Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Podcasting Lectures

At the University of Nebraska-Lincoln there is a professor who uses ipod for lectures. I can see the benefits of doing this, but I think - how is this applicable to my own life?

I am taking an online course based in WebCT, which is very much like Blackboard for anyone who uses that software. I think WebCT is easier for the student, having taken a course that uses Blackboard at another institution, but that is probably because I am more familiar with WebCT than Blackboard.

Either way, this course has videos with the professor and tons of ppt presentations, interactive flash cards, self-tests and what not. What I wonder is how much am I really getting out of the course? I am a big picture kind of person, I like to see how events fit in with other things. Do not ask me when the Battle of is, I could not even tell you the years of the Civil War. But ask me what the significance of an event was and yes, I can tell you all I know about it.

For psychology, history, a good number of social science and humanities courses where students are expected to write and do research independently, I could see this working. Even if you recorded a math lecture, visual and sound and all, I could also see this as applicable. Would it work for everyone? No. There are some students who need their hand-held, some sort of security blanket to rely on.

This leads me to the question, what does the United States math education system really need to get better? There are a million ways to answer this question, and some very broad answers that would not only improve our math education but other types of education too. But, what do we need to get US-born mathematicians and scientists back in the game?

Is it really all that wrong to expect there to be a few mathematical geniuses and many, many more people who are not that way. Worse yet, even some people who do not do math at all? The intelligence curve tells us that it will be like that, so why aren't standarized tests made to reflect that principle?

I have always believed that everyone can learn mathematics with enough effort and time, but am I wrong? Do you believe there are people who really can not process the information? Or is it right to believe there is a little bit of logic in each of us and since mathematics is logical, with enough practice people can get it?

I would like to know what everyone else thinks about this, so please post comments. What should be done to US education to "fix" it? Is it reasonable to think that everyone, or really all children, can learn every subject to some capacity, or is this system doomed to always fail because that is an unreasonable assumption that education makes?

1 comment:

CM Quanta said...

I think you are right that anyone can learn mathematics and it should not be considered an elite subject. I have tutored for an organization called JUMP (Junior Undiscovered Math Prodigies) which was founded by John Mighton who wrote a book called The Myth of Ability, where he details his experiences teaching math to students who were considered "beyond math."