Online Education

Online Education

Definition:
Learning delivered by Web-based or Internet-based technologies.

Newstories

"New online tutoring tool helps boost maths grades"
For the first time, BrightSpark Education (http://www.brightsparkeducation.com/) is offering all 7 to 16 year-olds one-to-one maths tuition online, delivered by top maths graduates and former teachers.
http://www.24dash.com/news/education/2010-09-10-New-online-tutoring-tool-helps-boost-maths-grades

"Education Online education 'increases inequality'"
Computers in education can deepen the divide between rich and poor, claim researchers in the United States.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/323272.stm

Advantages & Disadvantages of Online Education

Advantages

• No need to pay for teaching or tutoring. This saves money.
• You can save money on travel costs, e.g. now many courses can be worked on at home saving to go to a college or school to study the course.
• Many online sites are free, e.g. bitesize are free to use and can used as much as you like as long as you have internet access.
• Students often comment that online learning lets them attend class when fully awake and attend when they find it convenient, rather than rigid 2 or 4 hour stretches once or twice a week.
• Online educational sites can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so students have the ability to read and re read lectures, discussions, explanations and comments. Often spoken material in the classroom passes students by due to a number of distractions, missed classes, tiredness or boredom.

Disadavantages

• there is probably no one checking your progress on a regular basis. You may be given some guidance along the way, but you and you alone are usually responsible for working your way through the course. Since you can work at your own pace, some people find themselves putting the work off until they don't have enough time to finish the requirements.
• Communication - the lack of interaction. You aren't in a classroom and don't have the opportunity to hear questions and discussions from other students.
• If you have no understanding of the topic/subject, there is no extra guidance to help you fully understand it.
• Health risks - e.g. headaches from looking at the computer screen for a long period of time.
• The internet/site may not at times work which could cause you to not be able to complete a piece of work on the website.

Online education is useful for schools, colleges and universities. There are many different types of education resources on the internet. Most online educational sites are free, others may be paid for as the schools can subscribe to them, to allow pupils and teachers to share files.

Resources that are free for everyone to use can be useful as they enable students to revise what they have learnt in lessons or read about the upcoming lesson.
Teachers can use these sites to support their lessons. The information provided is summarised meaning the key points are included and are concise and easy to read and learn about.
The main problem with these websites is that they may not cover the syllabus one certain student is studying but may cover another students syallbus, this is a problem as the student may learn the wrong information which could effect their education and perhaps results on a test.

Bitesize

Bitesize Homepage.

This is an example of a free online educational site. It is available for young children studying KS1 up to higher levels including GCSE and A-Level revision. It includes games, videos, notes and other helpful activities to help learn about a certain subject/topic. Tests can be taken also which are mini quizzes marked usually out of ten which can be taken after studying a subject/topic to test your understanding.

List of Bitesizes revision games specific to certain subjects.

Video for the subject business studies.

Geography notes for revision. You can print this
by selecting the print button on the top right hand corner.

Here is the start of a revision map for maths. You can select what subject,
then the topic of the subject (e.g. algebra here) and then add labels and
web links around the spider diagram. Branches can be added to the labels.

Bitesize biology test.

Bitesize also offers audio clips that can be downloaded as MP3's onto ipods and music software on the computer. This is another great way for students to revise-especially when out and about away from the internet and not having to carry around bulky, heavy books. The audio clips are also free to download and take very little time to download. As many can be downloaded as you wish also.
There is also an online message board where you may choose to post ideas or discuss certain topics/subjects. This is another great revision technique for students to use from the site.

You can download an audio file. Here is an example
of downloading an english file on non-fiction text.

An english message board showing many discussions. It shows
the topic on the far left, then if it had replies, who sent it and
when the reply was sent.

Links to the message board and a link to download the audio clips.

A problem many people find with bitesize as it may not cover all the subjects you are studying. Another problem is that bitesize sometimes does not have all the examining bodies which can lead to someone reading a syllabus from the wrong examining body and therefore not learning what they need to.


Bitesize Subjects.





Fronter

Fronter is a sight used for students and teachers to share files. It is useful to get files from school to home and vice versa. It can be extremely useful as there is no need to print off sheets of homework or notes saving time and money on ink for the printer. 
Marks can easily be sent to the student quickly and can displayed in many different ways e.g. a letter grade (A*,A, B etc) or as symbols (status) e.g. tick for completed well, cross if not given in or not sufficient or an arrow meaning good but improvement can be made. 

Marks shown including the subject "room" the homework set, date graded, the  mark/grade/status.

It also ensures the work is sent in a good condition (no tears or creases in the paper) and it cannot get lost if saved and sent correctly.
Teachers can use it for sending sheets, handouts and powerpoint presentations that may help with revision and for their notes.


Along the top of the screen there is a drop down list which can contain the subjects you are studying and you can select them to see the work or sheets the teacher has uploaded and provided for you to use freely. The subjects are a named  as a "room" e.g. Psychology Room, in this "room" contains any worksheets, handouts, presentations etc that can be accessed by the student.
As schools can be big with a wide range of subjects you may choose to select the certain subjects you are studying and set them as a favourite so that it can be much more convenient and easy to get onto each subject.

The "room" with a box next to them. When the box is clicked and
you click "add or favourite rooms" the room will then appear in the
drop down list which is easier to get onto the rooms in future rather
 than scrolling through all the rooms each time. As you can see
I have selected Psychology and Sociology as "favourites" as stated
in brackets next to the "room" name.

This shows my favourites in the drop down list; IT, Biology, Psychology & Sociology.
These I have selected so that it is easier to get onto in the future.



Fronter Login.



Fronter Homepage.

A problem with the website is that it has limited capacity for files. This isn't a problem for simple documents, but it can prevent movie files, presentations or projects with many pictures from being uploaded. This may be difficult to show/send to your teachers as it may seem you haven't completed the homework when in fact you just cannot upload it to Fronter.


MyMaths


Mymaths Homepage.

MyMaths is a website that the school/college have to subscribe to so that pupils can use the site to revise and do homeworks set by the teacher.
This website only specialises in maths but contains many online worksheets and help lessons for many maths topics. The student is given a login and password so nobody else can access their work and they can find the homework set by the teacher. The worksheets are easily completed by entering characters into the boxes provided.

The menu's are easily visible and helpful along the top of the screen.
The worksheets scores you have completed in the past show up along with the percentage and a face; showing if you did well or not; green being excellent, orange; improvement can be made and red meaning work and help is needed this is shown under the button in the menu reading 'MyResults'.

'MyResults' tab showing my marks and percentage and smiley face
showing how well I did in the tasks I have completed. It also shows
how long ago I completed the tasks and how many times I have completed
that particular task.

Any homework you have been set by your teachers can also be shown in the menu under the option 'MyHomework' which makes finding the worksheet much easier so you do not waste time searching through all the topic lists.

'MyHomework' tab showing what homework teachers have set for me to complete. At the moment I have none set.

The levels of how difficult the worksheets were, are displayed under the button 'MyLevels' this shows what percentage of your worksheets have been difficult or easy which is shown in a type of bar chart.

'MyLevels' tab shows the difficulty of the tasks I have completed.

'MyBoosterPacks' under the menu bar is helpful for students to do extra work to help 'boost' (improve) their grades, it is like extra revision sheets and activities that allow the student to complete.

'MyBoosters' tab shows any extra worksheets I have completed.
At the moment none are shown as I have not completed any.

Also on the website is a list of fun maths games that students may choose to use. These can help boost the students knowledge without them loosing concentration and enthusiasm by reading a textbook or doing a maths activity, they are simply fun and helpful.

List of games on MyMaths.

Mymaths also offers a newsfeed where any news about courses, games, worksheets or just gernally about maths is posted for students, parents and teachers to read about. This offers helpful notices that may help the student by giving them extra points and tips for helping use the website and its features.

MyMaths Newsfeed.

Bibliography
http://www.worldwidelearn.com/education-articles/benefits-of-online-learning.htm