"One problem is that students just aren't asked to do much, according to findings in a new book, "Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses." Half of students did not take a single course requiring 20 pages of writing during their prior semester, and one-third did not take a single course requiring even 40 pages of reading per week."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/18/45-of-students-dont-learn_n_810224.html
How does this relate to what we are trying to accomplish with the hybrid class?
I feel that this relates to what we are trying to accomplish in our hybrid class, because more work is place on you to do personally. In a hybird class you aren't taking that time to go over what you read or learned in class as much, so you really need to take the time to read the material and make sure you have an understanding of the material. Due to the way a hybird class is created, the professor dosen't have time during class periods to go everything you read. So in a sense hybird classes are good because they are causing students to read more. It also places more responsibility on the students, which helps to determine students grades.
I agree that many college students including myself are not learning as much as we should be, es[ecially in the first two years of college. I could go on for hours about this subject, but I won't. One of the problems is that there are so many different teaching techniques used by every professor or teacher. For example, one of my classes last semester was the most boring unmotivating classes I have ever taken, and it is because of the teaching environment. The class was always predictable, lecture everyday, then maybe a quiz every 3 weeks a test. He posted all the notes online not requiring us to write them down. The ONLY thing that kept students from skipping was the random quizzes, but no student that I talked to ever payed attetion. I never opened my book once (what a waste of money). Most of the information that I learn in a class is forgotten by the next semester. Many college graduates tell me that their schooling didn't even come close to what they actually do with the career they have now.
I agree some what with the article. I believe that college students aren't learning as much as they should be. I feel that college is centered on listening to a professor talk for an hour and taking notes. I find myself forgetting most of what was talked about in lecture after the class. However, I'm not sure that simply writing a paper or doing assignments would cause a student to learn more. What a student learns in college is entirely up to the student. I think the biggest reason why students aren't learning as much is because many professors post lecture notes online, so many students don't bother to show up for class, or if they do show up they don't take notes because the professors lecture directly from the power point slides.I like the idea of a hybrid class because it leaves the learning up to the student. The student must act responsibly by doing the online assignments and readings. As far as this particular hybrid class, I like that the assignments directly relate to the readings, forcing the student to read the articles if they want to do the assignment correctly.The readings also include small excercises, allowing the student to apply the info they have just learned. The hybrid class focuses the resonsibility on the student and allows for the lecture portion of the class to serve as an opportunity for the professor to clear up any confusion the students had about readings. I believe hybrid classes are more work for students, but I also believe that students learn more with hybrid classes.
This article was very interesting and in a lot of aspects very true. The majority of my teachers are lecturers (they stand up in front of the class for an hours just regurgitating information, that we were supposed to have previously read in the book) and in turn we are supposed to regurgitate that information back on the test and the time I am finished with the class that only thing I have gained is an A or B in the class. Its not a good thing when everytime I leave class I say to myself, did I learn anything? This article also reminded me of an article I read previously entitled "study confirms college is a complete waste of time" According to the study the first two years of college are a complete waste of time and money. http://escapetyranny.com/2011/01/21/study-confirms-that-college-is-almost-a-complete-waste-of-time-and-money/ Teachers need to be more engaging and lectures need not to be every class period. There was a class I took my freshman year. He made the outlines available to us online. I never showed up to class except on test days and I got an A in his class. That shows how useless the teacher actually was and I am paying a lot of money that I believe teachers could be a bit more creative with their class. This semester was the first semester I took a hybrid class. Its a lot more work that a regular class so far, but I also feel like I am getting my moneys worth.
I agree with this very much, there are so many teachers who make powerpoints and stand there and read them off to you for over an hour, what is the point of that? That's just an example of one of the styles of teaching that some teachers do and it goes along with the article. I think lectures should be more of us talking to the teacher, being able to ask questions, explain stuff to the way we understand it, I myself an a more hands on learner and when we are involved in lectures we tend to pay more attention and learn more. With the hyrbid class it's on us to to be able to do things on our own and stay on task, I like the freedom and the fact that we HAVE TO KEEP UP AND be able to handle it, we are getting more of our moneys worth when we are actually doing homework and things that go along with the class.
I agree with this article and the other comments on this. So many classes I personally feel like the instructor is just talking at me in a monotone voice expecting me to take everything in that he or she is saying or reading off of the powerpoint, and use that info on the next MC ior TF test. I can honestly say that even though I may receive good grades, there are some college classes I havent learned much in. I may memorize my notes before the test, but as soon as its over, I lose that info. This hybrid class and some other classes I have taken or am taking do encourage me to actually learn, read on my own, ask questions, explain what i read, and interact with others in the class. One of those classes you actually feel like you get what you pay for. I love learning, and that is what I am here to do, not memorize in my short term memory.
After taking Psychology and Law with Dr. Kim MacLin, I have loved doing hybrid classes. I feel like as students, we would gain so much more out of all of our classes if we did a more hands on, in and out of the classroom, hybrid format, curriculum. Using a hybrid format integrates today's technological advances, and also helps students learn and shows us that the computer can be used for a lot more than finding research and looking at our friend's new status on Facebook. I was reading the paper today (I'm a huge fan of HuffingtonPost as well) and I found this article from the President at Champlain College. He makes some really good points and I hope that all colleges integrate something of the same format that he talks about in his article. Check it out!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-finney/how-can-we-improve-colleg_b_811816.html
This relates to our hybrid class because not only do we have to read the material, we have to be able to apply it to situations and write about it. This is extremely beneficial because we're not just memorizing the material and taking standardized test over it. We are using our knowledge of the material to futher our vocabulary and using it in everyday life. I've had classes that there is no application, just memorization, and at the end of the semester I've forgotten everything I initially 'learned'. I think that a hybrid class creates a better learning environment and helps the student remember/apply the material better.
I can relate to this article becasue at times I have felt like i wasn't learning much in certian classes. This is due to a disconnect from the class. Students don't read the text and barely listen in class if they are even there half the time. This hybrid class we are doing requires participation and interaction with the class. We have to do the reading to be able to complete the assignments and even though we only have one class per week I still do more work and have learned more already in this class than in any of my other classes. I just think hybrid classes take some getting use to and take time to adjust to but they could definitely be the future of how classes are run across the country.
I do agree that many students are not learning in college. For me my classes are very hard to me to learn anything because I am more of a hands on person and also I would pick an online class over on campus anyday!!! This is because I feel that I learn more through my online classes then I do listening to a teach talk for hours! I also like the online classes more for tests as well because I have always been the worlds worst test taker! It has been this way since middle school! I feel that reading can be interesting as long as the books are short and sweet and get to the point. That goes the same for the teachers. Some talk about the same thing the whole class and yet I find my self texting or sleeping because its that boring! I feel that the teachers need to improve their way of teaching! This is nothing to this class! I have learned much already and the teacher makes class fun! Thats how all classes should be!
I would definitely agree with the article, students are taking away anything from most of their classes. A lot of classes just don't ask much from students anymore so its hard to learn when you don't have to do anything. I think that if teachers/professors incorporated more assignments, quiz's, and hands on assignments that wont ever load a student would be beneficial to everyone. Maybe teachers could reinforce students who show a good understanding of the class and produce good papers and high test scores with a reward of skipping the final test or not having to write one of the papers required. This could be the motivation some students need to understand and retain the material. Something has to change because going to class is almost pointless if you don't take anything away from it.
I agree with this article. It's hard to find professors that let the students engage in lecture besides just standing up there talking at us. The classes that I have learned from the most is the ones that I actually talk during class and apply what I am learning with examples, or just answering questions. This is what I like about Hybrid class. We are learning by finding more information about the topic that we are interested not just what the professor is interested in. Then we meet in class and learn about what we want to learn about (because we are asked). I have had some really great professors here at UNI that have tried to get my class to have discussions. One thing that I have noticed is that we have learned, from going to class, that the professor is going to stand in front of class and lecture, so when we are asked a conversational question no one answered. We (of course not everyone) are programed to sit there and listen and take notes. It takes awhile for a class (or what I have noticed) to actually get the hang of talking and discussing issues in the classroom. I think hybrid classes are a great idea in learning and grasping what is actually being taught.
I know that in a majority of my classes all we do is read and then we are tested over the information. This doesn't necessarily mean that we are learning it, we are just stuffing it inside of our heads long enough to put it down on paper. It's different in classes like this because you are almost forced to understand the material. Writing about what you just read or what you just learned has been much more effective for me thus far and I feel that I have retained a lot more information.
It’s interesting to hear that many students aren't completing more than 20 pages of paper in their classes. My major department does a great job at keeping us busy with research papers. However, I can't say that it surprises me. I see writing skills of some fellow junior and senior classmates during group projects and wonder they will keep a job. I begin to think that group projects due more to help students that can't pass on their own merit. It also hurts them as well. If I see a lot of errors in their work on our paper, I'm probably going to edit that piece to look and sound likes the rest of the project. The teacher never even knows the student cannot put together a good sentence, and the student is never asked to work on their grammar and spelling.
Another personal memory that supports the authors claim comes from a professor I had last spring. He had assigned us each 10 small papers for the midterm, and ten small papers for the final. There was no other homework or testing. At the end of the semester he announced that this was the last semester he would use the papers. "With so many students at the AA level, it’s not an appropriate assignment anymore." He was suggesting that there is a difference in the quality of writing between two year transfers and juniors from the university. Although it is not true across the board, many transfer students struggle to adapt to a university. Instead of helping these students bridge the gap, my professor catered to them and made it easier to get an A. I know I study hard, but my degree has the same merit at the guys next to me drooling on his homework and barely passing through. That's frustrating.
I actually disagree with this because I personally have had extremely busy classes. I am a sociology major and there is not a class I have taken that hasn't required at least a 12 page research paper and some have been 20 pages. I am reading about 200 pages a week plus writing every week and I think more classes should require these tasks. However, I do know that there are students in other majors that hear about classes that require hard work so they work around having to take that specific class. Because professor and class reviews online elicit such negative behaviors towards classes that require a big load of hard work and writing, students emit the behavior of signing up for easy classes. Personally, I could not get out of writing papers, and I feel that I have learned a lot from research and writing!
I agree with this article. I have had classes where I have learned a lot, but there are others where I have not learned anything. I'm taking one class now where we have a lot of busy work, but it is pointless. I am not learning anything from the homework, because it is all computer based and we just turn in our output. In another class, I have a lot of assignments and article reviews and a huge paper, but I am not learning anything. I am always busy with that class and it seems like I am just rushing to get the assignments done instead of sitting down and actually learning the material. I really like the idea of hybrid classes. Although it is sometimes difficult to do the blogs for this class all of the time, I feel as though I have learned a lot from this class because I am able to apply what I know to the blogs.