Topic #2: How would you describe the historical and theoretical trends in k-12 online and distributed learning? What did you already know, what do you know now based on the course readings and activities, what do you hope to learn?
With each passing day, the world becomes more technologically advanced, continuing to improve the digital world. Education has to be flexible, to adapt to the new skills and information needed to understand the current climate of the world. This demonstrates the importance of teachers being open-minded and passionate about learning themselves. Educators must be willing to keep up to date with the new application and tools being used to share them with students and teach them how to properly interact with each other and the digital world.
This diagram simply depicts the complex layers of a blended classroom. There are two spectrums presented in this image, the horizontal line represents face-to-face instruction with zero online tools, which coincides with the past teaching approach of rote learning, and direct instruction from the teacher. The other end, being fully online, which uses online tools and uses teacher instruction to help guide students through their own flexible, individual learning processes. The vertical line shows the addition of technology and media used in the instruction. One end represents a classroom with minimal technology infused which way just use a project to display notes and worksheets on the board, and the other end represents a classroom that is strongly infused with technology and media, which may include speakers, Chromebook, iPads, projects, etc. There is a happy medium of these two spectrums which represents blended learning. Blended learning is a face-to-face instruction which uses e-learning as a tool to enhance the learning process.
Retrieved from: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1p8zUN01hPa9zJwfBwCtXs3du8-JYB2hDIEdO1UWa6D8/edit#slide=id.g35f391192_00
I appreciate this slide, which simply breakdowns and distinguishes the various learning spaces within a B.C. context. Prior to this topic, I did not realize that British Columbia has different definitions for these learning spaces than other provinces. I knew that our province’s education system would vary from other countries, but I naïvely, did not realize there was such distinct differences so close to home, in other provinces, like Alberta for example.
Retrieved from: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1p8zUN01hPa9zJwfBwCtXs3du8-JYB2hDIEdO1UWa6D8/edit#slide=id.g35f391192_00
I really enjoyed these two slides from this topic two which explain the Open Learning Design Intervention (OLDI). They demonstrate how to scaffold the introduction and use of open learning starting at a young age. First, using the importance of building relationships, to co-designing, collaborating to share knowledge, and finally building personal learning networks. This model shows to teachers can guide their students, so that when they reach stage four, and are building their own networks and digital identities they know and understand how to be safe and respectfully interact with one another and online content.
Retrieved from: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1p8zUN01hPa9zJwfBwCtXs3du8-JYB2hDIEdO1UWa6D8/edit#slide=id.g35f391192_00
Retrieved from: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1p8zUN01hPa9zJwfBwCtXs3du8-JYB2hDIEdO1UWa6D8/edit#slide=id.g35f391192_00
Topic two’s readings were very illuminating, one thing I learned was from the Handbook of Research on K-12 Online and Blended Learning, part 7, chapter 38: “Open Educational Practices in K-12 Online and Blended Learning Environments” by Verena Roberts, Constance Blomgren, Kristina Ishmael, & Lee Graham, is the five R’s of Openness (Roberts, p. 532). The five R’s are listed as:
1. Reuse: the right to use the content in various ways
2. Revise: the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter content
3. Remix: the right to combine the original or revised content with other open content
4. Redistribute: the right to share the original copies, your revisions, or remixes with others
5. Retain: the right to make, own, and control copies of content
I believe understanding and being able to teach these five R’s is crucial so that the teacher and students know their rights to content, Copyright laws, and how to properly interact, revise, and share content. This set of steps, encourage a friendly process that allows for the positive building and sharing of knowledge.
One of my best understandings of the historical and theoretical trends in education is that there are no “new ideas”, but rather reinvented or adapted techniques. Society is constantly reevaluating the needs of the education system and taking it from one extreme to the next. As educators it is important for us to look to the past and pull what worked from various instructional methods and classroom designs and look to the future for what will help students stay current and adept with the needs of tomorrow and find a classroom design that combines it all. I look forward to further exploring open-learning design, because I believe it is a large part of the future of education, not only because of COVID-19, but the fast-paced digital era.
References
Roberts, V. , Blomgren, C. Ishmael, K. & Graham, L. (2018) Open Educational Practices in K-12 Online and Blended Learning Environments. In R. Ferdig & K.Kennedy (Eds.), Handbook of research on K-12 online and blended learning (pp. 527–544). Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University ETC Press.
Roberts, V. (2020). Topic 2: History and Context of Distributed and Open Learning. [Google Slides]. Retrieved from: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1p8zUN01hPa9zJwfBwCtXs3du8-JYB2hDIEdO1UWa6D8/edit#slide=id.g35f391192_00