Distributed and online learning
We’re all (those that have been students or educators over the last 3 years) very familiar with online learning and can probably rattle off a list of the pros and cons. Of course some of those are person / situation specific.
I really think there are major benefits to online (synchronous or asynchronous) learning. It was great to be able to complete my university degree on my parents’ farm on a small island. I think key to online learning is having a dedicated work space, because otherwise it is likely to not be effective or productive. I won’t go in to listing all the pros and cons to online versus in person learning but if you want to see more, check out this article. I will say that the biggest and most concerning con in my mind, is child/student support and safety while exclusively online.
Speaking to my own experience, my grades actually improved during the online learning. The end of the semester when covid first started was really poorly delivered (of course, I don’t blame them), but by September, professors had worked hard to develop effective online classes. I was incredibly fortunate to be able to move home to my parents, and be fully supported while I focused more on school than I ever had before. Normally I worked 25 hours a week outside school, but during covid I did not, and if I did it was less hours and on my parents’ farm. However, as Covid restrictions lessoned and I moved back to Victoria but I mostly continued my classes online. I went from living on a rural property to living in a tiny basement suite in a city, and I got a reality check of what the lockdown was like for so many people. This made online school harder. Your environment is so important for success with online school.
If I had to pivot to fully online, the most important thing to me would be to maintain (or establish if a new year or semester) strong relationships with all my students online. Two learning activities I could use if we had to make this pivot now:
- Student directed lessons. In teams I would have students take on a subject within out unit of study and they would come up with a lesson for the whole class. The final lesson of this would need to be synchronous, but the work for the group could be asynchronous but I would want to do individual meetings with groups.
- I might try some online tools like Flip. I could come up with (or the class could) some discussion prompts, essential questions, or possibly inquiry and this site / app, Flip, provides a platform for students to respond in videos (which they can edit). This is a tool that can be used asynchronously. Or I could do a virtual online tour of a museum, quite a few offer them, heres one of The Louvre offers.
Roxanne!
I agree completely about environment when it comes to online learning and wether it is effective or not. I am so thankful that during lockdown and when online learning was prioritized, I already had a support system and dedicated space to work (above ground) that felt healthy and balanced. I think had I begun my post secondary education online I would have struggled, not having that foundation and understanding of what the classes were like before we went online. I like that you highlighted what you’d like to try with your own classroom, and thinking about what was useful that we can carry over from the time we spent online in 2020/2021. Comparing the responses you and Hanna left, I am also aware that not everyone learns the same, and it is important to think of a diverse experience when I am planning classes myself.