Khan/Koller Review

I love Khan Academy, not only for myself but for my students as well. I have used Khan Academy to help myself through College Trigonometry, and it was extremely helpful. I also have used it as a study tool, to get 8^th graders involved and enjoying math. We made it a competition between students’ and other classes. The kids were motivated to work hard, so their class could “win” a pizza party.

On Khan Academy, I like how you receive trophies as you complete levels. The students’ really liked this visual, and it really made them work hard because they were competing with their friends. Once the kids are taught how to use this interactive and easy website, it really is hard to get them off the computer and moving on to a different task! We found that after teaching the kids about this math site, they were working on it at home, without even realizing they were actually “studying.”

I think most of his videos are very easy to follow. When I watch online tutorials, a technique I use is watch it all the way through one time first, then go back and re-watch it, while working through the problem with his video. Then, I walk myself through my math problem that I am working on, using his steps from his example he has demonstrated. This helps me talk myself through the problem, so I can remember the steps faster.

Online courses are definitely easily accessible for anyone. Although they may be more complicated, it is easier to get work done at your own pace, with the support from online instruction. However, I think online courses depends on student preferences. Personally, I take online courses so I have time to work two jobs and go to school full time, while student teaching. It is easier for me to work on a class a little bit at a time, then having to miss work or student teaching to sit in class. However, there are some classes that I would much rather take in the classroom, because I know I will retain more information that way. If a class does not interest me, then I lack motivation to work on it online. However, if I am taking it face to face, I know I have to show up, and then I pay attention because there is peer interaction, and I can ask the professor questions and receive immediate answers.

 Although Coursera is new to me, many of the courses are very interesting. When I was searching through some of the courses, a lot of them were not what I would typically see offered at CSCC, or other campuses. I was looking at “Food and Nutrition,” and a course that popped up was, “Chicken Behaviour and Welfare.” This may be important for people studying agriculture related to different food and nutrition, but if I wanted to take a course relating to becoming a Nutritionist, I am not sure this would be my first course of choice.

However, the courses that looked most interesting to me were those of biology and education. These looked interesting to me because, becoming a special education teacher, I enjoy learning about the brain and its processes. I also enjoy science, learning about the body and what is good and bad for it, nutritionally, physically, socially and emotionally.

I am not sure if Columbus State accepts Coursera classes, but that is definitely something that I would like to look in to with more detail, since I have a biology class that I still need to take. I think Coursera is a useful tool that will be helpful for many people who enjoy online courses. In the New York Times article, I really agreed with this quote, “There’s talk about how online education’s going to wipe out universities, but a lot of what we do on campus is help people transition from 18 to 22, and that is a complicated thing,” said Mr. Page. (New York Times, 2012). This quote, I believe is very true. College is a progression, and there are a lot of benefits to going to a college versus taking online courses only. Socially, you grow because you have to interact with other peers daily. Also, being in special education, I know how difficult the transition from high school  to college may be for some students, so I believe this transition to “real life” is an important step in any persons life.