Saturday, February 22, 2014

Khan/Koller Review

          I was really surprised when I visited Khan's site. I had no idea that there were even sites like this that offered free education. I actually plan on using this site to brush up on my math skills for when I have to take the next Praxis test. I think this would be a great tool for my students to use. It is a way for them to receive the instruction I give in a different way, but more importantly they can go over a topic as many times as needed. I think the videos are very helpful. He gives the student's several different examples to help them understand whatever concept they are learning. Yes, I agree with him that we will rely more on credentialing through online courses. People are often required to have full-time jobs and skip school all together. With online classes those students who normally would never been able to graduate, now have that chance. This education is great for full-time workers, parents, disabled people, as well as many others. This also makes it great for people who do not have transportation,  because almost everything can be completed at home.

         Coursera seems like a great resource as well. However, it was more difficult to navigate than Khan's site. I had trouble finding the free courses. Every course i looked into appeared to cost money. After spending some time on the website, I did find some interesting courses. One course that I would try is "Clinical Psychology of Children and Young People." Columbus State does not accept Coursera classes because the courses are not credited classes. Some of the courses definitely seem more advanced and some I would not even begin to comprehend, like Data Science for instance. These courses range in difficulty I think. The science courses definitely seemed geared towards those who excel in science, maybe even graduate students. However, there are plenty of classes that I would try, a lot of the education classes looked manageable for me. I don't know that I would consider MOOCs the future of education. I personally like to have a more personable touch to education. Yes, online classes are convienent for many, but I prefer face-to-face interactions. I think online classes benefit full-time workers the most.

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