When “formal” education came to America, it differed greatly from the English models on which most new American ideas were founded. England had academic schools, but mainly for the privileged. All other “students” trained as apprentices, often starting as very young children placed in foster-ship with a master who taught them the trade or skill they would practice during their lifetime.
The first schools in America, including that of Joseph Cotton, established in Mass. in 1633, were more academically inclined but still limited in content. Basic reading skills and memorization comprised the mainstay of the curriculum, with Greek and Latin for scholars in upper levels.
Formal schools started wherever space could be found, whether it be a meeting hall, barn, or spare room in a large home. Eventually it came to be recognized that focus on the subjects at hand, was better achieved in their own, stable environment, and the better established and richer settlements began building schoolhouses.
There were no examples to model their schools after, and so they ended up being the most practical of shelters: one room, with benches, and a stove. Desks would not appear for many years yet, and blackboards wouldn’t be seen until the 1820s.
In the town or city where the teacher lived nearby and so did the students, this kind of institution was all very well, but in the country it was a different matter. Teachers were charged with clearing away heavy snowfalls, and arriving early enough to bring wood in from outside and have the stove going before students arrived. There were no “snow” days, and the teacher was expected to be there, even if the students didn’t show up. In the country, that could mean anything from a walk of several miles, to a horse struggling over roads blocked by snowdrifts.
There were no grades in the beginning, simply children learning at their own pace, something which may very well have been an advantage over today’s system. Certainly, the benefit of having children older or more advanced than others helping those struggling or at lower levels of achievement, was preferable to some school situations now faced in cities where classrooms are overcrowded, teachers overworked, and students under-assisted. (extracted from http://historyeducationinfo.com)
Since the Industrial Revolution, the necessity to educate more people at a faster pace has not stopped. First, building bigger schools and larger classrooms to accommodate more people; and recently thanks to e-learning this capacity has been made unlimited. However, as exposed in the previous paragraphs, this growth in education facilities and opportunities does not necessarily mean that the learning process has evolved in to an easier or more effective one.
The transition between in-class to virtual education will take some years. Limitations on the necessary infrastructure and changing students’ behavior, among other considerations, will graduate the speed of this process. The speed of change to a virtual education will depend mostly on the quality of the applications; the applications need to speed-up the learning process of the individuals, and to adapt to their needs better than books or multimedia/online presenters of content and exams.
Learning is a very individualized process, and facilitating this process has become a very difficult art. Time constraints limit the teacher’s ability, in class or remotely, to provide personal attention to each student.
Consider the learning process as a combination of different models, steps or styles: cognitive, constructive, conductive, and collaborative, among others. The cognitive step requires special attention as well as more time for developing, since without knowledge it is much more difficult to develop the rest of steps.
The cognitive heterogeneity of the group limits the teacher’s ability to develop activities that achieve the other steps. If we could provide teachers with cognitively more homogeneous groups of students, participation in class will increase, and the rest of the steps could flow naturally and dynamically. The learning process would be accelerated.
Imagine now a software application that addresses this issue. A client-based or online tool with the entire content of the current books. A database filled with learning objects that a teacher can sort and group according to lessons. This application uses multimedia in order to present these objects and students can take as much time as necessary in acquiring these objects. This application will also incorporate a methodology to track and reinforce particular objects in which the student demonstrates difficulties. The application will also evaluate and provide immediate results so students can address confusions or difficulties immediately. Reinforcing is based on reviewing the objects, depending upon the student’s answers. Reviews are taken to longer intervals of time each time. Objects are considered learned once the student can answer it correctly after a certain interval of time. Students must also take the reviews before they begin new lessons.
Now, combine this application with a learning management system. The LMS will provide an intranet to validate the student’s identity through a logging routine. Also, during this routine, the student’s progress is updated at the server and at the machine where the application is being used. The student’s progress captures all the activities carried on by each student with the application: study date, study time, lessons studied, objects studied, objects learned, lessons learned, lessons under review, objects under review, times lessons have been reviewed, times objects have been reviewed. The LMS will also provide a means of interaction between teacher and student as well as reports based on each student’s metrics. These metrics will provide the teacher with an in-depth look at each student. He/she will be able to: pinpoint objects that are causing difficulty, address students who are not keeping up with their lessons, as well as have insight in to each students particular study habits.
Finally, combine the use of this application (at home) with the classroom.
The application will pretrain the students with the materials they will use in class. The student will use a multimedia book with bidirectional interactivity: student-CPU/CPU-student. The students are at home, where they feel no pressure about making mistakes; some students can take more time than others to complete assignments. The reinforcing methodology will help students to develop long-term retention; lessons or objects with higher difficulty will be reviewed more frequently, and objects previously learned or mastered will not be reinforced. This will maximize efficiency in the study time.
Online Educational Solution (OES) has been working at developing an application that addresses the current issues facing education. Taking into account the great hurdles foreign language students need to overcome, OES has developed an application that subscribes to this formula: Pretrained students + Educators with insight and time = More efficient learning experience.
To learn more about OES please visit http://www.theenglishteacher.com
