iTunesU Post Four

   

      Universities and colleges are exploring this route of teaching because it is both beneficial to the students and teachers. Teachers are able to post their lessons online and have not only their students but people from across the world watch them. This could lead to future possibilities for the teachers if someone higher up enjoys their teaching method. As well, teachers are able to ensure that students should be caught up with the course since everything they need is online, and there should be no excuses. Money wise, this option decreases the need for textbooks and other 'old school' objects. As long as students have a computer and internet connection, they're good.  This would also help the amount of applicants that apply to the school because they can see if they will even enjoy the course before they apply.

     As well, this opens up the doors to people who are not fortunate enough to attend university. They can go online and watch an entire course done by a university professor. This helps them by expanding their knowledge without having to actually go to the college. This also goes for students who are in a university and have already selected all their courses. They can go online and watch a course from another subject that interests them, which helps their education.

     I believe this method of teaching is great and I so far have enjoyed the classes I have been watching online out of NYU. Being able to watch these classes will benefit me greatly next year as I will already have a vast amount of knowledge on subjects my classmates may not know about. I also hope that the courses I am in next year offer the same online option since it is extremely convenient. I am grateful I know about iTunesU because it will definitely benefit me next year in university.

iTunesU Post Three

     For my online courses I decided to look what courses New York University had. Since that would be my dream school I automatically selected it. As well, I applied to university next year for English and social sciences so it wasn't too hard to find a course I was interested in. NYU however online only offered American literature which is something I am not that interested in. I decided to focus on sociology instead.

First I watched the majority of the Introduction to Sociology which was the first video in this course. The professor Harvey Molotch, keeps the class engaged and interested into what he is speaking about. He does not make the lesson confusing or harder than it has to be, which is something I was predicting what going to happen. This makes me feel a little less stress for next year since people always tell me how much harder university is. Molotch uses clear examples that the students would understand which helps him explain his points.

     Since Molotch kept me engaged with this lecture, I decided to watch another lesson done by him. I searched down the list and found one entitled Conformity and Isolation. This lesson was extremely interesting and taught me much about sociology that I did not before. An interesting study Molotch discusses is the large number of death in child orphanages in the United States. It was proven that the mortality rates were high because the babies were isolated from other human beings. This shows how important human interaction is to human development.

     Watching these videos helped me realize how much I do want to study the social sciences and learn about how human interaction and behaviour. I enjoyed watching these videos and found they were a great to  learn and expand my knowledge.

                                           
                                  what you see while watching the lesson online

iTunesU Post Two

      I believe this type of learning needs to become more common in classrooms today. Since technology is advancing and is a part of our lives today, it only makes sense to incorporate it into education. This type of learning erases the old “teacher speaking in front of the class” format and incorporates individual learning using technology. Since students are constantly on their phones/computers as is, it seems appropriate to put that to good use. Teachers should start to embrace the fact students want use technology and begin to teach them how to gather information with them. As well, personal learning devices would erase the need for textbooks, therefore eliminating the cost for that. iTunesU is a great system that distributes knowledge through technology. People are able to study a whole unit, by a professor, without having to be in the class. Also, there is no fee or tuition, which is another cost reduction.  

               

      I believe this type of learning should be incorporated into classrooms today because it is beneficial to both the students and the teachers. For example, I know at my high school, a teacher used YouTube as a form of teaching. He would post videos at night of lessons and ask the students to watch them and try the examples he would use. The next day in class they would go over the examples without having to teach the lesson in class. This saves time and also the teacher has more time to focus on the students that are having problems with the lesson.

      Therefore I believe integrating technology into the classroom is a necessity and extremely useful. Since our world is already becoming more and more technologically advanced, it makes sense to teach the youth how to use technology in a way that is beneficial to them. The use of technology is unlimited and the knowledge people can gain is extremely underrated. Technology in the classroom needs to start being seen as constructive instead of a negative. 

      

iTunesU Post One

                I think this method of teaching is smart and engaging. If I was learning about the subject this video is teaching in any other form I would be extremely bored. This video however, kept me engaged on a subject I usually am not interested in. I cannot say I’ve watched a full video about red shift before Khan Academy’s video but I now am knowledgeable on it. I think this method of teaching is brilliant because it is different than the normal, traditional teaching techniques. Since today’s students are blessed with advanced technology it is hard to keep them engaged in a classroom. This is because their minds have been stimulated so much outside of the classroom such that watching a teacher talk for hours is dull. This way of teaching will keep students engaged and interested since something on the screen is always happening, versus reading from a textbook for example. I personally would love to be taught in this form since I spend a decent amount of time on the computer anyways.

Since I was intrigued by this video I decided to search Khan Academy’s channel for any more interesting videos.  I found a vast amount of categories ranging from all subjects taught in school. I decided to check out the history section since I’ve taken many history courses throughout high school. I scrolled down until I found a topic that interested me and found a video on communism: 

I really enjoyed watching this video and learned more about communism than I did before. This video kept me interested with the visual and also explained certain things well that were confusing. If I had to read a page in a textbook, it would not teach me half the things this video just did and also would be extremely boring. As well, if I get lost at any point I can always pause or go back. This is beneficial because when a teacher is giving a lesson to the class it is easy to get lost and then you begin to give up on trying to listen to what they are saying. Therefore, I believe this form of teaching is amazing and would keep students interested in subjects that usually they hate. I hope this will soon be introduced into classrooms as I believe it will benefit both the students and teachers.