Guest Post: 5 Sites for Finding Great Online Lectures

Online lectures are a new trend, prompted by the spreading availability of high speed internet and the increasing importance individuals are placing on learning. Depending on what you want to learn (and who you want to learn it from), online lectures can be an hour long exercise or a series of lectures, similar to if you were auditing a course at college. A select number of programs will even issue a certificate of completion. Online lectures allow you to learn more about a particular subject without necessarily committing to a semester of intense study, and can increase your horizons as well as increase your negotiating power with employers. Here are five great sites to try for online lectures.

The YouTube EDU Channel

The YouTube EDU channel combines some of the best attributes of online lectures in place. The collection here ranges from informal but educative short videos (Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover Animation) to intense lecture series from award winning scientists at leading universities (Game Theory with Ben Polak). Two of the advantages of YouTube EDU are the ease of sharing the videos you enjoy with others and the ability to format them into playlists that you can share or save for later.

MIT OpenCourseWare

OpenCourseWare is a program from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, better known as MIT. Nearly every subject or discipline taught at MIT has donated online lectures and course materials for the public at large to audit – free of charge. No credits or certificates are granted and most of the materials do not represent a full course, but for those who want to experience a little of what an MIT education can provide it is an excellent resource. For more intense learning, keep an eye on MITx, which plans to offer courses with certificates in an online learning environment this fall.

Virtual Professors

The Virtual Professors website is an online lecture library packed with lectures from professors and others who are leaders in their fields. Here you can learn about everything from how technology can make government more efficient to multivariable calculus. The difference between Virtual Professors and the YouTube Channel is that Virtual Professors allows you to download the videos, instead of constantly streaming. That means you can save and transfer the videos to a device that does not have internet access to watch later.

Open Yale Courses

Open Yale Courses is essentially an online audit of some of Yale’s best introductory courses. While it isn’t possible to access advanced or graduate courses or receive certification, Open Yale Courses can still expand your horizons. The lectures here also feel more like university courses, since nearly all of them are filmed in Yale classrooms during actual courses.

Academic Earth

Academic Earth pulls together lecture videos from Harvard, Yale, Oxford, Stanford, and other leading institutions. All of the major subjects are represented, and courses can be watched or paused according to your schedule. Though no certificates are issued through Academic Earth, these courses could help you prepare for taking a certification test elsewhere. Either way, Academic Earth and similar online lecture sites are a great way to continue your education flexibly, at your own pace.



Laura McPherson is a writer for Teacher Certification Degrees, a growing career resource for individuals interested in becoming a teacher.

How iTunesU Online School Model Can Democratize University Education?

Today I have a guest post from blogger Marina Salsbury, who discusses how iTunesU is affecting education at the university level.  Guest posts are always welcome.  Please drop me a line if you are interested. 

iTunes University is an application available for Apple iPod touch, iPad, or iPhone. This application is designed to allow educators to put together distance courses that are accessible to everyone at a low cost or for free. The powerful iTunes University interface allows instructors to include videos of lectures and demonstrations, textual information, as well as audio and other multimedia content.

iTunes University puts education in the hands of the masses, because you do not need to be enrolled in a university to view the course content and follow along with the lectures. These online school courses are offered completely free of charge, either as a public service or in an effort to give potential students a taste of what an online education at their university or institution would be like. For example, Harvard University currently offers more than 150 online courses, and they make a handful of lectures available free of charge on iTunes to give students a sense of what distance education at Harvard is like.

iTunes University may become instrumental in driving down the cost of a university education, according to Sean Decatur, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Oberlin College. iTunes University and other digital resources provides students with interactive and textual content at a much lower cost than traditional textbooks and resources. While digital content can't reduce the cost of instruction, grading, university infrastructure and other key costs, it can reduce the cost of delivering the content, according to Decatur. This savings is directly passed along to the student.

One drawback to viewing college course content in this manner is that you will not receive course credit unless you enroll in the university program and pay for the credit hours. This means that while you may have gained the knowledge, you may not be able to demonstrate it to an employer or use the experience as proof that you have a college education. Many universities offer their online content on iTunes as the lecture part of an online course, and require that students use another interface, such as Blackboard or Web CT, to turn in assignments at regularly scheduled times. Additionally, the technology itself has limitations. You cannot gain practical experience in a laboratory setting or in a studio under the direct supervision of a qualified instructor, and for many hands-on courses, this experience is essential. 

However, iTunesU is an excellent resource for those who are considering a college education or continuing education at a particular university or in a particular subject but want to sample courses before they pay the fees at a university. Additionally, iTunes University is ideal for those who just wish to gain job skills, or enhance personal knowledge. For example, you can find free or low-cost courses on everything from woodworking to accounting or even literature. Instead of paying to audit classes, you can view them free on iTunes in many cases.

iTunes University will not change education entirely because the basis of most university programs is direct student-professor contact and guidance, either online or off. However, courses delivered on iTunesU can provide students and potential learners with a way to sample courses or learn a new skill on their own and at their own pace. For this reason, universities will continue to create course content designed to be viewed on iTunesU.

Academic Prejudice Against Online Learning

Today I have a guest post from blogger Marina Salsbury, who poses some insightful thoughts about online learning and higher education.  Guest posts are always welcome.  Please drop me a line if you are interested.

The world is changing fast, and so are the ways people pursue higher education. To fit the busy demands of many people today, colleges are coming around to the approach of online learning. This medium for study is gaining popularity because it offers a wide variety of options and a degree of flexibility that wasn't available to students in the past. Students can obtain degrees from GED to PhD online. While a growing number of educators embrace this method of learning and support it wholeheartedly, there are still a great many of those who hold strong prejudices against web-based education and prefer students obtain their degrees the traditional way.

Even though online learning has gained popularity, prejudices against it among educators remains widespread. Often the case is made that a traditional classroom environment is the way to go because such an environment offers hands-on learning, socialization, and in-person experience students simply cannot receive in distance learning courses. Some teachers and administrators feel that online degree programs merely allow students to complete weak courses of study with practically no effort at all. Because this belief is still common, a number of universities feel that an online degree is inferior.

Contrary to the belief that online education can't fully equip students for their careers, research is showing that students are benefiting more from web-based, social learning than from traditional learning environments. The open-ended, flexible, “long-tail” learning enabled and encouraged by the Web is proving more effective and better suited to the changing demands of the real professional world.

Fully web-based education is also appealing to students because in many cases they can work on their courses at any time and any place they wish. Students can learn in their pajamas if they please. The ability to choose the learning environment and the method of learning, as well as a convenient time, increases the accessibility of education, but need not reduce its quality. High dropout rates are sometimes given as evidence of online education's weakness, but in fact inability to keep up with a rigorous academic program more or less entirely under one's own supervision is the reason for this. It's not that students leave because they discover their online courses are no good, but that many lack the self-discipline and time management skill to follow through on college-level studies while working, raising families, or otherwise dealing with life.

As far as not obtaining necessary firsthand experience, technology is now been enabling students to engage in hands-on learning at a distance. Students can learn under the watchful eye of the instructor and replicate much of the classroom environment by using enhanced tools, such as interactive chatting software, message boards, and video. Even high-level scientific research opportunities are available online, taking the wind out of the frequent objection that certain subjects, like lab science, just can't be taught over the Web.

In order for students who have earned online degrees to be treated fairly and overcome prejudices against online learning, educators need to free themselves from some of the paradigms and conventions of traditional teaching and learning. Furthermore, additional concrete studies need to be conducted to demonstrate that students can fare just as well, if not much better online than in conventional classrooms. While there remains a long way to go before educators and the general public will accept that online learning must be given the same respect and appreciation as traditional classroom learning, it probably won't be too long before these prejudices disappear completely. The web-based distance learning movement is growing fast, and the demand for higher education ultimately isn't likely to be met any other way. 

Civil War Newscasts: Part I

Since the end of the year is upon us, I wanted to finish with a bang. This, in nerdy tech/history teacher terms, meant a major collaborative project. My goal was to create an assignment that went into detail in many aspects of the Civil War but also incorporated different pieces of technology that are available to students at our school. Ultimately, I decided to have the students pretend like there were televisions and news stations during the Civil War Era and create a newscast based on some of the particulars of the time.

My goal for this post is to begin to break the project down into parts so any teacher could incorporate this into whatever your subject area may be. So here goes...

The first day was simply going over the project with the students. Each student was given a group, each group a topic, and each topic an instruction sheet and checklist. Here is a teacher information sheet to guide you as well.

The second through fourth days is what I'd really like to focus on in this post. This is the script writing process. Students were made aware that they could not begin filming until all scripts were complete.

The first piece of tech integration shows up in the script writing. Students used Google Docs and their checklist to create their scripts. Google Docs allows for the utmost in student collaboration. Each group created a Google Doc for each of the scripts before they even started. Immediately, the students were asked to share the document with each of their group members and their teacher. This allows for each group member to edit the document at any time from home or school. For more information on Google Docs please click here.

I have to share a one story about our Google Docs experience to show you how cool it is. I had one group that had two of the three group members out while we were writing our scripts. In the past, that one remaining student would be stuck with a lot of work. With gDocs, the students that were out sick were actually working on the script at home at the same time as the one student that made it to school. VERY COOL STUFF!

Many students used their former notes, textbooks, or the internet to research their topics as they were typing their scripts. I was able to read the scripts as the students were typing. Another nice feature of Google Docs that I used was the insert comment feature. I typed several comments on each script during the class period as the students were working. This freaked them out at first that "big brother" was watching their every word being typed. In the end they found it helpful, and they were very excited that I could add some insight before the scripts were officially due.

I'll share the remaining parts and tech integration of this project in future posts. They will appear on my blog at Teaching History with Tech. If you enjoyed this post please consider joining my PLN @HistoryandTech. And finally, I'd like to thank @techforschools for allowing me the opportunity to guest post.

Have a great summer...the next school year will be here before you know it!

Regards,

Andy

Job Interviews using the iPod Touch Lab

In my Career Investigation classes we have been talking about interviewing for jobs and the importance of being professional and prepared. We did moc interviews in class and used the iPod Touch lab to record the interviews live. Not only did my students love doing the interviews and using the technology, they also learned that they needed to work on their interview skills if they wanted to get a job in the future. Many of the students commented on how shocked they were at how silly some of their answers were and requested a second chance at the interview to improve their answers. It was an awesome learning experience for them that helped the students realize that the "business world" is much different than their "social world". Here is a quick summary of the lesson:

Objective: Students participate in a job interview recorded using iPods and Audioboo.

Procedure:

• Discuss with students common interview questions asked


• Pair students up and distribute I Pods and a list of interview questions to ask


• Each student gets a turn being the interviewer and the applicant


• Students publish the interviews to the teacher account on Audioboo


• Once published, students go back and listen to their interviews and critique themselves as well as their partner's interview. They have to decide if they would actually get a job based on their interview.


• The teacher listens to the interviews that were published and decides which students would get a job and which would not based on the recorded interview.


• As a class, discuss some of the "good" and "bad" things from the interviews (playing specific examples with student permission)


• Students get a "call back" interview where they can improve their answers and interviewing skills.

This lesson was fun and actually really easy to do, and I am NOT very saavy when it comes to technology! There are so many things you could do with the Audioboo App and the iTouches, please don't be afraid to try something new. My kids loved it and I had a blast watching them learn and try to improve their skills.

Posted by Mrs. Baker of Hunt M.S.