Insights On Online Education

Callum sent in this hour long discussion that I recommend for a listen.

http://files.libertyfund.org/econtalk/y2012/Klingeducation.mp3

I referred to it last night when mentioning the idea of “flipping the classroom.”

I’ve been thinking this through, what would it look like?  I’d put my lectures online for free (done) and assign the lectures as the weekly homework.

What is not the weekly homework...  find a product, name the customers, approach the customers.  How would they approach customers while in class?  Well, what if I was at my desk while the students headed out to businesses (open evenings?) and everyone was tweeting or email or phoning in their experiences?  And then do the research steps in the allotted class time...

Ken Lay, of Enron fame, made an insightful comment:  the point of the web is mass customization, not mass distribution.  For example, to use the web to offer a course to 150,000 students does not help much, anymore than making in essence a video free online.

But to sell a course to 100 participants each quarter, giving them customized attention to their particular problem, and let 149, 900 people observe no charge, might be very helpful to all concerned. those not paying and not participating yet observing will be drawing their own conclusions and can make efforts parallel to the course.

A few other random ideas form the conversation:

The fellows were talking about a teaching technique in which a quiz is given say every ten minutes in class to see if everyone got it.  If vast majority got it, move on.  Vast majority did not, re-present the material.  If it is 50/50, then stop teaching and tell students to convince each other they have the right answer.  The retest to see if the people with the right answers carried the day.  Struck me as a good idea.

IRC is controversial among those who have not taught online because it is ancient technology.  Yet there is none that allow more interaction more efficiently, and one in which that quiz technique above is easy to accommodate.  IRC allows everyone in the class to go into private IM and communicate.  After arguing, they could present their decisions.

Testing was an interesting topic, and they noted how it is conflict of interest for the teacher who teaches to also test the students.  A teacher who grades tests will grade easy so he can get good reviews.  It is proven the easier the grader the higher the ratings.  i did not know this.

So is the answer to have independent grading?  They talked about how hard it is to have even say one economics professor grade another's tests.    I imagine so, there are plenty of  other business teachers out there, how could any of them grade how well my students understood my material?

But the upshot would be with independent grading students would want tough teachers who got them well prepared to do well on tests.  Maybe.

I never liked giving instructor feedback in college as a student.  The rationale is by being secret the student is not subject to retaliation by the professor.   First, I don’t like the idea that professors might retaliate.  Second, it had to be secret, and that offends my sense of fairness - if I’ve got something to say I should say it to his face, the instructor should be able to face his accusers, etc.  Third, adults making secret assessments of other adults is just too much like snitching, and Soviet style reporting on people.  

But what about signed feedback? That is exactly what I do in my classes.  Especially face to face schools all have secret feedback forms, and I also offer signed feedback forms, of my own composition.  

Doesn’t this solve the problem of easy grading?  If feedback is in the open, won’t students be frank and open and thus teachers do not have to worry about poison pen feedback?  It seems to me it would defuse the problem.

There was some discussion of accreditation,  of teacher and school and student.  I think any accreditation is very bad news. the only accreditation needed is student feedback.

They were concerned about community colleges have less than 50% completion rate....Once here were Junior colleges which were mostly private, cheap and plentiful  You paid your own way to learn bookkeeping, haircutting or auto mechanics.  Now they are terribly expensive to run, taxpayer subsidized and crammed with people who don’t care to graduate.  

Partially because the students read at a 4th grade level and cannot understand the anthropology textbook.

The solution is to simply get the state out of education.  Just as there are enough restaurants without state intervention, so there would be schools.

Some talk of degrees, and what it confers.  Why not an unaccredited degree ...? but no, such a person would just be self-employed, and not a cog in the wheel.

You Cannot Make This Stuff Up

Minnesota Bans Free Online University Courses from Outside Minnesota

Gary North

Oct. 20, 2012

The state of Minnesota has discovered a fiendish plot against the residents of the state. Thirty-three major universities are offering free courses online.

The state has warned its residents not to take these courses.

Why not? Because the law says that no out-of-state university can sell education in Minnesota unless it is registered.

But the courses are free.

Yes, but they involve the use of time.

But the law -- decades old -- does not mention the spending of time. Only money.

Well, that doesn't matter. What matters is that the state of Minnesota is determined not to have its residents cheated of their valuable time by such fly-by night diploma mills as Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Cal Tech, Columbia, and Duke. No, sir. The residents of Minnesota are defenseless sitting ducks who must be protected from academic predators.

The target is Coursera, which makes these courses available online for free. No degrees are granted or promised.

Coursera has posted this warning on its site.

Coursera has been informed by the Minnesota Office of Higher Education that under Minnesota Statutes (136A.61 to 136A.71), a university cannot offer online courses to Minnesota residents unless the university has received authorization from the State of Minnesota to do so. If you are a resident of Minnesota, you agree that either (1) you will not take courses on Coursera, or (2) for each class that you take, the majority of work you do for the class will be done from outside the State of Minnesota.

The Department of Higher Education says that residents may take such courses if they are out of state at the time.

Across the Web, howls of derisive laughter have greeted the decree.

This policy by the state is an example of North's Law #1 of bureaucracy: "Some bureaucrat will eventually enforce the letter of the law to the point of absurdity."

In every bureaucracy, there will be a George Roedler. These people are determined. They say things that get normal people to start giggling uncontrollably, yet they say them with a straight face. Forbes reports:

Defending the statute, George Roedler, Manager of Institutional Registration & Licensing for the state of Minnesota says, "We regulate colleges & universities that enroll Minnesota residents. They are required to register as degree granting institutions with us." When I pointed out that students are not actually obtaining a degree upon the completion of these online courses, he argued that, "Our statute does not exempt free and non credit bearing courses."

At some point, the legislature will intervene and re-write the law. It will do this in order to get college-educated people around the world to stop giggling. It is one thing to have Garrison Keillor tease the state of Minnesota. But what if Jon Stewart does a segment on the The Daily Show?