A majority of teens prefer in-person learning over alternative

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Dustin, Jun 10, 2022.

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  1. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/06/02/how-teens-navigate-school-during-covid-19/

    I took an online course in 10th grade and really struggled with it. As an adult I have the discipline but back then, not so much.

    I wonder how we're going to respond, as a nation, to the students who fell behind during 2+ years of COVID?
     
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  2. sideman

    sideman Well Known Member

    "When asked about the effect COVID-19 may have had on their schooling, a majority of teens express little to no concern about falling behind in school due to disruptions caused by the outbreak. Still, there are youth who worry the pandemic has hurt them academically: 16% of teens say they are extremely or very worried they may have fallen behind in school because of COVID-19-related disturbances."

    I find this quote very disturbing. I work with teens daily in an online format (predominately 15-18 years old) prior to this in a traditional classroom setting. I have seen the falling behind firsthand, and wonder if indeed some will ever catch up. Most teens lack the discipline to "self-study". If they are not constantly overseen they will slack off. It's just human nature. And it's certainly easier to keep an eye on students in a traditional classroom setting vs. online. I can't tell you how many times I've had to stop the online class to make a student put away their cellphone and deal with other distractions. I wouldn't mind seeing all students attending summer school to get back the vital time lost. Otherwise, we may witness a lot of ill-prepared students for higher education this fall and further on.
     
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  3. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    To quibble, given that some adolescents need constant supervision, some need a lot, some need a little, and some don't need any, I would say this is part of human variation rather than part of human nature.
     
  4. sideman

    sideman Well Known Member

    Ha! Agreed. See what working with teens daily does to you? You want to lump them all together lol. And in all fairness I have had some really good, self-motivated students, where you just wind them up and turn them loose.
     
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  5. Vicki

    Vicki Well-Known Member

    My son did online school for 8th grade. I often found him sleeping during class. I had to bug him all the time to pay attention, when he would rather play with the dog, then he tried to set up his chromebook next to his video games. He says he prefers in-person classes
     
  6. cacoleman1983

    cacoleman1983 Well-Known Member

    Online learning is best for self-motivated people only. Most teens need social interaction and forced accountability from teachers. In fact, studies have shown that online learning has a failure and drop rate higher than traditional learning even for adults. I personally love online learning and cannot fathom completing a fully traditional in-person degree program at this point in my life. I completed a graduate certificate that was in class while finishing up a Masters degree that was 95%+ online at the same school and I actually struggled in the certificate program as the courses were in the evening. I actually made a C in one the classes but luckily I still received credit and did not have to repeat the course because it was not in a major program and all the certificate's courses would have been electives for all the other programs at the university. That certificate program is now defunct.
     
  7. SweetSecret

    SweetSecret Well-Known Member

    I do not understand this. Personally, if I could get away with doing the equivalent of anonymous tests to finish a degree... I would. Personally, I worry more about teachers and professors deciding how to grade based on something non-academic and/or because they just do not like the student's opinion.
     
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  8. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    In general, pedagogy is tough online. You can do some of it synchronously, but it's hard to maintain any sort of classroom dynamic for long.

    Alternately, kids aren't really ready, by definition, for andragogical methods (like independent study and asynchronous learning). And I doubt much instruction was able to be mechanized online.

    I truly sympathized with teachers who were not prepared to conduct their classes in an online, synchronous method. Nor were their students. They just had to muddle through. It was (and will be again) a societal cost from the Covid-19 pandemic.
     
  9. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    As a student, I love asynchronous learning. As a faculty, I love in-person. In the fall, I'll teach two sections of Intro to CJ (one on Zoom to dual enrollment high school students and the other asynchronously to college students) and Intro to Law Enforcement in-person. Hopefully in the spring, I won't have more than one course online. I don't mind teaching an asynchronous course. I just hate teaching synchronously. I feel the students are not as engaged.
     
  10. Lerner

    Lerner Well-Known Member

    When I attended university I loved being on campus, we had the most prettiest young ladies attend our university, and I remember wanting to beck on campus just to interact with them.
    Also many good memories playing sports and having friends that are still in touch.
     
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  11. Vicki

    Vicki Well-Known Member

    This thread seems to have shifted away from the original topic - teens and how COVID impacted their education.
    o_O
     
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  12. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Yes, it has -- and we should probably get back on track. But I did so enjoy Lerner's reminiscences. Nice visions. :)
     
  13. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    Don't they always do?
     
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  14. Trek

    Trek Member

    I'm concerned that the K-12 online education experiences have negatively changed perceptions about online education in general.

    Meaning that I worry people will think that online courses for adults are lower quality and that adults are kind of doing the minimum.
     
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  15. sideman

    sideman Well Known Member

    K-12 online and adult online are really two different paths with persons at different life stages. To put a child on the internet with asynchronous learning and expecting them to be successful straightaway is folly (most of the time). And certainly a lot of adults may need the handholding and face to face interaction too. But adults that study online, in a well designed program, are usually motivated to do well and advance their education for a variety of reasons. And most are mature and discerning enough to want to be challenged by and master the material presented. I believe the homeschool associations that I've been exposed to, have good guidelines for homeschooling, cooperate and share materials and advice, have asynchronous courses that have been vetted and proven successful according to age and grade level, and the parents are motivated to cover subjects thoroughly and share subject matter that they are well trained in, in a synchronous environment too. Does this mean that homeschooling is for everyone? Of course not. But it is an alternative and has been a viable one for years. As has online learning for adults, which is really correspondence learning (been around since the mid-nineteenth century) that has been modernized by the internet. If anything, some learned during the pandemic that maybe online courses are not as easy as they thought, and maybe they do have to study and apply themselves after all.

    People will think what they're going to think. I give no credibility to anyone that's arrogant enough to assume that the only way for an adult to learn subject matter is their way.
     
    Johann likes this.
  16. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    :) :) :)
     
  17. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Pedagogy vs Andragogy.
     

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