My Online Teaching Style
As educators get involved in online education, they’ll start to realize their unique style in teaching, which is totally different online than in-person. Here’s a demo of how I operate.
Make your own instructional videos
Many people have asked me how I make my videos. Making really nice videos ain’t cheap, but I’ll also offer some ideas on how you can make them at low cost.
Online Learning: Current Developments and Future Predictions
Online courses and virtual learning are gaining ground, supported by the idea that learning can happen anytime, any place, anywhere. Stanford, Columbia, and many other leading universities are now offering free online courses. Now, Google has created an open-source course-building site that allows anyone to offer online courses. Since online learners will be taking courses from a mix of platforms and sites, I predict the formation of a transcript institution. Eventually, enough online courses will be offered from universities, organizations, and even individuals worldwide that anyone will be able to take a number of courses equivalent to that required for a degree. Thus, another institution will come into being: an official degree-granting institution, which does not offer courses but simply has the power of accreditation. What implications would these developments have for learning?
Online Learning Part II: MOOCs
Massive open online courses (MOOCs) are beginning to revolutionize education, and I’d like to continue the conversation. What differentiates a MOOC from a regular online course? If online courses have been around for about twenty years, why only now are MOOCs coming into being? If MOOCs are free, how will they survive? How are MOOCs dealing with the predicaments of cheating and grading assignments and tests? The world of online education is evolving at a rapid pace and we’re all in for quite a show.
Online Education Platform
Having created online courses with Udacity, Udemy, NovoEd, and OpenEdX, I’ve been compiling thoughts on features of an online learning environment.
Accepting Alternatives to Higher Ed Necessitates Open Minds
Khan Academy, MOOCs, and just about everything else out there certainly meet previously unmet needs in the world of education. As my boss Sebastian Thrun told me a few weeks ago, it’s very easy to criticize. We need to recognize the value in everything and then move forward with even better answers.
Alternative Predominant Modalities to Videos in Humanities Courses
Videos are the predominant modality of teaching in this new wave of online education.While videos have their role, I would gravitate toward text as a predominant modality, with soundless visuals (either static or animated) embedded for concepts that warrant them, and an optional downloadable mp3 version of the text with bookmarks where visuals are placed (so that later, students can forward to these points in the mp3 and view the visuals while listening).
Looking Forward Toward Education’s Potential
Skeptics are calling online courses the “Wal-Martification of higher education.” You get what you pay for, they say. But just like traditional brick-and-mortar courses, there are low-quality and high-quality MOOCs. If we judge the potential of online courses based on disengaging, non-interactive videotaped lectures, we’ll handicap our ability to envision the extent to which they can benefit students around the world.
The Flipped Classroom
The modern educational model is to “flip the classroom.” Rather than being “talked at” for hours with little interaction between students and instructors, students learn the information on their own – whether it’s at home in their pajamas at 3 am – and come to class to discuss it and do other collaborative activities. Stanford Graduate School of Business is experimenting with this model. How might any educator try it?