The Future of Education

After one year and a half of intensive labor, in summer 2018 a pilot first-semester Latin course was delivered in full online modality at the University of Kentucky. The current essay results from my experience in both designing and team-teaching the course as well as from the ongoing process of adjusting and revising the course content for the next iteration. The discussion will focus on the advantages (and pitfalls) in adopting: 1) a predominantly asynchronous environment with incentivization of synchronous learner-instructor interactions; 2) a disciplined regimen indispensible for language learning balanced with a certain degree of flexibility in access to the course and completion of activities; 3) a pedagogical framework where the uptake of explicit information is assessed first through low–stakes formative assessments, then enhanced by non-terminal feedback, and finally evaluated through a summative assessment; 4) a model that offers immediate results and instant automatic feedback for self-correction along with delayed but personalized instructor feedback; 5) a symbiosis between texts and cultural themes.

Keywords: online course, Latin, e-learning;