Miller, John - Observations on eLearning and Distance Education

Educational Radio
Living in an area of the state with a rich and long agricultural history, I was not fully aware of the role of radio in supporting agricultural practices. My alarm wakes me up in the morning to the sound of the farm report being broadcast on my local radio station at 5:30 AM. The short program gives details as to the prices of various commodities, states long-term weather predictions, and highlights key agricultural bills making their way through congressional hearings. As Brian mentioned in his post, I feel a bit nostalgic thinking back to the days when this report was really the life-blood of the community and provided varied and important information through county extension programs and federally sponsored materials. In retrospect, it makes perfect sense that a medium such as radio would be used this way, but I generally think of the early days of radio as being dominated by news and popular entertainment.

Comparison of Classroom Instruction to Distance Education
I read with particular interest the summary of studies comparing the effectiveness of classroom instruction to distance education and could not help but think of my own experiences both with COMET and with my class of 6th graders this year. The comparative studies mentioned in the article found "no statistically significant difference" between the two kinds of instruction. In thinking about my COMET experience, I believe that I have received as good, if not better, an education than I would have in a traditional classroom. It was great fun meeting many of my cohort members at graduation, but being online and relatively isolated from the group for the past two years has made me very focused on learning and my education. I believe I am also a more efficient learner without the distractions found in classroom environments.

One of my students made an interesting comment in class about a month ago. She asked if I thought there would be a day where I would teach my classes entirely online. I responded by asking her to think about our classwork up to that point (I have a paperless classroom) and challenged the class to identify one thing that we accomplished that could not have been accomplished if the class were held online. They began to list many assignments, but also answered their own questions before I could. We reached the conclusion that, provided that each student had access to a computer and the Internet at home, these 11 year olds could have stayed home and completed 6th grade history and science. It was a really powerful moment because I had been stressing to them the entire year how important it was to learn the technology skills I was teaching them along side the curriculum.

Knowledge as a Commodity
In addition to teaching my students how important tech skills are, I also emphasize to them how much the world has changed since their parents were in school. I was intrigued to read observations emphasizing the importance of knowledge to 21st century economies - going so far as to label its role as "transformative," "profound," and "ever-accelerating," further suggesting that high-tech skills and services will be in great demand globally. For my students attending a small, rural middle school in the Salinas Valley, it is simply not good enough to receive good grades. They must also be developing the technology skills and knowledge now to compete with kids their ages in India, China, and other developing countries that are broadening their knowledge bases.