THE EDGE OF THE INSIDE

Daniel Elizondo

It was bad news. I was finding out the vision I had for my master’s project–the one I would be working on throughout the entirety of the program–wasn’t going to pan out. I would need to pivot, rethink everything, and start from scratch. The conversation could have gone very badly. If it had been an email, or even a comment on an assignment in the learning management system, it would have probably disillusioned me. But that’s not what happened. Instead, I was having a video conference with my professor, Dr. Dwayne Harapnuik. I was in Texas, sitting in the big comfy chair in the nursery next to my son’s crib. Dr. Harapnuik was in California, taking a few moments to get to know me. I remember talking briefly about parenting, and how important it is to slow down and savor those short-lived seasons when our children are really children.

Then he dropped the bomb. He wasn’t seeing the vision, and worse, he was worried others might not see it either. Instead of giving me the bad news and ending the meeting, he took some time to facilitate a productive conversation. He let me brainstorm right then and there, using him as a sounding board. I did most of the talking, cycling out loud through a few ideas and areas I was somewhat curious about. It took a few minutes to formulate an alternate plan, but eventually I hit pay-dirt. Far from being disillusioned, I was excited about the new direction… and also fairly impressed with this instructor I had never (and have never) interacted with in-person. It was clear he wanted me to succeed, and now that I knew he was available for these kinds of conversations, I knew I would. It would be an uphill climb, but at least I was on the right mountain, and I wasn’t alone. I had a sherpa.

When I think about what meaningful feedback looks like, I often reflect back on that conversation. I can honestly say it was the best instance of feedback I have ever received, and it sparked a passion for learning science that hasn’t subsided to this day. And it happened within the context of a fully online, mostly asynchronous course! It was an example of what has been referred to in the literature as Interaction-Oriented Pedagogy-–an array of instructional strategies designed to facilitate meaningful student-instructor and student-student interactions (Orona et al., 2022).

During the COVID-19 pandemic I taught middle school coding courses, with a mix of in-person students and virtual learners tuning in on Google Meet at the same time. I experienced the now well-publicized chaos first-hand. All things considered, it wasn’t as bad as it probably could have been. I had a few students who chose to never log on, but that is a typical barrier in traditional classrooms. I figured out ways for them to complete their projects, and I held open office hours for extra support. But I can’t say my online learners had the same experience as my in-person learners–it often felt like they were only sort of there. This high school senior, quoted in one of many think-pieces deriding online learning during the pandemic, succinctly sums up the prevailing student experience (Strauss, 2020).

“I feel like I’m not learning anything because all I’m being asked to do is go onto Google Classroom, look at the assignments and finish them by a certain due date. So it’s like I’m teaching myself rather than being taught.” The senior takes a mix of academic and music classes and is spending “significantly a lot less time at home” working on assignments than he does in school because they are easy and short.

What he misses from being in class, he said, is “human interaction.”

“Just talking to your friends, listening to them reasoning out their answers. Why they thought this interpretation for something was this and not something else. The constant push of the teachers looking at your work, pushing your ideas. That’s all important.”

Setting aside the view of learning as an event that happens to you–rather than a process that requires your active participation–this student hits the nail on the head. What’s missing from most K-12 online learning experiences is meaningful interaction, the human element.

I’m not convinced the disappointing returns from K-12 online learning during the pandemic is the sweeping indictment that think-piece writers and fellow harbingers of doom believe it to be. Instead, I view it as just another indication of what digital learning research has found from the very beginning. The tools are only as effective as the strategies they are used to facilitate. Reflecting on my experience during the pandemic, I know I could have done more to facilitate meaningful interactions for my online learners. Dr. Harapnuik, in the span of maybe 10 minutes, proved it doesn’t have to be this way.

Why it Matters

The percentage of students enrolled in online courses at community colleges and major universities is rapidly increasing and shows no sign of slowing (Smalley, 2021). Massive Open Online Courses (or MOOCs) are also gaining popularity due to lower costs, flexible asynchronous schedules, and the tendency for offerings to focus on relevant skills for career advancement and certification (Impey, 2020). Major universities are partnering with popular MOOC platforms like Coursera and Udemy to make their courses available to students all over the world. There is no getting around it. In 2022, post-secondary learning is digital. K-12 classroom educators who are serious about preparing their students for college and beyond shouldn’t ignore these trends. Instead, we should lean into blended learning, utilizing learning strategies which are transferable and relevant to students for future learning.

In a new paper published in the July 2022 edition of Computers & Education, researchers looked for reliable predictors for the usage of interaction-oriented pedagogies in fully online courses (Orona et al., 2022). Though the sample was composed of instructors in community college courses, the implications of their findings can be reasonably generalized to students in upper secondary contexts. The authors found instructors are most likely to use IOPs in their courses when they…

• Have greater employment stability and teaching loads

• Have greater self-efficacy with their learning management system

• Have positive perceptions about the benefits of online courses for student learning

The first predictor is interesting and makes intuitive sense. In post-secondary education, those who teach full-time are more likely to invest meaningful effort into the courses they teach. In my opinion, the second two predictors have broader implications for digital learning in general.

It’s The Environment

Sometimes learning management systems like Canvas, Blackboard, Schoology, and Google Classroom are viewed like classroom furniture. They exist. Teachers and students use them. But by and large, they aren’t seen as crucial to student learning. (As an aside, furniture can absolutely impact student learning, but stick with me for the sake of the analogy.) Learning management systems are much more than furniture. They are learning environments—places where learning can happen. The findings of the aforementioned study suggest those who are confident and comfortable in these environments are also the most effective in adding that special ingredient that engages and connects students to the content, the instructor, and their peers. On the other hand, If a teacher isn’t confident and comfortable within a learning environment, then it is fairly likely her students won’t be either (Orona et al., 2022):

“Self-efficacy is critical for, when not synonymous with, instructors’ expectancies of success. Self-efficacy in online courses involves instructors’ confidence in their ability to manage the course and convey content through digital media. This may subsequently feed into students’ own abilities and expectations about communicating with the instructor and engaging in the online course. Teacher self-efficacy is widely shown to support both student achievement and teachers’ own job satisfaction, an association likely to be mediated by the practices they adopt.”

The extremely popular and sometimes controversial meta-analyst John Hattie has rated collective teacher efficacy as the number one most powerful factor related to student achievement, with an effect size of 1.57 as of 2018 (Waack, 2018). How this relates to LMS efficacy is fairly straightforward. When educators believe they can have a significant impact on student learning with a learning management system, they do.

So what does it look like to proactively work towards LMS self-efficacy?

Build a Shed

Learning to operate a power drill is an important prerequisite for building a shed, but it is certainly not the same thing. On the other hand, building a shed is a great way to foster self-efficacy with a power drill, and a whole host of other tools as well. It’s important to know how to complete basic tasks with our digital tools of choice, but it can’t stop there. If we figure out what makes us curious, we can leverage that curiosity to complete authentic projects using the tools and skills we want to master. We also have to keep in mind these things take time. Just as with our students, mastering new skills takes a good deal of practice. The first time we try is probably not going to go perfectly. If we persevere and push ourselves to master research-based strategies that enhance learning with an LMS, we’ll be well on the way to self-efficacy.

The great news is we don’t have to do this alone. We know feedback is important for learning, so why not seek it out when we’re learning new skills? We should find our digital learning sherpas and ask them if they would be willing to help us plan our first activity, or even co-teach it with us. Or we can record a lesson and sit down to review and debrief later. I’m that guy on my campus. Most public school districts have someone like me who is available to help. Usually we have titles like “Digital Learning Specialist”, “Instructional Technology Specialist”, or something similar. Put up the bat signal. We’ll find you.

Become Digital Learning Positive

Orona et al. discovered that educators who believed in the benefits of online learning environments for student learning, used those environments to enhance student learning (Orona et al., 2022). That’s a pretty straightforward finding, but it underscores the importance of how our beliefs about learning actually have an impact on student achievement. Perception becomes reality. If our beliefs about learning or technology prevent us from “buying in” for our students, maybe it’s time to re-evaluate. Developing a learning philosophy is a really helpful way to nail down our beliefs, and it helps to type it out and share it with a trusted colleague. It doesn’t need to be an essay–a paragraph or two should be fine.

I would personally LOVE for teachers to use me as a digital learning punching bag. I want to hear the grievances and the triumphs. I want to know what makes the staff in my sphere of influence curious or skeptical. But if no one is available to have these conversations with, we can have them online. Edtech twitter is a wonderful place. There are some really curious and sharp people there who discuss these topics on a regular basis.

Unmute the Mic

Often when we think about the best teachers, we envision them gracefully floating from desk to desk, offering profound feedback to students who are mostly silent, too engrossed in deep metacognitive reflection to make any noise. I’m not here to lambast teachers who have achieved this status. I’ve had my days where someone might have glanced into my room and found a similar scene. But what looked like silent metacognition was more likely silent apathy. If I was floating around, it was to get or keep my students on task. My best days in the classroom felt more like loosely controlled chaos. On those days, I didn’t float gracefully. I was practically jogging around the room with my hair on fire. Ironically, the lessons when I felt least in control were the same lessons when my students most owned the learning--the kind of lessons students are able to remember later at the dinner table. If we can recognize that giving up some control in traditional learning environments can lead to learning gains for our students, why is it so difficult to do the same thing in virtual and blended learning environments?

Sometimes it’s easy to get stuck in a rut where trying something new sounds like the worst thing imaginable. I have sat in many professional development sessions covering new tools and strategies with that annoying voice in the back of my head “This is really great, but there’s no way my 2nd period could handle that”. That’s the story I told myself, but what I really meant was “This is really great, but I don’t want to commit the energy it will take to try it with my 2nd period.” As soon as I make it about me, it becomes a very slippery slope. There are always a million reasons not to try something, chief among them that it might be difficult. Before you know it, you’ll walk in burned out on the first day of school, wondering how you’re going to make it through another year of the same old, same old. When we hold students back from trying to have productive online interactions, we do them no favors. These skills are just as relevant for college and career readiness as the actual content we teach. Lets allow them to make mistakes in an environment where it’s safe, so they know what to do on that first professional zoom call, message board discussion, or video conference with their college professor.

The good news is learning management systems and other digital tools often make these interaction-oriented practices a little less scary for control freaks like me. You can almost always adjust the settings so comments/posts/replies have to be approved before they go up. I actually prefer asynchronous IOPs because when done well, they allow students more choice and ownership over how they exercise their voice. There are many students who would never speak up in a traditional synchronous classroom discussion–unless they were forced to–who will give you a solid two paragraphs on a discussion board, a three minute video, or even a half hour podcast (seriously).

The benefits of trying new things with our students almost always outweigh the hassles, especially if we have the proper expectations about how long it takes to master new skills. So let's unmute the mics. Let the kids have some control. They are going to make mistakes, and in making those mistakes, they’ll grow. If we let them.

References

Impey, C. (2020, July 23). Massive online open courses see exponential growth during COVID-19 pandemic. The Conversation US, Inc. Retrieved May 10, 2022, from https://theconversation.com/massive-online-open-courses-see-exponential-growth-during-covid-19-pandemic-141859

Orona, G. A., Li, Q., McPartlan, P., Bartek, C., & Xu, D. (2022). What predicts the use of interaction-oriented pedagogies? The role of self-efficacy, motivation, and employment stability. Computers & Education, 184, 104498.

Smalley, S. (2021, October 13). Half of All College Students Take Online Courses | New federal data show a significantly higher proportion of college learners took at least one course online than previously thought. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved May 10, 2022, from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/10/13/new-us-data-show-jump-college-students-learning-online

Strauss, V. (2020, March 30). Analysis | five concerns about the mass rush to online learning that shouldn't be ignored. The Washington Post. Retrieved May 10, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/03/30/five-concerns-about-mass-rush-online-learning-that-shouldnt-be-ignored/

Waack, S. (2018). Collective Teacher Efficacy (CTE) according to John Hattie. Visible Learning. Retrieved May 10, 2022, from https://visible-learning.org/2018/03/collective-teacher-efficacy-hattie/