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I think we all know that this is true, that online courses have subpar experience compared to physically being in the classrooms especially with younger kids. T

I think we all know that this is true, that online courses have subpar experience compared to physically being in the classrooms especially with younger kids. The question is, how can we make an online classroom experience be as good as it can get and also scales up?

pfortuny 6y ago
Maybe we can just accept that physical presence is different from virtual one and that it is impossible to make the latter "as good as" the former. Just saying. I am tired of my Uni (at which I work) trying to convince us that the students are as happy with online courses as with live ones.
heisenzombie 6y ago
Does “scaling up” have to be part of it? Maybe teaching is better done with small groups, and being online doesn’t change that. Could the time-shifting and decentralisation of online learning reduce class sizes instead of increasing them?
- agustif 6y ago
  You could certainly scale-up the product/solution and at the same time, try to optimize/reduce the number of students per teacher. A p2p model where students teach other students just below their baseline would be an awesome way to make studying more fullfilling/enjoyable
  - tsimionescu 6y ago
    For what it's worth, that used to be a very common model of teaching, especially in early school (and it still is pretty common at university level, with TAs). It would be common for fourth-graders to teach first graders, as I understand it, especially in rural schools where there were very few teachers available. I think there are problems with he system though, as you can't rely on the teaching capacities of an 11 year old child, even if they are quite gifted in that particular subject matter. I think doing group work with a mix of older and younger children would help a lot though, but it is still probably best if the concepts are first introduced by an adult who has at least some pedagocical training.
polytely 6y ago
Probably lessons in VR Chat but the seems kind of expensive.
- Robotbeat 6y ago
  A $400 Oculus Quest is cheaper than almost any laptop I can find. (Can pair a Bluetooth keyboard, too.)
qznc 6y ago
A "classroom" is already wrong. We want a "learning" experience and a "socializing" experience.

pfortuny 6y ago

Maybe we can just accept that physical presence is different from virtual one and that it is impossible to make the latter "as good as" the former. Just saying. I am tired of my Uni (at which I work) trying to convince us that the students are as happy with online courses as with live ones.

heisenzombie 6y ago

Does “scaling up” have to be part of it? Maybe teaching is better done with small groups, and being online doesn’t change that. Could the time-shifting and decentralisation of online learning reduce class sizes instead of increasing them?

agustif 6y ago
You could certainly scale-up the product/solution and at the same time, try to optimize/reduce the number of students per teacher. A p2p model where students teach other students just below their baseline would be an awesome way to make studying more fullfilling/enjoyable
- tsimionescu 6y ago
  For what it's worth, that used to be a very common model of teaching, especially in early school (and it still is pretty common at university level, with TAs). It would be common for fourth-graders to teach first graders, as I understand it, especially in rural schools where there were very few teachers available. I think there are problems with he system though, as you can't rely on the teaching capacities of an 11 year old child, even if they are quite gifted in that particular subject matter. I think doing group work with a mix of older and younger children would help a lot though, but it is still probably best if the concepts are first introduced by an adult who has at least some pedagocical training.

polytely 6y ago

Probably lessons in VR Chat but the seems kind of expensive.

Robotbeat 6y ago
A $400 Oculus Quest is cheaper than almost any laptop I can find. (Can pair a Bluetooth keyboard, too.)

qznc 6y ago

A "classroom" is already wrong. We want a "learning" experience and a "socializing" experience.