Barclay- 3 Facts I DID NOT KNOW

1) "Discussion forums- when Benjamin Franklin organized Junto—an informal discussion
group—in Philadelphia in 1727."

"Although Junto and Lyceum, for example, were conducted in-person, their formation wasbased on the principle of independent learning that is an underpinning concept of
contemporary distance education."

The Junto and Lyceum are fascinating examples of discussion groups. I did not know these events occurred. As a history teacher, I talk alot about the Founding with my students because it is one of my favorite eras of U.S. History. I will most likely include this in my curriculum since Social Sciences tend to use an inquiry/investigative model to encourage students to construct an argument in discussions.

2) "The quality of education in the commercial sector ranged from very good to outright fraudulent. The commercial or “proprietary” schools egaging in deceptive practices damaged the reputation of distance education to the point the federal government withdrew its financial support of students in such schools and established rules limiting the practice in the 1950s. It was not until 2002 that the federal government began to relax the regulations."

I was very surprised to know this, but I'm curious to know exactly what deceptive/fraudulent practices. What did they do that was litigious or criminal?

3) The U. S. Department of Education (pg 5). Wasn't this originated under the Carter Administration in 1980?

"By the 1930s the U. S. Department of Education had also an active role in educational radio. Laine (1939) depicted the thriving scene of educational radio by describing the various programs sponsored by the U. S. Department of Education at the national level, and the many state supported programs. Subjects of these radio broadcasts ranged from science and history to issues related to civil rights. Some of the program titles included; Let the Freedom Ring, Trial by Jury, Free Assembly, Women’s and Children’s Rights, and Free Press. In addition, the U. S. Department of Education made agreements with the National Broadcasting Company
(NBC) and The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) for producing and broadcasting a variety of programs with educational content. Such programs were as diverse as music education to those containing religious themes. (3)

4) I found the following example and many others that I can use in my US History curriculum. I did not know the following. My textbook just mentions that "PBS" was created, but doesn't say "why". I've always been curious as to why. Thanks.

"In the 1960s the Civil Rights movement and other social developments brought to light the plight of the children living in inner cities who were deprived of adequate means of learning. These social concerns lead to the establishment of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The task of the CPB was to fund production and broadcast of educational programs. Perhaps the best known and the most successful program funded by CPB is Sesame Street which reached millions of pre-school children throughout the country on PBS and offered them the type of early education language development and mathematical thinking which otherwise they would not have received."

5) I worked at Best Buy and they use a similar approach to training their employees. They actually call it E-Learning and they require their employees to follow through with E-Learning.

Technology enthusiasts who have coined new terms such as “telelearning” “e-
Learning” and “asynchronous learning” without fully considering the history and
conceptual development of the field. As a techie-nerd myself, I found that much of the e-learning was redundant and many employees cheated by providing answers to each other in order to complete it. I had no problem completing it on my own because much of the topics (e.g. sales in televisions) was something I was already familiar with.

"learning that takes place on a networked computer. However the “e” in e-Learning refers to “electronic,” and should include other electronic media such as radio and television, to name just two, if the term is inclusive of all of its connotations. The subtitle of the same book also includes the term “online learning,” another popular term based on the physical property of some networks. (30)