eLearning opinions

[JTScribe]

My son has really been struggling with the online format, and from speaking with his guidance counselor, he's not the only one.

Anyone else seeing the same things? I think it's great as a backup for snow days but as a replacement for in-person instruction, I think it's awful.

 

[TangoFoxtrot]

My son has really been struggling with the online format, and from speaking with his guidance counselor, he's not the only one.

Anyone else seeing the same things? I think it's great as a backup for snow days but as a replacement for in-person instruction, I think it's awful.

My son is autistic and we use the k12 program through his ABA therapy. The K12 seems pretty intuitive.. my son having learning disability did give us some obstacles but we were able to find ways to work around or enhance them... like with the math, we were able to print out line graphs that we can use for him to actually have a object in his hand for counting .. if your not on K12 (and it's not just for special needs children) maybe give it a look or see if there are methods you can create to enhance or get him more engaged

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

 

[Mark-DuCo]

I know my son in second grade struggles with it. I think it is probably OK for kids in high school, but for young kids in elementary school they need a teacher to guide them. I would love to be able to guide him more, but as a single father who works a lot of hours, there just isn't enough time for me to be a full time teacher as well.

 

[HoughMade]

I have no experience with in-person school with my kids, but my kids have all don online charter school for high school. From conversations with friends who were in "traditional" schools and have transitioned to eLearning, what they describe sounds nothing like what my kids do. I don't know that "traditional" schools have the knowledge base for this. It seems like they are simply trying to do regular school online. That doesn't work.

 

[JTScribe]

I know my son in second grade struggles with it. I think it is probably OK for kids in high school, but for young kids in elementary school they need a teacher to guide them. I would love to be able to guide him more, but as a single father who works a lot of hours, there just isn't enough time for me to be a full time teacher as well.

Yeah, there's no little to no direction. They've got our school doing split attendance; half go Monday-Tuesday, Wednesday the school is closed for cleaning, and Thursday-Friday the other half attend.

I feel like the simplest solution would be for them to live stream each class for the kids attending from home, but there's no interaction on the off days. They just have worksheets and assignments on the home page.

 

[JettaKnight]

I don't know a single teacher, administrator, parent, or student that likes it.


Work? Yeah, there's people that want to work from home and this is a catalyst to make that change that was already in progress, but eLearning? No way.

 

[JettaKnight]

I have no experience with in-person school with my kids, but my kids have all don online charter school for high school. From conversations with friends who were in "traditional" schools and have transitioned to eLearning, what they describe sounds nothing like what my kids do. I don't know that "traditional" schools have the knowledge base for this. It seems like they are simply trying to do regular school online. That doesn't work.

As the spouse of an administrator, I can say that this is completely new for them .... and a cluster ****.

 

[ws6guy]

My kids school didn't have much elearning setup in the spring when schools closed. It was more of email packet that we were to complete and send to the teacher. From that experience, the kids absolutely learned nothing from myself or wife being the teacher. The kids hated and and we as parents hated it. It got so bad that the last couple of weeks of school we basically gave up on trying to complete the assignments. Didn't matter anyway since none of it was graded, the school gave out grades based on what they had when they were sent home.

Anyway our school system started in the fall on time with in person schooling. The kids are in 1st and 4th grade. The 4th grader is on the smarter side so he was able to get back up to speed after a few weeks. However my 1st grader is a little slower and she lost a lot of she learned in kindergarten and had to spend several weeks in learning lab to aid in getting caught back up. The school really didn't go back and review what they missed in the spring, the just jumped right in to the next grade curriculum which I don't think was fair to the kids.

I joked around but was half serious that if the kids didn't go back to school I was stopping the 529 college savings account. No way they would be college material if we continued the home schooling through the schools program.

 

[JettaKnight]

I joked around but was half serious that if the kids didn't go back to school I was stopping the 529 college savings account. No way they would be college material if we continued the home schooling through the schools program.

As someone who's worked with college students in the last decade, I can say that "college material" ain't what it used to be.

 

[HoughMade]

As someone who's worked with college students in the last decade, I can say that "college material" ain't what it used to be.

I taught in a law school for 10 years. The "quality" of the writing I saw would not have been acceptable for high school in the '80s. To be more clear, the students at the top continued to be at the top, but the bottom kept getting lower and lower.

 

[cosermann]

Some of the elearning options with which we've been involved have been quite good. Others have sucked - bigtime. Depends entirely on the instructor from what I can tell. Our worst experiences have been with Ivy Tech.

 

[JettaKnight]

I taught in a law school for 10 years. The "quality" of the writing I saw would not have been acceptable for high school in the '80s. To be more clear, the students at the top continued to be at the top, but the bottom kept getting lower and lower.

There's a big push to send everyone to college - which ignores a whole lot of facts...

My wife is not a a fan of this trend at all.

 

[TangoFoxtrot]

For sure with elearning, the parent or guardian has to take the roll of the teacher and if you really dig in the advantages can be great but any of them you definitely have to dig and do some customizing to tailor fit the process to your child's way of learning. Elearning is our only real option with our sons particular spectrums of autism.. its K12 and my little girls uses see saw.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

 

[ws6guy]

As someone who's worked with college students in the last decade, I can say that "college material" ain't what it used to be.

I likely wasn't college material either It took me a couple years of growing up before it clicked that this is my future and I better start paying attention. I wouldn't mind at all if the kids choose a different path than a traditional college.

 

[Jeepster48439]

As someone who's worked with college students in the last decade, I can say that "college material" ain't what it used to be.

It has been 10 years since I taught engineering classes. My observation then was that students were being taught to follow a recipe, not to be able to bake by just gathering the ingredients. Too much dependence on learning how to input stuff into a computer and not enough emphasis on the why. No ability to recognize when the results didn't make sense.

 

[ws6guy]

It has been 10 years since I taught engineering classes. My observation then was that students were being taught to follow a recipe, not to be able to bake by just gathering the ingredients. Too much dependence on learning how to input stuff into a computer and not enough emphasis on the why. No ability to recognize when the results didn't make sense.

One of my engineering profs would never answer a question directly, instead he would ask you questions. When I was a freshman I couldn't for the life of me understand why he just wouldn't answer my questions. Often times I'd leave his office in anger and no answers. It took me longer than it should've to realize he wasn't there to spoon feed answers(my high school teachers) but teach me how to find the answers myself. Last I heard he was getting reprimanded by the school because not enough kids are passing his classes but a large percentage are not even turning in assignments.

 

[CampingJosh]

My observation then was that students were being taught to follow a recipe, not to be able to bake by just gathering the ingredients.

Cooking can be an art. Baking is repeating a science experiment: if you don't follow the steps, ingredients, ratios, temperatures, etc. correctly, your not going to get the desired outcome.

 

[Ruger_Ronin]

Before this is interpreted as a zing at anyone, it's not. Its my personal xp since last spring. That's that. This is something I feel quite passionate about. Simply because last spring I was handed a problem and met the challenge with tooth and claw. Background: I work 2nd shift 4-12 in a non-degree oriented profession, wife on days as the same. We are blue collar family. I do the daytime schooling and then off to work.

1. Agreed that the admins and teachers have it rough. I try to give them as much slack as I can without crossing the line of lackadaisical effort. I don't think (most) parents understand the difficulty of keeping online and in-class kids all on the same page. Its chaos on a good day. On top of heightened stress levels.

2. I don't like hearing: "I'm too busy", "it's too difficult to manage". Quite frankly that's on you. Aside from HS or AP Junior High classes in specific subjects there isn't much your own efforts can't fix. I don't expect anyone to immediately (or at all) understand calculus or 14th century french poetry. But an endless flow of knowledge is in your pocket. Wikipedia is infinitely more valuable than FB by the way.

Get it done. Your child's success entirely depends on YOUR level of motivation. Cutting a pie after dinner; conversation about fractions with a 1st grader. Pre-K age?; Practice writing your name, alphabet, etc. Junior High; start engaging a skill they are interested in (wood, mechanical, sewing) Every moment is an opportunity to share knowledge with any child.

My wife clairvoyantly saw this coming in '20 and bought some tear away page workbooks at age/grade level (individual mileage will vary) from amazon. Hit em with a couple pages per day to keep continuity and structure.

Speaking of structure: why not have them stand at the window or on the porch in the AM to say the pledge at yours or your neighbors flag? None it sight? Have them make one. Talk about what it means to you. Your starting to get the picture here.

Not just mine, ALL our children deserve nothing less than our full attention and highest motivation. No excuses, no regrets, no BS. It is up to us as parents to make the next generation(s) better and brighter than our own. Mistakes will be made. Frustrations will be had. But GD, show some grit. They look up to us. Make it count.

Rant over.

 

[ws6guy]

Nice post ruger! I try to also try to incorporate little things as you mentioned into the kids daily lives. The wife bakes a lot and has the kids ready the book and measure using fractions. I think the home learning problem this spring was the method it was delivered and the sudden upheaval of their routines. Also the wife did most of the work with them since she was laid off work at the same time. Unfortunately her method of teaching is more like a drill sergeant which didn't go over well with this kids. I told her if it happens again let me try teaching them when I get off work and that maybe I could do better....and that's how the fight started LOL.

 

[indyblue]

It has been 10 years since I taught engineering classes. My observation then was that students were being taught to follow a recipe, not to be able to bake by just gathering the ingredients. Too much dependence on learning how to input stuff into a computer and not enough emphasis on the why. No ability to recognize when the results didn't make sense.

This describes my experience with many "proprietary" IT classes by software companies and even in some IUPUI IT courses.

i.e. I once took a week long Windows MSCE class. Everytime I asked why something was shown to do a certain way the only answers I ever got was "don't ask why, just know how". But if I don't understand "why" I'm doing something I have no way to figure out "how" to apply it in a different situation.