Part A: Quotes from Reading and Class Task Activities
- Online learning is sweeping across America. In the year 2000, roughly 45,000 K–12 students took an online course. In 2009, more than 3 million K–12 students did.
- By 2019, 50 percent of all high school courses will be delivered online
- Students became more active learners and often challenged themselves to work harder and learn material that had not yet been introduced
Part B: Thoughts/Questions
Week 2: Recently in my school district there has been talk about doing a blended learning environment pilot to deal with overcrowding in our schools. The most recent statistic is that even if the school district built 37 more elementary schools that still wouldn't be enough to accommodate the amount of students that are in overcrowded schools. This makes me wonder how much more our students really could gain if class sizes were a more appropriate size and if all of our students were in a proper learning environment. I also have some family members who teach in a blended learning environment and some younger family members who are students in a blended learning environment. I have seen some of the good and bad associated with it. Students become more responsible for their education but when a student doesn't do anything to further their own education a teacher doesn't have much control. The classes are also flexible! Great, until a student gets behind in required assignments. This then puts them further behind and can also do more harm than good. Maybe just being the devil's advocate here, but how does this help a student who may already be struggling?
Week 3: It is definitely interesting to listen to other people explain things and you think you understand but sometimes it is because you a) connect what they are saying to your own experience before they finish b) some people just don't explain things well or c)you weren't listening at all. I have to admit before my partner was finished describing her avatar, I was thinking about how I could have changed my avatar to fit me differently. I stopped myself and had to re-evaluate my thinking so I could completely clear my mind and focus just on building an avatar she was describing. I now know I will be more self-conscience when listening to people.
Week 4: Online Community Building
I have been part of many online communities for all types of social media. The purpose of each of them has been different. Some were just to keep in contact with people, some were for church related activities, some were dating sites, while others have been for professional reasons. About 5 years ago I had created a LinkedIn account but never really used it. I would get the emails saying that someone had endorsed me but they had never seen me teach and some of the time I had no experience in what I was being endorsed in. It didn't seem useful to have all my friends endorsing me for whatever they wanted to. I stopped using the account and forgot about it. While trying to decide which online community to join, I thought it would be in my best interest to join LinkedIn again but this time not add all my college friends who had no idea of my present skills in the classroom. I have seen how other people have benefited from the use of LinkedIn and thought that it would be a great time to try it out but in a more professional manner this time around.
In online learning, it is especially important to build the community with the students. Without the feeling and the actual community supporting you, doing work and being alone while trying to learn new things can be extremely hard. The community relationships that are established early on in online learning is the key to being successful.
Resources:
http://www.dreambox.com/blog/6-models-blended-learning
http://vimeo.com/78871778
http://www.christenseninstitute.org/publications/the-rise-of-k-12-blended-learning/
International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) is the premier organization specifically focused on K-12 online. They have recently expanded their reach to include blended instruction.
Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning The Evergreen Education Group publishes an annual report of the status of online learning in the U.S.
New Media Consortium Horizon Reports are produced annually for both K-12 and higher education
Week 3: It is definitely interesting to listen to other people explain things and you think you understand but sometimes it is because you a) connect what they are saying to your own experience before they finish b) some people just don't explain things well or c)you weren't listening at all. I have to admit before my partner was finished describing her avatar, I was thinking about how I could have changed my avatar to fit me differently. I stopped myself and had to re-evaluate my thinking so I could completely clear my mind and focus just on building an avatar she was describing. I now know I will be more self-conscience when listening to people.
Week 4: Online Community Building
I have been part of many online communities for all types of social media. The purpose of each of them has been different. Some were just to keep in contact with people, some were for church related activities, some were dating sites, while others have been for professional reasons. About 5 years ago I had created a LinkedIn account but never really used it. I would get the emails saying that someone had endorsed me but they had never seen me teach and some of the time I had no experience in what I was being endorsed in. It didn't seem useful to have all my friends endorsing me for whatever they wanted to. I stopped using the account and forgot about it. While trying to decide which online community to join, I thought it would be in my best interest to join LinkedIn again but this time not add all my college friends who had no idea of my present skills in the classroom. I have seen how other people have benefited from the use of LinkedIn and thought that it would be a great time to try it out but in a more professional manner this time around.
In online learning, it is especially important to build the community with the students. Without the feeling and the actual community supporting you, doing work and being alone while trying to learn new things can be extremely hard. The community relationships that are established early on in online learning is the key to being successful.
Resources:
http://www.dreambox.com/blog/6-models-blended-learning
http://vimeo.com/78871778
http://www.christenseninstitute.org/publications/the-rise-of-k-12-blended-learning/
International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) is the premier organization specifically focused on K-12 online. They have recently expanded their reach to include blended instruction.
Keeping Pace with K-12 Online Learning The Evergreen Education Group publishes an annual report of the status of online learning in the U.S.
New Media Consortium Horizon Reports are produced annually for both K-12 and higher education
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