Kayleigh's Education Blog

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.

 

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