At a first glance, I was fairly impressed with the novelty and creativity of this method. This approach is obviously one that is meant for college level courses. It would be impractical to have an elementary school full of students who wandered about all day with no structure, with hopes that they may pace themselves. On the surface, this approach is very similar to the online courses we have now. However, there are some benefits this approach has over online courses. One benefit is that the students do, from time to time, meet face to face with an instructor or TA. This allows for questions/answers and immediate feedback (perhaps even tutoring or reinforcement) that one cannot often achieve online. The second benefit is the use of manipulatives and hands-on experimentation. Although multi-media can mimic such activities, I am a firm believer in that there is nothing that comes close to a hands-on experience.
Though it seems to me that this approach could only work at the college level and cannot be easily molded to fit the typical classroom experience. Another draw back is the time for preparation and the cost of materials. It's impractical to use this method today because it is much cheaper to develop an online course. But I do think that, for it's time, it was an approach that was both effective and creative.
If I were to find myself teaching an online course at some point, I am certain that I would modify or borrow certain aspects of this method to enhance the learning experience of my own students. It goes without saying that most students who take online courses do so in order to avoid a rigid schedule of meeting times or coming to campus altogether. However, its reasonable to think that I could convince the students to make one or two trips on a scheduled date (if possible) for a face-face meeting and some sort of hands on activity here and there. Though this model is not one I could likely use in the future, it is great food for thought and something I could use to build upon or develop more ideas for my bank of instructional methods.
I agree that this approach is designed for college students. I don't even think that most of my current students could handle this approach. I teach mainly 9th and 10th graders. Most of them don't have the self-discipline to stay on task.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned two key points about this model/theory; time & cost and the grade level at which this model should be implemented. The ability for these students to receive instant feedback is good but it all comes down to the content of the question.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your point about the academic level that this approach is meant for. Also, I wanted to comment on your idea of using different aspects of this method later for your own use because there are great aspects here that could easily be modified to fit into a classroom of any kind. I do have one question though, what would you do for remediation? I have always wanted to hear about different strategies to help students that are struggling.
ReplyDeleteGiven the nature of the subjects I teach, I have often found that my favorite and most effective form of remediation is one-on-one interaction. I realize that this approach is much more time consuming and would not work with a very large amount of students. But since the courses I teach require a great deal of hands-on activities and application of the subject matter learned, I have found this to be the most effective. If I can get a group together who are having similar difficulties with the content, then I am able to discern the problem and give a proper demonstration. Then I allow time for questions. Next I allow them to work through the activity as I supervise, making comments and suggestions along the way. Basically, I repeat this process until the student can produce satisfactory results.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to hear you all mention this model would not work for younger kids. When I helped evaluate the state virtual school, a lot of online courses were structured with self-paced materials and assessments for high schoolers. Based on feedback from some kids, some of the courses did not even include a small assembly session as recommended by the A-T model, just the self-pacing pieces. We heard from a lot of students that they really wanted that communication piece with peers and the instructor, so I would have to agree that any A-T type instruction with pre-high school kids, needs to also include the assembly/collaborative pieces to be maximize learning. The self-directedness issue came up over and over again in these environments with many kids not as capable as others in managing their self-pacing through materials. Having regular feedback helps of course, but it's unclear whether a model like A-T provides ENOUGH of that "regular" feedback, if it is all designed to occur at the end of a learning unit in a small assembly session.
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