Hi Kayleigh! I read your second blog post and have a few comments for you. First off I would like to say how amazed I am at all of the connections you have made. I would never have made some of these connections if I had not read your blog post. One connection that I especially liked was the one where you talk about exploratory and presentational talk with technology. I remember talking about how important exploratory and presentational talk are, but I never thought about how that would work in an online classroom. I agree with you that having these online discussion forums are important and allow for students to explore their ideas further before making a “good copy”. Overall, I really enjoyed reading your blog post and am looking forward to learning more from your next one.
Category: EDCI 339 (Page 2 of 2)
Hi Hailey! I read your second blog post on the history and context of distributed and open learning and it appears as though we both talked about connectivism. I am also interested in doing more research on the topic and if you ever make a post about it please let me know. I like how you talk about going back to the roots of education as opposed to just growing from where we are, as sometimes where we are is not as good as where we started and there are things that we can learn from the beginning. Some things to possibly look into are the types of edtech tools and strategies that have been used in the past and how you can use them in your future classroom, as you mentioned. I think this would be a great topic to look into for your final portfolio.
There were three readings this week all of which I found easy to follow and that discussed eLearning and its history and benefits/concerns.
In the first reading (Roberts, V., Blomgren, C., Ishmael, K., & Graham, L., 2018) the authors discuss the many benefits to online learning, as well as some reasons that teachers may not use technology too much. Two benefits to open learning that are discussed are that open learning can be used for students who need more flexible options or to allow a course to be asynchronous so that students can take courses without having to be present at a set time. By allowing students to have more options, the students who may not be too great at reading or writing are able to listen or type out their learning. Asynchronous courses are also good for students in K-12, not only university (like our class). By allowing for asynchronous learning then students who may need extra assistance from parents are able to get that when it is most convenient for them.
In the second reading (Barbour, M & Labonte, R., 2018) the authors talk about eLearning organizations and practices in Canada. One fact that I was surprised by is the large number of students who use eLearning in British Columbia. In 2015-2016 there were 69, 735 students enrolled in a one or more courses and I can only imagine how much this number has grown since. Where I am from it is quite common to take a few courses online, but I never realized just how many students utilize eLearning. Another thing I thought was worthy to note was that Canada’s eLearning programs are government-funded not private. The companies involved are providing services to the government programs (content, technology, etc.) and not independent in how they run.
The final reading (Bates, 2014) talks about a lot of different topics, but one that I had never heard of is connectivism. What first comes to my mind when reading about the design principles of connectivist courses is inquiry. Inquiry is very learner-centred and open as is connectivism. There are some criticisms of the connectivist approach such as assessment strategies, or the lack of structure. These are all concerns that I would have too when first hearing about this, but in the second year of my elementary education program my class travelled to a school called the Pacific Institute of Innovation and Inquiry and some of these concerns I also had were put to ease. The students completed projects to show their learning (could be cross-curricular to show numerous course competencies) and the teachers were always there to support them and get them started when they were struggling, but after a while, the students needed them less and less because they started to become more independent and learn how to do things on their own.
Overall, I look forward to learning more about how eLearning and technology have advanced over the years and more ways that I can utilize them in the classroom.
References:
Barbour, M & Labonte, R. (2018) An Overview of eLearning Organizations and Practices in Canada. In R. Ferdig & K. Kennedy (Eds.), Handbook of research on K-12 online and blended learning (pp. 600-616). Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University ETC Press.
Bates, T.(2014). Learning Theories and Online Learning. [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.tonybates.ca/2014/07/29/learning-theories-and-online-learning/.
Roberts, V. , Blomgren, C. Ishmael, K. & Graham, L. (2018) Open Educational Practices in K-12 Online and Blended Learning Environments. In R. Ferdig & K.Kennedy (Eds.), Handbook of research on K-12 online and blended learning (pp. 527–544). Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University ETC Press.
Hi Hailey! I read your first blog post for EDCI 339 and it looks like we have both took an interest in Regan and Jesse’s article. I really like your connection between online discrimination and the Black Lives Matter movements that is currently going on. Are there any examples that you can think of that you may use to help educate children on this topic in the classroom? I also like your connection between the classes we took this year that had inquiry and technology. By allowing students to use technology for their inquiry projects they are able to research a variety of topics at their own pace, as well as create an artifact of their learning through various programs. When we are teaching students about using a new program or perhaps they are showing us a new program, it could also be an idea to go through any privacy or safety concerns with them so that they have the ability to do this at home as well.
Hi Teya! I read your first blog post for EDCI 339 and I believe that you made some very good points. First, I really liked your point about how our easy access to technology can be both good and bad. By using technology we have the ability to communicate and learn without needing to directly be with others, but when students have no way to engage with the course material and talk to others then it makes it very difficult to fully retain the information. As future elementary school teachers we have both worked with children and seen the many different ways that they all learn, but I am sure we can both agree that most students learn best when they are given the opportunity to not only interact with the material but to also interact with each other. A suggestion I might have for your future blog posts would be to possibly include a time where you have had an experience that connects to the readings or online learning spaces in general.
Hi Kayleigh! I read your first blog post for EDCI 339 and I really like the points and connections you made. As someone who is often shy to speak in class in front of my peers I can relate to feeling like “just another face on the screen” as if I am part of a big lecture online I will often never say anything and just be listening. I liked your point about making sure that students have both teacher-student and student-student interactions when using online learning spaces to help students not feel as though they are just a face on the screen and actively part of the conversation. I really liked your connection between the five aspects of the social presence model and the circle of courage. I did not even think of this connection and I am glad you pointed it out, as it is definitely relevant to the course material. In terms of your “scattered nature” of the blog post, I like how you have worded everything as it shows your thought process as you wrote out the post, but if you perhaps feel as though it is too scattered you could always add headings to clean it up.
Teachers can effectively build relationships and promote student learning by encouraging safe communication and interactions online by using technology that has been proven safe and that follows privacy guidelines (Garrett Dickers, A., 2018). To help create purposeful online learning environments teachers need to be purposeful in design, utilize a team when looking to implicate a new online learning platform, and make sure to incorporate activities designed for interaction between students, the teacher, and the content. One thing that I believe is very important when implementing a new program into your classroom (online or in-person) is the presence of a team or group of teachers or researchers who have used the program before or that have researched it before. By having this group before you implement a program you as a teacher are best able to evaluate whether it is a program that you and the students enjoy using, as well as a platform that students will learn from.
After examining the readings I have found one topic that I would like to discuss in this blog post, student tracking and discrimination (Regan, P. & Jesse, J., 2019). Student tracking and discrimination have been around for a long time. The debate about tracking began in the late 1800s and has evolved over time and is still around today even if we may not notice it as much. In the 1900s tracking was often used in the form of where students were going after high school. There were various paths that students would follow based on their prior achievements, such as going to college or getting vocational training. These paths were found to be discriminatory, as students of colour were often kept from the same long-term achievements than those of white students (ie. a white male would go to college whereas a male of colour may go get general training).
The use of technology has helped discrimination in the classroom decrease but also has some negative effects. By having technology to use in the classroom teachers are able to utilize differential instruction in a way that students are able to be easily assessed all at once, but with varying levels of difficulty. When certain programs are used for this however, the student’s age, gender, grade, etc. are all included in the database and analyzed. By having these factors analyzed discriminatory actions could be taking place. When a profile is created using the student’s demographic or interests then they are automatically grouped with others of the same data, regardless of who they are as a person. When a student is grouped based on demographics or test scores there are many things that are not taken into consideration such as maybe that student had a bad test day due to home problems or that they can comprehend material but have poor writing skills which would lead to a poor score on a written test. These programs may prove to be more efficient or easier to use than if a teacher were to evaluate each student on their own, but by using these programs teachers are subjecting their students to discrimination that they may not even notice. Overall, more research needs to be put into the effects of educational technology on student learning and the discriminatory and privacy concerns that may arise.
References:
Garrett Dickers, A. (2018) Social Interaction in K-12 Online Learning. In R. Ferdig & K. Kennedy (Eds.), Handbook of research on K-12 online and blended learning (pp. 509-522 ). Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University ETC Press.
Regan, P., & Jesse, J. (2019). Ethical challenges of edtech, big data and personalized learning: Twenty-first century student sorting and tracking. Ethics and Information Technology, 21(3), 167-179. DOI: 10.1007/s10676-018-9492-2