#web-based teaching

Well I guess this is the end. Or close to anyway.

For the last 11 or so weeks I have been exploring elements of Web-Based Teaching through ED4767 and I have gained a few new perspectives, confirmed some old ones, and thought of a lot questions that don’t really have answers. Not to mention I got to expand my ever growing tool-belt of resources. 

I did learn a lot in this course about teaching students online, how to make these courses effective, and how to ensure that I am engaging my future students.

Some takeaways: 

Sense of humour is key! This is a great way to create those imperative connections with your students. 

Content is important, but presentation of content is more important (in my opinion). If you lose their attention, it doesn’t matter how great the information is. 

Technology is not just another means of conveying information to students but can be used to enhance their learning experience.

Not all tools out their are the most effective choice! So be selective in what you use.

Always be looking for new and more effective things to incorporate into your online classroom and always reflect on what is working and what is not. Professional Development!!!

Communication! Communicate with your students and be available to them as much as possible.

There were other smaller takeaways of course but these are the things that stuck out to me. The ones that will be in the front of my mind the next chance I get to teach students online. Not all of my questions were answered though...

My biggest question:

How do you ensure that your students are being challenged?

This remains my biggest question but I think that the answer to this will come with time and experience. Maybe this will always be something that I am striving for. Maybe there isn’t one definite answer.

Overall, I really enjoyed exploring web-based teaching and I’m glad that I can add this to the list of teaching methods that I would be comfortable using in the future.

SB

Resources:

Elias, M. J. (2015, March 30). Using Humor in the Classroom. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/using-humor-in-the-classroom-maurice-eliasKilgore, W. (2016, November 14).

This is just going to be a quick post on some thoughts I had while reading about Classroom Management Sits today and also my opinion on Google Classroom (which I have been working with for the past few weeks). I’ll be posting again later today because the course is coming to an end and I’d like to summarize some things here.

 CMS

Course Management Systems obviously have their benefits. They are a straightforward way of organizing and tracking a course from start to finish with assignments, tests, content, and grades. When teachers use them fully, they allow for easy access to all content and students don’t have to worry about keeping personal copies of all the material or learning several platforms in order to participate in the class. I also really love the power they have when it comes to assessment and the tracking of marks and grades. That being said, I find that they are limited in their scope and that (from personal experience) teachers are often not using them regularly or to their fullest extent

Sites like Moodle are beneficial to the students when being used regularly and properly. Same goes with sites like PowerSchool and Blackboard. All of these systems have their place, and I have had really good experiences with these sites as student and teacher. For a course that is taught entirely online though I would worry about the limitations that are present in these examples. For instance, the interface doesn’t allow for much personalization and is fairly non-descript. If you are working with younger students, it is important to present the information/material/content in a manner that is engaging. I know that there are smaller sites that pride themselves on their presentation and engaging interface.

Overall, I think it comes down to what the teacher is hoping to get out of the CMS and how fully they choose to integrate it. Knezek, Christensen, and Fluke highlight a model for integrating this type of technology into the classroom that I believe still holds true 16 years later (2003).

With regards to how beneficial these types of systems are:

Achievement is based on integration and integration is dependent on the WILL of the teacher, the SKILL of the teacher, and the TECHNOLOGY.  

The times when I have seen these systems succeed have been when the technology was well developed, and the teacher was confident with it and persistent in implementing it.

My questions about CMS in online courses:

What do these systems offer in terms of promoting engagement for students?

Most of these systems seem to have limited capacity in content creation/presentation and teachers would then need to rely on other sources for content creation. Are there CMS that have their own means of this?

 Google Classroom

Unfortunately, many of the concerns I stated above also apply to Google Classroom. BUT! I do have some things that I really like about Google Classroom after using it to create my online course for this online course (シ).

I really liked the easy format from a teacher’s perspective and a student’s perspective. From the teacher’s perspective it was very easy to create new material, assignments, tests, and polls. The fact that you can link a variety of different medias in a single post with a simple click was very appealing to me. Also creating forums for student discussion was straightforward and it allows for the teacher to easily navigate all threads of conversation. For the students, the layout of information is easy to follow. It is structured how the teacher wishes but the students have access to all past information, discussions, and polls unless the teacher actively removes their access. This means students can always go back to previous points in their learning, as well it allows them to view the entirety of their progress throughout the course.

One of my favourite things about Google Classroom is the interface. Not only is it easy to navigate as I already stated, but it is appealing to the eye and is presented in a way that (I believe) makes it easy for students to engage with. This is obviously just a personal preference, but I sincerely like the appearance of this platform over that of Moodle, Blackboard, or PowerSchool. Which may seem a small thing, but it ranks pretty high for me.

This article (here) highlights 10 benefits for using Google Classroom. Though some are a bit redundant and apply to all CMS it still gives a nice overview of why I liked working with it so much. 

SB

Resources:

Keengwe, J. & Agamba, J. (2012). Course Management Systems Integration into Course Instruction. International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Education, 8(2), 72-80. IGI Global.

I was first introduced to the idea of using Twitter as a tool for professional development during a guest lecture in one of my ed classes. Before that point I had never thought much of the social media site. I have had a Twitter account for years but even as a personal tool I have not used it to its fullest extent, preferring to observe the dialogue rather than participate in it. The guest speaker we had showed us how she uses it to interact with other in-services teachers by following accounts that she finds helpful and interesting, and posting her own work in the classroom to facilitate ideas for other pre-services or in-service teachers. This gave her an opportunity to expand her repertoire (by pushing herself to try new ideas she came across) and inform others about success and failures in the classroom. The manner in which she presented Twitter made me think about it in a whole new way. I think I would be inclined to use this as a professional tool rather than a personal one.

I think, from what I have seen in exploring a variety of sites, the difference between Twitter as a PD tool and other sites like Pinterest, is that there is more genuine dialogue. Pinterest seems to present an idealized version of teaching, where all projects work flawlessly, and the children gain endless amounts of knowledge while having the best time of their lives. There is no acknowledgment of the ideas that didn’t work. I’ve come across several Twitter accounts that openly discuss the times that the teacher put themselves out there and tried a new activity or approach and it didn’t work at all. The take the failure as an opportunity to grow, and in sharing it, they let others learn from the ‘mistake’ as well. I really liked that about Twitter.

Knowing this I will certainly be using Twitter as a tool for Professional Development. I particularly like the idea that you can engage in this form of PD independently and on your own timeline. Additionally you can engage in PD from all areas and disciplines. There are accounts to follow that are for teacher development in general, and then there are discipline specific accounts. Using any and all of these accounts can help increase your versatility as a teacher. As Beaudin and Cowie point out in their article “Educators’ Perceptions of and Practices for Using Social Media for Professional Development”, Twitter can be used to “stay connected with… colleagues both near and far, to share and gain new ideas and resources for teaching and learning, and to learn new ways in which [teachers] might engage their student”

I would personally be wary of using Twitter with students. I think that it has great potential to get students engaged with the information if used correctly but I think there are a lot of drawbacks. For instance, as someone who grew up with Social Media I always found it off-putting when Teachers attempted to use it in the classroom. In my mind those two things weren’t supposed to go together. It felt like a blatant attempt at appearing ‘hip’. No, I can see from the other side, and I realize that there can be a place for Social Media in the classroom, if done correctly. One thing I really didn’t like about it as a student was that I was expected to use an account I already had. Meaning that the new content for education purposes would be right alongside the old (and current) content for personal purposes. The persona I had crafted online did not fit with the things I was being asked to tweet, comment, or like for class. This made me not want to “buy in”.

Then there is the other aspect that I am struggling with. Though I understand that Social Media can be a great tool to use, and that students are already engaged online, I find the idea of facilitating student’s online profiles problematic when Social Media has been linked with unhealthy habits and anxiety disorders in teenagers. You can find an interesting article that highlights these issues HERE. If Social Media is having negative impacts on our students’ health, then is there any argument to be made for encouraging its use? Regardless of its potential for educational learning.

 Overall, I would definitely use it as a tool for Professional Development but would be very reluctant to use it as an educational tool for my students.

 SB

 Resources

Beaudin, L., & Cowie, B. (2014). Educators' Perceptions of and Practices for Using Social Media for Professional Development. Society for Infromation Technology & Teacher Education.

This is something that I had never consider in any substantial way when considering web-based teaching. My main concern was providing the content and structuring the course in a way to ensure that students were engaged with the material and learning what they needed to. Now that I have thought about assessment in online courses I am struck with the idea that it would be difficult to ensure authenticity. Of course formative assessment can be done easily enough through reflections, quizzes, blog posts, video conferences, and such but I still worry about how to administer effective summative assessments. In this I am referring to tests, Assessment Of Learning, since summative assessment in the form of projects and portfolios can be done easily enough as well. I wanted to know whether there was any applications that were readily available that could be used to asminister a final exam well maintaining validity. The problem that arises is of course you don’t know who is taking the exam or whether they are only using the approved material (i.e. not using a textbook or a web browser). In response to my questions/concerns I researched the topic using the material from my Ed4767 module as well as other’s I found online.  This is what I found.

The Scottish Qualification Authority’s document on Online Assessment was helpful in its discussion of requirements, concerns, and solutions for assessing summatively. Its information regarding computer programs designed to invigilate final exams brought up many points of concern that I had not considered. For instance, when using a program such as this, you don’t know the quality of the technology the students have access to. If you use a program that requires a lot of processing power from the system and the students hard drive is full or they have older technology they may encounter difficulties and the student may be at a disadvantage, particularly if the exam is timed. They counter this with other options available to those students – online programs designed for easy use. Though their scope is often smaller, it is a readily available option. The concern that comes from this is then about bandwidth. Many of these programs work to cut of any other communication while the program is running so that students cannot access any other server or browser.

I took a lot away from this paper regarding the issues of implanting summative assessment online, including the fact that, though difficult, it is still entire possible to do so. And as Jamison describes in the article A New Pedagogy is Emerging, it is important that assessment is done but it must be done correctly (validity and reliability). So regardless of the difficulties it poses, it is important to be done proberly.

 One final though. The video below was a resource I came across - Brightspace - that is all encompassing in its online assessment. It allows for different formats, open communication, and instant feedback. Though I (obviously) haven’t had an opportunity to put the tool into practice it is something I would consider using in the future.

SB

Resources

Brightspace for Instructors - Effective assessments | Online Learning, Teaching and Training Video. (n.d.). Retrieved March 9, 2019, from https://www.d2l.com/resources/videos/brightspace-instructors-effective-assessments/Jamison. (n.d.).

A New Pedagogy is Emerging...And Online Learning is a Key Contributing Factor. Retrieved from https://www.mycota.ca/pro-d-blog/2013/11/16/a-new-pedagogy-is-emerging...and-online-learning-is-a-key-contributing-factor/

Online Activity 3.5

The badges above are designed for Art 7-9 in the exploration of the Elements of Art. Specifically, they are designed for an online course in which students track their progress through the collection of badges. The badges themselves either explicitly say what they are for, or are representations of the knowledge they will have acquired by the time they receive it. I think badges are an interesting (but slightly flawed) tool to use in the classroom (online or traditional). To read my thoughts on both the benefits and the potential concerns look to my last post. 

I have only one experience with digital badges in an academic setting. In a Education course we used the system Rezzly in which students complete activities online and when they have met all requirements they are given a badge. This badge indicates that the user has sufficiently learned the knowledge required to move on from a topic. It was an interesting concept, one that I had never seen before. I liked aspects of it.

I enjoyed the newness of it. Something to break the monotony of classes. It also allowed me to explore topics at my own rate and delve deeper into those topics that caught my eye. Unfortunately, it was not all a good thing. Though it doesn’t paint the best picture of me, I will admit that there were instances that I did the absolute bare minimum to receive a badge, either because I was short on time, or the topic didn’t interest me. If I were to use this with students, I would seriously consider how to minimize the potential for students to ‘scrape by’ while still receive full points.

I like the concept of digital badges having the ability to contain actual data that conveys what the badge encompasses and a potential expiry date. The reason our first aid certificates and such have expiration dates are because knowledge fades over time and information and understandings change! You don’t want a badge (or a certificate) to indicate that a person has a deep understanding of the pertinent information when in reality their knowledge is outdated and not fresh in their mind to begin with. Now this is something that would be less of a concern in primary and secondary education, but it needs to be considered none the less.

I do really like the idea of using these as Professional Development opportunities. It offers an interesting perspective of allowing teachers to explore new avenues on their own time and it has the potential to enable more authentic development, rather than development that is condensed and often results in widely varied experiences (i.e. one teacher is more invested and gets more out of a PD session, the other is less interested and got less out of it but both carry the ‘credential’ of having done that particular PD.

 Motivation

Abramovich et al discuss student motivation and badges having the ability to motivate learners by turning their education into a quest/game/journey. They look at the Achievement Goal Theory and its implication with digital badges in young students. Though in particular I liked that they considered the potential negative impacts of badges when students who are less skilled in the specific areas are asked to complete these activities. They also consider some possible solutions though, unfortunately, nothing concrete. With the idea of motivation, my immediate thought was the competition aspect of badges. Is there an innate level of competition when students are ‘awarded’ for their success?

It raised the question, do badges (digital or otherwise) remove the element of self-actualization and replace it with, in a classroom, learning for the sake of ‘winning’? Do we run the risk of prioritizing recognition over self-fulfillment? If that is the case, it is a dangerous path to lead our students down. How quickly will their self-esteem become attached to their accomplishments? I don’t know. I also know that I am being hypocritical here. I believe in competition. I believe in being proud of your accomplishments. I really do. I hold my awards, certificates, and medals close to my chest because I worked hard for them and they are proof that my hard work has payed off. So I don’t disagree with recognizing success and yet I am torn. In our Education classes we were told to be wary of insinuating a hierarchy with the grading system. Rightfully so. Yet how do we then recognize our students who succeed academically? I believe we have to, so then how do we do so without discouraging the students who (through no fault of their own) are not capable of reaching that level.

This blog post highlights some of the questions that came to mind when I was exploring the topic of Digital Badges, though he speaks mostly of concrete awards in his entry.  

 I’ve gotten off topic a bit. Please excuse the above ramblings. I’ve always struggled with how to healthily introduce competition in classrooms.

But back to badges specifically.

I would use them in Web-Based Teaching I believe. Though I am still weary. The lack of physical interaction between students would limit the competition aspect of them. There is little opportunity to compete against classmates when you never actually see them face to face. I imagine that students would show more deference to their classmates over an educational platform in which their teacher is always able to see their interactions.

 Another article that explores the history of digital badges and their “affordances for online education activities and experience” is ‘Digital Badges in Education’  by Gibson et al. This was an interesting read and served to offer up some things to take into consideration. Highly recommend if you are interested in looking into using Digital Badges in an online class.

SB

References

Abramovich, S., Schunn, C., & Mitsuo Higashi, R. (2013). Are badges useful in education?: It depends upon the type of badge and expertise of learner. Educational Technology Research Development,61(2), 217-232. doi:10.1007/s11423-013-9289-2

George. (2017, January 16). The Impact of Awards. Retrieved March 4, 2019, from https://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/1079

The production of digital content is something that our students, I believe, are already well-versed in. In particular if you are considering junior high and high school students, but even elementary students are experienced in creating content using technology. I believe the struggle will come from teaching students to create quality education content. As Sanfilippo suggests in his article, there are considerations you must make when teaching your students about content creation. I would argue that his first point, distinguish between digital content consumption and digital content creation, is redundant. It is important for the teacher to make sure he or she understands the difference, and that the students understand the terminology (creation vs. consumption), yet that actual act of digital creation is something that in the last decade has become common place.

Actually, I would argue that the majority of what Sanfilippo has expressed appears to be dated. In my limited experience in the classroom I have worked with a variety of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, grades, and community styles. The only thing that they all had in common was relative ease of access to technology. Even in the small-town schools, technology was always in close range (their pocket). From the young babies in kindergarten to the near adults in Grade 12, they all had experience creating digital content. I had students in kindergarten tell me about the movie of themselves that they and a friend had made the night before. In the high school I had students who had created their own websites and computer programs. My point is, I believe that, while Sanfilippo makes good points regarding the understanding of student ownership and digital citizenships, he underestimates the fact that these students are beyond the capabilities of the average teacher.

There is an ongoing conversation in literature right now that debates whether our students are tech-savvy or whether we are assuming they are more capable than they are. There are resources to back up both sides of the argument:

1. https://theblog.adobe.com/we-need-to-rethink-education-for-digital-natives/ http://www.ngenperformance.com/blog/gen-z-2/how-gen-z-uses-technology

These articles look at Gen Z (our current students) and their status as “digital natives”. This refers to the fact that these kids were born in a time when technology advancements were rampant and social media was becoming a constant in everyday life.

2. https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-06-20-students-say-they-are-not-as-tech-savvy-as-educators-assume

This editorial argues that students, by their own admissions, are not as technology proficient as adults seem to consider. Though this is geared towards young secondary education students, it does mark a significant perspective of the tech argument.

I believe our focus needs to be directed towards ensure already technology proficient students are successful in making meaningful and educational content, and less on exposing them to digital content creation in general.

 On a separate but related note:

Number 6: “Preparing students for the 21st century workplace.” raises some questions and concerns for me. At different points in time, both before and after my entrance into the education department, I held a variety of beliefs regarding the purpose of education and what our role as educators was. Once it was my belief that it was teachers’ responsibility to ensure that their students grow into productive members of society, then it was my belief that students were the key to social change (though the teacher’s role was limited in specifics), then I believed that teachers were guides for students to develop a curiosity for knowledge. Essentially my opinion has shifted, changed, flipped, reverted, and shattered over the last few years. The point being that I still don’t have a concrete answer to the question “What are we doing as teachers?” Number 6 suggests that we are preparing them for the world in which they will take part. I don’t disagree with this but in playing devil’s advocate, I would suggest that this implies schools are merely a tool to churn out productive workers. Something that was long held belief in early school systems. If this is the case than I have some serious problems with the institute I am getting myself involved with. On the other hand, I do agree that we should prepare our students for the world they will enter. To not do so seems to be a great disservice to them. I don’t have an answer. I don’t agree with #6 or disagree with it. I just have uncertainties. In this specific example I can say that it makes sense. Students must be digitally literate (particularly with content creation) in order to be successful in future endeavours. Internet is not a passing trend. It is not flash in the pan. It is something that will continue to grow and expand, and all members of our society should be well versed in it. As with the need for numeracy and literacy, students must have digital literacy as well.

The following link is an interesting look at the pedagogical conciderations I’ve ranted about above. What is the purpose of teaching?

https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/the-purpose-school-is-not-to-get-a-job/

SB

Resources:

Abamu, J. (2018, December 27). Students Say They Are Not as Tech Savvy as Educators Assume - EdSurge News. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-06-20-students-say-they-are-not-as-tech-savvy-as-educators-assume

How Gen Z Uses Technology. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ngenperformance.com/blog/gen-z-2/how-gen-z-uses-technology 

We Need to Rethink Education for Digital Natives. (2018, September 05). Retrieved from https://theblog.adobe.com/we-need-to-rethink-education-for-digital-natives/