Reflection on Blended learning Classroom application
Changing role of the teacher
Education and the role of the teacher in education is constantly changing. When I started teaching, there was a move away from lecture-based instruction. At that time the teacher’s role was to fill the heads of students with knowledge. There was an educational push towards hands-on instruction and inquiry-based education. Education has made some progress in this move, but in many classrooms, the teacher’s role is to provide information and the student’s role is to learn this knowledge.
One of the biggest changes I have seen in education is through the use of technology. As a student, I remember the excitement of watching a 16mm movie in class. When I saw an image projected from an opaque projector, my mind began to imagine all sorts of possibilities for its use. Do you remember the filmstrip projector? After watching a few of these, I began to think of all sorts of topics for this media and was certain I could make them better.
Look at today’s technology. Students have more computing power in the palm of their hand than NASA ground control had to send a man to the moon. Via the Internet, students have access to more information than the greatest minds of any past generation. In just a matter of seconds, a student can capture a video clip, make minor changes and have a video as good as any 16mm video I watched in high school. Just as adults are challenged to find time and the opportunity to advance their education, students face the same challenges. The availability of online classes has helped students of all ages.
There are many reasons to make online instruction available to students. The way teachers teach and the way students learn have changed. Teachers are responsible for more and more material, behavior management, and being held accountable for what their students learn. Teachers are going to need every possible tool in their instructional tool belt. For example, transferring some of the learning and responsibility to the students is made possible by flipping the classroom. The teacher’s role has changed from the giver of knowledge to a facilitator for learning.
When I began teaching online classes, it was a major change in my thinking, my role in the classroom and my expectations for my students. No matter how prepared I felt, there was always some detail that I overlooked. Fortunately, most students are forgiving and cooperative as adjustments are made in the logistics of an online class. I did notice that students performed better when they were given the responsibility for their own learning. Many of my students worked longer and harder on their assignments than they would have if we were in a brick and mortar building.
One of the biggest changes I have seen in education is through the use of technology. As a student, I remember the excitement of watching a 16mm movie in class. When I saw an image projected from an opaque projector, my mind began to imagine all sorts of possibilities for its use. Do you remember the filmstrip projector? After watching a few of these, I began to think of all sorts of topics for this media and was certain I could make them better.
Look at today’s technology. Students have more computing power in the palm of their hand than NASA ground control had to send a man to the moon. Via the Internet, students have access to more information than the greatest minds of any past generation. In just a matter of seconds, a student can capture a video clip, make minor changes and have a video as good as any 16mm video I watched in high school. Just as adults are challenged to find time and the opportunity to advance their education, students face the same challenges. The availability of online classes has helped students of all ages.
There are many reasons to make online instruction available to students. The way teachers teach and the way students learn have changed. Teachers are responsible for more and more material, behavior management, and being held accountable for what their students learn. Teachers are going to need every possible tool in their instructional tool belt. For example, transferring some of the learning and responsibility to the students is made possible by flipping the classroom. The teacher’s role has changed from the giver of knowledge to a facilitator for learning.
When I began teaching online classes, it was a major change in my thinking, my role in the classroom and my expectations for my students. No matter how prepared I felt, there was always some detail that I overlooked. Fortunately, most students are forgiving and cooperative as adjustments are made in the logistics of an online class. I did notice that students performed better when they were given the responsibility for their own learning. Many of my students worked longer and harder on their assignments than they would have if we were in a brick and mortar building.
Success and Challenges
I had been teaching technology classes face-to-face for two years, before moving to an online format. Not all the materials and resources from my face-to-face class would transfer to an online class. I worked for several months gathering resources and activities for my first online class, organizing them to the E-CLASS model, setting up a calendar for the completion of topics and projects, and deciding where and how students would post their work.
Before going live with students, it was necessary to make a Topic 0, zero. Topic 0 was designed to help students navigate the online content and learn where they could find the same kind of information in any lesson.
You Tube is a valuable resource, but it doesn’t contain everything you need or reinforce the concepts I wanted my students to learn and practice. So it was necessary to make my own instructional videos. Writing a curriculum and making useful videos requires time.
An advantage of face-to-face classes is that you are there to help students or other students are there to help each other when problems or questions occur. In an online class, that isn’t possible. I learned quickly to give more attention to information in the lesson and more opportunities for students to use online resources to clarify information. Something I included in my classes was “911 Help!” 911 Help was set up so students could post questions and answer other student’s questions. This section was very helpful and saved me answering every question.
Just because you have your online class setup the way you want it doesn’t mean you are set for the next group of students. Modifications are always necessary as you gather new resources and information. Activities and projects need to be refreshed to apply new technologies and resources.
I’ve taken several online classes in which I never interacted with another student. I didn’t want this in my classes. I wanted my students to get to know each other as they would in a face-to-face class. This would give them a chance to “ask a buddy” if they didn’t understand something we were doing in class. Team work and collaboration was one of my biggest challenges. Asking questions in conference folders and having students post comments to other student’s answers seemed the easiest way of handling this issue. Before my next online class, I would like to explore team work and collaboration techniques. There has to be a better way to increase student interaction in online classes.
Before going live with students, it was necessary to make a Topic 0, zero. Topic 0 was designed to help students navigate the online content and learn where they could find the same kind of information in any lesson.
You Tube is a valuable resource, but it doesn’t contain everything you need or reinforce the concepts I wanted my students to learn and practice. So it was necessary to make my own instructional videos. Writing a curriculum and making useful videos requires time.
An advantage of face-to-face classes is that you are there to help students or other students are there to help each other when problems or questions occur. In an online class, that isn’t possible. I learned quickly to give more attention to information in the lesson and more opportunities for students to use online resources to clarify information. Something I included in my classes was “911 Help!” 911 Help was set up so students could post questions and answer other student’s questions. This section was very helpful and saved me answering every question.
Just because you have your online class setup the way you want it doesn’t mean you are set for the next group of students. Modifications are always necessary as you gather new resources and information. Activities and projects need to be refreshed to apply new technologies and resources.
I’ve taken several online classes in which I never interacted with another student. I didn’t want this in my classes. I wanted my students to get to know each other as they would in a face-to-face class. This would give them a chance to “ask a buddy” if they didn’t understand something we were doing in class. Team work and collaboration was one of my biggest challenges. Asking questions in conference folders and having students post comments to other student’s answers seemed the easiest way of handling this issue. Before my next online class, I would like to explore team work and collaboration techniques. There has to be a better way to increase student interaction in online classes.
Student benefits
As educators, we may never know how we have impacted students or if we have made a difference in their lives. Over the years, I’ve enjoyed working with and teaching thousands of students. Most of them have left me feeling positively about them and hopeful for their future. Occasionally, a student will write me to tell me that he or she has found the information I taught them very helpful to their careers or job. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does, it makes me feel good about myself as a teacher.
One of my students wrote me recently and told me all the wonderful things she was doing in her classroom because of the things I taught her in my class. Another student wrote me to tell me she was graduating with a degree in ecological engineering and thanked me for my guidance and patience with her as a student. Teachers do make a difference.
Specifically, one of my online students thanked me for teaching her to apply technology in her teaching. She was able to create effective PowerPoint presentations, instruct her students to present their topics in video format, and she was able to organize her daily activities so she devoted less time to mundane tasks and more time on engaging students and helping students learn.
One of my students wrote me recently and told me all the wonderful things she was doing in her classroom because of the things I taught her in my class. Another student wrote me to tell me she was graduating with a degree in ecological engineering and thanked me for my guidance and patience with her as a student. Teachers do make a difference.
Specifically, one of my online students thanked me for teaching her to apply technology in her teaching. She was able to create effective PowerPoint presentations, instruct her students to present their topics in video format, and she was able to organize her daily activities so she devoted less time to mundane tasks and more time on engaging students and helping students learn.