I wanted to take what was discussed in class tonight and think about how I could apply it to myself, in my teaching situation. Right now I teach Religion 122. How could I create an effective blended course--how could I maximize the use of technology and F2F to create the best possible classroom?
Obviously the answer to this question will very much depend on what kind of students I have. But lets suppose I have a homogeneous group of students who are interested in getting the most they can from the Book of Mormon and also have decent technical skills.
First, what could I do?
1. Create audio and/or video podcasts of the class so that students could re-listen to/watch the class if they wanted to.
2. Find ways for them to post their work (principles/one-liners/patterns they discovered) and comment on what their classmates are doing).
3. Make course readings/powerpoints/ available on Bboard for students to review if they desire.
4. Have Bboard quizzes available to take for each class period so that they could test their knowledge of whether they are picking up key points from the reading (these could be graded or non-graded).
5. Other supplemental reading/videos on Blackboard.
One of the disadvantages of asynchronous communication is that you can't see how long I have sat here trying to brainstorm possibilities. I know I should easily be able to come up with more, but I am just not thinking of them at the moment. Feel free to add some in.
Of the above five choices, I currently only do #3. I believe that 1-2, 4-5 would increase the effectiveness of the course, but would require more resources than I can currently dedicate to the course. If I felt confident that they would make a significant difference, I would be more willing to put in the effort.
As I re-read these ideas I think that I should probably try an experiment in a future semester, in which I implement these strategies and see if there is a difference in the class.
Other suggestions?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
6 comments:
John, just a thought, what if you used some of the same technologies you are discussing to have the students help "create" the course and the materials. You could reduce some F2F time and have students dedicate some time to finding some good readings, creating powerpoints or writing up some activities that could be done with each other and face to face. Might be an interesting blend to try out and the students might have more time to rally the resources that you don't have. You could still moderate quality and define quantity of student produced things up front.
That's a great idea Shawn to take advantage of the read/write capabilities. thanks for putting thought into it!
. . . I would think about the questions like
- what could be done better online than F2F
- what kinds of things do you wish you could do with the class but can't
For example, thinking about E. Ballard's talk and Ensign article a while ago . . .
(1) Having students blog to share insights about what they are learning in class and from their reading or to share testimony and experiences that they are having that connect to the scriptures they are reading - the idea of documenting the "likening"/applying of scriptures to themselves
(2) what about having students create a video to post online that retells a story from the scriptures or highlights application or lessons learned to our day.
(3) what about having students explore new ways of accessing the scriptures to see if it helps them with their study - like using the online searchable scriptures at http://scriptures.lds.org/ or the customizable daily scripture podcasts found at LDS Scripture Daily http://ldssd.org/ or Custom Scripture Podcasts http://www.scripturecast.net/
There are so many ways . . . perhaps look at Dave Williams' course too to find out what kinds of online options he is doing.
-----
One last thought . . . one of the first things that you mention is "podcasts" of the class.
In the presentation we talked about three different reasons for doing blended learning. The podcast approach is really great for "access and flexibility" but rarely has my experience been that it is better than going to class itself - so I wouldn't put it into the "improved learning or pedagogy" category.
Think now about the idea of podcasting and how you could take that idea do something where students are actively engaged and participating in the learning as opposed to just watching and/or listening. What if you required students to create a podcast related to the reading or other content in the course. This could be done very creatively . . . it would not only engage the students but you would probably have students excited to see what others had done.
(We have had students in IPT287 create podcasts to synthesize their learning before . . . we have them create a brief 1-3 minute newscast for the "Tech Savvy Teacher" where they teach others about a technology that can be used in science teaching.)
I guess I was thinking about podcasts as a good educational tool for students to relisten to lectures or pick up a class that they miss. My average attendance is about 90% per student and so theoretically at least, it seems like students could gain up to 10% more benefit from catching a podcast of a lecture they missed. Understanding of course that listening via podcasting would eliminate some of the positive effects of being present in class.
I really like the direction Shawn has taken with this as it taps into the different types of 'presence' Garrison mentions. Your proposed options are supplemental, but don't do much in the way of establishing a CoI.
For my part, I think it would be cool to have students participate in creating class mind-maps of the readings. You could use an online mind-map tool such as Bubbl.us or MindMeister (and there are MANY MANY more tools). Each week, you begin the map with a core question you'd like to ask of the reading (or something you want them to look for). Student could then contribute to the mindmap throughout the week, connecting scriptures and asking more questions. You could then sift through these questions prior to your next class and address any prevalent concerns or ideas that pop out at you.
As I make these suggestions, I think this is something I might could do in my future classes.
I'm not trying to say that podcasts of a lecture are "bad" per se. What I was trying to emphasize is that the goal you are trying to achieve with that is an "access/flexibility" goal. It doesn't really transform the way you are teaching just gives those who have missed class access to your normal lecture.
Access is not a bad thing by any means. I was just trying to get you to think out of that box a little bit - how could you use the same tool to change the pedagogy from a lecture oriented (student watching only) to one where the students are actively engaged in doing/creating with the tool?
Post a Comment