Internet Learning Image

Internet Learning

May 31, 2014Canadian, Education, Science&Tech

QR Link

Access this article on a mobile device

QR Code

Preparation
CONSIDER

Are you good at studying without a teacher?

MP3

Right click this link to download the mp3.

PDF

Right click this link to download a printable PDF file for this conversation.

Transcript
José: Umm, just on that same vein, (mm-hmm) because before I started doing Duolingo, I learned about Duolingo when I was on another website reading about Internet learning (uh-huh) and I was interested in Internet learning because I’ve been on a, mmm, I don’t want to say a tear but it’s kind of been at the top of my thought processes lately and I was doing uh work on Khan Academy. K-H-A-N Academy I think “.org” if you want just want to go to that URL (uh-huh) and that also is completely free. And it’s just remarkable what the interface and all of the obvious work that’s been put into this thing (mm-hmm) that is completely free.

Alex: Sorry, did you say this is also language learning?

José: Khan Academy actually is not language learning. I initially went to it because because I thought, “you know what, I should learn more about mathematics. (mm-hmm) I’ve always thought that mathematics and history were the two things that I –Sorry againJose's computer was making alert sounds during the conversation. That’s why he was apologising. (0:57)– uh, (don’t worry) that I should – that I should know more about. And I thought, you know, I’m I’m ac- I’m actually pretty deficient when it comes to things like algebra and and calculus, and I thought, you know **…

Alex: “Deficient” you said?

José: Oh yeah, completely useless. Ha ha. Beyond deficient, I’m worthless. I have a hard time adding up three number figures and… Anyway so I was doing that (mm-hmm) and then I started finding out about things like Khan Academy and that’s, you know as I was doing Internet research, That’s when I found out about Duolingo. (mm-hmm) But now there seems to be a whole bunch of stuff out there (mm-hmm) that is completely free like um, EdX. EdX.com, (uh-huh) Coursera C-O, C-O-U-R-S-E-R-A.com

Alex: Coursera?

José: Yeah, and if you go there… uh, you you’re not going to get credits that you can turn over to a university and they’ll put it on your transcript and give you a university degree, but you’re getting, If you’re, uh, basically uh, a devoted student somebody who is indepe- who is a good independent learner, the equivalent reading list, the equivalent uh ability (yeah) to talk to professors over um Internet um communications, video and voice calls (uh-huh) and through Internet forums (mm-hmm) and chat (mm-hmm) to talk to your peers (mm-hmm) uh, you know, other students. This is this is just an amazing revolution in education I think.

Alex: Wow. It does sound amazing you know. I wonder where it will go. You know, maybe we don’t maybe we don’t need to go to uh, these uh, classrooms in the future.

José: I wouldn’t be afraid of of a situation like that. I think naturally for a lot of professors, a lot of teachers who don’t, spend a lot of time thinking about the Internet in their own teaching. I think the natural response is to think, “Oh my gosh, what’s going to happen from here,” and, “Will I still have a job?” And I think there’s there’s always going to be a job for teachers.

Alex: Yeah.

José: But, how it’s going to work in terms of um, how we get paid and, and, even if that’s maybe not a good thing in the short-term, I think this is only a good thing in the long-term. Democratizing education, making it cheap.

Alex: Yeah. Can’t be afraid of change. It’d be nice to have a change, maybe, you know (meow) You said it!

José: I’m sorry, my cat is hungry. Okay Alex, thanks a lot.

Alex: Yup.

Consolidation
DISCUSSION

What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages internet study?

How do you think the way you study now is different from how people studied 50 years ago?

We don’t have any pointers for this conversation, but if you have a question, please ask in the ‘Comments’ below. We might use your question as the base for a future pointer.

Image courtesy:

RogDel (Wikimedia Commons)

Take the quiz

QR Link

Access this article on your mobile device

QR Code

GoldFish Audio cover

Speakers

José Domingo Cruz image

José Domingo Cruz

Canadian

Vancouver, British Columbia

Alex Bodnar Image

Alex Bodnar

Canadian

Harriston, Ontario


Statistics

  • words (including pause words)
  • minutes in the mp3 audio
  • words per minute for this article



Continue practicing your English fluency with the related posts above, or navigate to other authentic conversations using the Previous and Next buttons below.

Spritz

To spritz only part of this conversation, highlight the text you want and click the “SPRITZ NOW!” button. Clicking the button without any text highlighted will spritz the entire page.

To quickly adjust the words per minute (wpm), you can use the left and right arrow keys.

Writing comments will help your English writing skills. Feel free to ask questions and share opinions. We try to respond to all comments we get on the site. test

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This

Share This

Share this post with your friends!