Online vs. Blended vs. Face-to-Face Venn Diagram

Portfolio Assignment from Module 2.

I chose to compare all three environments because I am extremely vested in all 3 learning environments. I feel that the face to face environment could be more effective because you are able to give instant feedback, but the learning is not as personalized and the class progresses regardless of mastery so how valuable is that feedback then? I definitely see the growth of online courses in our local community colleges on the rise as I have tutored many friends as they take their math courses in this environment. I like the personalized learning aspect of the online and blended courses and I love that students do not progress until they have mastered the concept. I think the most important skills an online or blended student needs to succeed are effective time management, resourcefulness, and tech literacy. I think it's the instructors job to successfully prepare these students for what's in store by front loading the course and emphasizing the importance of these skills. My favorite environment is definitely the Blended environment because students are able to clarify questions in person as it's difficult to communicate certain things via email and discussion forums. The scheduled face to face meetings, or even just a GHOs are great ways to touch base and ensure the students comfort level throughout the course and a great way to make sure they are getting the most from the course.

Reflection:

If I was to work in a blended learning environment, I'd have to change much of what I do already, but more importantly, I'd have to change the minds of the leadership around me to enable me to start changing. I feel like I'm doing that little by little with my administration. The high school I work at offers a combination of at least a blended(flex) and face to face environments. I currently teach one independent study math class per week for a 3 hour session, but do provide some support videos and notes on our classroom website and students feel free to communicate via email or the website with me, so I believe it's kind of a blended environment, but most definitely face to face as none of the website resources are mandatory assignments. However, the online content is purely supplemental.

With the limited amount of time I have with my students per week, I brought up the idea of flipping my classroom to the principal last year. She shot it down because all of our students don't have access to the internet or even a computer, and our computer lab is rather small. If certain things fell into place(students all had computers and online access from home, admin gave the go ahead to blend my classroom, and I had 1:1 in my classroom) then I would choose the appropriate learning management system(moodle, edmodo, collaborize classroom, schoology) to begin housing the curriculum and forums.

Our independent study high school already offers online course via Edgenuity for students and this past year was the first year we've done this. It's a type of blended model in that all of the curriculum and instruction is delivered through Edgenuity videos but students do meet once a week with their 'master teacher' to follow up on progress. We do provide some face to face tutoring for students. Mainly, I provide the math tutoring for a few hours a week because the math classes have proven to be the most difficult for students to progress through. One thing I've learned in doing this tutoring for the online students is that time management has to be emphasized in as many ways and whenever their is contact with the students. The other thing I've noticed is that one should never take for granted the tech knowledge level of the student. I assume they know nothing as I teach them to be resourceful with the web resources I am aware of. This program has definitely opened my eyes to the abundance of resources out there, and I am excited to let my students know about these this upcoming year. To be effective at my school, I would need to front load the classes with hands on tech training for students(and teachers most likely) and even house 'screencasts' or how to docs available to students and teachers within the LMS or on a shared Symbaloo page. I can see students really enjoying this new learning and taking great opportunities to help their peers out once they've mastered some of the skills. I see the 'blended learning' environment as a very electric environment whereas most of the environments we've been creating in our face to face instruction with EDI and DII or whatever workshops they send us to create an environment of repetition and stagnation.

My administration has asked us to prepare several 'common core' lessons to demo throughout the year, and I plan on incorporating an LMS and some kind of forum(maybe collaborize classroom) to initiate the inquiry process and discussions which will allow us to make the most of the one-3 hour session I have with my students in working on a PBL assignment. Hopefully, this will lead to more pressure on administration to fund 1:1 in our school and start moving in the right direction. For an Independent Study High School in the year 2013, I think this would be a perfect fit.