Many students drop out of community college and four year programs because they can't handle "gatekeeper" courses such as basic developmental math and writing. In a recent survey conducted by Communty College of Philadelphia, 20% of students dropped out for academic and program availability issues.
In this interview on the EDUInsight.com project web site, I address this drop out problem and how it negatively impacts students and educational institutions.
You can check out this interview at http://www.eduinsight.com/archive/john_stuppy.php
John Stuppy, john@tutorvista.com
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Just the Facts, Mann
My deep love for teaching and learning was sparked in large measure by good family friends, Bertha and Maurice Mann. They owned and ran the Hollywood Professional School in Hollywood, California. HPS is where Betty Grable, Ryan O’Neal, the Beach Boys, Jackson Five, Peggy Fleming, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Val Kilmer, Melanie Griffith, Valerie Bertinelli, most of the Brady Bunch kids and many other actors and athletes went to school. It provided the perfect schedule and flexibility for students who were working professionals.
Mrs. Mann let me attend summer school there as a child and I always looked forward to it. The classes were lively and interesting and Mrs. Mann had a passion for education. She gave me a lot of encouragement and support. I loved to learn and learn new ways to learn.
Mrs. Mann often shared learning techniques she came across at conferences. When I was seven she shared a new learning idea she heard about. It was a way to learn math facts – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The idea is students should just know that “3 x 7 = 21” or “11-4=7” rather than having to figure it out. Having math facts at the ready for rapid recall means students don’t have to waste time constantly calculating those basic things.
Mrs. Mann’s simple, effective technique? She gave me a couple dozen math facts flash cards. These were 8”x3” stiff cardboard cards with things like “2+9=11” and “7+8=15.” She had me tape them in strategic places around my room. I put one flash card on the headboard of my bed, the ceiling high above my pillow, wall by the light switch, wall above my desk, closet door, inside of my bedroom door, outside of my door, bathroom mirror over the sink, wall above the toilet, wall opposite the toilet, fridge door…everywhere. As I moved around my room each day, I saw these math facts. After a few days Mrs. Mann gave me new cards to replace the ones I had learned. Before long I knew all my math facts cold.
This learning method wasn’t high tech. But it was simple and it surely worked.
I still recommend Mrs. Mann’s “immersion” method for learning math facts today. While computers can display math facts flash cards and have some interesting features, they can’t be freely used everywhere a paper flash card can. Computerizing every education tool for the sake of computerizing them doesn’t make sense. Are there “back to basics” ways to learn we’ve lost sight of? Are there new types of manipulatives that bring concepts to life? Can we be more mindful of ways to leverage and stretch our resources and use the right tool for the job?
John Stuppy, john@tutorvista.com
Mrs. Mann let me attend summer school there as a child and I always looked forward to it. The classes were lively and interesting and Mrs. Mann had a passion for education. She gave me a lot of encouragement and support. I loved to learn and learn new ways to learn.
Mrs. Mann often shared learning techniques she came across at conferences. When I was seven she shared a new learning idea she heard about. It was a way to learn math facts – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The idea is students should just know that “3 x 7 = 21” or “11-4=7” rather than having to figure it out. Having math facts at the ready for rapid recall means students don’t have to waste time constantly calculating those basic things.
Mrs. Mann’s simple, effective technique? She gave me a couple dozen math facts flash cards. These were 8”x3” stiff cardboard cards with things like “2+9=11” and “7+8=15.” She had me tape them in strategic places around my room. I put one flash card on the headboard of my bed, the ceiling high above my pillow, wall by the light switch, wall above my desk, closet door, inside of my bedroom door, outside of my door, bathroom mirror over the sink, wall above the toilet, wall opposite the toilet, fridge door…everywhere. As I moved around my room each day, I saw these math facts. After a few days Mrs. Mann gave me new cards to replace the ones I had learned. Before long I knew all my math facts cold.
This learning method wasn’t high tech. But it was simple and it surely worked.
I still recommend Mrs. Mann’s “immersion” method for learning math facts today. While computers can display math facts flash cards and have some interesting features, they can’t be freely used everywhere a paper flash card can. Computerizing every education tool for the sake of computerizing them doesn’t make sense. Are there “back to basics” ways to learn we’ve lost sight of? Are there new types of manipulatives that bring concepts to life? Can we be more mindful of ways to leverage and stretch our resources and use the right tool for the job?
John Stuppy, john@tutorvista.com
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Same Race – Better Horse
At first, some innovations are not as cost-effective or fine-tuned as the products or services they replace. Clayton Christianson’s book The Innovators Dilemma pointed out that in the early stages, many innovations are a poor replacement. But then over time…that’s when some innovations shine. Christianson also pointed out that it’s often impossible for existing, entrenched companies to successfully launch innovations. They have too much invested and are set in their ways.
Take a look at online learning. Eleven years ago I started working with one-on-one on-line tutoring over the internet. The idea was a student and tutor would use their computer to talk and interact through a shared virtual whiteboard. At the time, the voice interaction was pretty crummy -- echoes, dropped calls, gaps and delays were common. It wasn’t a pleasant experience and this was despite the fact one had to pay more for the technology infrastructure.
However, look at where things have moved today. Now, the technology used for voice chatting over the internet and sharing a virtual whiteboard is a reliable commodity. It works! And students love the whole platform and thrive on the online experience.
But is it effective? That’s the big question, isn’t it? I did a study of over 500,000 K-12 students who were tutored in reading and math –face to face vs. on-line. The result? There was no difference in effectiveness gains as measured by pre-- vs. post-test growth on standardized tests between the two groups. .
So students getting tutoring via the internet achieved the same gains as those students going to a learning center and meeting with their tutor face to face. This is an encouraging finding for the education technology industry. It suggests you don’t have to sacrifice education results for convenience.
Online tutoring is more convenient and affordable and highly effective . The next stage in the evolution of the industry is to figure out how to take advantages of technology to increase the effectiveness beyond face-to-face tutoring. More on that in an upcoming blog.
Have you taken an online course? Was it engaging? What factors made it relevant and interesting? More or less effective?
John Stuppy, john@tutorvista.com
Take a look at online learning. Eleven years ago I started working with one-on-one on-line tutoring over the internet. The idea was a student and tutor would use their computer to talk and interact through a shared virtual whiteboard. At the time, the voice interaction was pretty crummy -- echoes, dropped calls, gaps and delays were common. It wasn’t a pleasant experience and this was despite the fact one had to pay more for the technology infrastructure.
However, look at where things have moved today. Now, the technology used for voice chatting over the internet and sharing a virtual whiteboard is a reliable commodity. It works! And students love the whole platform and thrive on the online experience.
But is it effective? That’s the big question, isn’t it? I did a study of over 500,000 K-12 students who were tutored in reading and math –face to face vs. on-line. The result? There was no difference in effectiveness gains as measured by pre-- vs. post-test growth on standardized tests between the two groups. .
So students getting tutoring via the internet achieved the same gains as those students going to a learning center and meeting with their tutor face to face. This is an encouraging finding for the education technology industry. It suggests you don’t have to sacrifice education results for convenience.
Online tutoring is more convenient and affordable and highly effective . The next stage in the evolution of the industry is to figure out how to take advantages of technology to increase the effectiveness beyond face-to-face tutoring. More on that in an upcoming blog.
Have you taken an online course? Was it engaging? What factors made it relevant and interesting? More or less effective?
John Stuppy, john@tutorvista.com
Monday, November 12, 2007
The Butterfly Flapped Its Wings and Amazingly, Forty Years Later…
I went for a walk. And then I saw one…and then another…they were everywhere! Monarch butterflies were flitting and flying all around the neighborhood. There weren’t any there yesterday but now I could see at least 20.
Where did they come from? Did they just hatch?
I started thinking of the 8” think dictionary my family had at the top of the stairs in my house where I grew up, and the three feet of shelf space each that the Encyclopedia Britannica, World Book and Book of Knowledge took up in our family library. Forty years ago, I was equally curious then about how certain words should be spelled and where things like Monarch butterflies came from, but my intellectual pursuits back then usually followed this pattern…
“Mom…How do you spell 'mnemonic'?”
“Go look it up in the dictionary,” my mom would reply.
So I would trudge up the stairs, open the big book to “N” and look for “nemonic.” Of course the monstrous dictionary didn’t put a little red squiggle under the word when I looked it up in the wrong place, nor did it suggest “mnemonic.” If I didn’t find the word right away I was less likely to try and satisfy intellectual curiosity the next time.
Using the encyclopedias back then was usually more productive – assuming my brothers put back each of the volumes the last time they used them.
But this is 2007. While I walked, I pulled out my Treo phone, logged into Google, and searched for “Monarch Butterfly.”
Wow! While I was still walking among these little delicate creatures, I discovered:
* Monarch’s migrate as much as 3,000 miles flying South for Winter and North in the Spring
* They are poisonous snacks for predators and are brightly colored to make sure predators know they aren’t the yummy ones
So these butterflies didn’t just hatch today – they literally “blew into town” and miraculously, could travel many miles a day while seemingly flitting about.
What a great time we live in when we can easily learn things just in time and on the spot! To the three R’s standard when I grew up – Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic, we should add two more:
4. Reach – connecting with people through email & postings, and
5. Research – easy, fast, productive searches to a wealth of information and resources
Has your life changed with Reach and Research?
John Stuppy, john@tutorvista.com
Monday, November 5, 2007
Voice of Reason
Should you use online tutoring with a typed “chat” setup or voice-based program? I’ve been sold on voice-based online tutoring for years. This means the student and tutor talk to each other using their computers though they can be thousands of miles apart. How? A cool technology called “Voice over IP” (VoIP) makes this possible. A computer phone call usually sounds cleaner and clearer than a regular phone call. The student plugs in a headset with a built in microphone to his or her computer’s speaker and microphone jacks and uses that to talk to and listen to a tutor with the same setup far away.
It amazes me when online tutoring companies try to fob off text-chat-only services as state-of-the-art high-tech learning platforms. Some say “The jury is out on VoIP” or “You don’t need voice to explain problems because things like math are the ‘language of symbols’ and you don’t need a second ‘language’ to understand, explain and solve those kinds of problems.” This is rubbish! They say this because they can’t support voice! That, and they juggle 3-5 students at a time with text chat while a voice conversation is geared around one-on-one tutoring.
Many students type slowly. They have a question but they are hunting and pecking their way to ask it. And they wait for their tutor to type an answer – then they have to read that answer. Or was that the answer to the previous thing the student typed? Of course if you are getting tutored in a library or other setting where talking is not allowed, a text-chat service makes sense.
But if voice is possible, it makes no sense to limit the interaction to typing. Speaking is five times faster than typing for most. Students quickly say what they don’t understand and explain what they’re thinking. Voice is best!
Voice chat is easy, reliable, and uses inexpensive tools such as a head-set with built in microphone ($16-35). And if for some reason VoIP isn’t working, switch to an alternate VoIP tool. If all else fails and there’s no VoIP platform that’s working? Then you suffer like in the “old days” and use text chat!
Have you had a chance to compare voice-based tutoring to text-chat tutoring?
I welcome your thoughts and comments.
John Stuppy, john@tutorvista.com
It amazes me when online tutoring companies try to fob off text-chat-only services as state-of-the-art high-tech learning platforms. Some say “The jury is out on VoIP” or “You don’t need voice to explain problems because things like math are the ‘language of symbols’ and you don’t need a second ‘language’ to understand, explain and solve those kinds of problems.” This is rubbish! They say this because they can’t support voice! That, and they juggle 3-5 students at a time with text chat while a voice conversation is geared around one-on-one tutoring.
Many students type slowly. They have a question but they are hunting and pecking their way to ask it. And they wait for their tutor to type an answer – then they have to read that answer. Or was that the answer to the previous thing the student typed? Of course if you are getting tutored in a library or other setting where talking is not allowed, a text-chat service makes sense.
But if voice is possible, it makes no sense to limit the interaction to typing. Speaking is five times faster than typing for most. Students quickly say what they don’t understand and explain what they’re thinking. Voice is best!
Voice chat is easy, reliable, and uses inexpensive tools such as a head-set with built in microphone ($16-35). And if for some reason VoIP isn’t working, switch to an alternate VoIP tool. If all else fails and there’s no VoIP platform that’s working? Then you suffer like in the “old days” and use text chat!
Have you had a chance to compare voice-based tutoring to text-chat tutoring?
I welcome your thoughts and comments.
John Stuppy, john@tutorvista.com
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Further Thoughts on Textbooks: How did they get so big and what can we do about it?
People complain about the price of textbooks. Rising textbook prices diminish the affordability and availability of “Education for all.” I was pleased to receive emails responding to my first blog on textbooks.
Dan Rinn at Cengage Learning wrote that many factors have caused higher production costs for textbook makers and these costs result in higher bookstore prices. Dan pointed out Cengage’s ichapters.com provides lower cost digital access to textbook materials and is one way his company is addressing the high cost of textbooks.
How did textbook prices get so high? Art Bardige in his book New Physical Ideas Are Here Needed describes what happened in the textbook industry over the last 20+ years.
In the 1980’s elementary textbook publishers made most of their money from “consumable” workbooks sold each year for each new class of students, not the textbooks. In college, students were likely to keep their textbooks for their personal library so publishers sold new books to each class.
But in elementary schools, workbooks went out of fashion and out of budget around the same time schools could easily copy materials with high speed copiers. Profit from workbooks took a dive. Publishers added material to books for obscure state standards to win state adoptions and began making books more colorful and bigger.
In college, book prices reached the point where students could no longer justify keeping old class textbooks for their library so publishers started making new, bigger editions every year or two -- older editions were obsolete.
Bigger books means higher development, production, shipping, and warehousing costs to the publisher and higher costs to schools and students. The typical textbook today can be 4 times larger than the textbook 20-30 years ago.
What can we do to stop textbook bloat? Seven years ago I worked with the formation of a portfolio company called Classwell Learning. Classwell deliverd online assessments to identify a student's skill gaps and let the teacher select supplementary materials for each individual student under a single school or district subscription fee. The teacher clicked a button and a colorful, personalized workbook printed at the local Kinko’s. Each student had only the explanations, examples, and problems he or she needed.
This seemed like a great idea. But like other innovative ideas, it seems to have gotten acquired, incorporated and then diluted or forgotten. It was ahead of its time. Can we catch up now?
John Stuppy, john@tutorvista.com
Dan Rinn at Cengage Learning wrote that many factors have caused higher production costs for textbook makers and these costs result in higher bookstore prices. Dan pointed out Cengage’s ichapters.com provides lower cost digital access to textbook materials and is one way his company is addressing the high cost of textbooks.
How did textbook prices get so high? Art Bardige in his book New Physical Ideas Are Here Needed describes what happened in the textbook industry over the last 20+ years.
In the 1980’s elementary textbook publishers made most of their money from “consumable” workbooks sold each year for each new class of students, not the textbooks. In college, students were likely to keep their textbooks for their personal library so publishers sold new books to each class.
But in elementary schools, workbooks went out of fashion and out of budget around the same time schools could easily copy materials with high speed copiers. Profit from workbooks took a dive. Publishers added material to books for obscure state standards to win state adoptions and began making books more colorful and bigger.
In college, book prices reached the point where students could no longer justify keeping old class textbooks for their library so publishers started making new, bigger editions every year or two -- older editions were obsolete.
Bigger books means higher development, production, shipping, and warehousing costs to the publisher and higher costs to schools and students. The typical textbook today can be 4 times larger than the textbook 20-30 years ago.
What can we do to stop textbook bloat? Seven years ago I worked with the formation of a portfolio company called Classwell Learning. Classwell deliverd online assessments to identify a student's skill gaps and let the teacher select supplementary materials for each individual student under a single school or district subscription fee. The teacher clicked a button and a colorful, personalized workbook printed at the local Kinko’s. Each student had only the explanations, examples, and problems he or she needed.
This seemed like a great idea. But like other innovative ideas, it seems to have gotten acquired, incorporated and then diluted or forgotten. It was ahead of its time. Can we catch up now?
John Stuppy, john@tutorvista.com
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