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Wilson Hill Academy math discussion boards?


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I was wondering if anyone has much experience with the WHA math discussion boards?  I'm not sure how I feel about the comments today that the students are supposed to be using a discussion board to ask questions of each other when they don't understand a problem instead of asking in class?  Has this worked for your student?  I'm concerned, with the amount of money we spend in tuition and fees, I expect the teacher to be able to answer questions, especially if the whole class appears to be struggling.  I correct all the homework at this point, so I answer as many questions as I can, but that was one of the reasons I have my student in their classes.

Edited by melmichigan
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We're feeling the same way about my ds16's class. He wants to be able to ask questions in class and receive a live explanation. He's frustrated with the discussion board. He informed me that he'll never take another online class with this format. 

I agree with you that the teacher should be setting aside some time in class to go over problems.

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DD#1 is only in her second WHA math class this year. The discussion boards were not highly utilized last year due to her small class. I believe the idea with the discussion boards is that the kids can get answers a lot sooner with them vs. waiting for class. It is supposed to be more helpful, not less helpful. The teacher should weigh in on an answer if he or she gets to it first, but other kids can also earn participation points (at least, in my dd's class, they do) by posting a question or answering a question. DD doesn't use them very much because the rest of the class is usually ahead of where she is on the homework.

If they ask on the discussion board & still don't understand the answer, they should still be able to ask in class. Some classes, like geometry, go really fast through the material and that leaves very little time in class to go over sticky problems.

@melmichigan Which level class is this? I can tell that @Kalypso's is PreCalc. I'd ask which section is causing the problems, but I don't have the book anymore. :cool: 

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1 hour ago, RootAnn said:

@melmichigan Which level class is this? I can tell that @Kalypso's is PreCalc. I'd ask which section is causing the problems, but I don't have the book anymore. :cool: 

This is algebra 1. They are working on polynomials, so I would expect confusion with the level of some of the questions.  There were many confused kids and they were basically admonished for not utilizing the discussion boards.  I am not impressed with that format at this level of mathematics.  (I do really like this teacher, but I'm concerned.)

Edited by melmichigan
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Hmm. I know at the higher levels, they are asked to use the discussion boards when they are first shown round the system (meet the teacher day?). Perhaps the teacher thought everyone knew the format by this point in the semester. If kids hadn't struggled before and thus hadn't had to use them, or if they had previously brought questions to class, I can see where the sudden chiding would be off-putting.

I'm not a fan of discussion boards for this or any other class (English!), but it can help get answers quicker than emailing the teacher or waiting for class. It is a weird public mesh of a study group and going in to the teacher outside of class hours to get help. Office hours would be another way to handle the questions when you really need to spend class time covering the new material. But, WHA doesn't have office hours, so this is their answer. Easier on the teacher than answering the same question three times in email.

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My student hasn’t used the discussion boards much, but for the classes he has taken, I have seen evidence that the teacher is monitoring the discussions and contributing when needed or when a student particularly requests the teacher give input. 

As RootAnn said, I think discussion boards make sense because when class is only two days per week, waiting until the next class when a student is stuck could have him ending up really behind in homework and struggling to catch up. 

Is any of the class time spent going over homework or giving opportunities for questions? Our experience has been that there is some of this. I will say that my child is a relatively strong math student. I have other kids that I would not use the online, 2 day per week format for, because they need to go over math with me every single day, reviewing each assignment. I also haven’t used online math until solid on prealgebra and algebra 1. It makes me too nervous because there is too much that can go wrong or be misunderstood at this level, for me to delegate rather than give up on tutoring to mastery at home, though I am sure that there are students who are able to do quite well with this format.

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Maybe I'm missing the point of the discussion board.  The solutions manuals are required books for the class, so kids aren't, or shouldn't be waiting on answers, but rather explanations for problems where the solution doesn't make sense to them or where the concept is just escaping them.  To me, that is the purpose of the teacher.  I can read a solutions manual, as can my child. I signed my DS up for the class for instruction and feedback on information I may struggle to explain.  Luckily, I am able to go through the information with him at this level and he is doing very well in the class. The comment wasn't directed at any specific student, but at the class as a whole, something to the effect that they needed to get on the ball and be using the discussions versus asking questions, which was why I came to discuss it. I did not realize this was a format they were moving to when I paid the student fee.

 

Edited by melmichigan
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I have felt the same way, though it has worked for my dd so far. She is also in Alg 1. M/W 9:30. The DB was not enough in Ch.4. 

My dd is generally a strong math student, so when she was truly confused in the recent chapter, I emailed the instructor with some specifics. He addressed the confusion (the whole class, I think) with two study sessions (one live and one recorded) and he answered questions in class.

As long as he responds when the DBs don't help, I'm ok with it. Dd has been able to help others and deepen her understanding by putting what she knows into words on the DBs.

I will ask my Dd about a comment like that in class. That might well bother me, depending in how it was said. 

Edited by ScoutTN
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2 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

I will ask my Dd about a comment like that in class. That might well bother me, depending in how it was said. 

DS is in the later class.  I'll message you.  

My understanding was that the extra sessions were because DS's class lost so much class time due to connection issues that week.  That was part of their frustration and all the questions that day, they hadn't had the instruction for two of the more difficult sections of the chapter, so expecting them to use the discussion board really didn't apply at that time imho.

I will see how it goes the rest of the year, and will take it into consideration when choosing classes for next year.  

Edited by melmichigan
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  • 3 weeks later...

Just thought I'd post a positive db experience from today. Dd had a "C" problem wrong and didn't understand it. I suggested she post on the db. Several students had already discussed the problem, so dd got a clear explanation in about 3 minutes. :smile: Better than waiting until next week to ask the teacher in class 

I had her do the next problem too, just to make sure she understood, since the db explanation contained the solution. 

This is Alg 1. 

Edited by ScoutTN
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Several of our kids took math through Wilson Hill Academy a few years back.  The two teachers my kids had for different classes were very good. But we left and I will share my story to warn anyone else in case this happens to you. A particular teacher we were quite fond of apparently put in her resignation in the spring. However, we were not notified until summer. At that point, we could not get full tuition back. I think if they had just told us up front when they knew it would have saved us a whole lot of hassle. In June parents got an email that said, "As most of you are probably already aware...". Well, no we were not aware because that was the first announcement. The replacement had never taught this particular math class before and we wanted to explore options. To me, it's reasonable to give a reimbursement in that situation. 

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