Module Two:
What is the Online Learning Movement?
Or,
Can't I Just Go Back to My Books and My White Board, Please? (Spoiler Alert- That's a Hard No, Super Chief)
Online, blended, and digital learning encompass practices that may be implemented well or poorly.
Therefore, the theoretical question “does online/blended/digital learning work” is nonsensical in the
same way as asking “do traditional schools work?”
The technology used in online, blended, and digital learning always supports teachers and other
professional adults who work with students in a variety of ways. There are no examples of successful,
scalable educational programs in the United States that operate without teachers.
DLC Core Principles, Snapshot 2019
Before getting into the three key analytical questions for the module, I wanted to start with something that felt very refreshing to me. These two Core Principles from the Digital Learning Collaborative felt almost revolutionary to see written on a page. It felt validating of my existence as a teacher, the importance I play in education, and affirming of the need for education policy makers to turn to, trust, and rely on classroom teachers. I was not surprised how quickly the attitude towards teachers went from seeing us as heroes in society when the pandemic began, to returning us to our rightful position as evil incarnate in America. You'll have to pardon me if I feel a bit Joan of Arc about the whole charade...
What did I learn?
One of the major positive aspects to online education is “anytime, any place” learning, along with the ability of the technology to tailor the curriculum to meet the needs of individual students. Fulfilling each child’s specific educational requirements has long been a goal of the modern educational system, but unfortunately, it has often acquiesced to offering the same general curriculum due to convenience.
Traditionally, schools have been organized by an industrial model that specifies structure in terms of time, space, modes, and places of learning. Virtual schools challenge this notion, and technology makes it possible for different students at various levels to engage with the content at their own pace and speed. Students who need additional time with a specific subject have the ability to take longer to master the content while others who are ready for the next subject can move forward. This notion has led proponents of online learning to tout its ability to better individualize instruction to better meet
student needs (Archambault 4).
One limitation is that online learning may be best suited for a particular type of student, one who is highly self-regulated. Even if technology is provided to students who are having trouble accessing it, digital literacy gaps exist as well and need to be addressed so that students are in a supported learning environment where they can not only learn online but can also prepare themselves by learning to learn online (Archambault 5).
For me, most of the material presented was really a review of information that I already knew. I guess the big lesson that I draw from the readings and viewing this week is that there is still an idealized notion that the youngster just some how "get it" when it comes to technology, which they do not. The other big concept is that online learning is an idealized magical place where students can learn at their own pace, in their own place, while exploring ideas that are of interest to them in deep, meaningful, magical ways just because that is what all online learning is.
So clearly I agree with you, dear professor, that the notion of "digital natives" and "digital immigrants" is clear and well-defined. I think the "Do "Digital Natives" Exist," video did a great job of pointing out, rather intuitively, that the internet was invented, created, build, and codified by people who must be defined as digital immigrants. Huh? The other analogy he offered, the one about knowing "every line of TV from American Horror Story to Zoe 101" does NOT mean that you UNDERSTAND media. Is it apt to observe that younger people are the first to engage in media as a toy or tool? Sure. Is it apt to then draw the conclusion that because they know how to play Kwazy Kupcakes on a mobile device that they are intuitively more connected to engaging in using and developing technological tools? That seems to be a facile connection and lazy writing started by someone facing a deadline for clickbait (gotcha internets!). As a point of fact, I have students every single year who DO NOT KNOW HOW TO TURN ON A DESKTOP COMPUTER WHEN WE GO TO A COMPUTER LAB! Splain that one, Lucy!
So your biases are less clear on the idealized notion that online learning is the magical place where anyone can be a happy, engaged learner, dear professor. I have included two (entirely too lengthy) quotes from the Archambault article as the kind of magical thinking and easily dismissive attitudes towards online learning that I struggle to accept. Online learning CAN be a place where magical learning opportunities can happen, as Archambault points out. Online learning usually works best for students who possess the characteristics described above, too. But online learning is a tool, a means to an end, not an end in and of itself. I humbly offer my own guinea pig experiences in online learning. I am very curious, and I love to read, and I love to learn for the sake of learning. I know, from multiple experiences, that online learning that occurs in a state of fairly high isolation is INCREDIBLY difficult for me. Even though I am very much of an introvert, the engagement of ideas, of physically being in a classroom with others debating, thinking, synthesizing, challenging, THAT is how my brain works best. Too often, too, I have seen high school students enroll in online courses and they simply don't have the fully developed frontal lobe to make the rational choices about how to handle their workload. Simply telling a student that they have to be responsible for their own learning, especially a still forming blob of hormones known as a high school student, seems to be setting them up for failure, or at least not providing them with a truly meaningful, engaging learning opportunity.
When I think about what FCPS offers (or, well, how they ran Online Campus PRIOR to COVID), it is not a Utopian learning paradise where students can engage at their own pace and place and engage deeply in learning that matters to them. It is highly structured, limited engagement, heavily standards and content based, with little room for teachers to offer exploration, let alone for students to engage in deep dives in learning that matters to them. Which is truly a shame. For all the resources and brilliant and creative teachers in this county, Online Campus should be a place where students can digitally run free in their learning rather than check boxes on the Online Government to-do list.
Why is it important?
Indeed, why is it important. Well, online educators, all educators, must work very hard to not make assumptions about their students. If we assume that all high school teenagers are "digital natives" and anything online simply comes naturally to them, then we are setting them up for failure if we engage in online learning tools without offering instruction in how to use the tools. It is important for educators to continue to look for the best methods of engaging students in learning content, curriculum, and skills. Flashy fun yay time making videos may seem like a really cool way to do X,Y, and Z, but what do students really get out of them? As an English teacher, the MOST difficult part of my job is getting the male students in my classes to read. They don't want to. They don't like to. No matter how awesome I tell them a book is, they will not read it. Ok, not all. 90%. Seriously- 90% will not read even if I am forcing them to have Sustained Silent Reading time during class. I have to work very hard to pick titles that will engage the students. I have to read the books to them, get them invested in the characters, getting them wanting to know, "and then what happens?". This affordance analysis of what is the best tool for the job (am I jumping ahead, or falling behind here? My timeline is so far off this semester 😉) and must be applied in deciding why we are doing what we do and what digital tools will we use that will be most effective for our learners. Also, clearly, it is important to be reflective and think about why do I do what I do? What assumptions and biases am I bringing in to my classroom and how do they impact how I am able to connect with my students? Being reflective about my learning and my teaching and my self is essential to my continued growth to being the best teacher I can be to as many students as possible.
How can I use this information?
Wait a minute- didn't I answer that in the last couple of sentences above?
Cop out!
I came up with a Johnny Cochran-ism to help me. Use the tool they already know so their knowledge with be easy for them to show. Ok, that is kind of 1/2 terrible Johnny Cochran and 1/2 lame Yoda.
Oh last thing, here is the link to my popplet. I gave up because I thought my head was going to explode. My thinking tends towards the linear, so all the thought balloons and lines made me feel like I was writing a cartoon without any characters to say lines.
Great writing and exceptional engaging use of images to convey and enhance your message.
ReplyDeleteWell, well, well... I see a lot of Fall 2019 learning here :) This is how I feel about online learning, "Online learning is a tool, a means to an end, not an end in and of itself" (Alexander-Goldsmith, 2020). Why choose online learning? For me, it's all about the affordance of online learning, the intersection of my learning goals and the possibilities and constraints of available tools, activities, strategies. Oh! you said that too. I do believe that online learning can do more than just solve problems of access and nonconsumption circumstance (remember that term from Horn and Staker---when the alternative to the disruptive technology is nothing at all...kind of like Covid learning). But it has to be designed to do more than provide access.
I started using Padlet a lot this past Spring. I like it as an alternative to Google products for brainstorming and facilitating thinking routines (you should read the two books about Making Thinking Visible from Ritchhart, Church, and Morrison).
Your popplet link did not work and I do not have it shared to me (dhathawa@gmu.edu), so I think my head was saved from exploding too. There are ways to make it more linearly, or like an org chart---which is how I create mine.
Thank you for your kind words of praise and YES, I definitely have Fall 2019 deeply imprinted in my thinking! It doesn't just shade how I view courses I have/am taking, but it really has made me (try to) think very deeply about what tools work best for what situations for each learner I work with- no big challenge there, right?
DeleteMy wife is a social worker at Seneca Ridge MS in Sterling, and a teacher there RAVED to her about a PD or class or something she was engaged in using Making Thinking Visible, so it has been on my radar, but only a a distant blip. When I taught AP Lit, I would have my students write and write and write all of their initial thoughts, feelings, perceptions, ANYTHING about whatever we were reading as a means of getting them to engage with the text, but also to get them to make their thinking visible. It was a TON of work to get them to do it, but it made a big difference. My regular students were so resistant to reading and writing (and thinking) that it was too much of a battle with them, so we kind of making thinking as a whole class activity with me scribbling their fleeting thoughts on the white board to help them process. Seems like something I should probably figure out how to bring back for my virtual students?
This has been a pleasant and productive distraction for me, but probably best that I get back to producing work! I have articles for EDIT 766, a research question for EDIT 769, and a little somethin-somethin for EDIT 760! :)
Oh, here is the link for my popplet. Is it ok if I try Padlet this week instead?
app.popplet.com/#/p/5969529
I have a lot of graduates using the MTV book with colleagues. It is a designer's dream!
DeleteI love Padlet and I'm glad you chose it. I used it extensively in Spring 2020 when we moved online. I used it during synchronous sessions to encourage participation and I used it during a virtual workshop to keep all 150 participants active (Mentimeter is another one I like to use during synchronous sessions).