TPI results

Overall, I agree with the results offered by the TPI. Here are my more detailed observations:

Dominant perspective: Transmission

I do agree that my dominant perspective is transmission. I believe that a teacher's mastery of the subject matter is crucial to effective teaching. Students learn in different ways and have varying strengths and weaknesses. When concepts or ideas are presented by a teacher in one way, some students will absorb the information in its delivered form, and others will ask for clarification by offering a seemingly identical idea in a different form or from a different perspective. Without mastery of the subject matter, the teacher will be ill-equipped to offer effective communication and learning.

Back-up perspective: Apprenticeship and Nurturing
Apprenticeship and nurturing perspectives are important, but I may not be practicing these perspectives as much as I could be. Students often ask, "When will I ever use this in real life?" Offering practical advice that students respect can act as a bridge of communication between teacher and student. Also, I find value in hard work, that in many cases, hard work can outperform brains. I do encourage students, whether at the top or bottom of the class, to simply do their best and I would reward those who show dedication.

Recessive perspective: Developmental and Social Reform
Although my TPI result concludes otherwise, I would like to think that I have at least a back-up developmental perspective. I do offer multiple ways to understand an idea and attempt to conduct my lessons from the learner's perspective. I placed right on the boundary line of recessive perspectives. I guess this may be a result of my more definite recessive social reform perspective. While I do think that social reform and challenging the status quo are important, I don't believe that it is appropriate for every student. Therefore, I would rather teach students to follow the status quo and be successful in it. I would like to individually challenge those students who may show the capacity to challenge common practices.

What did you learn about the design of online courses this week that will affect how you think about this form of instruction in the future?

When it comes to online courses, I was most afraid of courses that may simply put a textbook on your screen. That's exactly what I found on one of Aventa Learning's Geometry lessons. This could be a very detrimental learning experience to many students. If students could read (or be read to) from a math textbook and teach themselves the materials, they wouldn't need a teacher. Aventa Learning provided zero interaction (at least in the demo) and read the lessons to you from the screen, occasionally highlighting portions of a diagram, which can also be easily done in a textbook.

Other demos, such as from K12, Inc., offered a little more interaction (I understand that interaction in an online math course is, by nature of the subject, difficult). They used multiple modes of delivery of content and made it very possible for students to really learn at their own pace, referring to previous lessons if reinforcement is necessary and advancing to subsequent lessons when ready. I see such uses of technology to be only the beginning and really look forward to ways technology will not only supplement, but change the way we learn.

How has your thinking about online schools and online schooling changed since the first week?

I certainly know a lot more about online schools and online schooling than I did the first week. The first week was really an eye-opener for me; I hadn't realized how wide-spread online schooling already is. Our small research of virtual schools and their websites has taught me a lot more about virtual schools and how they operate. My respect and appreciation for online programs have really grown over the past week and I feel that many more people will begin to feel the same way once these programs become more commonplace and new standards are established in our views of what an education should encompass.

Tweet-length response to for-profit online schools

After having tried sample lessons offered by K12, Inc., I wonder how successfully and efficiently a student may be able to absorb so much information strictly through text, especially at the primary grades.

Tweet-length response to online schools

What interests me most about these online schools is the ability to customize the learning and their offering of personalized attention to each student.