Reflection Blog #4
Coming into this course, my biggest ambition was to determine ways that online classes could successful for multilingual students. My initial thoughts were that, in order for online classes to be successful with this demographic, they must be extremely structured and follow a clear routine. My belief was that teachers should avoid tasks that are complex and should be wary of ceding control. While I still believe that tasks need to have expectations clearly expressed, I have learned that students in an online learning environment are most successful when they are gradually given increased control over activities and assignments. This is, in many ways, in line with general teaching theory, where teachers are encouraged to talk less to provide students with opportunities to engage with one another in tasks that involve deeper engagement with materials, such as critiquing, analyzing, and evaluating. I continue to have reservations about how successful my students will be in an online learning environment, but I now believe that the best way to optimize their chances for success are to find ways of applying the concepts from Engaging the Online Learner in ways that provide careful scaffolding, detailed instructions and rubrics, and representative examples. My hope for future classes is to make activities as engaging as possible, capitalizing on the strengths of an online environment without succumbing to its weaknesses. Taking this class was, for me, not too overwhelming. I certainly spent more than 12 hours on the course readings and tasks, but the experience was rewarding and I feel much more prepared to teach my upcoming online classes in the summer/fall. A warm thank you to Matt Jones for facilitating this learning experience!
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When it comes to an “Aha” moment in this course, the closest I have come to that experience was the realization that online courses can, and should, endeavor to encourage a sense of community and autonomy. Online courses are often criticized as leaving students feeling isolated. Additionally, they are regularly conflated with correspondence courses where teachers post lectures and students take tests and write papers. This course has demonstrated not only that these stereotypes can be false, but also that they must be false if our online courses are well designed. As I work to prepare my courses, I plan to follow the approach outlined in Engaging the Online Learner, working to foster a classroom community early on and then allowing students to grow and learn within that community.
As written above, the text emphasizes collaboration and community building as hallmarks of an effective online class. I have been reticent to release control of my class in order to allow students to create their own learning communities. I have been afraid that they would not put in sufficient effort or that they might not be able to understand the complex directions. I plan to change this in my first fully online course. I expect it to be a significant challenge, especially because the course will take place in a summer session. However, I see this course design as foundational in changing perceptions of online courses and in providing my students with the most rewarding and engaging learning experience. I still have questions about how to move through the stages, especially with a six-week course, as well as how to ensure that the activities are clear for my multilingual students, who are taking my class specifically because they have difficulties with reading and writing. I believe I have a good sense of what needs to happen in my course, and will only be able to work towards my goal through actual classroom practice. |
AuthorI am currently taking a class about best practices in online teaching. This is a blog to share my reflections. ArchivesCategories |