Welcome to my first blog post for EDCI 339 Open and Distributed Learning. This blog post will summarize my notes from the first week’s readings.
Teachers can effectively build relationships by encouraging safe communication and interactions in K-12 online & open learning spaces in many of the same ways that they do in a face to face setting. Methods to enable this include but are not limited to:
- Instituting the first people’s principles of learning and fulfilling the circle of courage
photo retrieved from http://www.fnesc.ca/learningfirstpeoples/
- Using methods such as non-violent communication as a means of conflict resolution
- Modelling pro-social behaviour
- Addressing Alan McLean’s 3 A’s of learning and teaching agency, autonomy, and affiliation
- Having multiple plans prepared and having the ability to alter the plans as necessary to suit student needs
- Viewing education as a constant progression and remaining humble and vulnerable
- Teacher-learner learner-teacher approach
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm66HF5Vz5I
Furthermore, the same pedagogical methods that are successful in the classroom are useful in an online or open format, specifically constructivism. Lev Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development or ZPD is a standard reference in the academic community of education, and it lays the groundwork for social constructivist theory. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory contends that the community plays a central role in the process of “making meaning.” Therefore, a teacher should build their online community in the same fashion that they would build community in a brick and mortar classroom. By using the same pedagogy in an online format that has been successful in traditional classroom formats, a teacher may stand a better chance of creating a positive learning environment. This would also build a human-centred learning approach, as mentioned in Dr. Roberts’s blog post. Additionally, the ability to be adaptive and aware of the different needs of individual learners is also just as important in an online modality as it is in a face to face format.
In the mandated EDCI 339 reading, “Garrett Dickers, A. (2018) Social Interaction in K-12 Online Learning,” The author points out that social interaction may be lacking in online delivery of classes and points out that the limited interaction between teacher and learner that does happen is limited to instructional types. The author references (Whiteside 2015), which presents a social presence model to measure interaction that uses the following measurables.
- Affective Association – how students and teachers show emotion online;
- Community Cohesion – seeing the class as a community;
- Instructor Involvement – how the teacher shows involvement in student learning;
- Interaction Intensity – what ways and how often students interact; and
- Knowledge and Experience – ways students share their prior knowledge and experiences with course content
When a teacher facilitates learning through making connections and creating a community, students are better able to focus on the learning rather than the modality of the teaching. Additionally, the author identifies web meetings and social media spaces as potential mediums for social interaction with and among students. Furthermore, the author recommends that teachers follow these three actions regarding using their recommendations,
- Be purposeful in design.
- Utilize a team approach to design and revision.
- Incorporate specific activities for interaction.
That’s it for my summary of my learning this week; please drop by again to see what else I discover.
References
Centre for Non-Violent Communication website. https://www.cnvc.org/
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
McLean, A. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hm66HF5Vz5I
Moll, L. C. (2013). L. S. Vygotsky and education. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca
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
Roberts, V. Topic 1: July 6-9 Introductions, Privacy, and Human-Centred Learning https://edtechuvic.ca/
July 10, 2020 at 11:51 am
Ok, first-of-all love the sick working set up!
Timm, as usual, you are literally a genius and managed to incorporate so much of our past learning into your blog post about human-centered learning in online and open learning contexts. I didn’t even think to reflect back on all the tools we have learned such as “Non-violent communication” “Alan McLean’s 3 A’s” or even the First People’s principle of learning. I noticed that in both mine and your blog posts we build upon each other’s comments about the importance of teacher’s building a nurturing their virtual classroom community no different than how they would their “brick and mortar classroom”. I think that you would agree with the fact that much is missed in the community aspects when it comes to online learning compared to a face-to-face classroom. Rich would be so proud of you (as I am) for using so many interactive multimedia elements in your blog Timm, these small elements helped me as your online student enjoy and take in the content.
July 10, 2020 at 8:43 pm
Amazing blog post Timm! I was really impressed by your ability to draw connections between numerous prominent social learning models that we explored over the last two semesters. Your decision to incorporate other relevant material into your analysis of this week’s reading in a concise yet thorough way speaks to your strong understanding of the course content.
I appreciated how you noted that the same pedagogical methods used to build community in face to face environments can also be used in online learning spaces – your discussion of Vygotsky’s social-cultural theory was a great segue into your description of the different ways social interactions may be effectively designed and supported in a human-centred and community-focused manner. Moreover, I really liked the format of your post – embedding multiple multimedia artifacts amongst your written text made your blog quite visually appealing and engaging to read. In particular, I thought that your creation of an infographic (placed in the middle of the blog) was especially effective as it acted like an ‘anchor’ to the ideas explored throughout the post.
I’m looking forward to reading more of your work! 🙂