Dana in Geeksville

Virtual Classrooms in Geeksville

Over the last few years I've been spending a lot of time online learning a whole lot of stuff. There is no better tool to teach us about computing, programming languages, and software than the computer itself. Of course, I realize it's not the computer but the site or the program, but virtual learning is hugely successful and for good reasons. And it's not limited to computer topics, thank goodness.

My experience in land schools was that having 30-50 bodies in a classroom with one teacher at the front of the room is ineffective and impersonal. There is just no way to cater to the individual needs of each student. Everyone must be taught the same concepts at the same time in the same manner, and that is going to work for a scant few. In addition, the assumption is made that everyone learns in the same way. So wrong!

I hope over the coming years we see a huge drop in physical schools and a big shift into virtual ones. I realize there are times when having a teacher right there is helpful, but so is having one at your fingertips.

The big advantage in virtual learning I see over land schools is that we can learn at our own pace, and in interesting, fun ways. Most online learning is divided into modules where a student can start at the beginning and go to the end, or skip around if that makes more sense to the individual. Lessons also tend to be more dynamic rather than the static information you get in the classroom. Online learning tends to be very hands on.

Off and on over the last two years I've been following tutorials in Lynda.com for Photoshop for photographers and the web, as well as JavaScript, PHP, MySQL, and Dreamweaver. All the tutorials are in the format of screencasts, where an instructor narrates the usefulness and purpose of an application, the tools being used, or the language being taught. Screencasts are a wonderful technology in of themselves, allowing us to see the exact steps of what needs to be done in certain applications, or how specific languages need to be written.

Screencasts are appearing in many places on the internet as teaching tools, including tutorials for learning how to use the NetBeans IDE. These tutorials are well done, and not only allow you to see what a certain tool is for and how to use it, but you fully understand the context of the tool as well.

Moodle, an open source course management system, is great for online learning. I've taken several courses that used this software from Buddhist courses, programming courses, and

other classes. This software allows an instructor to post lessons. Built within this software is a forum for the students to ask the teacher questions and have discussions about the lessons. In addition, lessons are sometimes given through the chat tool, and lists of resources are easily posted anywhere within the tool.

One of my favorite online classroom tools is Second Life. This method has the similar structure as land schools in that there is generally one teacher to a classroom of students, but teachers can easily share resource links, notes, etc while they are talking, and there is just something way more fun about sitting in a virtual classroom over a land classroom. Colleges now teach in Second Life and other virtual worlds, and there is no limit to the topics that can be taught.

Second Life also provides free courses on prim building, so if you don't want to be only a participant, you can begin creating your own worlds, towns, or university. Soon, I'll be attending some of these building classes as I'm starting to get curious how this process works.

The least dynamic, yet very effective way to learn online is through email. I've taken many photography courses through BetterPhoto.com. The instructors are professional photographers, and each of the courses are specialized to different areas of photography. For each course the student receives a lesson via email, and then they can log onto the site to participate in the classroom forum, and to post their photo homework, where the instructor provides feedback for each photo. I found this method of learning photography extremely helpful, convenient, and affordable. The main website also provides many other features to students, such as contests, forums, and newsletters.

The internet has opened learning to many people who might not otherwise be able to attend land schools, and for those who find learning online much easier and more enjoyable than old style methods.

Traditional schooling was never my thing. I avoided school like the plague. But online learning . . . that's a whole 'nuther thing. I'm constantly in learning mode, and enjoying courses throughout the year.

So, now I'm going to log into Lynda.com and continue my lessons in PHP & MySQL!

Posted at 02:04PM Aug 21, 2008 by dananourie in Virtual Worlds  |  Comments[1]