Monday, July 27, 2015

Individualized tutoring vs. online instruction

I have been told that individualized tutoring is the gold standard of instruction. 

A classroom of one beats a large classroom because the student proceeds at her own pace, her particular misunderstandings are addressed quickly and any deficits in background or preparation are detected and remedied. Having a teacher beats self-learning because the teacher provides guidance and diagnoses problems, both of which can be impediments to self-learners.

But what about small groups? One of my favorite learning experiences was participating in a Great Books group. There were six or seven of us. There was no teacher present but guidance was provided by the Great Books organization. They selected readings and provided a scheme for discussing each one. What does the author say? What does he mean? What of it? I invariably got more out of the reading by participating in the discussion than I had on my own. (Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren elaborate on this in their classic How to Read a Book.)

Online courses offer the benefits of guidance and small group interaction. The groups can be conducted face to face like our Great Books group, but done through online video conferencing. Or they might be done through written interactions.

What about diagnosing misunderstandings and deficits in preparation? Quizzes have been effective diagnostic tools and are even easier to use and assess online.

I expect that we will see online instruction to small groups emerging as more effective than the "gold standard" of individualized tutoring.

Posted at 12:00 AM (permalink) 2 Comments View/Leave Comment
Keywords: online instruction, small groups

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Edclick integrates with Aeries

Flower Mound, Texas, July 24, 2015 --Edclick expands the discipline capabilities of the Aeries student information system by integrating through the Aeries API.

Discipline Manager, Edclick’s top selling software program, gives extended capability to Aeries’s current discipline software by allowing schools to track referrals, tardies, sign outs and much more. Discipline Manager is a comprehensive, web-based, discipline management system designed to streamline the discipline process.

Originally created as part of a comprehensive plan to improve achievement at a Title I Texas middle school in 2005, Discipline Manager is now used in over 14 states across the country and expanding each month. 

The embedded interface with Aeries will allow Edclick software to easily import and export important local and state reporting measures.

“Edclick is extremely excited about the integration with Aeries because our software will expand to new heights as schools get real time updates of their student lists and are able to report state required information directly to Aeries.”, stated Ken Washam Director of Sales and Marketing at Edclick.

About Edclick

EdClick, formerly Harry Tennant & Associates, Inc., was formed in 1993 by Dr. Harry Tennant. Prior to forming Edclick, Dr. Tennant spent 14 years at Texas Instruments, was a TI Fellow, Chief Technologist of the IT Group and conducted research into various aspects of computing technologies. He was also selected as one of 100 Outstanding Scientists under age 40 by Science Digest magazine.

In 2002, Edclick started partnering with schools to meet the desire for more effective school related software. Each software product has been developed in close collaboration with school administrators and teachers.

Our goal is to continue making software for educator by educators.

For more information, visit www.edclick.com or contact sales@edclick.com.

Posted at 11:32 AM (permalink) 8 Comments View/Leave Comment
Keywords: Aeries, Discipline Manager, API