Before I start, I think it is important to mention that I teach 7th and 8th grade Social Studies. The reason I mention this is because I believe certain online experiences require a maturity level and mindset that comes at a later age for many students. One of the online experiences that I think can be the most powerful and successful with my students is a learning management system such as Moodle, BlackBoard, or Angel. Using and LMS, I could share videos and articles with the students, carry on threaded discussion groups, and allow for interactive collaboration among my students. In addition, this experience would help to prepare my students for a hybrid format of classroom that they will likely experience in high school and college. LMS's provide a wonderful opportunity for active, student-centered learning, but only when designed well by an instructor.
One of the online experiences that I do not think is appropriate for my student group is an asynchronous learning format. The reason I say this is that, developmentally, many of my students are not at a maturity level yet where they could responsibly manage their own learning on their own time table. I know from talking with my colleagues who have taken asynchronous format courses at the MA level, even they have a hard time staying motivated and focused on pacing. While I see the merit of students not learning a topic until they are motivated to learn it, in a classroom setting this would interrupt the basic operation of the classroom and make it quite difficult to have discussions and work together as a community.
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Great post, Chris.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with the asynchronous element being difficult. I would even say for high school students that if you attempt to use a discussion forum or require commenting on blog posts, that it needs to be extremely structured. And often times when you guide students that closely the technology loses its value because it's designed to be a loose format.
Best of luck implementing your management system in the future, I believe your students could really benefit from it.
Hey Chris,
ReplyDeleteI like your idea of using the LMS in your class. I use Blackboard for the class I teach at Wayne State University and it is so easy to use and keeps both you the teacher and the student organized. Great idea.
Im with both of you the asynchronous stuff is really tough. At this level it is very difficult to adequately keep up with the amount of student product that it creates not to mention keeping track of whether or not students are responsible enough to stay on task.
ReplyDeleteChris, great point about using an LMS with your middle schoolers to prepare them for the type of courses they will probably take in high school or college.
ReplyDeleteI've taught middle school so I understand the concern about providing structure to the online elements. "Asynchronous" doesn't have to mean the entire course is self-paced, though. It sounds like you plan to have some asynchronous components (discussion boards can be asynchronous if the assignment is something like "post 3 times on topix xyz sometime this week"). Students are writing and reading each other's posts at all different times, as opposed to a real-time discussion where feedback is instant.
Good luck using an LMS! It can be nice for the teacher too -- a great way to keep student work organized and accessible at a later date.