Michael Dietz's BUSE 4280 Blog

1. How could you create a similar experience for any business education curriculum and/or course?

In a business class the class could use individual wiki’s to take notes on their laptops.  Then, after class students could compare notes on various subjects to help with each others’ learning.  They could form teams of students that would also compare notes, work on projects together, and help teach each other more difficult topics.  The teachers in the business education area could also blog briefly about the class, how the day went and attach some of the files that were used in class that day.

2. What do you think is a strength of his scenario?

The strength of the scenario is that all of the education is shared.  Collaboration on this level is so large and useful that everyone from the top administrators to the teachers and student’s benefit.  This is an ideal scenario in education that as long as all of the cogs in the machine do their part.  If one link of this learning unit slacks all others are affected.

3. What do you think is a weakness of his scenario?
Like I touched on in the previous answer is that this learning cycle is inter-dependent on each of their parts.  If one aspect of the cycles, one teacher doesn’t hold up their end of the chain then the other parts are affected and the link will eventually lose its integrity and usefulness.

Chapter 9 is all about the transition to school 2.0.  I was recently at work at Buffalo Wild Wings where it isn’t uncommon for teachers from the Ohio Virtual Academy to come in to eat and work for the afternoon.  I was able to talk to them briefly and and observe their “classroom” (the conference room) and have a little discussion with them about their feelings.  Without going into details they basically said they enjoyed the freedom it allowed it but currently at the teacher level their workload is very high with the school being in high demand but not enough teachers.  My feelings about all of this information and what the book proposes as the future of education seems to be that the current system is very mixed.

It seems to me like the ability to switch to a internet classroom is there and that there are people willing to take part in it but at the same time are we preparing our teachers to be online teachers who follow another person’s teaching materials like we heard about in class?  Will future teachers present web classes and lessons as apposed to being observed in real classrooms?  I have my own reservations about making this technological age we live already into the only way we live beginning with first grade.   Turning the one institution that requires face to face communication and life skills into something that can be done without leaving bedrooms I think won’t have positive benefits long term.

I think of changing school into a totally online and non face to face meeting place like a future sci-fi movie.  Kids will stay in little pod rooms and learn and play video games and interaction with others will be done entirely via video conferencing.  It seems a little far-fetched but I don’t think its unrealistic to think that its possible further down the road as trends in education change.

I have heard about the digital divide in a few other education classes I have taken.  I enjoyed the statistics that 70% of White and Asian-American children have internet access at home while only 40% of Indian, Hispanic, and African-American students have the same access.  Teachers will need to be very aware of their classes and students and possibly even ask on the student’s information sheet if they have a computer and internet access at home when thinking about incorporating technology and assigning work.  You don’t want to assign projects involving technology if the students don’t have it available at home.

Using technology and creating authentic assessments can prepare students for standardized tests.  I never thought that this was totally possible or accurate but after reading this section I can see how the two are related.  I think using videos of interviews and observing and critiquing them could help business students prepare for standardized tests and all of the different parts of interviews.