Introduction

The artifact I have included for this unit is my Math Essentials 11 Online Classroom. I taught a very small math essentials 11 classroom last year. While my students were hard workers, the level of mathematical abilities in the classroom ranged from a grade 2 up to about a grade 8. I decided to create an online classroom where students could work while in my class. This afforded me the opportunity to circulate around the room and work individually with students who needed the extra help. It also allowed students to work at a pace that met their needs.

This is a representation of what I thought elearning looked like when I started this course.

Artifact

Math Essentials 11 - Online Classroom

Reflection

Before starting this course, I really felt like I was giving my students a quality blended learning experience. I thought that I was incorporating technology in an effective way. After spending some time reading about and discussing effective elearning and what it looks like I've come to realize that I have a long way to go.

One line from the outline for unit 1 in particular resonated with me.

"Learning experiences where learners passively consume out course curriculum like one might binge watch the latest season of House of Cards."

I thought about my course design and decided that it was set up in such a way that students could and probably were passively consuming a lot of the information. I wasn't asking students to actively participate in their learning past copying down the examples presented in the videos and putting the computers away and trying some problems on paper.

After participating in unit 1, I decided to use the reflection opportunity to think about how I change adapt my course design to encourage more active learning with my students. Some ideas that I came up with include:

• Choosing themes for each unit that not only incorporates the required outcomes but also some other topics that may be cross curricular or may be derived from student interest.
• Have less instruction and more exploration.
• Include opportunities where students can collaborate and work together.
• Differentiate more by providing choice based on multiple intelligence theories.

I am looking forward to the next opportunity I have to teach a course that will allow me to include an elearning component. I think that my design will be more engaging. I am excited for the rest of this course and to see where my journey in elearning will take me.