The use of Applets and Video

Next fall I am going to attempt to combine the Khan Academy videos with GeoGebra Applets. While the website is still very much under construction, I'd enjoy some feedback from anyone, anywhere that seems at all interested or concerned.

To access the website, click here. Below are my thoughts on the advantages of this different way of teaching. (Many of the ideas are similar to my previous post on how rad Khan is.)

CALCULUS:

A video and applet approach to learning calculus, utilizing the Khan Academy videos and GeoGebra Calculus applets.

The traditional model of math education, presented rather perssimistically, is this: Teach a skill during class. Students practice it at home, oftentimes discouraged that they "got it during class, but couldn't figure it out at home." Consequently, teachers spend the majority of the next class going over the homework, usually rushing at the end to cram in the "new material." All the while, students who "get it" are bored; the middle students are receiving appropriate instruction; and the slower students are overwhelmed by the pace and do not have enough time to digest the new content.

The video/applet approach allows students to learn material at their own pace through online lectures. Then, using the applets as inquiry-based learning, students can make deep connections to the material. During the lectures, students can comfortably sit with a new topic. During the applets, the material comes alive.

Then, during the classtime, teachers can assist students in applying the newly learned skills. The classroom becomes a dynamic learning space. With the immediate help of the teacher and peers, students can grapple with much harder problems, while also ensuring that they have the basics down. With the teacher taking on the role of an "experienced learner/ problem solver," rather than the beacon of knowledge, students start to become more independent in the learning process. This truly sets them up to become life learners.

For this model to work most effectively, the role of the teacher in the classroom is to create opportunities for students to appropriately challenge themselves. It would be expected that the sharper students are working on more challenging problems on a daily basis. Equally relevant, weaker students -challenged at the right level- would develop greater confidence and their understanding and ability would grow exponentially.

The eventual goal is to allow students to move at their own pace on a weekly, monthly and even yearly basis. Why should two students of differing abilities both start and finish at the same place in an academic school year? By developing an ethos of independent, motivated learning, there is no reason to hold students back or inappropriately push students forward. Given this new model of class, students (ideally working in a small cohort) would move through the material at exactly the right pace for them.

Imagine that! Everyone appropriately challenged always, all year. That would breed intellectual excellence and excitement.