CI 5321 Post 4: Support for K-12 Online Learners

Online learning can be convenient or easier in some ways, but it also can be tricky. I've been taking online classes since I was in high school, so this is nothing new to me. Over the years, almost anytime I've mentioned that I'm taking online classes, I've gotten similar responses. A lot of people react by saying that it must be difficult or that they could never do it. This has always amazed me because I've found online classes to be convenient and often times easier than F2F classes. However, I am pretty organized and disciplined when it comes to academics, and I think that's a huge factor into my success. For some students who are not used to holding themselves accountable, online classes could be pretty tricky.

Organization and self-motivation are skills that most high school (and pre-high school) students struggle with. As a future secondary teacher who could, one day, be teaching an online course, it is important for me to think about the supports I could put in place to help out my future students.

first of all,  would probably do a lot more hand-holding than I would do for a college course. For example, not only would I be clear about expectations and deadlines, I would also make sure I remind students several times before those deadlines arrive. It is important for online students to take responsibility for their own learning, but I think this would be an acceptable crutch for secondary students.

Another aspect that contributes to online students' success is how confident they are with technology. To aid with this, I would create specific, step-by-step videos on how to use certain technological tools throughout the course. I would also make sure my students know where to reach out - whether it would be to me or to other tech help - if they come across technological issues.

I will end with a quote from "Insights From Research on Distance Education Learners, Learning, and Learner Support?" by Richard E. West. He says that "Cavanaugh [a researcher] concluded that when the online instruction is designed well, K-12 students appeared to have as good of a chance for success as they would in a F2F class" (page 140). I think this proves that our students can be successful in any context, as long as they have the right supports.

CI 5321 Post 3: F2F vs. Online Learning

This week, I found and read an article for my podcast assignment entitled "Distance Learning and the Future of Education" by Steven Cohen, a professor at Columbia University. In my podcast, I briefly talk about how the article speaks on how online learning can make education available across the globe and how hybrid classes are the most efficient form of education. However, due to the strict time limit on the podcast of less than five minutes, I was barely able to scratch the surface on what I truly thought about this article. Specifically, I want to speak more about my reactions to Cohen's belief that technology will never completely replace face-to-face learning.

 Cohen talks about how, especially in higher education, it is hard to find a class that isn't immersed in technology in one way or another. In a society where major technological advances happen so quickly and frequently, and where knowledge and skills in said technological advances are highly marketable or even necessary to survive, I think it is a good thing that classrooms are utilizing technology within their curriculum. Although, I have to say that the following quote made me a little sad as a teacher who centers classroom community: "While [students] enjoy and use live interaction with colleagues and teachers, it no longer holds the monopoly position it once held." I may want to constantly interact with my students face-to-face, but the truth is that many of them feel more comfortable interacting online.

However, Cohen also emphasizes that no matter how advanced technology becomes, the world will never be without a need for physical classroom spaces. He says, "It will augment live education, but will not eliminate it. Educators should not worry that robots will replace them." This is something that I truly believe in. A couple of years ago, I had this same conversation with my boyfriend. He claimed that there wasn't a job that would be safe from being taken over by artificial intelligence. I argued that teaching wouldn't be the same if it was run by AI, even if the AI was super advanced. I tried to explain to him the importance that building relationships with the students has on student learning. I said that students wouldn't take AI as seriously, or at least there wouldn't be the same motivation that comes with learning from your favorite teacher. My boyfriend is a techie and never really came over to my side in this argument, but the more I learn, the more I stand by what I said. I truly don't think any technological advancement could ever completely replace teachers.

CI 5321 Post 2: Collaboration

This week, we learned a lot about how collaboration is almost necessary to incorporate in order to create a successful online or distance course. I think this is a really important idea to note and pay attention to when instruction an online course, but also when teaching in general.

In my educational career, I have had the opportunity to take part in many online courses. It all started in high school with my College Composition course. This course consisted almost entirely of reading texts and responding to them by writing papers. Looking back, the only interaction I had with other students involving this course was that which I initiated myself. I would frequently speak with my friend who was taking the face-to-face version of the course. I believe these interactions helped me to understand the texts we were supposed to read. Other than from these short interactions with my friend, I feel like I barely learned anything from this course. I was able to practice my writing skills, but I don't remember learning anything new, at least not about composition.

When I think about my most interactive online course I've taken, it has to be my final Spanish course I had to take for my undergraduate career. This course was completely online, which made learning a language very difficult. However, one thing that helped me learn in this course was the required interactions with my peers. I know there were many opportunities to collaborate with my classmates, but the type of collaboration I remember the most was video-recorded conversations with my peers. Every other week or so, I would have to hold a relatively long conversation with different peers about the topics of the week. We would have to speak with each other about these topics for something like 15 or 20 minutes on YouTube Live, then send the recordings to our teacher. This was really helpful because I was able to collaborate with different people who were at a similar Spanish-speaking level as I was, and we were able to just hold a conversation and work together to figure things out.

I think peer collaboration is important in any learning context, as it allows the learners to lean on each other as they work their way up the wall of education. It also provides more motivation for the learners, as they have to depend on one another in order to complete their work. There is something to be said about how much students can fear disappointing their peers or letting them down.

CI 5321 Post 1: Initial Thoughts

Hello all! This is a blog page I started at the beginning of my ILP/ M.Ed. program, but I figured it would work for the six posts I have to make for my distance education class. To kind of mirror our Module 1 for this class, this first post will be mostly an introduction about me, some of my beliefs in teaching in general and how distance education plays into that, and what I think about this class so far.

First of all, (as you may already know) I just turned in my application for my Minnesota teaching license (Communication Arts and Literature 5-12) yesterday and I will complete my final master’s class this August. I am pretty excited to finally finish up with the bulk of my schooling – I say it this way because I can’t imagine that I am done with classes for the entirety of my life – and to finally move into what I consider actual adulthood. Not that I’m not an adult now, but it’s hard to think of myself as being on an equal playing field when I haven’t even begun my career yet.

As I have been preparing for my license application and general career-related future a lot over the past year, I’ve come to a few central beliefs when it comes to teaching. Broadly, I believe in placing a lot of focus on building a classroom community, centering the individuals in my classes in everything we do, and creating a safe and welcoming environment for everyone, with specific emphasis on cultural responsiveness. In addition, I think a growth mind-set is extremely important to have, as no student is an empty vessel, nor is anyone as developed as they possibly can be.

All of these beliefs would bleed into any distance educational situation I’d be in. No matter what, I would get to know my students and include their interests in our class, try to get my students to see each other as a team, and provide culturally relevant materials, on top of other things. It doesn’t matter if we are in the same room or miles upon miles away; my core beliefs remain the same.

At first, I was a little nervous about this class, as I am also taking another May Term class and teaching full-time at the same time. However, after this first module, I think it will be doable. I am already exhausted and stretched for time, but the fact that these classes are only three weeks long give me confidence that I will be able to hang on through the duration of them.