A Quick Update:
Hello internet, Malcolm here! I thought I would let you all know that we are working diligently on the home page and the website's header. So far the progress has been good. We have had a lot of community support and interest, which has been a good sign.Outside of the technical details of building our website, the SocU team had a big meeting on learning theory. We want to make sure we incorporate all of the elements you need to succeed. So, we are planning on incorporating the three main learning styles (i.e. visual, auditory, and kinesthetic) into our degree program. We also plan on having group-learning theory, for those of you who think better in a group.
Visual Learning
To start, let's talk about how we are implementing the visual learning style into Socratic University. Visual learning is perhaps the easiest of the three learning theories to implement. In fact, we are taking an old-school approach: textbooks.Wait... did I just hear the Internet groan?
Textbooks, in all seriousness, are a great media for visual learning. This is why we made writing. "But what if I'm not a visual learner?" Well, don't read the book. It isn't a requirement, though it is recommended for full and detailed comprehension of the course's material.
These textbooks will not be pricey. We are planning on making them free for download in PDF, MOBI, and ePub formats (i.e. you'll be able to use them on any tablet and/or eReader you see fit).
They will be tailored to each lesson, and you will be able to view them while listening to lectures. Which brings me to...
Aural Learning
Aural learning is fairly easy to implement as well. We could do sound files that you could download... we thought about it, but we are opting for lectures. These would not be your typical lecture though. There is some research out there that show students do better when they don't have to focus on a person, just the blackboard. Well, as inspired by Khan Academy, we will be giving lectures with no face staring back at you. See an example here. This will provide both auditory and visual stimulus for our students.We are thinking about implementing audiobooks (in the form of MP3's and FLAC's) for the textbooks, but we won't be launching with those features. (N.B.: The entire team is committed to accessibility for those with disabilities, it will just take time. No offense meant.)
Kinesthetic Learning
Here is where things get complicated for us. At first glance, we weren't sure how to implement kinesthetic learning into our website. I mean, it's a website, right? What can you do but read, watch, and listen?Well, Aryelle (one of our kinesthetically-minded coders and content developers) reminded me of an amazing site, Codecademy. If you go to their site, you will immediately see an interactive virtual machine where you can practice programming all day.
Since we are launching with quantitative degrees (i.e. ones that can be evaluated numerically for a correct answer), we can create virtual practice rooms for our students. That way, if you need to practice, here you go. Again, just like with textbooks, the "homework" won't be mandatory, though it is encouraged for full comprehension of the course's material.
Group Learning
Implementing those three learning styles has been shown to help students memorize and comprehend. But how do we help students to analyze and synthesize? And furthermore, how do we help our students that function better when working with other people? The internet can be kind of isolating, and we want an academic community to flourish with open education, not drive academia into an isolated, despondent, death-spiral (so to speak).Luckily, we are not alone. All we have to do is allow people to group together, naturally. We are planning on doing this with live webinars, discussion forums, and group projects. All of these would be community driven and naturally evolving.
Also, this (NSFW) is not a forum. This is a forum.
