Tuesday 5 July 2016

Variety in the blend

Getting ready for a new semester, I am pondering the fact that until recently I have described my teaching as "mostly online" or "fully online". However, there has gradually been a shift in how I see this online teaching, since most of it occurs in a blended context, to a greater or lesser extent.

By ways of explanation, looking ahead to the coming semester, I am teaching four classes, and each is either online or blended to some degree. I'm using this post to think-aloud about the elements of blended learning in my classes and how they differ in the intent and timing of the face-to-face.

I like this Mindflash explanation of blended learning, because it includes mention of flipped learning as well as structured independent study. Other definitions stipulate that the online study should replace some of the face-to-face component, rather than being merely an add-on, which is an important point in terms of workload management for students and staff. Still other definitions do a great job of illustrating some of the variations possible, both in terms of models and quality.

In semester B, I am teaching:

One fully online class, an undergraduate elective, entitled 'Learning through ICT: Issues, perspectives, and strategies'. We'll call it the ICT option.

One mixed media class, a compulsory paper for students in our Bachelor of Teaching, Mixed Media Presentation, entitled 'Curriculum and Assessment'. We'll call it the MMP core paper.

A masters level 'research methods' class, compulsory for students as a precursor to the research component of their masters degree. Let's call it the masters class.

And a new class for me: Originally an on campus offering, entitled 'The teaching and learning process: Innovative approaches', which I have elected to blend with online components. This one will be referred to as the new blended course.

In each of these three classes, there is a continuum from fully online to blended study, and the blend occurs in different ways.

For example, the ICT option is fully online. It caters for students who are located at a distance from the university, often in their final semester of study, and is sometimes taken by students who have timetable clashes with other options. I see it as "full immersion in online study", and explain it this way to students. The online interaction takes place in Moodle, and is comprised of asynchronous discussion, opportunities for synchronous chat, and video-conferencing. Resources include video and electronic text materials, and websites. Students are encouraged to 'do and report back' when it comes to exploring new technologies (e.g., social media tools), and interviewing teachers and learners about their use of ICT. I'd be reluctant to add a compulsory on campus component to this optional course, or to mandate synchronous work, as the students who take the paper have opted into an ICT-rich experience, and are often already challenged by distance and scheduling. So far, paper appraisals indicate that students are happy with the fully online design, and appreciative of flexibility and choice.

In contrast, the MMP core paper begins with two compulsory lecture/workshop sessions f2f, as part of the week-long intensive block of on campus times for students in this initial teacher education programme. In every class, there is a firm expectation of attendance on campus, in part due to Education Council requirements for the ITE qualification. When we meet with the students on campus, we take time to build a rapport, establish expectations, workshop complex concepts, and prepare students for ongoing work and assessments online. For MMP students, meeting on campus is an essential ingredient in the MMP blend - along with work in schools, community study groups, and online. Time spent with peers and staff on campus is of interpersonal importance, cultivating relationships that are then developed and sustained online as a learning community. I often say to students on campus that my aim is to "put them at ease and rev them up simultaneously" in that I want them to be reassured that they are facing an achievable challenge, so they leave feeling ready to tackle their learning with energy and enthusiasm.

The masters class is in between the ICT option and the MMP core paper, in terms of the blend of online and face-to-face interaction. While it started as a fully online paper, and many of the students are in similar circumstances to those in the ICT option, the students working at masters level can be less comfortable with working entirely online. Although they are often working full time (e.g., in school leadership or as educational consultants), and are geographically dispersed, the masters students are often compelled to take the online version of the paper due to the timing of the offering. That is, it is offered in semester B, and they have to take it before they embark on their research project (directed study, dissertation or thesis). The same paper is offered on campus in semester A, and in summer school as a blended offering, but students may find the July-October timeslot suits their circumstances, so they find themselves working online. I am particularly sympathetic to international students who travel to NZ, only to find themselves taking an online class! The online format can be challenging when many of the concepts are new and complex, and even controversial - ethics and paradigms can be tough to engage with online! We keep things lively with online debates and screen video-interviews with active researchers, but there are times when the students want to meet and talk through their own projects, and to puzzle through some of the challenges of research in a face-to-face context. In response to this, we have started to offer informal meeting opportunities - for students who can make it to the campus - to discuss concepts, experiences, projects and assigned work. Last year, Noeline and I instigated this prior to an assignment and found the students were so relieved to meet with us, and with each other in person, there was an overall stress-release when we met with students to offer reassurance and talk through research challenges. So that students who could not make the on campus meeting did not miss out, we produced a video-summary (Panopto) immediately after the meeting to go over the key points raised, and to clarify points of interest to the group. In the semester ahead, we plan to do this optional meet then follow-up video-cast, about three times - near the beginning, middle, and toward the end of the semester. Of course we have always been available for appointments and phone calls, including skype and appear.in conferencing, but meeting on campus as a group will be an ongoing part of the design in this paper.

While the masters class barely nods toward blended learning with a small number of f2f meetings, I am taking a new blended course where we will experiment further with blended and flipped learning. Having inherited this paper very recently, it came with a weekly lecture, followed by a weekly tutorial (with two timeslots for students to join the tutorial so as to work in smaller groups, as their timetable allowed). Given my preferences for A) online learning and teaching; and B) working smarter; and also considering that C) the paper is about innovative approaches to learning and teaching, I have redesigned this option. This year, students will work on campus for one session a week, which will be a workshop in which we will learn about a range of pedagogies, work with guest experts (my learned colleagues), and engage in hands-on activities. We'll continue our learning online each week, with preparation for the on campus class, which will take the form of a video to view and analyse, an article written by the guest expert, an interview with the guest, a discussion to elicit prior knowledge, or a mini-investigative task. Obviously, this is an attempt to flip the learning and to create continuity between sessions. Following each face-to-face class, students will continue to discuss the topic online, in an asynchronous Moodle forum, moderated by me, and with a couple of follow-up posts from our guest expert. We know that groups of 10 are ideal for this purpose, to enable deeper interaction and reflective learning through the discussion. I'm excited to see how this plays out, and the extent to which it challenges students while enabling their learning. I'll follow that up, so watch this space!

In conclusion, I would say there are many ways of blending learning, and many reasons for doing so. (See Noeline's recent post also). Sometimes, this is about meeting the needs of diverse students, and it might even seem contradictory at times since it can be about reassuring students, ensuring their comfort, but can also be about challenging students to move out of their comfort zone. Neither is blending learning all about the students, as we are increasingly being reminded of the need to work strategically (smarter) and to reduce the time we spend on teaching, while maintaining the quality of our teaching. While this may seem an impossible challenge, I have explained elsewhere that I value the flexibility, and time-shifting efficiencies of online teaching. I'm more and more convinced that blended learning is an effective way to survive and manage tertiary teaching, while maintaining high quality pedagogy in terms of student engagement, deep learning, rich feedback and relevant experiences.

How about you, readers? Care to add your voice to our discussion of variety in blended learning?









27 comments:

  1. Hi Dianne. Personally I am looking forward to challenging myself with blended learning and a more self directed learning in HDCO210. I always procrastinate and I hope that with this class I can take more responsibility with my learning.
    Amy Halliday

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    1. Sounds good Amy, thanks for your comment. Learning to take responsibility for our learning sets us on the path to being lifelong learners :)

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  2. Hi Dianne,I was initially very weary about this paper when finding out that it was going to have a blended approach to learning. After sitting through the first face to face lecture I'm excited to experience the difference between learning f2f and through the use of online conversations with others. I'm starting to see this as an important skill to have with the ever developing technologies in this world. I know most of all that I will find it challenging to spread the work load out and come back to discussions throughout the week but can see that with time it will become a habit throughout the duration of this paper.

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    1. Thanks Jessica, I hope the other lectures since have also given you food for thought and that the interaction is proving useful. Good point about making online discussion a habit :)

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  3. Hi Dianne, I am really excited to be part of a blended paper this semester. I feel that it will be a good experience for me to learn about blended learning and how it can be used to support understandings. Blended learning is not an approach that I have had experience with but I am excited to experience it in this paper. On my third year practicum I noticed how we are more and more drawing on technology to support student' learning and I feel that by taking part in a paper involving blended learning it will help me in becoming a better teacher who can use technology to enhance learning for students.

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    1. Love the excitement Sarah-Jane, that is a good start! I hope today's session helped you to think about how and why we might use ICT in schools, and some of the issues there. See you in our online discussion :)

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  4. Hi Dianne, I am very excited to learn about different innovative approaches to learning through using a blended learning approach. Blended learning is not an approach that I have previously had experience with but I feel will be an approach that will benefit my teaching. On my practicum I was able to see how technology can be used to support students' learning. I think that being part of a paper that uses a blended learning approach will support me as it will help me to learn how to better use technology to support learning within the classroom.

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  5. Hi Dianne, I am looking forward to this paper as i have not yet previously been apart of a Blended paper. I hope to rise to the challenges and learning opportunities that await. Drawing on new material and different approaches to leaning will hopefully be eye opening and perhaps change the way that i have previously thought about ideas or issues. I hope to seek new lines of communication and methods in which material can be taught.

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  6. Hi Dianne, I am looking forward to this paper as i have not yet previously been apart of a Blended paper. I hope to rise to the challenges and learning opportunities that await. Drawing on new material and different approaches to leaning will hopefully be eye opening and perhaps change the way that i have previously thought about ideas or issues. I hope to seek new lines of communication and methods in which material can be taught.

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  7. Hi Dianne, I am looking forward to this paper as i have not yet previously been apart of a Blended paper. I hope to rise to the challenges and learning opportunities that await. Drawing on new material and different approaches to leaning will hopefully be eye opening and perhaps change the way that i have previously thought about ideas or issues. I hope to seek new lines of communication and methods in which material can be taught.

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    1. I think you've raised a good point about communication Kobi, that is such an important aspect. Often learning and teaching is more about how we communicate and interact offline and online, rather than transmitting information in a one-way format.

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  8. Hey Dianne, I can't wait to experience this blended learning approach as I have only been involved in face to face papers. My last placement was in a intermediate school where they had the option to bring their own device. It amazed me how much of the teaching & learning involved the use of technology. I am excited to familarise myself with how this blended learning works in the hope I can use a similar approach in my class. I have also never used blogs before and with this becoming more and more common in classes today it is cool to see how it all works.
    Greer (:

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    1. Thanks Greer, my son is at intermediate and takes his chromebook to and from school. He does a lot of work in GoogleDocs and it is a powerful tool for writing. He and his classmates all have blogs too, which is great for writing for an authentic audience. I try to comment on his blog regularly.

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  9. Hey Dianne, I can't wait to experience this blended learning approach as I have only been involved in face to face papers. My last placement was in a intermediate school where they had the option to bring their own device. It amazed me how much of the teaching & learning involved the use of technology. I am excited to familarise myself with how this blended learning works in the hope I can use a similar approach in my class. I have also never used blogs before and with this becoming more and more common in classes today it is cool to see how it all works.
    Greer (:

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  10. Hi Dianne, I am currently in the process of creating my own blog for teaching, I am excited as it will be great for my professional development. It is evident how experienced you are with ICT and I feel completely reassured with the selection of this paper, our blended class has already been beneficial and eye opening.
    The idea of blended learning, especially our online discussions has the ability to draw twice the amount of information out that I would normally keep to myself. It is exciting to be a new teacher in this modern learning age, and like you mentioned in your blog it is challenging me to step out of my comfort zone!!
    Laura.

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    1. Great to hear about your blog Laura :) Share it here when you have created it, as this can direct readers to it. I also use Twitter to direct readers to this blog, by tweeting links to new posts and sometimes to older posts that become relevant again. I look forward to reading your blog one day :)

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  11. Hi Dianne, I have never experienced a blended or online class so I am excited to take part in this paper. This blended approach gives us a chance to practice an approach which I'm sure we will discuss widely during the semester. As you mentioned, this approach makes learning possible for learners with diverse needs, the most common being distance. It also makes learning more accessible for those of who are on campus to attend classes. This blended approach has enabled me to balance uni and work in a way that I can still pay my bills! The one thing I wonder is if the work load is the same for you as the teacher? I know when I was blogging with one of my practicum classes, I found myself sitting up till the late hours reading and responding to students; however, just like marking books, I guess we have to dictate a time to stop and put it away for the night!

    Courtney

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    1. Yes, that's right Courtney, just because we can access the class 24/7 doesn't mean we should. A healthy balance is good!

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  12. Hi Dianne last year due to absences I had some online aspects and some face to face learning and I actually began to consider why it has to be all face to face or all online. Therefore when I saw that this paper was blended and learnt about what the concepts of this actually are I was really excited. Although I find online classes really convenient, often I feel the need to directly discuss issues or questions with the lecturer. Although email is really useful for quick discussions, it doesn't quite cover things in the same in depth way that a face to face discussion has. Therefore I can not wait to be in this blended classroom environment this semester. :)

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    1. I agree Sarah, there is a lot to be said for enjoying the best of both worlds when it is possible to do so. We can enjoy the convenience and activity of the online work, while also interacting in person, so we are very lucky indeed :)

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  13. Hi Dianne
    I look forward to seeing what this paper has in store for this semester. I think that this is going to be a good learning experience for me as I will have to manage my time and make sure that I keep up to date with this paper. As I have only been involved in face to face classes and they tend to make keeping up with everything a little easier. But none the less I am up for the challenge.
    It was interesting to see whilst on my last practicum my AT was still trying to incorporate ipads into the classroom as they had only just got them. Being a smaller country school they obviously are not the first ones to get new things like technology.
    I look forward to this paper to also further my PD in using technology in the classroom and how.
    Sam

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    1. Good on you Sam, time management is really vital for teachers. Pleased you are up for the challenge and making connections to practicum :)

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  14. Hi Dianne
    I look forward to seeing what this paper has in store for this semester. I think that this is going to be a good learning experience for me as I will have to manage my time and make sure that I keep up to date with this paper. As I have only been involved in face to face classes and they tend to make keeping up with everything a little easier. But none the less I am up for the challenge.
    It was interesting to see whilst on my last practicum my AT was still trying to incorporate ipads into the classroom as they had only just got them. Being a smaller country school they obviously are not the first ones to get new things like technology.
    I look forward to this paper to also further my PD in using technology in the classroom and how.
    Sam

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  15. Hi Dianne,

    This was quite exciting to read! I feel very reassured to have picked this paper for this semester. I've never taken a paper that is of the 'blended' learning approach, but I'm glad we have a mix of face-to-face time and online. I have never used a classroom blog as my 3 AT's over my 3 practicums have not used one (at the time) when I was placed in their classroom. Hopefully I get to learn and see how to create a class blog and keep it running effectively as I would like to (hopefully if I learn) implement this into my own classroom one day :)

    Thanks, Janine

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    1. Creating a blog is easy Janine, you can teach yourself. Think of a purpose for blogging, check out other bloggers' work, and then go to blogger.co.nz to get underway!

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  16. Hi Dianne, I am very eager to experience learning through a 'blended' approach as I have only experienced face to face papers. This paper will be very beneficial for me as the school I am currently working at is focusing on innovative approaches! I have little knowledge of implementing these approaches and am excited to develop my knowledge of these.

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    1. That's great Lucy, I look forward to hearing more about your school's innovations in class :)

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