Tag Archives: San Jose State University

Do Now #60: Online Learning

January 26, 2013, 8:39 am • Posted by Maxine Einhorn
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Online Learning

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Do Now

What are the advantages or disadvantages of taking courses online? Would you prefer that classes be given online or in person? Please explain your thoughts.

Introduction

The virtual classroom is really catching on in the U.S. with more than two million K-12 students taking classes online as an alternative and flexible way of learning.

In California, Governor Jerry Brown strongly supports this move away from the traditional classroom. He sees online college courses as a way to deal with the problem of overcrowded classrooms and hopes that through providing low-cost online classes, education will become more affordable for students. With this in mind, he is fostering partnerships between online learning programs and higher education, such as the partnership between San Jose State University and the startup Udacity. In his budget, he has allocated $17 million for community colleges and $10 million each for the UC and Cal State systems to expand online learning.

But as KQED’s MindShift points out in Where is Technology Leading Higher Education?, these dramatic changes in teaching and learning practices are traumatic for colleges. They are struggling to keep up with the pace of change. “Terms like historic, seismic and revolutionary now pop up in descriptions of the challenges that higher education faces in the coming years.”

Reuter's post Online schools face backlash as states question results claims that in many states, Maine, New Jersey and North Carolina, there has been a backlash with educators and officials questioning and challenging standards in the new cyber-schools.

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A Class Project With A Difference – Making Politics Personal

September 10, 2012, 9:52 am • Posted by Maxine Einhorn
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Teaching about elections is never easy. The whole drama of conventions, ballots and propositions can seem far removed from the everyday issues in students’ lives. It becomes a civics lesson - students reviewing the 2012 candidates, issues and campaign strategies with little sense that this process can involve them.

But listen to the KQED News report by Peter Jon Shuler about students at San Jose State University - In San Jose, Once a Class Project, Now a Major Political Battle  (August 27, 2012). This is a whole different approach to teaching about elections.

As Peter Jon Shuler says in his report, “Sociology Professor Scott-Myers Lipton designed the class to help students make the leap from merely thinking and talking about issues to engaging in the political process…………. he hopes all of his students learn that democracy is not a spectator sport and that they really can make a difference.”

In November San Jose voters will decide on Measure D, which started in the social action class at San Jose State University. Students launched a petition on this minimum wage measure to raise wages from $8.00 an hour to $10.00 and spent nearly a year fundraising, and campaigning in their community to gather support.

In five weeks, they collected enough signatures to qualify the measure for San Jose’s November ballot, garnering support from a coalition that includes labor unions and non-profit organizations, like Catholic Charities and United Way. Business groups oppose it, and plan to spend more than a million dollars to defeat it.

It is an inspiring approach to teaching about politics.  Measure D was the result of students recognizing a concrete problem - the struggle many students faced trying to live on the minimum rates their employers pay – and working out how to take action.

Resources

 

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ESL Mobile News Blog – From a Teacher’s Perspective

December 14, 2011, 11:29 am • Posted by Maxine Einhorn
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By Kelly Robart and Karine Manoukian, ESL Instructors from San Jose State University

When our students heard they would be posting blog entries to a local media organization (KQED), they were very excited. Most had some experience with blogs – either reading or writing, but none had ever written for an English language blog – especially one so public. They liked the idea of being reporters, which added a certain charge to the assignment. The final result -- posting for an audience outside of their classroom and having their posts read widely, gave students a great sense of purpose as well as accomplishment and pride.

From our point of view as teachers, the blog was and continues to be a rich teaching resource. In addition to the language skills which we need to teach, the blog fosters critical thinking and a sharing of perspectives among students. They were able to learn about students from other colleges, their interests and concerns, and also to explore together the idea of credible sources. This idea was new for some and not so new for others. One student, from a country with heavy state control over media, was able to share with his classmates his strategy for getting accurate news. Other students talked about how their news habits have changed since they moved here from their countries. While students clearly continue to follow news from their native country in their native language, they also explore different websites and news sources here. The great thing about this conversation is that continues to grow in breadth and depth.

Currently, the students enjoy logging in each week to read new blog posts from around the San Francisco Bay Area and they are excited to be part of a larger ESL community.

About the project

This fall, KQED Education launched the ESL Mobile News Blog. It reaches out to ESL educators to help us explore how ESL students engage with news. How do students who have moved here from different cultures connect with news? Interestingly, many of the ESL educators we asked were not sure of the answer since the demographic is so diverse and complex.

We asked ESL educators, mainly from San Francisco City College and colleges and adult schools in Silicon Valley and the South Bay, to invite their students to interview a class mate from an immigrant community and ask them five short questions about news.

  1. Do you follow the news?
  2. What interests you?
  3. Where do you look?
  4. Who do you believe?
  5. Are your perspectives being represented?

Students were encouraged to adopt the role of investigative reporters, researching issues of importance to their peers. They could post the interviewee’s photo with the response if they wanted to, but we did ask them to try to be as specific as possible in identifying and naming sources, while at the same time respecting reserve. Accessible through email or mobile devices, the use of a blog platform was intended to encourage students to work collaboratively in their investigations and enjoy reading each others' posts.

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