Strengths and Weaknesses

Why is the Web a good medium for teaching?

  1. It forces the student to take control. Power is personal and decentralized.
  2. Editing and publishing is easy, cheap and fast. This enables incremental improvement.
  3. It's hot right now - the medium of the moment, the place to be.
  4. Everything is interconnected. There is no center. This enables cross referencing and encourages exploration and self-directed learning.
  5. It's dynamic and interactive. It fosters active, concrete, experiential learning.
  6. It's a community.
  7. It's customizable. Diversity is a plus. The experience can be different for different people. You can teach to different skill levels and accommodate various learning rates and styles.
  8. It's multimodal - text, graphics, photos, animation, sounds, music, movies.
  9. It's based on a model of cooperation not competition.
  10. It's open.

Pluses and Minuses

Pluses

Minuses
  1. You can work anywhere at times which are convenient for you.
  2. You can be reflective.
  3. It's democratizing - age, race, size, gender, looks are no longer barriers.
  4. It's recorded. So much of what happens in the classroom is ephemeral. Here you have something to show for your efforts. Also, you can reuse pieces the next time.
    Students can reread, review, & refer.
    Student work is date and time stamped.
  5. It's hyperlinked - can provide different levels, styles, and modes.
  1. It can take over your life. It can be addictive.
  2. Requires good reading and writing skills.
  3. You can't observe and provide immediate feedback. You can't watch over their shoulder and make small adjustments or suggestions or nip bad habits in the bud. Students can't watch you and ask questions. Everything is asynchronus.
  4. Writing can be emotionally ambiguous. Speech is a lot richer and immediate - body language, expressions, tone of voice.

It really is a difference between speech and writing.

Speech is immediate, dynamic and full of nuances of meaning and emphasis.

Writing is less immediate and lively, but it can be distributed widely. It can be translated and it can survive the author. It can be edited, revised and improved. It can be critiqued, studied, annotated, referenced, analyzed, and interpreted.

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