MOOCs

Everyone loves to talk about MOOCs. Here's an article that I enjoyed reading, again from the NY Times. It's informative and seemed unbiased. Check it out.

MOOCs

Questioning the Mission of College

This is a great article in last week's NY Times about controversy in the Texas system.

Questioning the Mission of College

The "Multiplying" Learning Method

Different students learn in different ways -- we know that.  Students know that too....

The precalculus student I talked to on Friday afternoon failed the class last fall and will fail it again this spring.  (Her current grade is about 200 points of a possible 600; her highest exam grade was 35%.)   Sadly, she will probably fail the class again next fall.  Despite all the class aids (and there are many) she has not reacted to her consistently low scores until I spoke to her after class.

Her science major requires that she complete Calculus 1 and possibly Calculus 2.  Her math SAT score is 380.

We talked a little bit about the class, her performance, where she should go next.  As we talked, the student explained that my class is not compatible with her "learning method".

The student explained that she learns much better with "that multiplying method, you know, where there are letters, A, B, C...."  

I said, "You mean, 'Multiple Choice'?"  

"Yes, that's the one!" she said.    "That's the method where I learn best.  I'm good at figuring out which letters aren't the right ones...."

She elaborated.  She is "very good" at the "multiplying learning method" because she has learned to eliminate wrong answers and get the choices down to 1 or 2 where she can then make a good guess.  She has transferred into Sam Houston State University with 65 credit hours  (TWO YEARS!) of "college" classes, all earned at a nearby community college.  With possibly one exception (part of a math class), ALL of her community college classes used this "multiplying learning method".  She explained, "I don't really learn well with your method." 

I tried to gently explain that "my" method -- where students have to work out the answers themselves -- will be the norm for her (real) college classes.  But I don't think she believed me.  And I could be wrong.  In her current biology classes, "The tests all use that ["multiplying"] method."   "But", she admitted, "one of my botany labs started with the multiplying method but now we have to write out answers."

Those of us committed to higher education claim that college education teaches students to think critically and to solve problems. Yet recent studies (see, for example this study) tell us that we are failing at that task.  The problem with those negative studies, of course, is obvious.  (Angry-sarcasm alert!)  These negative studies don't take into account the "multiplying method."  Our students will be much better at "critical thinking" and "problem solving" if we can tell them exactly how to "think" and "solve".  If we would just lay out the choices (A, B, C, D -- no more than four!) and then tell them that three of the four choices are wrong... if we would just give them the right method ... then they would be better at getting the right answers.... 

(Deep breath.)

Multiple choice exams, quizzes and online homework are popular because they are easy to grade and can be cheaply given in large classes with many students.  They add "efficiency" to higher education.  The only problem with this efficiency is that it leaves out the "education" part of higher education.