Virtual World, Meet the Classroom
by Alesha Jackson on Jun 17 2009 Posted in Class notes
How can the World Wide Web be used in teaching?
When I started college years ago, most people didn’t quite understand the World Wide Web: we logged on at the library, inadvertently sending mail from other people’s Hotmail accounts. Without the benefit of Google, our web surfing was limited to bidding on Ebay and the occasional foray onto music video Web sites. The web was still novelty—interesting, but not altogether very useful.
But now the Web has gotten bigger—or smaller. As the popularity of blogging, chat rooms, and internet forums expands, we are able to make connections across philosophical boundaries and continents. These days, some folks spend as much time in the virtual world as in the real world, and teachers are no exception. The virtual world has become more than just child's play.
I got introduced to my first virtual classroom through a program called Tutor.com, an online tutoring service that serves students all over the US. Housed primarily in public libraries, Tutor.com offers help with assignments for elementary students through college-age.
The gist of it is this: students log on anonymously and are connected to a tutor within a few seconds. On their screen, they each can see a whiteboard and several buttons. There is also a chat window—much like those they’d see in Yahoo Chat or AIM—where students can describe how they’d like to be assisted for that session.
Tutors take several rigorous tests before being hired into a subject area or areas, and many tutors are former classroom teachers themselves.
It sounds sterile, but learning happens! That makes me wonder: what can technology add to teaching and learning?
Think about it: our public schools are largely segregated, overcrowded, and expensive. Could virtual classrooms be a way to level the playing field? Even without ditching traditional schooling altogether, can schools improve by merging students’ and teachers’ virtual worlds with their real lives?
Jim Brown is exploring just that. He and others use social networking sites like MySpace to complicate students’ thinking about book characters or think about issues such as artistic property and public/private academic lives.
Can you see the World Wide Web as a tool for teaching? Weigh in here. You can also email me at aleshaj@thenotebook.org.
Comments (5)
Submitted by George Cigale (not verified) on Thu, 06/18/2009 - 10:50.
Alesha,
I enjoyed reading your post yesterday about virtual classrooms and online tutoring. I started Tutor.com about 10 years ago, and very much agree with you that the time feels ripe now for schools to figure out how to use social networking and advanced online tutoring technologies to level the playing field, especially in our urban schools with overly large class sizes.
Over the past 8 years, we've served almost 5 million students through Tutor.com's Live Homework Help service, primarily through our public library programs. Students go in droves to their public libraries during after school hours because it's a quiet and safe place to get their homework, studying, and test preparation done, and they use free library computers to connect for free on-demand one-to-one help with one of our 2,000+ tutors. We know that kids love the one-to-one attention (94% recommend rates in post-session surveys) in part because the virtual classroom is just like using AIM or texting, which they do all the time for fun, except they're connecting with a background checked subject expert (usually in math or science).
Now our challenge and opportunity is to help school leaders make the leap to using online tutoring in a way that's integrated with learning strategies during the school day. In pilot programs, we're already seeing high school teachers doing this successfully by having some students who need extra help connect to an online tutor instead of slowing down the entire class. As well as allowing the students who are ahead to do more challenging problems with an online tutor.
We hope to learn more in the coming months on how to best incorporate online tutoring into the teaching and learning process for a variety of subjects and grade levels. Any thoughts on the subject, and the awareness building through your blog, is much appreciated,
George Cigale, gcigale@tutor.com
CEO, Tutor.com
Submitted by Alesha Jackson on Thu, 06/18/2009 - 14:12.
George, thanks for your post. It is certainly exciting to think about the unique new connections between learrning and technology.
Submitted by Samuel Reed III on Tue, 06/23/2009 - 17:14.
Alesha;
Thank you for your timely post. I will soon blog about a reated topic; exploring how social networking and online discourse promotes and disrupts democratic practices.
If you have not viewed the PBS documentatry Growing Up Online, I would highly reccommend it.
Also check out this article from the Chronicle about online writing.
Submitted by Alesha Jackson on Tue, 06/23/2009 - 18:40.
Wow, Sam, thanks for the links! I think the concept of a "Firewall"-- a disconnect from classroom writing and other forms of writing-- is key for thinking about which writing "counts" and why. I look forward to reading your post!
Submitted by etutoring (not verified) on Tue, 03/06/2012 - 07:55.
the virtual world nowadays plays a vital role in the current education system. Most resources are already found online, making it easier for students to find the educational resources they need.
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