Web Based Courses

First of all thank you to Sophia Palahicky for a great and informative presentation on Web Based Courses.

I really like the idea of using a web based course as resource to use in the classroom. We talked about how web based courses could be used for differentiated instruction, enrichment, when students have been absent to catch up on what they missed in class, and if students are travelling. Great! 

I am, however, not keen on the idea of students taking web based courses as their primary way of learning. I asked Sophia the question on how taking a web based course would impact a student's social development and development overall? She said that in B.C., they make sure to keep in contact with the student and parents to make sure that students have  a good social life and are getting involved with other peers, for example swimming lessons. I believe she said that this was not something that was being monitored here in Manitoba (correct me if I am wrong). I think it is good if students have a social life but I still do not entirely agree with students taking web based courses instead of being in the classroom with a teacher and their age group peers. I feel that students need to be in the classroom and with their peers in order to learn to the best of their ability. I believe that students learn from their peers. When students work together on different projects or assignments, or even individually, students are constantly asking each other questions and talking about what they are working on and what they are learning. You don't get this experience when you sit at home and work on your assignments through a web based course. That social interaction is important. 

Not only that, but when students are in school and with their peers, it is a whole lot more engaging than sitting at a  computer. Students are able to feed off of each other's energy and motivation to learn and complete their assignments and projects.

One of the concerns that was raised was that our schools today are still focused on instruction instead of learning. I feel that if we would work toward an inquiry based model of learning, that this problem could be solved more or less. Inquiry based learning has a more student centred approach where students have more control of the questions that they ask and what they learn about. Students are able to explore, created, and investigate (if you want to know more about inquire based learning check out Jeremy's Blog: Internet For Educators or this pd that I found: Capacity Building Series).

As I said at the beginning, I love the idea of using web based course materials as resources to enrich the learning environment, but as a primary way of learning, I feel students get gypped of a true learning experience.

What are your thoughts?