quick question about AoPS online courses

[Noreen Claire]

For a few reasons, I'm considering enrolling DS11 in pre-algebra 2 class that starts next week. My concern is that he can't type very well. I know that he'll get better if he has to, but will it be too hard for him to participate in the beginning if he's bad at typing? He's already completed the first chapter in the book that the course starts with, so he could focus a bit more on the mechanics of the class during the first two weeks, if that matters.

 

Thanks.

[EmilyGF]

You can drop the class without fee for three weeks, so I'd suggest giving it a try and dropping it to focus on typing for a bit if it isn't a good fit yet.

[cabercro]

Is there a way he could use speech-to-text on the computer? I admittedly know very little about it, but I think there are headsets/Chrome extensions/apps that can allow him to speak instead of type?

[SanDiegoMom]

My son never typed a lot -- usually just a number, or at most a short phrase.  Usually it was just to answer a question, so yes, no, true, false, or the numerical answer. 

Reading speed, though, is essential especially at the higher levels. My son started with Intro to Alg B which was fine, but Intermediate Algebra was huge blocks of text -- he equated it to drinking from a firehouse. 

[Noreen Claire]

1 hour ago, HeighHo said:

My dc had no trouble with slow typing speed at that age, in class, but at times he did ask me to type as his thoughts were coming out more rapidly than he could type.  

Thank you - I hadn't thought of this!

[Noreen Claire]

4 minutes ago, SanDiegoMom in VA said:

My son never typed a lot -- usually just a number, or at most a short phrase.  Usually it was just to answer a question, so yes, no, true, false, or the numerical answer. 

Reading speed, though, is essential especially at the higher levels. My son started with Intro to Alg B which was fine, but Intermediate Algebra was huge blocks of text -- he equated it to drinking from a firehouse. 

This is helpful, thanks. He's a fast reader, that shouldn't be a problem.

[Noreen Claire]

1 hour ago, square_25 said:

It's all text-based, so it's not optimal to be bad at typing. And it goes rather fast. 

I think he could still get a lot out of a class, but he might feel a bit frustrated if he can do the math but can't type it in to answer. 

Thanks, I was hoping you would respond. I have no doubt that the math will not be a problem. He and I just need to shake things up a bit, and having someone else assigning & evaluating his work for a while seems like it might just do the trick. Like @EmilyGF mentioned above, we can give it the first two weeks and see how it goes, typing-wise.

[mathnerd]

I thought that my son used Latex significantly to type in answers when he took online AOPS classes. That could add to the typing speed complications, perhaps? I second @EmilyGF's  suggestion of trying the class for 3 weeks and dropping it if his typing needs more practice.

Edited May 12, 2020 by mathnerd

[SanDiegoMom]

3 minutes ago, mathnerd said:

I thought that my son used Latex significantly to type in answers when he took online AOPS classes. That could add to the typing speed complications, perhaps? I second @EmilyGF's  suggestion of trying the class for 3 weeks and dropping it if his typing needs more practice.

Ooh, that's right. I forgot since Latex has become so second nature for my kid. 

[Roadrunner]

You have to get on the board enough times to get full participation score. My kid treated those classes as race to the board. He loved it. Most classes felt fast. 
I agree about trying for couple of weeks and then deciding. 

[Roadrunner]

1 hour ago, CuriousMomof3 said:

I wonder if they'd ever be interested in doing a section specifically for younger kids, for those who need Algebra 1 and younger kid typing speed, for example.  

It still wouldn't work for my kid, but it might be nice for some of the other kids to connect.  

Prealgebra class in our experience is mostly full of kids in 4th and 5th grade. 

[Noreen Claire]

So, he's signed up for the class, but he's wary. I'll sit with him through the first two to see how it goes. I've told him that there is no problem if we decide to drop in the first two weeks, that this is just to try something new.

The class starts with chapter 8, and he's already working in chapter 9 this week in the book, so that will give him the first few weeks to focus more on the class format and less worry on the material.

Thanks for all your input.

Edited May 14, 2020 by Noreen Claire
clarity

[Noreen Claire]

8 hours ago, square_25 said:

Who's the teacher, if you don't mind me asking? 

Emily McCullough is the instructor. It's an early class - meets @ 4pm. Fingers crossed. 

[hellen]

AOPS helped my son type more quickly.  The class motivated him to improve his typing skills.  

The instructors don't favor long answers over short answers during class.  It's a mix.  

[Noreen Claire]

On 5/14/2020 at 10:01 PM, square_25 said:

I don't know her, even virtually, but let me know how it goes!! 

Well, he's survived the first meeting. He was nervous, but it started out well enough. He knew the material (he's already worked that chapter in the book), and wasn't too slow in getting answers in at the beginning However, at about the 50 minute mark (out of 75), he started to unravel. He felt like he wasn't able to think fast enough or type fast enough and that the class was moving too fast. His frustration started to snowball from there. This is my kid who I am struggling with to get him to write his calculations down, which will help speed up his work. I was in the room with him making dinner, but wasn't sitting with him. I answered his questions and spent the last 15 minutes trying to talk him through his frustration and calm him down. (I was making dinner - poor planning on my part.)

For next week, I will make sure that he has a break at around the 45 minute mark. Walking to get a drink of water and stretching might help him regroup. I can also help him with the typing if he gets frustrated. He will work on typing skills during the week.

He's actually looking forward to his homework, so that's a positive.

[EmilyGF]

54 minutes ago, Noreen Claire said:

Well, he's survived the first meeting. He was nervous, but it started out well enough. He knew the material (he's already worked that chapter in the book), and wasn't too slow in getting answers in at the beginning However, at about the 50 minute mark (out of 75), he started to unravel. He felt like he wasn't able to think fast enough or type fast enough and that the class was moving too fast. His frustration started to snowball from there. This is my kid who I am struggling with to get him to write his calculations down, which will help speed up his work. I was in the room with him making dinner, but wasn't sitting with him. I answered his questions and spent the last 15 minutes trying to talk him through his frustration and calm him down. (I was making dinner - poor planning on my part.)

For next week, I will make sure that he has a break at around the 45 minute mark. Walking to get a drink of water and stretching might help him regroup. I can also help him with the typing if he gets frustrated. He will work on typing skills during the week.

He's actually looking forward to his homework, so that's a positive.

My daughter who held on by her fingernails through two AoPS classes really came away frustrated at math, disliking the subject, and thinking poorly of herself. I would strongly suggest waiting on things. She survived the whole term but it was really a mom-fail on my part to have put her up to it in retrospect.

Emily

[Noreen Claire]

1 hour ago, EmilyGF said:

My daughter who held on by her fingernails through two AoPS classes really came away frustrated at math, disliking the subject, and thinking poorly of herself. I would strongly suggest waiting on things. She survived the whole term but it was really a mom-fail on my part to have put her up to it in retrospect.

Emily

Thank you for sharing your daughter's experience. We agreed that he would try the first two sessions, and then we would decide if he should stay or drop.

Edited May 20, 2020 by Noreen Claire

[Arcadia]

My kids treated the AoPS classes as extracurriculars (social time) and they didn’t try to be the first to answer. Mine were also happily snacking through class time. Both of mine did prefer to type in latex (https://artofproblemsolving.com/wiki/index.php/LaTeX:LaTeX_on_AoPS) and draw graphs with asymptote (https://artofproblemsolving.com/wiki/index.php/Asymptote:_Graphing). They started in 5th/6th grade. I think they would have been frustrated if they treat it like an academic class and were concerned about the grades they might get.

[Noreen Claire]

1 hour ago, Arcadia said:

 I think they would have been frustrated if they treat it like an academic class and were concerned about the grades they might get.

He's not concerned about grades, as far as I can tell. I think, mainly, he was frustrated because other people were quicker than he was and he's got a perfectionist streak in him. I certainly don't care about whatever grade he gets! I was just hoping that this class would shake things up a bit, while also having someone else give him direction and feedback about how he writes out solutions to his work. 

Edited May 20, 2020 by Noreen Claire

[Arcadia]

7 minutes ago, Noreen Claire said:

He's not concerned about grades, as far as I can tell. I think, mainly, he was frustrated because other people were quicker than he was and he's got a perfectionist streak in him.

Both my teens are perfectionists but they aren’t “competitive”. Think that help in everything because being perfectionist and wanting to be first can be a double whammy. My kids were also in public schools so they are used to being “last” in class.  DS15’s first AoPS class was intro to geometry I think, and he wanted his diagrams to be perfect. So he spent a lot of time on perfecting his diagrams for geometry homework. 

[Spy Car]

I tried doing the AoPS Prealgebra online class with my son. 

The "chat line" moved incredibly fast. So fast that it frustrated him. I could not have kept up. No way.

The teacher's side of the equation could have been generated by a bot.

Perhaps this is a type of learning that works for some students?

We'd have done better with videotaped lessons. We dropped very soon after starting and continued on our own. 

AoPS Prealgebra is challenging, in any case.

Bill

 

 

[madteaparty]

16 hours ago, Spy Car said:

I tried doing the AoPS Prealgebra online class with my son. 

The "chat line" moved incredibly fast. So fast that it frustrated him. I could not have kept up. No way.

The teacher's side of the equation could have been generated by a bot.

Perhaps this is a type of learning that works for some students?

We'd have done better with videotaped lessons. We dropped very soon after starting and continued on our own. 

AoPS Prealgebra is challenging, in any case.

Bill

 

 

This is our experience with the classes. And frankly looking at rows of text for a couple hours just did not appeal. We continued books on our own for a little while but since no adults here like them, we stopped half way through Algebra I think.  Video based classes like Derek Owens or current CC class work better here. 
I am curious how the summer online AOPS academy classes work, anyone have any idea? Dd has been doing a little beast.

Edited May 21, 2020 by madteaparty