Week 2 - my notes from webinar

BlendKit UCF. (2016). BlendKit2016 Session 02: Blended Interactions. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH4YhjOT454

Week 2 - reading reactions (before / after reading)

Questions to Ponder (before reading the text)

• Is there value in student-to-student and student-to-instructor interaction in all courses regardless of discipline?
•  Likely .. especially on the topic of how relevant or authentic or important a given topic is in a course of study to the student. 

• What role does interaction play in courses in which the emphasis is on declarative knowledge (e.g., introductory “survey” courses at the lower-division undergraduate level) or, similarly, in courses that cultivate procedural knowledge (e.g., technical courses requiring the working of problem sets)?
• If by interaction we mean interaction with other students then I can see the importance of a student testing their meaning and understanding of what it is they've read or recently learned by applying those concepts to real life experiences, sharing those with their classmates and inviting others to share theirs and/or comment on one another's (invites chances to test and negotiate meaning, they are also involved in the "new" discourse of the topic too)  

• As you consider designing a blended learning course, what kinds of interactions can you envision occurring face-to-face, and how might you use the online environment for interactions? What opportunities are there for you to explore different instructional strategies in the blended course than you have in the past?
• What kind of interactions typically occur in a face to face situation? 
• Q&A
• short question and answer 
• small group discussion and checking for understanding 
• New opportunities in a blended course? 
• Perhaps opportunities to "delay" the exchange, invite the student to have more time to reflect on their own point of view or understanding of something before they articulate it or share it with their peers. Face to face typically rewards those who can articulate themselves quickly while discouraging or drowning out those who are slower to answer .. yet are often no less capable of articulating a solid answer once they are given time to do so.
• What factors might limit the feasibility of robust interaction face-to-face or online?
• factors that might limit the robust interaction
• cultural, social or political sensitivity 
• student perception that if they open up .. it might be into an unsafe or unsupportive environment  
• lack of "netiquette", fear of being flamed or bullied 

Week 1 - my notes from webinar

The Week 1 Webinar

with Dr. Glenda Gunter (edtech integration) & Dr. Beth Young (BL English instruction)

How has BL changed just in the past 10 years?

Dramatically .. much more social than it once was. New technologies such as Google Hangout are  making it easier to do so. As a result, online assignments can be made social.

Biggest challenges in BL?

Academic Integrity  (in other words - how to minimize cheating?)

• Suggestion made by both speakers that perhaps academic integrity is no greater an issue with online assignments then it is with a face to face assignment. Solutions to managing it included creating question pools to help realize randomized Quizzes.

Deciding what to include (temptation to include too much)

• Suggestion made to be critical about what is most important to include to cover course objectives. 

Making courses too intense (to overlook demands on student time to complete assignments)

• Similar to "deciding what to include" there is a need to critically think about just how much time it will take for students to complete a given assignment. Choose assignments that make the most strategic sense for the student to learn with and/or demonstrate learning yet are not excessive in their demand for time.

From my own studies, we should encourage the design of assessment items so that they invite a student to incorporate material that has been covered in the course into the creation of something that helps them demonstrate their understanding / application of it .. Better yet design assessment so that it can be personalized so that it is meaningful to the student - make the assessment not just a vehicle for measuring how much they have learned but a valued learning opportunity for the student too

Common BL problems

• not reviewing the curriculum ahead of time 
• solution? need to be thinking in advance about which assignments best suit being flipped / done online and those that best suit being done face to face 
• lack of organization about what is an online or face to face assignment and when it is due
• solution? generate a course calendar and code assignments as either O (online) or F (face to face) so that it is clear to a student when an assignment is due and in what form it will take
• confusion over feedback ... when is the feedback for an O (online) or F (face to face) assignment 
• solution? make sure feedback is given in the same manner / mode as the assignment was originally presented  (e.g. O assignment = O feedback) 

Top tips

• identify assignments that need significant explanation ... and be sure to make those face to face so it is easier for students to understand and ask clarification questions  
• do things that cannot be done online or are best done in a face to face setting
• do things that cannot be done in a face to face setting or are best done online 

 

Should the instructor give the students a time frame for when he/she will be online?

Difficult to define... but it is important to be aware of where students are at in the program and where one can anticipate students having problems. Suggestion made to set up some online office hours but from the experience of at least one presenter, these are not often used. Instead, one strategy that has worked is the set up of a virtual coffee shop .... to invite students to ask questions between one another. These should be monitored by the instructor and if student understanding appears to be "way off ".. then the instructor can catch it.. and then indirectly address the itme via a post in a regular discussion board (not in the virtual coffee shop itself).


Key resource 

BlendKit UCF. (2016). BlendKit2016 Session 01: Understanding Blended Learning. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DaOPX_8Ud8

Week 1 - benefits of blended learning

This is actually likely to be a post that's under constant development so it may not be appropriate to title it as such ... but it will do for now.

Benefits of Blended Learning (BL)

This list comes directly from the Week 1 - article. 

• for universities - cost cutting, leveraging time when physical expansion is out of the question 
• for faculty / educators - increasing frequency and variety of engagement; transition to fully online teaching
• for students - address access / convenience issues (online 24/7 access) while still offering social & instructional interaction opportunities (classroom) 

.. but I am interested in exploring this a bit further - likely with another blog post. I even welcome my fellow Blendkit2016 classmates to contribute on the following Google form 

Items collected can be found on the following live spreadsheet.

Again, I am amazed that despite working in a Blended Learning environment, there has been very little discussion on these benefits, or any blended learning benefits in general. It's evident that these benefits need to be articulated, made more concrete with example, and then supported.

Week 1 - reading reaction

Definition of Blended Learning (BL) 

The reading presented the following definition of Blended Learning.

.... where a portion of the traditional face-to-face instruction is replaced by web-based online learning.

.. and when it did, I found myself immediately wanting to rephrase this.

.... where a portion of the traditional face-to-face instruction is enhanced or complemented by web-based online learning or vice versa. 

In other words, I see blended learning as involving both a "face to face", instructional component and an "online" instructional component. Both can and should work with a synergy that helps support the other. I'm actually surprised the word is not used or at least I haven't come across it being used to be a key aspect of blended learning yet. Or perhaps I am missing something here? I find the use of 70 / 30 much less important than realizing this synergy. I also sense that it's this synergy .. the seamless nature of it .... that comes from "good design". I don't believe that Blended Learning needs to be focused solely on "face to face" as a starting point - though I can see the rationale for stating it as such because most educators will be approaching it from this perspective. 

I think fellow Blendkit student Bradley Griffith picked up on this as well when he said...

...  Chapter 1 allowed me to see the converse relationship between enhancing online and in-class instruction. It’s not just that the traditional face-to-face classes can be enhanced by providing an opportunity to maintain interaction online, but that online courses can have quite deliberative in-person interactions that serve a true purpose other than a bodily presence through experiential learning.

The definition of blended learning is a formal education program in which a student learns: 

1. at least in part through online learning, with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace; 
2. at least in part in a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home; 
3. and the modalities along each student’s learning path within a course or subject are connected to provide an integrated learning experience. 

Source: Clayton Christensen Institute.  (Arney, 2015, p1) 

Designing Blended Learning (BL)- building into it "assessment of design" 

Quite often “the process of design is emphasized as one of re-design, implying that those involved in the design process are willing and able to see beyond what has been done in the traditional classroom and re-conceptualize what can be done in multiple delivery modes” (p. 17).

Great and important point. In my own experience of "blended learning", a review process needs to be built into the design of it (when I think about it, the same should really be true with any course, "n'est ce pas?") - one that has the ability to collect data and then examine it to inform design changes. I have found that despite my best efforts to anticipate learner needs or interests and then design activities that engage them, there is almost always something that I had not expected. This usually leads to reflection to sort out how I might incorporate what I've just learned to improve upon the design of these activities. Yet I've also found myself holding back on making revisions too, on the belief that while it may not be perfect, the design problem that I've unearthed may only be a "one off". I'm looking for evidence that it's had a little bit more frequency before I'll resort to anything drastic. I'm curious to know if others take on a similar tact. 

By re-conceptualizing, I'm understanding re-conceptualizing as a process of finding that synergy that I spoke of earlier. To dwell a bit deeper, I also find that I think in greater depth about the learning process and how learning is being realized.

Benefits of Blended Learning (BL)

This list comes directly from the article. 

• for universities - cost cutting, leveraging time when physical expansion is out of the question 
• for faculty / educators - increasing frequency and variety of engagement; transition to fully online teaching
• for students - address access / convenience issues (online 24/7 access) while still offering social & instructional interaction opportunities (classroom) 

.. but I am interested in exploring this a bit further - likely with another blog post. Again, I am amazed that despite working in a Blended Learning environment, there has been very little discussion on these benefits, or any blended learning benefits in general. It's evident that these benefits need to be articulated, made more concrete with example, and then supported.

Am pursuing Liz Arney's "Go Blended" for answers to this. 

• promotes individualized instruction (identifying specific strengths and/or weaknesses)
• promotes differentiated instruction (helping address needs of challenged AND gifted students)
• applies ISTE standards (students learn via the use of technology) 
• provides access to real time data to help make decisions / monitor student progress more closely
• leverages teacher time which improve efficacy and effectiveness 

Blended learning is NOT the same as technology enriched learning (Arney, 2015, p 5) 

 .....we’ve drawn a distinction between technology for learning and technology for teaching. ... SMART Boards, clickers, student apps, open educational resources,flipped classrooms, and so on .. address the latter. (Arney, 2015, p 9) 

Arney, L. (2015). Go Blended!: A Handbook for Blending Technology in Schools (1 edition). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Designing Blended Learning (BL)

The comment "fundamental to the design is a balance between control and emergence" really caught my attention. I sense that I've got a pretty good handle on what is meant by "control" but the term "convergence" may be another matter.

Blended Learning Design as a Controlled Process

I've understood this to mean that to be effective, blended learning requires a fair amount of planning. It can't be simply an add on to face to face instruction. It should work to make learning more interactive. The term "controlled process" suggesting control by the designer to promote interaction ... and/or .. control handed over to the student to promote self regulated. On the later, the student may have opportunities to complete online activities on their own ... at their own pace .. and with very limited assistance. By doing so ... "the student encounters a learning experience that is deeper and more rewarding".  I've interpreted that to mean, the student has more opportunities to engage with course content.. and build confidence / competency on the topic.

Blended Learning Design as a Emergent Process

I struggled with the term "emergent" in this context, especially in the absence of any direct mention of the term itself in this section of the reading. 

emergent (defn) as in coming into being, coming into prominence 

I interpreted this to mean that as the benefits of BL become better known, BL design has the capacity to emerge as "main street" educational design. But exactly how? Because many technologies used in BL invite learning to be more of a collaborative and/or social activity .. to be more meaningful and/or authentic for students.. they make it easier for students to plot out and create their own purposeful learning pathways. These are all very attractive "drivers", especially in the current context where "main street" education seems to be wanting for ways to promote life long learning, recognize informal learning and support self directed learning. It also makes sense to coral the same tools used by students to carry out their own informal but collaborative / social activity for use in an educational context.

I'm still a bit troubled by this though and the reading seems to suggest reasons why. It suggests a predictable tension between "traditional"education and more "flexible" education. One where traditional education is tempted to use technology to continue keeping learning linear / sequential in design ... yet more closely monitored to ensure consistency, promote accountability (of everyone) and maintain standards. In contrast, new opportunities exist that have only emerged recently where learning is less sequential and more determined by the learner, where the learner defines goals and their pathways to achieving them.  The article infers that a new set of skills, likely meta learning skills, need to be learned by a learner to make such an approach effective (Bates & Poole, 2003). That certainly sounds like it could turn education as we know it on its head.

Case studies

I'm asked to identify patterns between the two case studies. Key item? Both kept their focus on course objectives, plus the needs and interests of students. There's a sense that these were always used as a reference when designers moved to the selection of learning methods and strategies - specifically choosing the appropriate activities for both f2f and online purposes.



Key resource

Thompson, K. (2011, June 27). BlendKit Course: BlendKit Reader: Chapter 1. Retrieved from https://blended.online.ucf.edu/blendkit-course-blendkit-reader-chapter-1/

Arney, L. (2015). Go Blended!: A Handbook for Blending Technology in Schools (1 edition). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Supporting resources

Blended Learning | EDUCAUSE.edu. (n.d.). Retrieved February 23, 2016, from http://www.educause.edu/library/blended-learning

Blended Learning Design.indd - Blended Learning Design.pdf. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.agilantlearning.com/pdf/Blended%20Learning%20Design.pdf

Disruptive Innovation. (2012, July 10). Retrieved from http://www.claytonchristensen.com/key-concepts/

elearnspace. everything elearning. (n.d.). Retrieved February 23, 2016, from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/InstructionalDesign.htm

Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A Meta-Analysis and Review of Online Learning Studies -- October 2010 (PDF) - finalreport.pdf. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf

Instructional Design Central. (n.d.). Instructional Design Models and Methods. Retrieved February 23, 2016, from http://www.instructionaldesigncentral.com/htm/IDC_instructionaldesignmodels.htm

Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks - vol 16 (4) McGee and Reis. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://onlinelearningconsortium.org/wp-content/plugins/olc-download/download.php?post_id=2592

R2R - Models: Replacement Model. (n.d.). Retrieved February 23, 2016, from http://www.thencat.org/PlanRes/R2R_Model_Rep.htm

Week 0 - an opening remark

 

Because my colleagues and I are working in a fully networked environment where we and our students have access to at least one, often times two and sometimes even three network connected devices, it occurred to me that we are all engaged in blended learning whether we like it or not. Yet little if anything is being done to review the unique nature of such an environment or the learning that it can support. Nor do we attempt to identify best practices so that we can confidently capitalize on it to the fullest. Thus my interest in BlendKit 2016.