I showed it to my class and posted it on the discussion board but, honestly, I'm not sure that any of them care enough to actually look at it. Which, for me, is one of the problems with the interactive tools; for students that are interested and take the time to explore, these programs can be excellent, but for students that you are dragging through the material against their will, this type of technology might be giving them too much control. As much as we, as instructors, would like to think that everyone in all of our classes is there because they are genuinely interested in the course material, this is often not the case, and it is only because you are taking these students through the material step-by-step in front of them that they are actually learning anything. Might a switch to interactive tools lead to a larger discrepancy between overachieving and underachieving students? Wherein those who would learn the material anyway are benefitted by the ability to interact with the demo, but those students who are only learning the material because it is fed to them piece-by-piece suffer when they become more responsible for their own learning experience? And, as instructors, what is our obligation to students who are unwilling to actively participate in course activities? Should we go even further out of our way to try to stimulate them to engage in the learning process, or allow them to fail, survival-of-the-fittest style?
In the case of my class, the virtual cell was simply an extra resource that I pointed out to them in case they were interested, but in some classes, where these interactive materials are becoming more integral to student learning, this potential for an increased disparity in student learning may become a concern.
What a cool interactive demo! I think all instructors can relate to that hope for students enrolling in their courses with a genuine interest in the subject. However, we do know the truth (as we are students too and have been in their shoes) that some classes are taken simply because they are required, and others are because of genuine interest (or word of mouth that it is an easy/fun class or has a great instructor, etc) once a student is able to concentrate on their core area of interest. Regardless of why students are there, it is important for us as instructors to put the latest information we know out there, in hopes that maybe something cool like this interactive demo will spark a little interest in what may be an uninteresting area for some students. I think it is neat to be able to provide something interactive like a virtual lab, as it may do for some sciences what, say, a study abroad tour may do for a student's interest in history.
ReplyDeleteI wonder about the idea that some interested students continue to widen the gap between themselves and their less interested peers. Furthermore, when you are teaching and half the class is interested, motivated, and comprehending the material on a higher level, do we teach to the level of those students or to their less interested, less motivated peers that may be struggling to understand the material. I agree that these demos may serve to heighten student interest in a topic. I think the cellular demo is really neat and may allow your students to better visualize how a cell works. I hope a bunch of your students take a look!
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