In my experience, no matter the learning environment, students are motivated when personal connection and belonging are at the core of the “classroom”. When I imagine myself in an environment of learning online, I fear feeling like “just another face on the screen”, and that I will begin to fade into the background and lose passion and care for the material and my educational experience. I believe that in open and online learning spaces educators need to ensure that they are actively and purposely setting up opportunities for students to connect in both teacher-student interactions as well as student-student interactions and activities. In the article Social Interaction in K-12 Online Learning (2018), Garrett Dickers, A depicts how essential it is that teachers have an immensely involved and purposeful social presence while they continue and adapt throughout the course. A positive learning environment is fostered when educators share information about privacy and safety as it displays respect and care for others, fabricating an understanding of others and ways in which they can show respect for their peers and themselves. When educators are actively involved and open with their students throughout the course, they are models to their students what a positive, safe, and respectful social presence looks like. When you mix rapport with modelling, students are motivated and able to safely navigate their own online presence.
When reflecting on the K-12 Social Presence Model (Whiteside 2015), I began to see an abundance of connections between their proposed five aspects and other course content that I have explored in our previous year of school. The five aspects are:
- 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 (Garrett Dikkers, Whiteside, & Lewis, 2017, p. 160).
The Circle of Courage is a model of positive youth development first described in the book Reclaiming Youth at Risk, depicting four universal basic needs for growth:
- Belonging — a sense of community, loving others, an being
- Mastery — competence in many areas, responsibility, and the ability to accomplish personal goals
- Independence — understanding of one’s power to make their own decisions and ability to set personal goals
- Generosity — the ability to share knowledge and empathy with others
These universal basic needs for growth lend themselves well Vygotsys emphasis on meaningful activity where there is a dialogue between personal experience outside of school and what a student learns formally in a course. This constant dialogue creates an environment where students are not only interested in what they learn, but they feel important in the environment in which they are learning. Dr. Rogers’ comment in Topic one blog post intersects many of my thoughts when she depicted the importance and ability of online and open learning to provide a holistic approach to learning, as well as allows for space in terms of accessibility, adaptability, and inquiry. Given my past experience working with diverse learners, a learning environment where inquiry and accessibility are at the forefront is incredibly interesting and exciting to me.
I apologize for the scattered nature of this blog post! As I began interacting with more material, I developed heaps of connections, questions, and thoughts about current and past course material. I’m realizing that technology is not one of my strong suits and that ideas may be jumbled before I can have a full grasp of the content. I hope to learn even more about how to utilize different modes of online learning to benefit different learning preferences as well as how to actively design purposeful social online experiences for my learners. As I learn online, I hope to save the tools that help me through my journey and share the knowledge I’ve acquired with my students in the future.
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
Moll, L. C. (2013). L. S. Vygotsky and education. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca
Reclaiming Youth Network. “The Circle of Courage Philosophy.” 2007.
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
Kayleigh! I really like the connection you made to “The Circle of Courage.” The collaborative effort of having both an effective learning pattern as well as good personal expectations for oneself (personal self-esteem) is VITAL in a student being able to most effectively absorbing and retaining what they are taught. Teachers are pivotal in the process as they have to both facilitate a healthy learning environment as well as emotional stability in their students. Working on one’s own personal teaching philosophy constantly ensures that a teacher recognizes themselves too as a learner, like their students.