Module 2 Assignment
I chose to do a simple venn diagram cross referencing “face to face” with “online”. The items in center section where the two circles intersect is what those two teaching environments have in common; it is not a description of blended learning as blended learning can take on so many different variations. I used Google Draw and found it to be very intuitive.
As I went through the online textbook I gradually began to get a pretty good working knowledge of the various models for blended learning. Honestly, it has taken some time for the differences to make sense to me. I did notice that there seems to be a bit of a bias against face to face teaching in the textbook material. At the same time, there is a lot of good and valid proof that blended learning is beneficial. I’m left wondering if I could pull off a “flipped classroom” experience in Senior English.
Module 2 Reflection
1. Reflecting on the information covered in this module so far, how might your instructional methodologies need to change in an online or blended learning environment?
In all honesty, I need to spend more time with the different models and more time with my colleagues to think through exactly which of the models we want to employ and exactly how we will do it and what it will look like. I am leaning heavily toward the “flipped classroom” and want to spend more time looking at examples. I feel that I need to give my students more control over the time they spend with online devices. At the same time, I need to plan ahead to build in the necessary structure, checkpoints, and support.
2. What skills and strategies might you improve or expand upon in order to best support student learning in a blended or online environment?
I need to give more thought to how the students will progress through the curriculum. I want students to be able to speed up or slow down a they see fit and consequently be at very different places in the curriculum at a given time. So I think one of my biggest challenges is in the design and layout of the Haiku page itself. It needs to be ridiculously easy for the student to see exactly what needs to be done and when. The students will quickly become frustrated if they have to hunt for it. I have to be able to predict what the students will need to know and have it in front of them when they need it. The LEC15 Haiku page has taught me a lot already about how to design the Haiku site itself.
In all honesty, I need to spend more time with the different models and more time with my colleagues to think through exactly which of the models we want to employ and exactly how we will do it and what it will look like. I am leaning heavily toward the “flipped classroom” and want to spend more time looking at examples. I feel that I need to give my students more control over the time they spend with online devices. At the same time, I need to plan ahead to build in the necessary structure, checkpoints, and support.
2. What skills and strategies might you improve or expand upon in order to best support student learning in a blended or online environment?
I need to give more thought to how the students will progress through the curriculum. I want students to be able to speed up or slow down a they see fit and consequently be at very different places in the curriculum at a given time. So I think one of my biggest challenges is in the design and layout of the Haiku page itself. It needs to be ridiculously easy for the student to see exactly what needs to be done and when. The students will quickly become frustrated if they have to hunt for it. I have to be able to predict what the students will need to know and have it in front of them when they need it. The LEC15 Haiku page has taught me a lot already about how to design the Haiku site itself.