Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Problems with online classes
Story by Marcelina Blea
Several problems surround the “online learning and educational” websites SF State uses for handling classes online. Online learning and online classes are two separate things. There are classes offered online only, in which the students and teachers never meet each other. Webpages expire in these websites, as due dates pass. I have taken four online only classes, at my last college, San Joaquin Delta Community College.
However, with several regular university classes offered at SF State, there is often an external component, available on the internet only, which supplements the class. In addition to meeting in person in the classroom, students are asked to log into an external website to view materials, such as the syllabus or take quizzes online. It’s as if, there is another book required for the class, yet only accessible online.
When used properly these websites are very efficient. Students can take quizzes, view their grades, the syllabus, communicate with other students, use a message board, view materials, amongst more.
This concept doesn’t always work smoothly. There are too many external educational websites used by professors. This semester I have three professors using three different websites. They are Blackboard,iLearn and Grouphub. The website used by professors needs to be uniform. This way the student can see all their classes on one page. They also will be able to access all their classes from one page. We can call it the “One Stop Online Learning Center.”
It is confusing to remember all the urls for all these online learning websites. The Blackboard website has even included a link to iLearn. Just click on the small banner at top reading, “Looking for your iLearn classes?” Problems continue to arise when trying to log in. Just like any other website, you need a user name and a password. Blackboard is the easiest to use, requiring your student I.D. number and PAC. Professors hear it all the time “I couldn’t log in.” With iLearn, a professor can manually add students to the system, preventing the unable to login problem.
Even when students can log in, they don’t always do so. This can be frustrating as students don’t read the announcements or contribute to group projects.
One English class I took at SF State used Blackboard very effectively. What helped was the teacher did not require students to login until the first day of class. They also went over how to use the message board function properly. In this class, we carried out group projects and were able to communicate with each other. Meanwhile, in my current journalism class (using Grouphub), we can’t seem to communicate well enough to coordinate a reporter with a photographer.
The key to making these websites is proper communication and consistency. In the astronomy online only class I took, the teacher stopped giving online quizzes half way through the semester. Also, not all professors keep the grade book up to date.
Professors prefer different online teaching and educational websites. However, there should still be one main way to tie all three websites into one login method. Maybe through our personal www.sfsu.edu/student page. Or maybe have the links to the classes through one main page. This way every professor can choose the online learning website they prefer.
Several problems surround the “online learning and educational” websites SF State uses for handling classes online. Online learning and online classes are two separate things. There are classes offered online only, in which the students and teachers never meet each other. Webpages expire in these websites, as due dates pass. I have taken four online only classes, at my last college, San Joaquin Delta Community College.
However, with several regular university classes offered at SF State, there is often an external component, available on the internet only, which supplements the class. In addition to meeting in person in the classroom, students are asked to log into an external website to view materials, such as the syllabus or take quizzes online. It’s as if, there is another book required for the class, yet only accessible online.
When used properly these websites are very efficient. Students can take quizzes, view their grades, the syllabus, communicate with other students, use a message board, view materials, amongst more.
This concept doesn’t always work smoothly. There are too many external educational websites used by professors. This semester I have three professors using three different websites. They are Blackboard,iLearn and Grouphub. The website used by professors needs to be uniform. This way the student can see all their classes on one page. They also will be able to access all their classes from one page. We can call it the “One Stop Online Learning Center.”
It is confusing to remember all the urls for all these online learning websites. The Blackboard website has even included a link to iLearn. Just click on the small banner at top reading, “Looking for your iLearn classes?” Problems continue to arise when trying to log in. Just like any other website, you need a user name and a password. Blackboard is the easiest to use, requiring your student I.D. number and PAC. Professors hear it all the time “I couldn’t log in.” With iLearn, a professor can manually add students to the system, preventing the unable to login problem.
Even when students can log in, they don’t always do so. This can be frustrating as students don’t read the announcements or contribute to group projects.
One English class I took at SF State used Blackboard very effectively. What helped was the teacher did not require students to login until the first day of class. They also went over how to use the message board function properly. In this class, we carried out group projects and were able to communicate with each other. Meanwhile, in my current journalism class (using Grouphub), we can’t seem to communicate well enough to coordinate a reporter with a photographer.
The key to making these websites is proper communication and consistency. In the astronomy online only class I took, the teacher stopped giving online quizzes half way through the semester. Also, not all professors keep the grade book up to date.
Professors prefer different online teaching and educational websites. However, there should still be one main way to tie all three websites into one login method. Maybe through our personal www.sfsu.edu/student page. Or maybe have the links to the classes through one main page. This way every professor can choose the online learning website they prefer.
# posted by Phil Deez @ 6:11 PM 