Module 3: Models & Quality

Does Model Matter?

In this week's Module, our chapter, the newly dubbed "Quality Counts" chapter of OLQAL, compared characteristics of blended and online learning models, which we had learned about in EDIT 761, with dimension and elements of quality K12 blended and online learning. We used a divide-and-conquer Jigsaw approach to cover five different learning models in an analysis report and a Burma Shave summary: two unique ways to represent our knowledge. I chose to analyze the Station Rotation model because not only had I researched it for my EDIT 761 Curriculum Committee but I also have implemented it in a face-to-face classroom (pre-March 2020) and in a remote learning classroom (post-March 2020). After reading each model analysis, I realized that model does matter when designing for different dimensions of interaction and elements of quality in a K12 online learning experience.

Copy of Burma Shave

Campbell_762 Model Analysis

Designing for the Classroom

Each learning model has different interactions and design elements that are essential for that particular model. It is important to consider these essentials when designing for a traditional, blended, or online classroom. An instructor-designer who is designing for a flipped classroom would pay more attention to designing for Learner-Content Interactions. In a flipped classroom, the focal point is how learners engage with content at home to acquire knowledge, which is applied in the classroom the next day. An instructor-designer who is designing for a station rotation would pay more attention to designing for Cognitive Presence, or how the students are engaging in meaningful learning.

Designing for Blended and Online Learning

Designing for a blended or online learning environment is not as simple as going through the typical design process that I have learned: considering PICKLE, AeCTS, SPDs, affordance analysis, etc. The extra layer to consider is how students to be interacting in the blended or online space with content, each other, the instructor, and the interface. Prior to this module, I had not considered the necessity of having students interact in a certain way; I was not intentional about matching interactions or quality essentials to my own designs for learning.

I have utilized the station rotation model in both a traditional classroom and a remote classroom context. It feels different to design for centers and resources, supervise student progress, and run small group intervention in a physical space than a digital one. When designing for online learning, I considered:

How would I transform physical centers into virtual ones and whether they would be synchronous or asynchronous ones? How can I make sure that there are quality Learner-Content, Learner-Learner, and Learner-Instructor Interactions?
What is the best way to share content for meaningful learning to guarantee quality Learner-Interface Interactions?
How would students demonstrate meaningful learning outcomes?
How would students receive feedback in a meaningful and timely way when I could not be next to them?
What resources should I use and how to share them for each learner to access in their home learning environment?

I am now more aware that such intentionality is absolutely required in my designs and feel that I have access to tools to help me design for these experiences.

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