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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AuthorI am currently taking a class about best practices in online teaching. This is a blog to share my reflections. ArchivesCategories |