topic Re: Maybe someone can help me understand? in Community Chat

Maybe someone can help me understand?

game-on — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 15:54:25 GMT

I see ads on TV for children to be educated via computer. I wonder (I am a skeptic) how these children pass the grades.... how the children are tested.... how anyone knows if that child is really doing the studying or is someone else? How does this really work?

I was an elementary school teacher for a few years and I loved going to school. I guess I wonder how someone sitting on a computer is really learning? As a teacher I knew from body language and interacting with the student whether my students were "getting it".

Could you help me understand? TIA

Re: Maybe someone can help me understand?

proudlyfromNJ — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 15:58:13 GMT

Some homeschooled children learn by computer.

Re: Maybe someone can help me understand?

jaxs mom — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 16:01:36 GMT

Are you talking about independent study or homeschooling? State law varies on homeschooling. Some states have zero requirements regarding testing or registering and some states have a ton of requirements.

As far as are people "really learning" you do realize that institutional schools are a modern invention and that for millenia people learned outside of a formal school system.

I'm sure you'll get lots of hand wringing posts though, knowing this forum. As a homeschooler I'm not interested in defending my legal parental rights, on this forum, when it comes to educating my kids.

Re: Maybe someone can help me understand?

missy1 — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 16:05:13 GMT

@game-on wrote:
I see ads on TV for children to be educated via computer. I wonder (I am a skeptic) how these children pass the grades.... how the children are tested.... how anyone knows if that child is really doing the studying or is someone else? How does this really work?

I was an elementary school teacher for a few years and I loved going to school. I guess I wonder how someone sitting on a computer is really learning? As a teacher I knew from body language and interacting with the student whether my students were "getting it".

Could you help me understand? TIA

I say this about college on-line colleges too. I sat in every class and lab. I learned things. You have class discussions, you can ask the teacher things, as opposed to just computer classes.

People are busy now. I was too, but I made time. I was an older student and worked. Some kids for whatever reasons (behavior etc) can't attend public school/private/charter so these classes are an alternative.. Home-school is a whole different other subject.

Re: Maybe someone can help me understand?

Kachina624 — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 16:05:44 GMT

You are way behind the times in education. Not only to children have the opportunity to learn via computer but business and industry widely use computer-based instruction to train employees.

My son worked for Lowe's and he was constantly taking courses related to the area of the store in which he worked. It included information not only how to sell but technical aspects of the equipment he was selling.

In my own state agency, they completely changed the way employees performed one of their primary job functions. The training consisted in part of 160 hours of computer-based training in addition to a couple days of classroom training.

Re: Maybe someone can help me understand?

Zhills — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 16:08:21 GMT

When my daughter went back for her Doctorate, she found that most of her information was on like. She went to class once a week and everything else, including tests, were sent in online, graded and returned online. Even her thesis was presented online.

Children play on rugs that are KEYBOARDS now when they are in Kindergarten so they can start learning where the keys are. Yes, I took computers in 1974 and you do learn!

Re: Maybe someone can help me understand?

missy1 — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 16:08:55 GMT

I
@Kachina624 wrote:
You are way behind the times in education. Not only to children have the opportunity to learn via computer but business and industry widely use computer-based instruction to train employees.

My son worked for Lowe's and he was constantly taking courses related to the area of the store in which he worked. It included information not only how to sell but technical aspects of the equipment he was selling.

In my own state agency, they completely changed the way employees performed one of their primary job functions. The training consisted in part of 160 hours of computer-based training in addition to a couple days of classroom training.

I don't have a problem with computer instruction, as long as it involves attending classroom instruction too.

Re: Maybe someone can help me understand?

VaBelle35 — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 16:16:24 GMT

In the 70s when I was in 3rd and 4th grade, I was in a special program for advanced learners and the well behaved to learn at their own speed, so in some areas I would work on the 4th grade stuff and some areas I would work on the 3rd grade stuff. It was mainly self study with 2 teachers who came around and would give a quick explanation of something if a group was having trouble with a particular handout.

When I got to junior high, it was not pretty. I missed a lot. There were about 8 or 9 of us in this one English class and none of us had learned sentence structure.

To say she was annoyed was an understatement. We all had to stay after class and she explained it to us and gave us additional homework so that we could get caught up on it.

I also ended up learning about tense in creative writing in college.

I believe now that this may have either been some teacher's masters or doctoral thesis or a funded grant.

My brother was in a more successful program for troubled kids who had attendance problems and other issues. My brother is wicked smart but he most likely had ADD/ADHD which was not known at the time.

Re: Maybe someone can help me understand?

LTT1 — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 16:24:25 GMT

@game-on

@VaBelle35 @missy1 @Zhills @Kachina624

I agree with you.

I guess there are some kids who could learn everything by computer? Depending upon their earliest education and making "connections." I would have been one of these (visual learner so what the teacher said I didn't process mostly)

The students I taught for high school math (Special) needed a teacher to actually stand at the desk and point to the problems one-by-one. The connection from desk to board was not possible at all.

These students might have made math connections bu using manipulatives (blocks or items they can hold) but that is impossible to do in large groups.

I took these students to a computer lab for quite a few sessions and had some degree of success with 75% roughly. I attribute this success to the fact that each student was able to work on their individual level without fear of shame.

Re: Maybe someone can help me understand?

sunshine45 — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 16:28:03 GMT

my daughter is taking two college classes during the summer......both online. she loves it. she can be on vacation and get her work done at the same time, even at 2am if she wants. they even have group projects, but they dont have to meet as a group. everything is done online.

Re: Maybe someone can help me understand?

akaburtonfan — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 16:44:25 GMT

I wonder how online testing works. How do they know if there's any cheating going on. For instance how do they know it's the actual student taking the test or doing the work and not someone else helping them?

Re: Maybe someone can help me understand?

Oostende — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 16:52:43 GMT

I can. We homeschooled our daughter with a video school curriculum from grades 4 through 8.

The curriculum we used came entirely packaged. A teacher was filmed in a classroom with actual students and my daughter watched the videos. There were workbooks for the student, a key for every workbook, and a master planning book that said which things should be done on which day. I liked that part because it took me out of the equation. My daughter could read for herself what was on the agenda. We also had the ITBS Test independently administered to her yearly, so we could see where she ranked nationally.

In the fifth grade we traveled to Promontory Summit to see Golden Spike National Historic Site. We went there because my daughter had chosen the Transcontinental Railroad for a ten page, footnoted research paper.

My daughter had dance classes and piano lessons and a variety of activities she would not have had time for otherwise. She was a junior docent at our zoo. I also supplemented her learning with capsules on Art History and Music Theory.

We returned her to public school when she was in 9th grade. She took honors classes, earned college credits, and graduated from college with honors. She starred in her school's production of The Wizard of Oz her senior year and performed in community theater for years.

The internet has revolutionized learning. Rather than learn French at school, you can now learn it from a native French speaker who teaches at the Sorbonne. Pick a different example, if you don't like that one. The point is that it is possible to learn from the best in the world.

If you have the opportunity to homeschool (or video school), the academic rewards are phenomenal, in my experience.

Re: Maybe someone can help me understand?

Zhills — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 17:38:14 GMT

I think the ones who seek an education online really want the self improvement. It takes dicipline to meet the deadlines, reading, writing, testing, even though it is online. Many people who cannot attend colleges because of a variety of reasons can not get an education.

If they bother to get one online it's because it is required or they really want it! Once a thesis is typed (and it has to have all the criteria that a hand typed one does) does it matter if you print it out and hand it to the teacher or she reads it on her computer screen? The material is the same.

Re: Maybe someone can help me understand?

game-on — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 17:48:18 GMT

If anyone read my post as being a put-down.... that was not my intention..... I am a person who has studied human behavior all of her life. I am concerned that children/adults who take classes on a computer might not really be getting a good education. I believe that education is SO VERY IMPORTANT.

Learning is something I have always loved doing.

I believe some on-line programs may be phenomenal.... however, I wonder how the child is tested; what is the assurance that the child grasps the concepts?

One year I taught 5th grade and I had 5 students who didnt know how to read at grade level. My best friend taught reading and I got materials from her and together these students and I advanced their reading level to at least 4th grade. It wasnt easy.... but I felt that if they didnt know how to read that the rest of their education would be so difficult for them.

I wondered how a child on a computer could be a person so far behind and be caught? I know that in a classroom it is not easy.... and spending special time with the children who have problems takes special effort.

I remember one of the fathers of the 5 in the group who came to a parent-teacher night and sought me out.... he told me that all of his 8 children had problems with reading.... they didnt mature as fast.... and that I was the first teacher who had taken an interest and tried to help one of his children. There were tears in his eyes. I had no idea.... but was so glad I had done this. You who are teachers know the feeling.... you all have stories....

This is why I asked about computer education....I deeply hope that it is good for children. However, I know there is not one method that is good for everyone.

Re: Maybe someone can help me understand?

Meowingkitty — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 17:58:33 GMT

@missy1 wrote:
@game-on wrote:
I see ads on TV for children to be educated via computer. I wonder (I am a skeptic) how these children pass the grades.... how the children are tested.... how anyone knows if that child is really doing the studying or is someone else? How does this really work?

I was an elementary school teacher for a few years and I loved going to school. I guess I wonder how someone sitting on a computer is really learning? As a teacher I knew from body language and interacting with the student whether my students were "getting it".

Could you help me understand? TIA

I say this about college on-line colleges too. I sat in every class and lab. I learned things. You have class discussions, you can ask the teacher things, as opposed to just computer classes.
People are busy now. I was too, but I made time. I was an older student and worked. Some kids for whatever reasons (behavior etc) can't attend public school/private/charter so these classes are an alternative.. Home-school is a whole different other subject.

I took a lot of classes online when I was working for my degree in 1993 (20 years after graduating high school). I took them online because 1. I wasn't going to drive 2 hours round trip to Tempe 3 times a week to sit for a 50 minute class. (I was also working) 2. Many classes weren't at a convenient time or 3. The class was required but being an older student I didn't need to put up with the drivel of sitting in a classroom with a bunch of 18 year olds who were only there because mommy and daddy were paying for their school and I could breeze through what would have been a 16 week class in a few weeks. Online is definitely the way to go.

Re: Maybe someone can help me understand?

Carmie — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 18:32:36 GMT

Some people need class room instruction, others do not. I learn better by reading something, rather than having someone teach me.

i told my mom in the first grade after I learned to read that I didn't have to go to school anymore. I could learn everything there was by reading.

i would have been a perfect candidate for computer learning when I was younger, if you can't read well, or are not a visual learner, this might not work for you.

i am happy that there are choices, so everyone has a way to learn what ever way works best for them.

My nephews did the computer learning for two years. They had classroom instruction on their computer. They watched the teacher in real time and completed work assignments on line that were reviewed by the teacher. They did this until my brother moved out of the school district that was not so great.

Re: Maybe someone can help me understand?

Moonchilde — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 18:34:09 GMT

The short answer is that there must be committed parental involvement. You can't just sit a younger child in front of a computer and go out and do errands and expect them to learn perfectly with no bumps and no need for help. The parent either has to be able to help tutor, or pay someone to do it.

I don't feel that just anyone should homeschool - "just anyone" isn't necessarily qualified (and I don't mean just academically) to homeschool. There has to be a serious committment to the child learning a well-rounded, state mandated curriculum, not what the parents want them to learn, leaving out what the parents specifically don't want them to learn. Children deserve a "not skewed" education, shall we say.

There are national and state online schools for children in situations where classroom attendance isn't feasible - illness being #1 - distance from school, ability to get to school - many reasons. I do believe the teachers interact with individual students when needed, via Skype or similar technology. I can't think most parents would sit and do all a child's work for them. There are standards, I'm sure. If someone is a "bad parent" when it comes to education, I'd think they'd still be that same sort of parent if their kid went to a brick & mortar school.

Re: Maybe someone can help me understand?

Bri36 — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 18:37:12 GMT

My daughter is learning French online. She doesn't have time to sit in a classroom setting - but it was important to learn a third language. She can do it at her own pace.

We're lucky to have so many opportunities today...

Re: Maybe someone can help me understand?

game-on — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 19:03:08 GMT

@Meowingkitty.....I drove 2 hrs from my home 2 or 3 times a week to get my Masters.... there were not computer classes offered.... I was in my late 30's when I started this degree. I think we do what we have to do....

@Bri36....I agree.... we are lucky to have many choices ....

Who knows.... maybe I would take classes on my computer if I were younger? I just know that being able to ask my teachers/instructors questions and have group activities made my experience enjoyable.

Re: Maybe someone can help me understand?

Irish1210 — Sat, 08 Jul 2017 21:15:20 GMT

I love that you asked this question : )

Questioning is the basis for education ~ it prompts those with inquiries to seek answers and to become immersed in what they do not already know.

As is often said, "There are no stupid questions."

Please understand ~ I know nobody has said your inquiry was stupid~~~

Since we all learn at different speeds and by various methods, isn't it wonderful that there are many choices out there from which to select!

So thank you for initiating a discussion on a topic which has you perplexed ~ it is often difficult (for children and adults) to ask for further explanations : )