. The other major drawback is the lack of personal connection of student to teacher and the lack of ability to differentiate instructing as all teaching will be one way directed to all students.

What are the pros of this technology?
   As I view the tech I feel there is more con's compared to pros's, but that does not mean online classes are simply useless. They are a great solution to helping stretch resources and giving remote classes and schools the opportunity to network and collaborate with resourcing teachers and different education opportunities. Depending if the online class is asynchronous or synchronous online classes can help with working at your own pace, when you want and where ever you want. This is a critical key to individuals who need the flexibility within their day or life. lastly, video conferencing applications such as Zoom is a great way to network and collaborate with different individuals without the need of actually being with one another. The video adds to the connection or relationship you may develop.

In conclusion, Asynchronous or Synchronous online educations classes are a great tool toward stretching resources, help with nomadic lifestyles and learning from where you choose and on your schedule, and allows for the opportunity of collaboration with individuals that one you might not have met without the tech or two can collaborate without having to actually be with the person. With all this being said online classes and education are not the answer and should not be depended on for the sole source of education. With the lack of human connection, lack of differentiated instruction and unreliability of the technology it is a great tool to use with peers and others within the educational setting but it is not the replacement of the classroom in reality.

I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on this topic, if you have any ideas, comments or thoughts please share in the comments, or lets start a conversation on Twitter. 


- BK


Zoom Link: https://zoom.us