Reflection
from Tier 1 Course (Self Reflection)
Taking the courses from CCSD for blended learning certification has completely changed my thinking about whether or not it is a good idea to use this learning / teaching style. It occurs to me that every teacher begins their teaching career with different life experiences. Just like their schemata in reading they bring those experiences with them into the classroom. Traditional teachers already have some of the skills they need to teach online or to E-Learn. The teacher becomes a facilitator and the student becomes a more active learner. Because of Common Core and tying together more of what we are teaching to all subjects at one time, blended learning works perfectly.
I've experienced some of the successes but the challenges continue to be exposed. If either the teacher or student becomes passive they won’t succeed. Blended Learning requires a great deal of effort. BYOD or bring your own device although it can be successful it causes some overloads on our existing wireless network. As I reflect on this class it did a great job at getting me to look at the obvious differences and the not so obvious differences of traditional teaching versus blended learning. I've definitely had some intense thoughts on how hard it might be to teach online. It is true that this causes a very different experience for both the teacher and student.
The student results are shown in the artifact 1 that I included from Tier 1 coursework. It was my favorite assignment from the class. Creating a comic strip was something I could easily incorporate into any assignment whether it was in class or online. With student achievement and engagement being the key, this was easily accomplished.
Reflection from Tier 2 Course (Self Reflection)Taking the courses from CCSD for blended learning certification has completely changed my thinking about whether or not it is a good idea to use this learning / teaching style. It occurs to me that every teacher begins their teaching career with different life experiences. Just like their schemata in reading they bring those experiences with them into the classroom. Traditional teachers already have some of the skills they need to teach online or to E-Learn. The teacher becomes a facilitator and the student becomes a more active learner. Because of Common Core and tying together more of what we are teaching to all subjects at one time, blended learning works perfectly.
I've experienced some of the successes but the challenges continue to be exposed. If either the teacher or student becomes passive they won’t succeed. Blended Learning requires a great deal of effort. BYOD or bring your own device although it can be successful it causes some overloads on our existing wireless network. As I reflect on this class it did a great job at getting me to look at the obvious differences and the not so obvious differences of traditional teaching versus blended learning. I've definitely had some intense thoughts on how hard it might be to teach online. It is true that this causes a very different experience for both the teacher and student.
The student results are shown in the artifact 1 that I included from Tier 1 coursework. It was my favorite assignment from the class. Creating a comic strip was something I could easily incorporate into any assignment whether it was in class or online. With student achievement and engagement being the key, this was easily accomplished.
Being in a traditional teaching situation vs. online is very different. When you teach online you become the instructor, social director, manager, and technical assistant. It should be noted that the instructor has to be technologically proficient to effectively teacher an online course. Minor issues should be able to be solved by the instructor. Collaboration and active learning are big parts of E-Learning. The success depends on the instructor’s ability to provide and manage a student’s instruction.
As I reflect on my two Tier 2 courses, it occurs to me that teaching is dramatically changing for everyone. There really is no one that remains unaffected by online learning at this point in time. Kids who are in credit recovery are there usually because of their life issues. We see this in high school every day. As our lives become more complicated and diverse, so do our children’s and our students lives which we have sitting in our classrooms. The big thing I noticed in Tier 2 courses is that people were already convinced it was a good direction to go in. When my computer class students need to login to Edmodo they usually already have an account. Apex Learning is becoming the norm in all of the CCSD schools and as that happens all of the schools use blended learning in a similar way. The process of getting kids to a common level is starting to happen with good teachers and good technology.
There are great student benefits to online / blended learning and being positive and direct in the planning and teaching in the 21st century was the overall theme. I enjoyed my classes in Tier 2 and plan to take more courses to learn more about blended and online instruction.