THE HISTORICAL AND THEORETICAL TRENDS IN K-12 ONLINE AND DISTRIBUTED LEARNING

Last semester in EDCI 336, I was given an introduction to online learning in a form that was more focused on video conferencing; this was my first experience with diving deeper into the opportunities that technology can give for students who struggle to make it to school, whether that be due to disability, health, mental illness, geography, etc. When taking my prerequisites for the Elementary Education Program I took an Introduction to Canadian Politics class and we dove into how the unique vast geography of Canada affects voting and political policies, but I had never thought about how Canada’s rural setting and small population would affect education. The third reading this week highlighted why Canada ranks highly and has a long history of distance and online learning (Barbour, M & Labonte, R., 2018). There is no national funding, policy or governing body in Canada, and each province is responsible for funding, curriculum, and management of their educational programs. I have always known that each province has its own Ministry of Education and that education across the country has many differences, and when I began thinking of these differences, I began to grow concerned about inequalities that may arise with the difference of funding and management. This concern was highlighted when I reached the section in the article describing e-learning programs designed as First Nations, Métis and/or Inuit programs. There are only 3 programs across the country, and due to difficulty in funding, lack of community buy-in and expertise, and troublesome bandwidth there is a great deal of struggle attempting to establish more programs (Barbour, M & Labonte, R., 2018, pg. 606). I believe that this gap and inequality is something that should be researched and I would love to look into how differences can be made in this area of e-learning.

When I initially imaged what e-learning would look like, I thought of fairly individualized programs, where students were distanced from the classroom. I was better able to understand that e-learning can take many forms, and be an integration of within students learning journey in many facets; a few examples of these are Slack conversations and Padlet Q&As. I can see great value in utilizing these chat and question sessions in order to build a sense of community and belonging, as well as allow space exploratory talk. In EDCI 302, we discussed the definitions and implications of presentational vs. exploratory talk:

• Presentational talk: students language is focused on adjusting language and content to the needs of an audience, where a ‘final draft’ is presented for display or evaluation

Vs.

• Exploratory talk: the early stages of approaching a new idea, where the speaker is concerned with sorting out ideas and making meaning (Barnes, D. 2008)

Without discussion forums such as Stroke, I can see that students may lack opportunities to participate in exploratory talk, as so many of their assignments and work will require performative forms of communication. Our blog posts are wonderful examples of overlap of exploratory and performative talk; we are able to work through our thought process, show our learning path, and display this information in a performative setting, but is not as performative as a research essay. Creating a classroom (whether it is online, blended, or face-to-face) that allows for student input and expression of learning pathway lends itself well to an Open Educational Practice, where students “identify and locate learning opportunities for themselves as well as create learning opportunities for others” (Roberts et al., 2018, p. 530).

References

Barbour, M & Labonte, R. (2018). An Overview of eLearning Organizations and Practices in Canada. In R. Ferdig & K. Kennedy (Eds.), Handbook of research on K-12 online and blended learning (pp. 600-616). Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University ETC Press.

Barnes, D. (2008). Exploratory talk for learning. In N. Mercer & S. Hodgkinson (Eds.), 

Exploratory talk in school (pp. 1-15). London, UK: SAGE Publications, Ltd.

Bates, T. (2014). Learning Theories and Online Learning. [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.tonybates.ca/2014/07/29/learning-theories-and-online-learning/.

Roberts, V., Blomgren, C., Ishmael, K., & Graham, L. (2018). Open Educational Practices on K-12 Online and Blended Learning Environments. In R. Ferdig & K. Kennedy (Eds.), Handbook of research on K-12 online and blended learning (pp. 600-616). Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University ETC Press.