Photo Caption: Check out that 1980s privilege and opulence! (Note: No one likes a blog post with no photos) If you could go back in time and design your own learning environment, what would you create for yourself knowing what you know about education today? (Primary, Secondary, Post-Secondary). Full Disclosure: I was an awesome student. I was highly successful in the traditional system, and I had parents who were supportive and educated, and provided me with opportunities that enriched my educational experiences. I went to a community elementary school, the local high school, and followed that up at UBC, where I won scholarships and finished two degrees debt-free. My experiences afforded me with tremendous opportunity and I would feel disingenuous if I were to complain about my education. That said, I can imagine an educational utopia and some tweaks I would make to the system if I were to go back in time and design my ideal learning environment. Note: I asked my seven year old daughter what her perfect school would be like, and she told me it would be all playing and recess and art class. I have to admit, this does sound perfect. Photo Caption: So cute! So chubby! So ready to learn and have fun and PLAY! I was really inspired by the examples of Station Rotational models given in Blended by Horn and Staker (2015) for early elementary school. Examples like KIPP Empower and Acton Academy had the nurturing, supportive environment that my 5 year old self thrived in, combined with the 21st century skills that would have been unimaginable back in ‘86. My ideal educational environment would have the care and support so many schools have, combined with rotation through centres, and a heavy emphasis on inquiry and the arts. Play and creativity would need to be emphasized, with more focus on solving real world problems than completing worksheets. The collaborative process would be a big part of the program, as I am a very social person. I would appreciate open ended inquiry projects, allowing me to learn as much and as deeply as desired. That said, I do think there is a place for rote learning and practicing concepts, especially since I benefited from this in math as a child. I could see this being a great area to blend with adaptive software. Photo Caption: Always a team player, little Leslie is willing to give a leg up to her peers (and sibling). In high school, my educational experiences were still great for learning, but harder socially. This is where the example of San Francisco Flex Academy shines through for me. Students reported feeling very welcomed and accepted by other students, which would have made life a lot happier for me as a teen. I was also frequently bored in class and rarely challenged, so the ability to take accelerated programs (ideally in a cohort) and to organize my own schedule would be ideal. Again, I would want lots of exposure to the arts and physical activity, and engaging inquiry based projects. I was lucky to be able to take AP English as a high school student, but I would have jumped at the chance to take other AP courses, which a Flex or A La Carte program would offer me. I was also a social activist as a teen, so the chance to participate in a number of extra curricular groups around these interests would be crucial. Finally, the chance to have an online, self-paced backbone with freedom to change assignments to suit my interests and to complete challenge assignments and hands on learning activities would round out my ideal secondary experience. Photo Caption: Hands on learning, please! For Post-Secondary, I went to UBC, which is a large university, and I took lots of HUGE first year courses where we had giant lectures and maybe a lab or tutorial that was smaller. This worked really well for me. However, I would have loved to see some flipped classrooms at the university level, as I often found I had a million questions that needed to be answered during office hours. I also found I got a better grade in the courses where my profs knew who I was and we were able to develop a working relationship, so smaller class sizes (maybe through flipped lectures or a rotational method) would make this more accessible to greater numbers of students. It took several years of study before I started to actually find ideas that were unique and insightful, and I wonder if more open ended study earlier on would have sped up this development (or whether it was related to maturity…). Photo Caption: Please don't make me present in front of the class!
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One of the biggest challenges in online teaching seems to be getting to really know your students - and to have them get to know you as well. Relationships are crucial for building the trust necessary for a rich learning environment, and many of the techniques we have learned about so far in the OLTD program have been focused on bridging this transactional distance and creating real relationships with distance learners.
For the first assignment in OLTD 511 (blended learning), we are creating an autobiography to introduce ourselves professionally and personally. Mine is two part. First, an infographic of my school career, and second, a humorous film clip to introduce elements of my personal life and character.
I created the infographic using easel.ly, a web tool that I was first introduced to in OLTD 501, and have since used with my students numerous times. I created the video using iMovie on my iPad, and uploaded it to my YouTube account. These are all great tools that are user friendly, have intuitive interfaces, and are readily available in many classrooms.
As a side note, I didn't actually read the assignment details until I had already created a far too personal YouTube introduction using Camtasia and Google Slides... If you are interested in learning A LOT about what I think and how I function, please feel welcome to check out the following video, but know that I wouldn't necessarily use it in a course introduction... |
Leslie McCurrachEnthusiastic Learner. Avid Gardener. DL Teacher. Archives
March 2018
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