“What is a radian?” is fact based learning. It certainly has its place, but it much easier to develop computer-based resources for this than “Why use radians?” and other questions that indicate deeper learning or similar where a human to pose awkward questions, check out the concepts and correct misconceptions and so on is still king I think.

Can a computer teach certainly things better than a human? Yes, absolutely. Are we human teachers obsolete? Not yet – and maybe having good computer based learning resources to deal with many students will help the teachers focus on the less able and raise their standards whilst still challenging the more able ones.

Rather than ask “Can a computer lecture better than a human?” I think a better question is “Can a blended learning context be more engaging, powerful, and effective to support cognitive growth and development than traditional, face-to-face instruction?” The answer is clearly a resounding yes. I am betting your interaction and conversations with your daughter during this learning process were very important to the final outcomes. The mere existence of this digital artifact was not sufficient to create the learning experience. Your guidance as a facilitator was also important.

Good questions and thoughts. Can’t wait to share your K12Online08 preso with the world! Now I need to read Christensen’s books too!

That’s the problem.

And it’s not as simple as “she learned from the computer.” You played a role, as did the conversation you had while you explored, and the interest you showed as you did this together.

By the way, if you and your daughter liked that site, you’ll both love the Math Forum. Be sure to look at Ask Dr. Math and the Puzzles. http://mathforum.org/

Teachers will NOT be immune from this. If a teacher is just going to stand up and lecture to students, a computer arguably can often do that better. If students are just going to sit at their desk, read a book chapter, and answer questions at the end (or fill out a worksheet), a computer arguably can do that better and/or make that more interesting and/or make that more efficient. And so on… I think we could collectively identify a number of aspects of teachers’ jobs that are routine cognitive tasks that have the potential for being replaced by software (c.f. essay grading software or swipe cards / card readers for taking attendance). Why not have computers do those tasks and use our expensive humans for the complex things that software can’t do? I think this is probably a good thing, because it frees up our teachers to do the important stuff.

FYI, as often is the case in the blogosphere, someone else has written about this in the past. Check out Hank Horkoff’s old post:

http://snipurl.com/hank2007

When the animation realizes that you are not quite understanding the issue, what does it do differently for you?

(Sometimes we underestimate the human element and art behind what good teachers do.)

That being said, there is no question in my mind that multimedia type experiences can be more powerful than (what is the opposite word?) monomedia experiences.

Incidentally, I can guarantee I can explain radians better than the video you just linked. Additionally can you answer the questions:

What are the drawbacks to the radian measure? What situations will you use a radian and what situations will you use a degree? What does the system of radians indicate that pi is in some sense “wrong” and the constant really should’ve been what we call 2 times pi?

Of course I could make a video telling you all that. But I would be telling; as a teacher I can lead you to get those answers above on your own.

@Joel: If we build the learning activity right (not like the Wisconsin Online example), then it can adjust itself to the learner’s success or lack thereof (like a video game does).

@Joel: Right. I think you should be doing the hard stuff. But the computer could do the initial instruction and get most of the kids to the place where you want them to be for the harder stuff. And instead of using your time for the intro stuff too, you could have done something else with your valuable time (like work with a few kids one-on-one). Or this could be their homework instead of using valuable class time…

It is simple: ‘Any teacher who is replaced by a computer deserves to be!’

My question is are we really seeing ‘education’ through these isolated (as opposed to digital extensions of the analogue classroom) online systems or is it just ‘trainning’?

Education takes a lot of ‘human’.

Dynamic adjustment, on the other hand …

If we build the learning activity right (not like the Wisconsin Online example), then it can adjust itself to the learner’s success or lack thereof (like a video game does).

… is indeed different from a book. That’s the PLATO software, essentially.

From my experience it is great in some cases but it does have limits.