In 2015, I was invited to the 10th Anniversary Celebration Reception of the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (CSTEM) at Eastern Washington University (EWU) in Cheney, Washington. This event hosted several amazing speakers from local companies and former alumni. It also showcased several of the robotic engineering and animation labs, where a variety of student projects were on display.
STEM is a field that groups together the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, with the goal of integrating these areas of study with each other and with other subject areas. For more details on the importance of STEM school work, check out this post on the benefits of STEM education. Enlightium Academy STEM students have the freedom to explore new technologies and methods that enhance their learning and achievement by analyzing real-time data, integrating creativity, mapping solutions, and utilizing critical thinking and collaboration.
Students taking technical courses online face different challenges in an online learning environment. Parents, teachers and students are familiar with the traditional, ‘brick and mortar’ approaches to education. It’s what we were raised with. In that environment, students are gathered into an assigned space at a specific time where a teacher provides the instruction. The teacher leads in the presentation of the content and then moves to a lab-based activity. This is a linear focused approach that has instructional milestones and sets evaluations (i.e. quizzes or exams) to confirm student understanding and mastery of a set of objectives over a fixed period of time.
What model and approach works for the students today?