Blog#4 - Yes, Dr. Bonk. The World is OPEN!

I was infatuated while reading Bonk's chapter 4. What an undertaking by MIT! What an opportunity for all of us! Content from every single course offered at the prestigious Massachusettes Institute of Technology available to the world - FREE! I checked it out for myself at http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm Bonk is right. It is truly impressive. Some courses contain everything from a syllabus to lecture notes to assignments to exams, while others contain a bare-bones syllabus. There is a great disparity dependent upon the professor and the discipline. Nevertheless, the amount of content on the site is nothing less than impressive.

Next, I explored the world of OOPS, a site dependent on volunteers to translate all MIT OpenCourseWare into Chinese. The language with the most native speakers is Mandarin Chinese, so in offering this site, MIT reaches the largest population of native speakers. There are two options - a traditional Chinese interpretation and a simplified Chinese option. The site seems well organized and successful based on the number of courses already translated. I cannot comment on quality control because I do not understand or speak the Chinese language.

Finally, I visited Utah State's OpenCourseWare Site. Although much more limited in terms of available courses (one mathematics course at Utah State OCW as compared to well over fifty mathematics courses at MIT OCW Site), it is very user friendly and all courses appear to have a similar, higher amount of content available. Another notable difference is that Utah State includes a link entitled, "Want Credit?". Although not fully detailed, it does state that Utah State will provide "credit by examintation options" to interested, non-traditional learners.

I am very impressed with the OCW available - FREE! - to anyone who has a computer with internet access. I can only imagine what is next...

Blog#3 - E-Learning, We learning?

In chapter 3, Bonk provides facts, figures, and a summary of new legislation mandating online education in K-12 classrooms. A 2007 Project Tomorrow study found that almost half of all high school students and one-third of all middle school students are interested in taking online courses not currently available in their schools (Bonk, 2009). I was surprised to learn that both Michigan and Florida are acting on this research in passing laws requiring the incorporation (Michigan) or option (Florida) of online coursework in all public K-12 schools...which makes me wonder if Pennsylvania is considering a similar course of action.
The respondents of the Project Tomorrow study may be particularly interested in learning about the United Kingdom's Open University. It is the largest university in the country boasting over a quarter of a million (!!!) current students. From high school students to students in their nineties, The OU spans many generations, courses of study, and is entirely online. It is not-for-profit, so costs are low and financial aid is readily available. Compare this option to a private university in the United States topping $50K for one year, and The OU is a no brainer. The OU offers law degrees, Ph.D's, Masters degrees, and bachelor degrees.
I have many questions about The OU. First, do students earn a truly quality education at The OU? Has (enough) research been conducted in order to determine the answer? What about student involvement in activities outside of the "classroom" - sports teams, band, theatre, clubs? These experiences form the whole student and create lasting memories, let alone learned skills such as teamwork and the art of winning and losing gracefully.
As a single mom, I especially appreciate the opportunities for cost effective online education. However, I still believe that the traditional college experience should be afforded to every student who pursues higher education.

Blog#2 - Yikes! The World is Open...but What Will Close?

Curtis J. Bonk's book entitled The World is Open - How Technology is Revolutionizing Education was both exciting and intimidating at the same time. I was instinctively proud (which admittedly felt a bit strange!) when I realized that I incorporate web technology in my classroom. I use Teacher Tube, a downloadable educational video site that offers video lessons, groups, and teacher blogs. It is a good resource to use if a student has been absent for several days and needs to hear and see a particular mathematics lesson in progress, instead of copying and reading notes in order to catch up with the class again. The videos are also useful for a substitute teacher to play for the class on a large screen. In general, I am not a proponent of showing videos when I am absent. However, it is very difficult to find substitutes for math classes, and showing a short math lesson video and following up with a check for understanding activity may increase the likelihood of the substitute returning to a math classroom and increase student knowledge using a different teacher resource.

In my opinion, Bonk would agree that web-based video, in this capacity, extends the mathematics teacher. Instead of instructing one-hundred and fifty students in one classroom each school day, these online videos allow the teacher to reach thousands or even millions of learners across the world. Just as Bonk was "blogged to the world by the Cool Cat Teacher" (Bonk, 2009) when he was Ustreamed for the first time, instructional web-based videos have the ability to allow learners to experience the lesson in real-time and follow along as if they were members of the actual audience or classroom.

While this is amazing benefit has the ability to reach anyone connected to the Internet, I wonder if web-based video has the ability to make teachers and physical classrooms obsolete – a frightening prospect! As a result of web technology, learners retrieve a sense of control over their pace of education, traditionally dictated by the classroom teacher and/or district curricula. A learner could potentially complete Algebra I in one week, instead of an entire school year!

Web-based video might negatively impact communication and collaboration skills of the learners. Since the videos are one-way (not interactive), learners lose the ability to ask questions to remediate or enrich the lesson. In addition, learners would not have the opportunity to be grouped homogenously or heterogeneously to supplement learning and to gain the important skills and benefits associated with group work. However, with program such as Ustream (which I have yet to try!), Bonk's (now) national audience had the ability to send in questions and comments throughout his address, leading me to believe that communication is two-way.

It is important to stay current with technology trends, both personally and professionally. I wonder what else is possibly out there for future technologists to design? Will teachers be outsourced in favor of a web-based learning society? I do not think this is an impossible scenario. We must proceed with caution, however. As a Japanese proverb states, "Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher."

Bonk, C. (2009). The world is open: How web technology is revolutionizing education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Blog#1 - All About Me

Hello! My name is Kristin Yudt. I have a passion for teaching and learning. I enjoy challenges - from learning a new technology to working with a student to improve his or her mathematics skills.

I am currently enrolled in Lehigh's Ph.D. program in Learning Sciences and Technology. My research interests include the effects of the interactive whiteboard on student learning especially in the mathematics classroom.

I look forward to continuing to push myself at Lehigh and to contributing to the high-level of conversation that occurs in the LST and TLT classes. My goal is to become the best educator I can possibly be, and committing myself to be a lifelong learner is one step towards fulfilling that goal. I hope that Dr. Garrigan and TLT 450 will introduce me to new technology tools that I can implement in my math classes.

I am currently a mathematics teacher in Parkland School District, Allentown, PA. I am passionate about math and I truly enjoy working with middle school students in a district that is very supportive of teacher initiatives. In the Fall and Summer semesters, I also teach a course in the Mathematics and Computer Science Department at Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA.

I received my Bachelor of Science cum laude in Mathematics from the University of Notre Dame in 2000 and my Masters in Educational Leadership from Lehigh in 2004.