After a rough entry, my experience in the SAMR pool has most definitely remained in the (S)h(A)llows!
(Thanks to Curtis N for sharing the metaphor in his blog this week)
I must admit that I feel far out of my league with the world of online learning and designing online or blended models. While reading the chapter from Bates’ Teaching in a Digital Age, I frantically jotted down my questions, worries and uncertainties, and I attempted to imagine the work I will need to complete in building a blended or online course. I read articles and listened to podcasts shared by colleagues on Twitter this week, (like this one shared by Catherine, and this one shared by Curtis B) and tried to consider how I can incorporate all the amazing tips and tricks on engaging students with course content through the digital space and create tailored assessment criteria (a good article about assessment was shared by Trevor), without neglecting the rest of my life’s responsibilities. I compared my sliver of experience with all the expert advice and felt inadequate.
Splash. I. Am. Overwhelmed. Back up, Heidi. Tread water. You have done some of this already, it’s not all new territory. This is the work you experimented with in the spring. Breathe. Reflect. Swim. Grow. As I reflect on my limited experience with blended and online learning, I am beginning to examine the differences between my positive and negative experiences as a teacher, collaborator and creator. I’m attempting to shift my perspective about online learning, from an extension of the school space I’m familiar with, to an environment that is completely unique. The way emergency remote teaching was cast upon schools and educators, made it difficult for me to imagine teaching online as anything but extending the classroom into the home via the Internet, which negatively impacted my understanding of my new role. For me personally, in March 2020, all my careful compartmentalization of the various facets of my life (in priority sequence: work, immediate family, university, extended family, friends and self) came crashing together into one massive junk drawer. My coping strategy in order to manage the most important elements in the drawer, was to toss some into a metaphorical box to deal with later.
Work occupied the majority space in the drawer and included connecting synchronously on Microsoft Teams with both of our grade 8 classes, nearly replicating the timetable we had had at school: three 75-minute periods per day for Mathématiques and ELA. My colleague, the other grade 8 teacher, did the same with alternating groups for Français, Sciences humaines and Éducation physique. We had 43 students doing synchronous virtual classes for almost 4 hours each day! All the while, my daughter was supposed to be connecting to her own virtual learning environment but was incapable of doing so unassisted. I’m almost ashamed to admit that this element was removed from the drawer and she didn’t end up completing any supplemental learning (at least in a school-measured way). I also dropped the grad class I was supposed to take in the spring term.
In my own online teaching practice, I fell victim to what Bates describes as the “danger of just adding new technology to the classroom design… [by] increasing cost, both in terms of technology and the time of instructors, without changing outcomes” (2019). In terms of technology cost, I was lucky to get by with what I already had, plus a new headset. However in terms of time….. I spent hours in the evenings and on weekends reproducing pages from print resources, searching online for anything closely resembling assignments or activities I had planned to do in person, creating quizzes and assignments in Microsoft Forms, and answering questions from students and parents who were struggling with content, to connect to or navigate the new virtual space, and handling an instance of severe netiquette faux pas. In May, I found some inspiration and set up a Literature Circle activity, creating private channels for small groups of students to discuss their choice novel together and create a presentation for the rest of the class. This was mostly a positive experience for me and the students. As there would be in class, there were some students who didn’t fully participate, or contribute to group work. I struggled to decide how to assess learning in this setting. By June, I added one-on-one meeting times with each student, once per week, for check-ins, individual instruction and mini assessments. Imagine how grateful I felt to be returning to in-person teaching in September! With the threat of COVID-19 still lingering though, I do continue to maintain a Teams presence for each of my classes this year, which includes posting supplemental videos, lessons or assignments for students at home sick or self-isolating. In designing a blended or online course, I feel like there are some technical aspects that may cause me some grief. However, I see my main challenge being prioritizing and synthesizing all the information flooding in, to determine what is actually manageable for me and can make a powerful impact on students’ learning. I need to keep my students and their needs at the centre of my plan, while attempting to maintain a balance with my home life, and sort out that junk drawer.
Work cited
Bates, A.W. (2019). Teaching in a Digital Age – Second Edition. Vancouver, B.C.: Tony Bates Associates Ltd. https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/teachinginadigitalagev2/
1 Comment
Daniel D
1/26/2021 02:46:10 pm
Heidi, when I was reading Bates, I also asked myself many questions and to my amazement, he almost always answered them a few lines later. I appreciate the stress and the difficulties involved we had to live last march. I think the most important aspect to retain from that experience is that students are resilient and we must not be afraid to take certain risks albeit difficult to accept. I really connected with Bates when he described Agile Design. At my point in my career, that if kinda what I want to try. Thanks for the journey though your mind and your thoughts.
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