China was one of the first countries to use radio, television and online broadcasting as a method of teching. This was due to insufficient funds to hire teachers to fulfill the usual teaching method, that is face to face.
This method of learning started in 1986 and it had lead to the social-science courses greatly increasing in its size of students. As with the Deakin University courses, I believe this is again a difficult method of teaching. Especially when teaching topics such as social science, which is all about your own opinion. In these topics, such as socialolgy & psychology, I believe it is about what you think and expressing your opinion, i believe would be a difficult task online.
Having a television in front of you instead of a teacher, means that you are all going to be learning the exact same thing and not being able to express your opinion would mean that you would have to keep it to yourself, or basically not having one, as you are not pushed into thinking for yourself. I think, therefore this could be examined as a negative example of interactive learning. However, it was a great success in China which was due to the increasing number of students and lack of teachers.
The positives of this is that you are able to follow in your own time, as the teaching was available to download and so you would be able to catch up with missed lectures. I also think it is important to keep up with the technological advancements within society. If you are not following, it may lead to confusion later in life when it comes to jobs. You are expected to be able to use a computer and other sufficient methods of communication.
In China- students were also able to have one on one tuition, which I believe is a majorly important part of education. It allows students to ask individual questions with the tutors full attention.
What do others think? Is online learning important in future careers, or do you think old fashioned methods are more substantial?
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3 comments:
I think you hit upon one or two ideas here which are quite crucial abotu the chinese system of education. The Chinese society was not programmed to voice opinions and although much of the TV and Radio teaching took place at university level after the revolution, old habits die hard. so the success of such an education is highly subjective. I also think that your question at the end is insightful and very relevant. It's worth discussion
I think that it would be a bad thing if, in the future, we relied solely on internet learning. You don't get the same level of interaction as you do with physical teachers and school. Although many think it's a good thing to be able to learn in your room with the TV on and music I hate it! You never get anything done. Everyone will get square eyes as well. Online courses might be good in prisons to save tax money, or in sparsely/densely populated places like Australia or China, but we shouldn't get dependant on it.
I think i agree with Joe, it is sad that as a society, we are relying on technology as much as we do. However, if we go against and rebel the changing technologies, we will get pretty stuck later on in life when it comes to basic communication with the internet. Not that im saying we dont no things like e-mails, but do you not think that using online blogging, leads to more confidence within the technology.
I also agree with Joe's point that i cant concentrate with the tv on, although saying that,im watching richard and judy right now. Im doing just fine, however, if i was writing an essay i would have to go to the library! So it depends on the type of work you are doing.
I do think however, that only seeing your tutor once in a while leads to negative results, as people can get bored and tired of not getting face to face feedback. What you think.....?
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