Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
Back in August, when I was incarcerated at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, hoping that my lymphocele would dry up, I posted a piece regarding online education that stirred things up (it attracted 133 comments), and I followed up the next day with a piece defending philosophy against those inclined to think science the cat's pajamas. It drew an additional 96 comments.
I thought then, as I think now, that one can do a certain amount online -- but only a certain amount, and here is what I wrote:
The most important course I ever took was a seminar taught on Plato's Republic at Cornell in 1968/69 by Allan Bloom. I vigorously resisted his argument; I fought against him both terms; and, in part for that reason, he was never especially fond of me. But the exchanges we had nonetheless changed my life. I fought him until he persuaded me, and those exchanges inspired me to do a great deal of reading in subsequent years as I struggled to understand through the lens of certain great books what was going on all around me.
There was an electricity in that seminar that I have always tried to replicate in my classes. My aim is to provoke and to inspire -- to get the students to interrogate the texts that they are reading and to think. And when I succeed, as I sometimes do, they force me to rethink -- for, if they get drawn in, they either resist my interpretation or press it further than I have.
The same thing can happen as a consequence of a lecture. Most often, things come alive when I open things up for questions. Sometimes I learn things I did not know. At other times I have to think on my feet -- and when I do I learn things that I would not otherwise learn. Online education cannot be much more than a pale shadow of the education that takes place in a seminar or when questions are posed.
Training may well be another matter. A video can help me see how to put a bike together. A video can teach me the rules of poker (especially if I can watch it twice). An online lecture can help me understand Hamlet. But it is not a substitute for what goes on in a seminar on Hamlet. Some things cannot be done on the cheap, alas.
I have since then read Nathan Harden's impassioned endorsement of online education The End of the University as We Know It, and I was unmoved -- in part because I think that the real problem with higher education is that we are trying to educate everyone, which will not work; and in part because I had by that time had a bit of involvement with online education. To be precise, I had contributed two lectures to Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course. Here is the first of the two -- entitled The Greek Miracle. Its focus is the emergence of self-government in the eighth and seventh centuries B. C.
I have watched this a couple of times in the interim, and I like it. My only objection is that I cannot now correct a slip I made along the way -- when I said that Linear B writing survived on Crete (when, in fact, it survived only on Cyprus). I also like the fact that one can watch it twice or even thrice.
But it also lacks something that is important. What I have in mind is eye contact. There is a great deal of communication that takes place during a lecture as the lecturer and the students make eye contact at key moments. There is also something else missing. No one interrupts me to say, "Wait a minute. Is that really true?" Nor is there conversation at the end of class . . . and, even more important, outside of class.
I filmed two more lectures earlier this week for our upcoming Online American Heritage Course -- one on the coming of the American Revolution, the other on the Constitution and the Early Republic -- and one of the members of the film crew mentioned having had lunch in the student dining hall here. Everyone, he told me, was arguing about some issue that had come up in class. That was what it was like when I was a student back in the last millennium at Cornell and Yale, and that cannot be duplicated in an online environment.
But do not get me wrong. I think that if you were to take one of our online courses, which you can do by going here, signing up, and watching the lectures, you might well learn something, and you might enjoy the process. But here is my guess. At the end of the ten or eleven lectures, you would want to come here and take the full course -- which is, as it happens, why we do our online courses.
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Comments:
Jul '10
Re: Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
Thank You, Hillsdale.
I, for One, take advantage of everything Hillsdale is willing to provide.
May '10
Re: Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
What can't be duplicated online: A visit to the beautiful Hillsdale campus to hear a Steyn lecture -- and a funny exchange between Steyn and Prof. Rahe -- which my wife, teen daughter, and I had the pleasure of doing last night. A great place, Prof. Rahe. Really a fun night. (And boy is that place in the sticks!)
Re online ed: Trade offs, always trade offs. There is loss, as you say, but there's also affordability and accessibility. For some the choice will not be between online and the real thing, but between online and nothing.
Also, can't these online lectures also include a vigorous Q&A filmed with a select, engaged group of students? At least the viewers at home could get some exposure to the classroom energy they'd otherwise miss. Spectating is better than nothing.
Mar '11
Re: Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
I wonder if one watching online is more likely to accept what he is told, internalize, and regurgitate than one experiencing it in person. My instinct is that it would due to the more passive nature of the former.
Re: Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
Okay, fine. Eye contact is important. But Professor, it's highly unlikely I'm going to make it to Hillsdale to make eye-contact with you. But it's highly likely I'm going to sign up for your course.
And as far as other, more practical, kinds of online education go, eye-contact via Skype or Google or FaceTime happens right now. And in a few years -- probably sooner; these things tend to happen faster than we expect -- it'll be even easier.
On-line learning will be transformative. And it may even be the first "innovation" in education that helps conservatives.
Feb '12
Re: Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
I have to agree with Rob's assessment. The limitations of online classes are only as limiting as technology and our integration of it are. Well that and the students, not every student is a Hillsdale student in the video, watching with rapt attention, taking notes with a pen and paper, not checking Facebook or Tweeting, not wearing pajamas in class, etc, but I digress. I would argue that an online course can, and eventually will, totally replace traditionally brick and mortar classrooms.
In fact I teach an online class, and with enough internet bandwidth and Skype, or a Google+ hangout, a classroom can be just as engaging as a live seminar, and pants are significantly more optional.
Mar '11
Re: Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
But transformative how, Rob? It seems to me that those who take advantage of online courses will be able to sound smart at a cocktail party but will be lacking a depth that only aided discovery brings. In other words, it seems we'll have more people who know a little about a lot and fewer who know a lot about a little.
Re: Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
Not necessarily. There are lots of areas of practical knowledge -- accounting, coding, pharmacy studies -- in which on-line knowledge can be just as rigorous and effective. Good students will be good students, in person or online. And sure, online education will attract some dilettantes. But then, so does Harvard.
Re: Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
And I guess I mean transformative because it will knock some of the mystery and pomp from the academy, which till now has been swanning around the culture like potentates -- and very lefty ones at that.
Most people want a practical education, with measurable results and measurable deliverables from their professors.
Meaning: the teachers at Devry or ITT Tech have a tougher customer than the teachers at Princeton. That's not a bad thing.
May '10
Re: Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
And, really, how many college kids actually participate in class anyway. In a class of thirty, a half dozen or so are routine questioners; the rest observe, which they can do just as well (or close to as well) online.
Aug '12
Re: Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
Well, when I got my PhD, I realized that the academy can't be that impressive, because they let me in. And I mean that only half in jest. Once I started reading in my field extensively, and then writing and presenting my own research I remember thinking "this is it? This is what we're impressed by?" On the other hand, Prof. Rahe impressed -OK, scared -me when I saw him at a conference, so there's that.
Nonetheless, I've taught online, blended, ITV, and traditional classes, and the traditional classes go better in every way. Maybe it's selection, but my current assessment is that traditional classes are the best -everything else is worthwhile only insofar as a traditional class is not possible.
Now here's my question -for anyone, but especially the other academics -I'm getting increasingly frustrated with lecturing based on textbooks. And I'm wondering if I might get further if every class was like this lecture Prof. Rahe gave. Rather than outlining and elaborating on what they've read, talk about what interests me with the assumption that it could be followed by anyone who has read the chapter. Thoughts?
Nov '11
Re: Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
It's a trade-off indeed. The personal connection matters so much... but there is so much that can be done to make education accessible without it.
Anyone else signing up for the American Heritage course?
Sep '10
Re: Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
How To Get An Education Even While at College.
James Schall at Villanova.
Dec '12
Re: Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
I took the History 101 course, and hubby took both the Constitution courses. We would, of course, take any subsequent courses gladly. I can hardly wait for American Heritage (though we live close to Michael Medved, and listen to his history lectures on the radio). Dr. Rahe, I really wanted to hear the students listening to the lectures ask questions. We go to Hillsdale National Leadership Seminars when they are out this way, so we really do get to ask questions in person. How about a Hillsdale "audio meet up" in connection with the American Heritage class? Curious John, are you listening?
May '10
Re: Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
Could online lectures include a comment thread of the Ricochet sort? We have thoughtful push-back and questioning here, and something similar could be at least a partial substitute for the dynamic one gets in a classroom. And here it's immortalized, unlike in a classroom.
Mar '11
Re: Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
I see what you mean, Rob. And I would agree that the shake-up element is healthy. But I worry about education becoming too practical. There are these creepy Teach Your Baby To Read videos out there that help you train your baby to stomp her hind foot 3 times when you hold up the THREE flashcard. Now technically the baby is reading but she isn't reading. And my suspicion is that online education will do a much better job of training people to stomp their hind feet than read.
Jun '12
Re: Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
I took a class in Systems Thinking, where there were NO lectures, only assigned readings, and required participation in a crowd sourced envirounent where each student explained points covered in the readings, then critiqued each of the other students on their understanding, the whole process moderated by the professor. It worked really well, and I learned a very lot about how to think in a systems fashion. This was a graduate course, and I doubt the same would work for an undergraduate class heavy on specific techniques and deterministic algorithims. But for a class on how to think, it was amazing, and taught online, with students from 5 countries and 7 different states in the US working together to learn about systems thinking. This was a VERY different educational experience, and depends upon the students being willing to participate far more than required in a traditional classroom setting. I generally prefer actual classroom time, but this experience would have been impossible in the classroom, so we need to continue to extend the boundaries of how we learn, as well as what we learn, I expect different modes work better with different educational goals.
Jun '12
Re: Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
I find exactly the opposite. Over the last two years I have been working to complete a Master of Engineering Degree in Systems engineering, and I find in on-line classes a lot more independent thought on the part of the participants, and that the on-line environment reduces the tendency of younger students to place professors on a pedestal, and believe what the prof says, withouot question. The online environment seems to make everyone closer to a peer, which in a graduate setting is a good thing. I would need to think closely on how well it would apply to a simple Calculus I course, where one is learning very well understood and defined material, and independent thought is less important. The classes I have taken are split just about in the middle on in-person vs on-line. On-Line is MUCH more flexible.
Jun '12
Re: Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
Again,. my actual experience is exactly the opposite, in on-line classes I have to do more research into original source material, and can rely much less on a particular professor's view. To satisfy my own curiosity, I have to go far beyond the minimum, and find the on-line environment encourages this in ways that treking to an overcrowed classroom once or twice a week, lugging heavy books, struggling to find a place to connect my laptop, does not. I can get aid easily from many more individuals than I can in a traditional lecture course, and get the aid much more quickly. File sharing, and experience sharing all much enhanced by the on-line environment.
I do agree that body language etc is valuable but this is also on-line.
Mar '11
Re: Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
Interesting, John. I can kind of see that.
May '10
Re: Online Education Revisited: Hillsdale's Online Western Heritage Course: My Lecture on The Greek Miracle
Repitition is the father of learning. (Someone said that.)
An online lecture can be viewed again and again -- just as some of us UncK junkies have viewed some of those episodes several times. But a classroom lecture can be heard only once and is often forgotten after a short time.