Shifting College Classrooms from Lecture to Self-Taught Courses.

  I have to give the administrators and a few professors credit at my community college, many of them have embraced classroom technology. Some fully use the tools available in BlackBoard. These tools range from instructional videos to PowerPoint based mini lectures. The professors have been working in the online class format at the school. However, many of the standard classrooms at the college still exist in the engineering and science majors. With all the technology available, why are these classes still behind the times?

§  Unwillingness to learn technology.

§  That is the way they learned how to teach. 

I’m not saying we need to send our college professors back into the classroom, strap them down, and force them to learn new methods of teaching. I’m saying that it is their job to deliver the material, not the best way they know how, but the best way the student learns.

Remember when you were in Kindergarten? Centers are one of the core principles of self-directed classroom. Coming to a college near you!

  One of my professors asked me about how new technology is being used with video instruction. I love it! I like to learn about the class ahead of time. I think class time could be spent more wisely on working the problems we need to solve. Class time should be spent on projects that reinforce the video lecture. It is a way to reach every student with different learning needs.

  The movement in the schools before college is to lead classrooms that are more self-directed, or learner-based. The students that will be entering college have never been without technology. Students remain interested in a course when it is at their speed. Some students take longer to learn than others. This solves the problem of having to repeat classes, such as one with a low grade and then taking the same class to get a higher grade. Why not allow the student to work at their pace within the 16 week time frame? Some students may need to take Calculus II in the form of Parts A and B. Then again, if the class time is spent on working problems and application, then the errors in thinking can be caught and corrected early.

  I have an exciting opportunity to be an Instructional Assistant at my college. I will be helping Algebra students at night learn the material in a technology-based setting. The teacher is still there. But the modules are self-directed. When the student has problems, I will be able to assist them and clarify problem-solving thought processes. I am looking forward to it because I think it is the way of the future.

  Why would I push for more tech in the classroom when I don’t even use a calculator for Math? Several reasons:

§  Obama administration is pushing for more graduates in technology fields.

§  Too many students start out in STEM majors drop out within the first two years because it is too difficult. 

§  The material should be challenging but not impossible to learn. 

§  The US is behind in Math and Science. 

The world is changing faster than most people can keep up with. We need to be able to roll with the changes.