The reading for this week(2) in #blendkit2015 is on point. The questions posed in chapter 2 will really help course designers/faculty/instructors really think about what will work best for students; how much instruction they need and what will motivate them to do to their best work.
Having faculty/instructors: think about the variety of roles they embody online to help students, look at how students will express themselves in their work, figure out what works best in terms of asynchronously and synchronously expression, and focus on the importance of providing students with clear guidance for assignments; are all good follow-up points to focus on when thinking about and constructing learning activities.
Of course the starting point for creating learning activities and curriculum must always be using measurable learning objectives in order be able to assess them later.
My new phrase of the day: "Techno expression"coined by Kevin Kelly and Ruth Cox (2008)
See the linked guiding learning info graph to think more about this process:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/287174913713849844/
I'm a former old-school college professor of psych who did his doctoral thesis on paper punch cards, long before monitors were available where you could actually view the work of your fingers... But even back then, I was trying to make my courses a lot more interactive and a lot less lecture, but hard to accomplish that.
ReplyDeleteBlended approaches offer a great deal of new tools. The part that I think still needs a LOT of work is to make the courses less focused on "spot learning" and much more about learning to learn, collaborative learning, project management and those kinds of things that will represent the workplace.
A focus on grading is "so 1970" in my view and does little but establish competition between students when collaboration is a much much more important job skill. Sure, individual success is rewarded in business, but so is overall effectiveness.
I think our learning activities can greatly benefit from a much more collaborative approach. Teachers and students need not be antagonistic and adversarial. THAT is not a sustainable model, in my view of the future of learning.
There is simply SO much information readily available; we need people to WANT to learn more about things, rather than wear that so-common mantle of "stupidity" and rejecting learning and information.
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I too enjoyed spending time thinking about the interactions that are possible in a blended environment. You really do have the best of both worlds. I was intrigued by the concierge approach of the instructor coined by Bonk (2007). The idea that the instructor can pull out a range of resources and ideas at any point to support the learners is a wonderful expansion of the traditional idea of the "classroom". What was your favorite role of the educator, Henrie?
ReplyDeleteGreat points @scottsimmerman! Thank you for your comments! Sadly, the traditional lecture format is still alive and well in University classrooms. This course and blended learning/hybrid learning offer many options for creating lessons and activities while planning your curriculum.
ReplyDeleteI think with all the options to choose from, it is even more critical to stay focus on what you want your students/ participants to get out of your course/training.
Starting with small steps, and taking the time to intentionally develop and incorporating pieces of new interactive activities, new learning technologies and new changes to your curriculum will make for better adoption in and outside the classroom.
@hbparker - Hmm... which to choose. In thinking about managing the integration of technology into learning, I would like a mixing and matching of these educator roles to fit a bit of all that I want to encompass in the classroom. For instance, having a good grasp on technology and how to use it to encourage / support / promote and measure learning, would take juggling a few hats and also provide a level of freedom to students to be agents of their own learning out of choice. Freedom based in choice. That is right up my alley! Bonk(2007) focused on the role of educator as concierge, collecting and introducing new resources, to help students learn from technical lecture, while acting as sort of a tour guide did have some appeal to me too. At the same time the artistic and creative expression offered and guided by Brown's (2006) model of Atelier called to my inner art teacher!
Thanks for your reply Henrie!
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