One of the results of the relative newness of online and blended learning courses is that what defines a "good" or "bad" course or learning experience has not been well-defined. When face-to-face courses are simply "put online", there may be too much or too little focus on the "design" of the course. Evaluations of courses must also focus on the actual experiences of the learners and the instructors. Quantitative measures of learning are essential, but so are qualitative measures. In fact, the latter likely has a greater impact on course completion and retention--an often-heard criticism of online learning.
This week's readings also included some very practical advice. Two of my favorites are: 1) including peer review to evaluate courses and 2) creating benchmarks and goals along with calendar appointments where I would schedule time to self-assess my progress towards reaching those benchmarks and completing my self-imposed goals and deadlines. The benefit of the latter goes beyond accountability in that it also helps me set more realistic goals moving forward.
Saturday, April 1, 2017
Saturday, March 25, 2017
BlendKit2017 Week 4 - Blended Content and Assignments
The readings for Week 4 in #BlendKit2017 focus on Blended Content and Assignments. Although I currently only teach face-to-face, I have incorporated some tools and practices that could potentially make the transition to teaching a blended course smoother for me.
For example, after nearly 30 years of teaching and using many different books and materials, I have strong preferences about the most helpful and effective ways to teach certain course content. Since those preferences are not necessarily reflected in the textbooks and materials we use in the Department, I often provide students with my own presentation and explanation of course content. I do that in class and provide students with written copies, images, and practice activities that they can access anytime through our Learning Management System. If I transform these materials using audio-visual resources, I think students will be more likely to consult them when they have questions. I am not sure how many students actually access these materials. Knowing that would be useful information.
Among the ideas and cautions that I am taking away from the readings and my reflections on my own teaching and courses are the following:
For example, after nearly 30 years of teaching and using many different books and materials, I have strong preferences about the most helpful and effective ways to teach certain course content. Since those preferences are not necessarily reflected in the textbooks and materials we use in the Department, I often provide students with my own presentation and explanation of course content. I do that in class and provide students with written copies, images, and practice activities that they can access anytime through our Learning Management System. If I transform these materials using audio-visual resources, I think students will be more likely to consult them when they have questions. I am not sure how many students actually access these materials. Knowing that would be useful information.
Among the ideas and cautions that I am taking away from the readings and my reflections on my own teaching and courses are the following:
- I need to be careful not to overwhelm students with too much information and too many activities.
- It would be helpful to be able to provide some sort of tool to determine if/how well students already know "new" content and skills in Beginning Spanish and Intermediate Spanish so that there are multiple paths within a blended or online course and not every student would have to do the skill-building and practice learning activities for what they already know.
- When asking students to do activities in, for example, Conjuguemos, I should clarify for them that I created those activities for them specifically based on course content. In other words, whereas the iLrn or other publisher-created materials are "generic", other things that I incorporate were created by me for them.
Friday, March 17, 2017
BlendKit2017 Week 3 Blended Assessments of Learning
Over the years, I have used a variety of online tools for both formative and summative assessments, formal and informal assessments in my university-level Spanish classes. Some of these have been more successful than others. When they have not been as successful it is usually because I did one of two things (both of which are mentioned in the Week 3 readings for #BlendKit2017):
In upper-level courses I have had a lot of success with quality participation in whole-class discussion boards (when I have been clear about expectations and grading) and in small-group discussions boards and wikis where students collaborate on a project. I will, for this posting anyway, focus instead on lower-level courses.
One of the challenges of lower-level language courses is "encouraging" students to learn the vocabulary (Spanish to English and English to Spanish) "on time." I have started using Socrative (the upgraded version) regularly for vocabulary and even some grammar points. Students log in on their phones, answer 10-20 questions, and submit their answers which are automatically graded by the site. I then enter the grades into Blackboard under "Preparation and Participation." I post them immediately. There are many of these "mini-quizzes" throughout the semester. They don't up much class time, and students prepare for class better knowing that I will be able to see if they are prepared or not. As a caution if you try this in your classes: If you do not want to have to make adjustments to the grade (giving partial credit, accepting answers the computer counted as incorrect, etc.), you have to do the following:
Of course, it doesn't end there. In class, students work with the new material in a variety of types of activities. Since they have already put in time memorizing and practicing the vocabulary and verb forms, they are able to better use the material in communicative contexts and for tasks that ask them to go beyond mechanical practice. They are better able to negotiate meaning when they have essential content already in their memory and do not need to ask their brains to focus on some of the mechanical components. This way they can focus more on content, self-expression, and effective communication.
https://conjuguemos.com/
https://socrative.com/
http://clear.msu.edu/ and http://clear.msu.edu/featured/ria-alternatives/
- I used a new tool or a radically different activity without having adequately prepared students for it. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but one semester I had to completely eliminate the oral final exam component of one of my Intermediate courses because I realized it was very unfair and students were so unprepared for what they were being asked to do that the assessment did not accurately reflect their abilities.
- I failed to provide enough detail in the expectations and/or grading criteria. With changes in K-12 education and assessment, I have seen a change in my students' expectations concerning assignments. Students never used to expect a rubric, but now they want to know the details of the expectations and grading. I see this as a positive thing since it helps me ensure that I have carefully thought through all of the details and am transparent in my grading.
In upper-level courses I have had a lot of success with quality participation in whole-class discussion boards (when I have been clear about expectations and grading) and in small-group discussions boards and wikis where students collaborate on a project. I will, for this posting anyway, focus instead on lower-level courses.
One of the challenges of lower-level language courses is "encouraging" students to learn the vocabulary (Spanish to English and English to Spanish) "on time." I have started using Socrative (the upgraded version) regularly for vocabulary and even some grammar points. Students log in on their phones, answer 10-20 questions, and submit their answers which are automatically graded by the site. I then enter the grades into Blackboard under "Preparation and Participation." I post them immediately. There are many of these "mini-quizzes" throughout the semester. They don't up much class time, and students prepare for class better knowing that I will be able to see if they are prepared or not. As a caution if you try this in your classes: If you do not want to have to make adjustments to the grade (giving partial credit, accepting answers the computer counted as incorrect, etc.), you have to do the following:
- Be more specific than you think you need to be in the instructions (i.e., whether they should include the definite or the indefinite article, whether or not to include punctuation and capitalization, etc.)
- Carefully think through the possible correct answers you put for each question
Of course, it doesn't end there. In class, students work with the new material in a variety of types of activities. Since they have already put in time memorizing and practicing the vocabulary and verb forms, they are able to better use the material in communicative contexts and for tasks that ask them to go beyond mechanical practice. They are better able to negotiate meaning when they have essential content already in their memory and do not need to ask their brains to focus on some of the mechanical components. This way they can focus more on content, self-expression, and effective communication.
https://conjuguemos.com/
https://socrative.com/
http://clear.msu.edu/ and http://clear.msu.edu/featured/ria-alternatives/
Monday, March 13, 2017
BlendKit2017 Week 2: Language Learning in a Blended Format
It's been a very busy week aside from this course! I did the reading early, but here I am doing the assignments at the last minute--which is not my preferred way.
This week we considered the role of student-to-student and student-to-instructor interaction and how learning within certain courses might influence the types of interaction and the balance of synchronous v. asynchronous learning activities. I know that many of my colleagues do not believe that online or blended learning are appropriate for learning a language, but I really believe that they can be. Students absolutely must use the language in meaningful interactions and learn how to negotiate meaning, but there is also a lot of "individual" work that is important for developing competence and confidence. Just because it has not necessarily been done well to date does not mean that it cannot be done.
Learning another language requires plenty of time interacting with the language and manipulating it to explore how the meaning changes when different elements within the sentence are changed. Students who are gifted at learning languages or have a lot of experience learning languages may have the conceptual frameworks to do this more informally and intuitively, but many students do not. Many students want and need the detailed explanations and the mental models that help them organize the information and that can be consulted again as needed.
Furthermore, language classes in higher education have very few actual contact hours--much less than in high school. Many students need and want the explanations, effective tools to help them with memorization, and mechanical practice to help them develop their understanding and abilities. Students are much more engaged, competent, and confident in their interactions and meaning negotiation when they have done the "outside" work. A blended format enables instructors to ensure that students actually learn what they need to know and have developed mastery of essential skills (verb conjugations, sentence structure, how to navigate different pronouns, etc.). This can be done outside of class so that synchronous learning activities, either online or face-to-face, are more fruitful.
Another benefit I see to learning languages in a blended format is that it recognizes that not all students have the same goals for learning a language and not all students progress at the same pace. There is rarely if ever much homogeneity with a given course section in terms of students abilities, interests, and goals. When students with higher proficiency levels are in a class where they are not challenged, they may actually see a reduction in their own proficiency level. That is certainly the last thing we instructors want to see happen! A blended format allows for better matching and grouping of students through the creation of different pathways within the course and/or through cross-section groupings based on proficiency rather than on which specific section their schedule caused them to choose. Students who start a course at very different levels of proficiency should not be expected to end the course at the same target level of proficiency. If these differences (which in theory should not be terribly significant but in reality are extremely significant and challenging for instructors) can only be navigated in the very limited class time available in face-to-face learning, some students will likely spend the entire course bored and disengaged while others feel lost and overwhelmed.
Seasoned instructors and institutions that provide strong learning supports for students (i.e., free tutoring) can, of course, navigate these waters better than others, but there is much that can be done if we are willing to embrace new models and think outside the traditional classroom and its constraints.
This week we considered the role of student-to-student and student-to-instructor interaction and how learning within certain courses might influence the types of interaction and the balance of synchronous v. asynchronous learning activities. I know that many of my colleagues do not believe that online or blended learning are appropriate for learning a language, but I really believe that they can be. Students absolutely must use the language in meaningful interactions and learn how to negotiate meaning, but there is also a lot of "individual" work that is important for developing competence and confidence. Just because it has not necessarily been done well to date does not mean that it cannot be done.
Learning another language requires plenty of time interacting with the language and manipulating it to explore how the meaning changes when different elements within the sentence are changed. Students who are gifted at learning languages or have a lot of experience learning languages may have the conceptual frameworks to do this more informally and intuitively, but many students do not. Many students want and need the detailed explanations and the mental models that help them organize the information and that can be consulted again as needed.
Furthermore, language classes in higher education have very few actual contact hours--much less than in high school. Many students need and want the explanations, effective tools to help them with memorization, and mechanical practice to help them develop their understanding and abilities. Students are much more engaged, competent, and confident in their interactions and meaning negotiation when they have done the "outside" work. A blended format enables instructors to ensure that students actually learn what they need to know and have developed mastery of essential skills (verb conjugations, sentence structure, how to navigate different pronouns, etc.). This can be done outside of class so that synchronous learning activities, either online or face-to-face, are more fruitful.
Another benefit I see to learning languages in a blended format is that it recognizes that not all students have the same goals for learning a language and not all students progress at the same pace. There is rarely if ever much homogeneity with a given course section in terms of students abilities, interests, and goals. When students with higher proficiency levels are in a class where they are not challenged, they may actually see a reduction in their own proficiency level. That is certainly the last thing we instructors want to see happen! A blended format allows for better matching and grouping of students through the creation of different pathways within the course and/or through cross-section groupings based on proficiency rather than on which specific section their schedule caused them to choose. Students who start a course at very different levels of proficiency should not be expected to end the course at the same target level of proficiency. If these differences (which in theory should not be terribly significant but in reality are extremely significant and challenging for instructors) can only be navigated in the very limited class time available in face-to-face learning, some students will likely spend the entire course bored and disengaged while others feel lost and overwhelmed.
Seasoned instructors and institutions that provide strong learning supports for students (i.e., free tutoring) can, of course, navigate these waters better than others, but there is much that can be done if we are willing to embrace new models and think outside the traditional classroom and its constraints.
Saturday, March 4, 2017
#BlendKit2017 Chapter 1 Reading Reaction
Reading Reaction:
Chapter 1 emphasizes the importance of conceptualization and
the idea of re-design. Both of these encourage an openness to looking at
courses holistically, with everything “on the table”. I think that the “enhancement”
mental model fails to meet the idea of re-thinking everything in a holistic
way. It tempts us to jump right to planning and substituting learning
activities and assignments rather than starting with learning objectives. New
technologies give us the opportunity to think about new or different learning
objectives that simply were not possible in the past. Given not just advances
in technology but also changes in society, the work force, the economic
realities our students face and will face, etc., what is “ideal” now? I find it
hard to believe that the “ideal” today is exactly the same as it was decades
ago.
Are you a language instructor participating in BlendKit2017? Please join the Group BlendKit2017 for Modern Language Instructors
Starting #BlendKit2017
Ouch! It's embarrassing to see how long it's been since I last blogged here. Granted, I've been busy with teaching, doctoral studies, etc. but still...
So what got me started again? Participating in BlendKit2017! I'm particularly hoping to connect with other language instructors participating in the MOOC. To that end, I started a Group on the site. It's brand new, but I'm hoping others will join. Spread the word!
#BlendKit2017
So what got me started again? Participating in BlendKit2017! I'm particularly hoping to connect with other language instructors participating in the MOOC. To that end, I started a Group on the site. It's brand new, but I'm hoping others will join. Spread the word!
#BlendKit2017
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