How does education play a role in the preservation of culture?  First of all, if children were not passed information, how can cultural information carry on?  Books can hold and maintain the information but there are personal family traditions that are carried on by children being educated about their family values.  Can tradition get altered while being passed down through different generations?  Of course, things can get altered but how else are children to be expected to carry on culture unless they are educated about it? 

Education offers insight to the past, present, and future.  Such information is very important for preserving culture.  Understanding the past, allows us to appreciate and value the present.  In the same way, understanding the present allows us to accept what lies ahead in the future.

There are different ways that children are educated.  Some children attend a public or private school, while others are educated at home.  In the same way, there are various styles of teaching that are used among diverse types of learning atmospheres—whether it be in a traditional classroom, or at home.  We can even include the world of distance learning at another type of learning environment.        

Nonetheless, I remember reading an article where some students teach themselves in the home school environment.  In doing this, the students are provided the tools to absorb new information and the instructor only facilitates the learning environment.  Thus, the student creates his/her own learning experiences.  When I had first read this article, I was completely against such an idea; however, when I think about it this very well could be a much better learning environment because the learning is driven by the student.  Of course, there are different opinions on the idea but it seems like a great opportunity.

On the other hand, I fear that social skills could suffer as a result of being home schooled.  Now let’s remember that I have never had a first hand experience with a child that has been home schooled so I am only anticipating thoughts of such a learning atmosphere.  In the traditional school setting, there are important social skills that are developed while interacting with other students in various situations.  On the contrary, I would fear that social skills would suffer as a result of being home schooled.

Our topics this week have made me recap on previous entries that I have written.  While pondering on technology, I couldn’t help but think of a post on distance education that I wrote previously.

When considering distance education, there are pros and cons that are associated with this type of education. As mentioned several times in the past, there are diverse definitions of distance education. Thus, it can be as simple as students taking a virtual field trip in traditional classes, or it can be thought of as Internet classes or classes via satellite. Nevertheless, it is all part of distance education and has positives and negatives associated with it.

What are the advantages of distance education? First of all, learning is continuous–not to say that learning isn’t continuous anyhow, but with distance education it is encouraged more. As Nate said, “Learning doesn’t just end when the bell rings.” Distance education offers a chance to encourage learning outside the classroom and can easily be incorporated into the traditional classroom. In addition, self-motivation and independent study is a must with distance education and if mastered, it is something that can be very beneficial on educational terms. Likewise, there is an encouragement to venture into other fields with DE–for example, I can log on to my gator with intentions to do homework and I get so caught up in reading various things that have been posted that I loose track of time. Nevertheless, I am learning while reading these articles and I develop my own ideas of topics that have been written; I can broaden my horizons–I am learning.

Considering that there are diverse types of distance education, there are disadvantages associated with this type of education. First of all, there are technical difficulties that can arise and can sometimes be extremely frustrating considering the fact that most of the population that take distance learning classes have several obligations and they study at various times. Often times, the Internet may be down, or a satellite may not pick up a signal from a remote location, or a piece of technology can malfunction and that is valuable instruction time that is interfered with. In the same way, comfort level and easy transition may be difficult for in-experienced/limited technology experienced persons. In addition, with Internet classes, there is usually no face-to-face contact, or “in person” contact–of course there are cameras that can be installed, but not every one is on the computer at the same time. I know with satellite classes the students can see each other at different sites, but often times students at one remote site actually have the instructor in their classroom so there is still a lack of teacher-student contact. Likewise, self-motivation and independent study is a key to success and for some people this feature can be a problem and may result in failure.

All in all, learning doesn’t have to end when a class ends. As with almost anything, there are pros and cons that arise. Personally, I believe the “goods” out weigh the “bads” when it comes to distance education. In the same way, DE doesn’t have to be only associated with distance–it can be incorporated into the traditional classroom to increase educational possibilities and add to the learning experience and promote a positive learning environment for students. For example, there are several types of educational tools that can be found on the Internet to accompany a lesson or to reinforce skills that have been taught and hopefully encourage mastery of the skill. In addition, there are several free publishers for web pages and a teacher could design his or her own classroom webpage for student updates/activities that would hopefully increase parental support. In addition, each student could create their own blogs, sort of like we have done in this course, and have daily assignments for those. There are numerous ways that distance education could be incorporated into the traditional classroom where it would hopefully increase student interest and, as a result, there would be an increase in student grades and retention

What are the purposes of education?  Education offers an environment full of learning opportunities that allow a child to build upon prior knowledge and expand thinking.  According to Wikipedia, education is perceived as a place where children can develop according to their unique needs and potential.  In a previous post, I touched briefly on the role of students in the educational environment; nonetheless, there is more than one role for students. I believe the teacher is a facilitator that organizes a learning environment that allows for the most learning experiences among diverse learners. Thus, if the teacher is organizing this environment, the student has some expectations to allow for a positive learning experience. First of all, it is important to maintain a positive attitude for learning. Often times, it is important for the teacher, as the facilitator, to push students outside their boundaries to gain the most of the experience. Nevertheless, it is the student’s responsibility to take this with an open mind and make the best of the opportunity. In addition, the student should be self-directed in the fact that he/she can take a set of given directions and follow through with them. In addition, the child should be able to self-direct to allow for individual learning experiences. In addition, it is extremely important to reinforce skills for an easy transition into long-term/life long learning. In the world of education, skills tend to build upon one another and this reinforcement is often times crucial to the understanding of more complex tasks. Consequently, it is the learner’s responsibility to pay careful attention and to participate in reinforcement skills to commit skills to long term use. Overall, the role of the student and the role of the teacher work hand-in-hand to promote a great learning experience and expansion of knowledge within a learning environment.

I just read an article by Steven Downes, where a child got in trouble for using Facebook to create a study group for chemistry.  You can see the full article at this link http://www.thestar.com/N%20ews/GTA/article/309855

We have been discussing social networking sites a lot here lately, so this article seemed to jump out at me.  There are a variety of reasons people create such networks and they range from meeting new friends, maintaining relationships with current friends, promoting advertising, etc.  Nonetheless, I agree with one of the comments in the article, “What is the difference in creating a study group.”  The only difference in this situation is the fact that it is on the internet, but if you think about it a teacher should be more excited about having a discussion trail rather than a closed group meeting with no idea what types of discussions are happening among the group.

So I questions, would the instructor rather the student be confused about particular questions, or to gain better insight about the assignment from his/her peers?  This is a tough situation, but personally I usually remember things my friends say a lot quicker than if I am working alone on something.  In the same way, discussions tend to stick with me much better in understanding a concept.  So what are the limitations of such social networks? 

Ok, I have tried numerous times to comment on other people’s posts and every time I try to click on comments or the post I get redirected to an error page.  Sometimes technology can be so stubborn and difficult!  I figured I could go ahead and use Word to vent.  My blog site won’t even let me log on—I get directed to an error page as well.  I don’t really know if it is just my mom’s computer or if it is really the links that are causing the problem.  Anyway—it does get a little frustrating, but I will try again in a little while—hopefully everything will be a-ok.  J

While on the topic of technology, I wonder how many classrooms offer incorporated technology.  Nonetheless, I have visited my son’s classroom and the only thing that I have witnessed being used is the tape player, and the television.  However, they do have a day in which they go to computers.  On the other hand, they do use centers in their room and I really like this idea.  The centers really aren’t technology related, but they reinforce skills that they have been learning in class.  Also, students that need a little extra help on particular tasks can get that help during centers.  The students seem to love this idea and it keeps them engaged in learning.  During my methods courses, centers were mentioned quite often, but I had never had the opportunity to see them actually being used in the classroom—I really like this idea. 

Likewise, the students are sent home with a small homework packet each week that reinforces skills that have been worked on in class.  The students are given one week (running Tuesday to Tuesday) to complete the assignments.  In addition, students are required to read a book each night and the parent has to record the book in the child’s planner.  Each day, the teacher reviews the planner and gives the child a smiley, straight face, or sad face—according to his or her behavior.  If there are any important papers to be given to parents, the papers are secured by a clasp in the front of the planner. 

Personally, I had never seen this approach for communication between teacher and parent, until we moved to this school.  Nonetheless, I really like it.  It is a continuous routine and the parents know what to expect and children know the routine.  Parents are free to write notes to communicate with the teacher and it works out really nicely. 

Also, students are not expected to bring snack money each day.  Instead, each child is assigned one day out of the month in which he/she provides enough snack for the entire class.  This is the best idea that any school could adopt.  At my son’s previous school, we were spending $1.50-$2.00 per day on snack.  When you add $1.50 up for the week, you’re spending $7.50/week and $30.00/month on snack alone.  That is pretty expensive!  With the idea of bringing snack one day out of the month, snack is covered the entire month—what a relief!! J

Overall, I am amazed at the diverse procedures that different teachers practice.  What works in some classrooms very well might not work in others.  Nonetheless, the idea is to focus on good organization and communication skills between school and home.  It is important to have the home support as well.