Free-Ed.Net and Education

For many people, studying at Free-Ed.Net is, itself, a unique learning experience.  Some learners are confused and lost at first:

Where do I turn in my homework?

How do I get in touch with the teacher?

When are you going to send me my books?

What time does the class meet? Where are my grades posted?

Such questions spring from the assumption that online learning, and particularly learning at Free-Ed.Net, is simply an electronic model of traditional classroom learning. Since 1997, Free-Ed.Net has been serving students around the world with course materials and learning experiences that are better suited for the medium of cyberspace than brick-and-mortar classrooms. This certainly requires some adjustments to expectations and study habits; but the new, Free-Ed.Net brand of online learning is proving to be very exciting and rewarding ... and notably successful.

Traditional Classroom Learning

Consider the most important parts of traditional learning. First, there is the teacher or professor This is a person who has some expertise in a particular field of study and is charged with the task of imparting some of that expertise to students in the class. The lecture is the most common method for passing on knowledge in the classroom. Lectures are often embellished with hands-on demonstrations and multi-media presentations.  The roles in the classroom are generally well defined: the teacher teaches and the learners learn.

Second, there is the textbook. Around the middle of the 1900s, textbooks began taking on a larger share of the responsibility for educating the students. The prevailing notion — whether actually true or not — was that the textbook contained absolutely ever bit of information the learner would ever need to know for the class.  Now the students could carry the "expert" around with them. Textbooks evolved into sophisticated sources of information, guides for further study, quizzes and exercises, and thought-provoking "critical thinking" assignments. The texts were embellished with generous doses of colorful graphics, much of which added to the ease of understanding complex points and processes. (Although an equal share seemed to be of questionable value, being inserted only to break up the monotony of pure text).

In many instances, the textbook became the heart and soul of a class. The teacher's role was to embellish the content of the text, add some personal experience, and administrate the class.

And third, there is the grading and diploma system. One of the primary functions of traditional schools, colleges, and universities is to certify that their graduates have achieved a prescribed level of learning and classroom participation. Traditional schools, in order to support their claim to a level of academic or training excellence, must provide examinations and maintain records of those grades. These records, then, validate the graduates' certificate or diploma.

Online Learning in the Digital Age

The best study methods for Free-Ed.Net are not necessarily the same as those that work so well in traditional classrooms and home study programs. The technology is obviously different — a computer technology, as opposed to a teacher, lecture, book, and classroom technology. That is a superficial difference, however. The real difference lies in the way the learner interacts with the online learning system.  Learning at Free-Ed.Net is a dynamic, interactive process where anyone, regardless of their previous learning experience, can find their learning "comfort zone" and begin growing from there.  This approach calls for a re-examination of appropriate study habits and attitudes toward the learning process.

One of the hallmarks of popular online education is that the student bears the full responsibility for his or her own level of achievement. The depth and quality of the learning experience is strictly determined by the learner. Free-Ed.Net merely provides guidance (course outlines), suggests study resources, and sets standards of achievement that are appropriate for the student and the subject matter.  The student bears the responsibility his or her own success or failure. Free-Ed.Net is merely a tool. And that is how popular education for the 21st century works.

Education for the 21st century is also characterized by being performance driven. Grades and credentials carry little weight compared to actual performance.  If you are studying basic electronics, for example, you must be able to work with algebra. Free-Ed.Net isn't concerned whether you received an A+ grade or failed basic algebra. The real question is: Can you do the algebra that is necessary for doing basic electronics? All that really matters is how well you can do the algebra in the electronics courses. If the algebra is causing you trouble, it is clearly time to go back to an algebra courses and work with it until you can handle electronics math.  At Free-Ed.Net, you aren't forced to study subjects you don't think you need; but on the other hand, you quickly discover any weaknesses that need to be remedied by going back to prerequisite courses.

Recommendation #1: Maintain a Learning Journal

Learning at Free-Ed.Net is a dynamic, interactive process. It isn't a linear, straight-through, process when you can simply check off a list of course completions, from the most elementary to the most advanced. Rather, you get a little here and you pick up a little more over there. You undergo an exciting breakthrough in understanding one day, then fall into a black hole of ignorance the next. Sometimes you know exactly what you are doing and where you are going. Other times, you are lost and confused. But there is always Free-Ed.Net and the vast content of the Internet to provide the answers or at least the means to your discovery of the answers. Everyone needs some ways to keep track of these learning experiences, make some sense of it all, and maintain their sanity.

On the most superficial level, a learning journal is an account of your personal journey through a program of study.  Keep all your study notes, rough drafts for reports and essays, and any other relevant lists and comments. When you begin to learn — really learn — at Free-Ed.Net, you will have questions and ideas of your own. Jot them down in your learning journal. Don't let anything pass. Make notes on all of it.

It's your personal learning journal, so you are free to organize it any way you want. Then as you grow and learn, you will probably want to revise the way you work with it — to improve it according to the new ways you are beginning to think, work, and organize your time. (Effective education, you see, changes the way a person thinks and behaves.)

A good learning journal is also a clear record of your accomplishment. In a world that is becoming increasingly performance driven, a thick, worn and dog-eared learning journal can carry a lot of weight with school counselors, supervisors at work, and prospective employers.  A good learning journal demonstrates what you have already accomplished, and not merely what your are qualified to begin.

Once you are comfortable with the real purpose of your learning journal, you will find that it is your guide, your lifesaver, and your trophy.

Recommendation #2: Use the Search Boxes

Free-Ed.Net points the way and provides some resources for the subject you are studying. But it is up to you, the learner, to expand upon those details and determine the relevance of each new idea.  This is best accomplished by searching the Web for additional information, and Free-Ed.Net provides convenient Google search boxes for that purpose.

Learning to use search boxes effectively, however, does not come naturally for most people--you have to learn how to use them to home in on the information you need. There is a lot of extraneous information out there on the 'net, some is good and some is not so good. So you have to develop a sense of what is useful and what is not.  Also, some people have a natural sense of curiosity. Curiosity can be a real asset for learning, but it can also be a hindrance when you let it carry you away from your immediate goals and into a lot of stuff that is interesting, perhaps, but not relevant to the topic you are studying. So there is a need for developing self-discipline when using search boxes for your studies.

Once you learn how to use the search boxes effectively, you can become "immersed" in the topic. That is to say, you can become so totally involved in the subject that it becomes a part of your eveyday thinking. Ideas that you once struggled to understand become second nature to you. You grasp new ideas more quickly and develop a sense of what is important (or accurate) and what is not. And you don't need a quiz or a professor  to tell you how good you are.  That's what real education is about.

Recommendation #3: Work at the Free-Ed.Net Virtual Campus in Second Life™
 

Free-Ed.Net maintains a large virtual campus in the online 3-D world known as Second Life. When you step into the virtual campus, you find yourself surrounded by tall glass, steel, and brick buildings. Each building houses the courses and learning resources for the major divisions of learning at Free-Ed.Net.  You are able to study your courses in this really cool world and, more important, discuss the class materials — in real time and with avatars that represent very real people. You will be invited to special lectures, exhibits, and lab demonstrations. I should also mention that there are plenty of opportunities for socializing. Meet people, study hard, and play hard ... just like a real college experience.