Lisa Dorsey
Elective #5
E-Learning
I have never
experienced E-learning, so I enjoyed reviewing the sites. The two sites I chose were Class.com
and Babbage
Net School.
Class.com
My first thoughts
after reading the first paragraph were not good. Why? Because
they had an error – they omitted the word “are”:
“Class.com
grew from a research and development project at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln. The goal was to create research-based curricula for students
who are underserved in traditional settings.” I realize we all make mistakes, but on a
posted educational website? After that,
I enjoyed the site! I took a demo tour
of their Algebra website. It was very
self-explanatory and had plenty of examples for children to practice the
concepts after they learned them. They
could then check to see if they got their answers right for immediate
feedback. Comparing it to some of the
state standards, it met many of them with no problem. They provide a disk to use if your software
is not fast enough to work with the program.
The class can be tailored to an individual students needs. The site is designed for students to work
independently or in a blended classroom where different needs are being
met. The actual teacher is seen as a
facilitator rather than a planner. The
site also gives a list of sites to visit to further explore and expand what was
learned in the classroom. I thought the
demos I reviewed were easy for students to understand, and explained things
well. I enjoyed the Spanish demo. I thought the format was good – there were
picture sequences along with text. The
student was to repeat after the “computer” said the phrase in Spanish. The photos helped to tell the story. Overall, I thought this was a good site.
The Babbage Net School
This site uses Blackboard, which seems to be a prevalent
program used in schools. I thought it
was interesting to see what they charge - $400 per seat (if one child leaves,
another can take their place) for the year.
This site provides assistance for intervention. A student enrolled in one of the classes will
receive help from their teacher and personal attention. The pre and post test are aligned with the
schools standards. Students can also go
to summer school or earn their GED. In
looking at the MSDE standards, I could not see where it discussed
parent-teacher feedback. I would think,
however, that this is a program accessed through the school system and an
on-site teacher would also monitor progress.
This site is meant as an alternative to school when there is a need,
instead of a replacement. I thought this
site seemed more “simple” than class.com and not quite as advanced. Perhaps this is just in the design of the webpage
and the relaying of content, but I think they missed explaining a few points,
such as progress beyond pre and post tests.
It seemed more aimed for intervention based education. What is good about this web-site is that it
is live with teacher interaction, as opposed to class.com which is asynchronous
and requires more discipline.