A post participation review of the North Carolina State University s online graduate credit physics course for teachers PY610c Special Topics Matter Interactions II or Secondary School Teachers Salvatore Tatto State University of New York Buffalo State College 1300 Elmwood Ave Buffalo NY 14222 tattosal hotmail com The North Carolina State University NCSU Physics Department offers several on line graduate credit courses for teachers that want to improve their conceptual understanding of physics as part of their professional development Here I present a post participation review of PY610c Special Topics Matter Interactions II for Secondary School Teachers which I took in Fall 2006 for credit toward my M S Ed Physics degree from Buffalo State College I found PY610c to be a worthwhile investment It improved my conceptual understanding of electricity and magnetism made it easier to understand the abstract concepts in E M and helped me see how the fundamental principles of apply to the array of problems one encounters in E M In recent years online courses have gained in popularity However there are still many questions about them In his letter to the editor James O Connell asked several questions about the logistics of teaching an online course including how to handle student questions how to have students perform laboratory activities and whether students learn as much in this medium Ref 1 These are all issues that professors need to consider when deciding whether to teach a course online and how to design the course if they do decide to teach it The online environment is very different than the traditional classroom Teachers need to modify their current classes in order to meet the needs of students in this environment The traditional method of lecturing does not lend itself to the online format as well as it does to the regular classroom Ref 2 In the online environment students have a great deal of responsibility for their learning Therefore course expectations need to be clearly defined so that students know the amount of work they need to complete on a daily weekly basis Ref 3 Teachers also need to facilitate discussion among students in an online class and promote active learning Ref 4 There are many advantages of taking a course online Online courses allow access to a greater number of people Many students that take online courses work have families or live far away from the college where the course is being offered Ref 3 In addition online courses may increase a student s level of participation In a normal classroom students learn how to avoid participation However many online courses include participation as a portion of the grade and therefore may encourage greater participation than traditional classes In Chester Gwynne s study two thirds of students indicated that they were more likely to participate in an online class than in a traditional class Ref 5 Anonymity may allow some students who may not ordinarily feel comfortable sharing their ideas in front of others to feel more comfortable with doing so Howard Rheingold 1994 commented that people find virtual communities treat them as they always wanted to be treated as thinkers and transmitters of ideas and feeling beings as cited in Ref 5 Another advantage of online courses is that there is also a great deal of flexibility Students can do the coursework when it is convenient at any time of the day or night instead of being confined to the classroom for three hours every week Ref 6 Online courses also allow students to ask questions at any time instead of having to wait until they are in the class or for the professor s office hours Ref 7 The use of discussion boards is also an advantage that online courses have over traditional classroom course Discussion boards offer a place where students can reflect on their learning This allows teachers to keep a running tab on how students are achieving their learning goals for the course web logs and online discussions as tools to promote reflective practice Even though there are many advantages to online classes there are also several disadvantages In this environment students have a great deal of ownership over their own learning Students need to be self motivated and self disciplined while taking an online course Radnofsky and Bobrowsky found that several of the students that took their online course commented that it was more difficult to meet the high standards of an online class than a traditional class There are many reasons why online courses can be difficult for students who are not self disciplined If deadlines are not strictly enforced it is easy to let work pile up and become insurmountable Ref 3 Also in this environment there is minimal interaction with classmates When solving problems or working on a lab activity there are minimal opportunities to see how others solve problems Ref 7 One final disadvantage of online courses is that one must not only have regular access to a computer but must also be good with computers Ref 7 While taking an online course many different types of technical issues may arise either with accessing materials online viewing a course lecture or completing or submitting homework During the summer of 2006 I was working towards my M S Ed physics from SUNYBuffalo State College Since I live in Southern New York State I had to look at online course options for the fall in order to complete my degree I had recently taken a summer course in electricity and magnetism Since I have always struggled with electricity and magnetism I felt taking another course on this topic would be a good idea I had several different courses to choose from I decided to take Matter and Interactions II for Secondary School Teachers I had heard many good things about the course and about the instructor and I felt it would be a worthwhile endeavor The North Carolina State University Department of Physics course PY 610c Special Topics Matter Interactions II for Secondary School Teachers is described in the department online literature as This calculus based course provides a deeper and broader understanding of the fundamental physics underlying the electricity and magnetism taught in regular and AP high school physics courses Atomic nature of matter emphasis on fundamental principles computational physics no prior programming experience required modeling messy real world problems Participants engage in reflections on the pedagogical consequences of the modern view of the subject
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