Essays, capitalism and feminist critiques of MOOCs

Imagine marking 100 years of essays

Contrary to stereotype, writing by students has improved in the digital age--or so claims research by a Stanford prof reported in the Globe.  Recent essays in comparison to a sample of essays from a century ago are longer and more sophisticated.  Students get more writing practice--mostly on smartphones--and even a mini-keyboard is a lot easier to use than a fountain pen was, the researcher suggests.

Reasons for the improvements suggested:  Authentic audience.  When students write to communicate with friends or online, possibly global, acquaintances, they care more about what they say and how.  Writing for the teacher alone is just an exercise, not an authentic communication.

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Who says capitalism is good for the poor?

The Fraser Institute is in the midst of new initiatives on the education front.  Its annual school rankings have spread to several provinces, and now they are hitting out on new fronts--technology, merit pay and student workshops.

The cover of their take on technology ("Technology and Education: A primer") sends a mixed message.  It shows a smiling young girl holding a tablet.  The content of the tablet is "1-5 Times Table Chart."  Why would you need a digital tablet to simply show that 1x1+1?

A school opening release calling for teacher merit pay hardly registered in the mainstream press, outside of a business editor and the National Post.

The Fraser folks also target teachers--offering workshops like "Is Capitalism Good for the Poor?" and lesson plans for using their global map of "economic freedom."  They offer to pay for substitutes and travel funds for teachers to attend.

Students are directly targeted as well with day-long infusions of "Why Do People Behave the Way They Do? An Introduction to Economic Reasoning."  These are "free, fun, one-day seminars consist of a mix of short lectures, games and activities that introduce economic principles," with separate programs for junior and senior secondary students.

Feminist challenge to MOOCs

MOOCs are the newest "solution" to provide access to post-secondary education.  The acronym stands for Massive Open Online Courses.  They can draw tens of thousands of participants.  At least, thousands sign up but few complete them.

Enthusiasts claim these will open up education on a global basis, overcoming barriers of access for millions. Critics are skeptical. The developers are trying to figure out the revenue stream and the path to an IPO.

A group of feminist faculty members have created an alternative approach to the centralized expertise approach of MOOCs.  They are calling it a DOCC, "distributed open collaborative course."

 

Anne Balsamo, a co-facilitator of the first DOCC says "It recognizes that, based on deep feminist pedagogical commitments, is distributed throughout all the participants in a learning activity."  It does no just reside with one or two individuals.

The problem with "Designed in California"

Apple ran a huge ad campaign that promoted its products as "Designed in California."  Critics identified the immediate problem.  Its message really is that the production of its products is outsourced to exploited workers in Asia, while its profits are hidden in company revenues reported in other countries to avoid taxation in the U.S.  All that is left for California is designing products.

You might think Apple would at least give a break to schools in California.

 

When the Los Angeles school district decided to spend $1 billion to give iPads to students and install broadband in all the schools, they didn't think about keyboards.  They now need to spend $38 million more to buy wifi keyboards.

Why do they need keyboards?  A new set of standardized tests is being introduced in California and keyboards will be used by other students taking the exams.  The touch screen keyboard on the iPad could obscure part of questions which students using other machines would be able to see.

This was originally published in the Fall 2013 issue of Our Schools, Our Selves, the education journal of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Random Thoughts--Microsoft and Pearson

Who ever heard of Nokia?  Kenya has

How soon we forget in the digital age.  Nokia was a pioneer in the spread of cell phones only a few years ago.  Now it has nearly disappeared from the smartphone kiosks in the local shopping centre.  It fell behind in the iPhone age.

But they haven't disappeared.  In fact, Microsoft recently bought their handset division and Nokia produces smartphones  using the Windows OS.  And they have been working on education projects in several African countries.  They use Nokia phones that feed material through a cellular connection that can be hooked up to a TV monitor.  Only a few schools are in the project initially, but the potential is great.

In countries where textbooks are expensive and scarce, jumping over the age of hard copy print may open possibilities for much more extensive access to learning resources.  In Kenya, many banking transactions are already carried out over relatively inexpensive cell phones.

Digital is the workhorse of education globalization

Textbook companies are trying to figure out where the future lies.  They have had monopoly positions with schools and individual students having to purchase them.  Prices have grown beyond any other aspect of the book business.  But that age is coming to an end.

"Open resources" are the buzz.  In British Columbia, the province has put free, open source texts online for 15 first-year courses offered in multiple post-secondary institutions.  Tools that make it easy to produce your own books are appearing online. 

The big guys in the textbook business are turning to digital products and projects to capture future profits.  Pearson, in particular, is building a global digital business that includes everything from tests to "analytics."  Digital is making it possible to globally "harmonize," presenting a challenge to maintaining the local and national as central to the education process.  If there is hope, it is that open source offers a future where the direction of education does not rest just with global corporations.

But Pearson is even trying to capture open source as a market.  The run their own "open" educational resources, building on the work that teachers contribute.  And Pearson officials say they "hear customer demand from teachers for us to help them make sense of open educational resources."

Gates dreams on

Bill Gates has spent billions from his foundation on grants to change education.  He is now focused on  teacher evaluation and has decided that teachers have to be involved in the process.  He hardly needed to spend billions to find that out.

Now he wants to bring "accountability" to higher education.  He wants to get students through their programs faster by using technology and "competency-based learning, according to a Washington Post story.  This is to come, in his dreams and everyone else's nightmare, with an accountability system based on testing of post-secondary students.

Second-hand distraction

Multi-tasking does not just affect the student doing it during a class, but the students around them as well, according to a study by McMaster researchers Faria Sana and Tina Weston.

The study was based on students attending a university lecture and then completing a multiple-choice quiz.  Half the students were asked to multi-task on a number of activities and students were seated around them without computers.  They expected the multi-takers to do less well in the test than those not multi-tasking, and that was the result.

However, it turned out that the students surrounded by multi-taskers also did poorly on the test.  They reported that they were not distracted, but the test results indicated that they had been.

Classic essay topic no longer works

A cartoon.  First day of school and the teacher gives a classic assignment:  "Write about 'what I did last summer.'"  Student says, "weren't you following me on Twitter?"

Originally published in the Fall 2013 issue of Our Schools, Our Selves, the education journal of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Some teacher views on online learning

The Future of Distributed Learning:  Some teacher views

By Larry Kuehn and David Comrie

Distributed Learning (DL) has been a fast-growing element of BC's education system over the last decade.  A workshop at the Computer Using Educators specialist association (CUEBC) conference was  conducted as a focus group with two dozen DL teachers. 

Not only have enrolments grown, but DL policies have changed at a rapid pace, with many policies and practices revised from year to year.  To get a look at the future directions, we needed to hear about the significant issues facing DL teachers now.

Here are some of the themes and issues raised by DL teachers:

1.         Numbers of DL students are up and down in different districts

Some reported an increased number of DL students this year, while others declined, significantly.  The Surrey Connect program reported five teachers being reassigned elsewhere because of reduced student numbers.

2.         Growth of private online schools

Surrey has two independent DL programs and the Christian Heritage online school working from the Okanagan has significant enrolment.  These private school programs are offered for free, paid for through public funding.  The independent school funding has been increased to 63 percent of funding for public DL students, while the funding for face-to-face independent schools is 50 percent of that for public schools.

Some private DL schools were reported to offer lower requirements--quick and easy courses and grades.   When signing up for a course, public school students may not be aware that these schools use resources and assignments with religious content.  Students can now a get a Dogwood diploma (high school graduation) from a public school, but with courses from an independent school

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3.         Compliance audits drive many decisions and are negative

School districts are desperate to not lose funding.  A reduction in funding forces cuts in other areas of educational service--and cuts are retroactive with funding already spent having to be returned.

The required audit trail means significant record-keeping takes up teaching time.  The audit criteria, which change frequently, force DL schools to develop practices based on the criteria.  Some essentially do the paperwork twice, with practice audits, to make sure they are meeting these criteria.

4.         Quality audit experiences have been positive

Several participants worked in DL schools that had gone through a "quality audit" and they universally described it as a positive experience.  The process allows for self-reflection, as well as outside facilitators who help to guide the look at whether the DL school is meeting the quality standards, and what would be improvements.  Unlike the compliance audit, it is supportive rather than punitive.

5.         Distributed Learning is a "cash cow"

Although they can't find out actual expenditures in many cases, DL seems like it is used by school districts as a "cash cow."  By this they mean that the DL program brings more funding to the district than is actually spent on DL.  When DL was offered to all school districts, the policy was that boards should spend 90% of the funding on DL students.  That provision has not been enforced.

The funding limitation for the system as a whole drives districts to find resources where ever they can.

6.         "Blended learning" is the next big thing

Some move toward blended learning was reported by several participants.  No consensus exists on what the term means in practice.  However, all the versions have some mix of student work online and in a face-to-face situation. 

This is a challenge to the organization of DL.  It implies that the student is physically located in a place where they can engage in some face-to-face activities, in contrast to the practice of students signing up for courses whatever district offers them.

7.         DL programs have increasing numbers of students with special needs

The challenge of providing appropriate support for students with special needs is ongoing.  It seems like the number of students with mental health issues is increasing, particularly students  with serious anxiety about being in the school environment.

8.         Course development has many complications

Many  DL teachers develop their own courses, or, at least modify existing courses.  How much can be done is framed by how many courses a person is teaching--which may be anywhere from one course with many students or many different courses with not so many in each course.

The changes in the provincial curriculum will bring to the fore more questions of who develops courses, DL teachers course development built into their teaching load, who owns resources and how they are shared.  Without contract provisions or policy guidelines, this  may produce unfair and unequal situations.

9.         Work/life balance is essential

The balance mentioned included not spending so much time on the work that there is no time for the rest of life.  Also mentioned was the need for balance in the work so that it is not just marking assignments, but also includes time for course development and modification and for professional development.

10.       Big need--training in pedagogical practices for online learning

One participant works in a university education faculty that offers a program for online teaching, but it is a graduate program.  Teaching online has not been an element of teacher education programs for those preparing for a teaching certificate

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School districts offering DL have signed a contract with the ministry that says they will offer training for DL teachers, but few districts live up to this commitment.

Frustration with lack of TTOCs (Teachers Teaching on Call--substitutes) with online training or experience was noted--without that, the DL teacher gets little relief when they are away from work, with the email and student work just cluttering the screen when they return.

These  themes and issues do not necessarily reflect a consensus of those present, but rather an attempt to find some patterns in the comments made.

Facilitators for the focus group were David Comrie, president of the BCTF Educators for Distributed Learning Provincial Specialist Association and Larry Kuehn, BCTF Director of Research and Technology.