In my journey of blended learning, I'm in a stage where I'm creating a visual in my head of how I want the course to look like. Reading articles such as this chapter helps define this visual.
Last week's DIY task was to create a mix map of my vision. This is what I have so far:
Notes:
2 Vantage points: guidance from teacher/instructor and the opportunity for the student to be self-directed.
Personal self direction may be leveraged via blended learning.
Favourite Quote in Chapter:
Blended learning, in all its various representations, has as its fundamental premise a simple idea: link the best technological solutions for teaching and learning with the best human resources... encouraging the development of highly interactive and collaborative activities that can be accomplished only a faculty member in a mediated setting (Dziuban, Hartman, Mehaffy, 2014, p. 332).
Response made in text which is part of my own questioning: when students have minimal guidance in their learning, is there evidence of deep learning? What I'm personally seeing is not deep unless the students pose "big questions" while they are researching.
I watch part of Mitra's "Hole in the Wall" video. I would agree that individuals can teach themselves skills, whether it be a computer or tool. My issue with "wayfinding" is that it is time consuming. Why allow a child to spend 20 hours figuring out something when you can spend 30 minutes giving a brief overview and then allow the child to build from that. Let them stand on our shoulders!
In our school there is an unspoken division between those who favor online and those who favor face to face. I believe that most students (like the author) consider social contact a priority. Is it a basic human need? I think so.
What is the role of the educator in a networked world? I think the suggested "roles are interesting. I think my current role is a mix between a concierge and a curatorial teacher. I spend a lot of time helping students tract down reliable information. At the same time, because of class presents "unknown territory" to the students, I also create environments where students can explore without too much risk.
Techno-expression:
Some of the suggestions I found useful:
-ask students to state their own expectations
-give them opportunity to suggest ideas within the syllabus
-give them opportunity to talk about themselves
-possible writing assignment: "from where I am" - based on their descriptive paragraphs, figure out where they are when they are writing this.
A funny video that got me thinking about teaching:
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