Reflection of Methods for Online Teaching

In the Spring semester of 2017, I was privileged with the opportunity of taking a course entitled: Methods of Online Teaching and Learning. We explored methods of teaching through blended learning and gamification. In addition to teaching through communication and feedback, both asynchronous and synchronous facilitation, and the most promising practices of an online educator.

With such a massive amount of information gained this semester, I want to touch on just a few topics:

Gamification

This was my favorite discussion of the semester. As a previous student in this Professor, Dr. Linton's, class; I was able to personally experience gamifying my learning. I knew then that this was a method of teaching that I would use in my personal classroom one day. Hence, I was very excited to learning more about gamifying. 

Gamification is the idea of taking gaming mechanic ( points, scoreboards, levels, badges etc) and applying them to the given curriculum. Although it does include playing games, it is not centered around playing an actual game; but rather using the "rules and regulations" of the gaming world. There are so many exciting ways that an educator can bring the idea of gamification to life in their classroom. I have already begun to put the plan in motion for a fully gamified curriculum in my NC Math 1 course. I look forward to sharing it!

Blended Learning

Blended learning was a small review for me in this semester course. As a current MAT candidate I have come across this terminology a few times as well as currently use one type of blended learning model in my classroom. 

Blended learning is the idea of taking online digital media and combining it with the classroom methods. The two basic categories: brick-and-mortar and online learning. Within these two categories we have four basic types: rotation model; flex model; a la carte model; and enriched virtual model. The rotation model is the most commonly used model as it includes these learning styles: station rotation, lab rotation, flipped classroom and individual rotation. Many teachers has begun to blend there classroom as a way to bring 21st century learning to their students. 

Synchronous vs Asynchronous Learning.

Finally we have synchronous vs asynchronous learning. This is the idea that asynchronous learning is conducted mainly in a video format where each student is virtually present at the same time, while synchronous learning is conducted through discussion and chats where each student asks and answers questions, in a sense, at their leisure. 

Coming into this class I had no Idea was the difference was between these two learning styles. I just knew sometimes I answered question on discussion boards while other times I was in a live video chat. Learning the difference between the two gave me a chance to think of ways to implement them into my gamification model for this next school year. I plan to have many discussion boards in place for my students to express their way of thinking for the different topics in class. I also look forward to sharing this as well.

Overall this class has opened my thinking when it comes to way to change the way my students are able to learn. I am very excited for the future and look forward to sharing my ideas of education that I continuously learn in course such as this!

Teaching Through Communication and Feedback

What is Feedback

According to authors Greg C Lee and Cheng Chih-Wu "The provision of feedback to students is an important aspect of teaching and learning processes. It is often a necessary requirement for the stimulation of self‐reflection" (Leenm,Weinn; 2007). Feedback is defined by Webster dictionary as "information about reactions to a product, a person's performance of a task, etc., used as  a basis for improvement." In lament terms it is the criticism of a person's work, whether positive or negative to increase productivity.  In the classroom  teachers  use feedback to create a  better learning atmosphere for them and their students and vice versa. "Among all instructional development efforts, the most promising way of fundamentally changing post-secondary teaching is to provide faulty with individualized formative feedback. In this process, information about an instructor's teaching is connected, summarized, and fed back to the faculty member.(Brinko, 2016)

What Is Communication

"Educators have become so involved with delivering the curricula that they forget to acknowledge 'how' they deliver the curricula." (Johnson, 1999) In the aforementioned statement Maeetta B. Johnson endeavors to bring up the discussion of how education has become void of  communication and overgrown with testing. According to Webster communication is the imparting or exchanging of information or news. Education is evolving in the sense teachers are using communication in their students learning experience. Tools such as discussion board,  participation grading,  and student rated feedback allow for open discussions in the classroom environment. Generally,student ratings may serve three functions: (1) aiding administrative evaluations of teaching effectiveness for decisions concerning pay increases, promotion, and tenure; (2) providing feedback to teachers for the purpose of improving instruction; and (3) helping students select courses and instructors. (Cohen, 1980)

Communication and Feedback in The Classroom

"Rick Wormelli author of the article "ACCOUNTABILITY: TEACHING THROUGH ASSESSMENT AND FEEDBACK, NOT GRADING" stated "Grading policies such as refusing to accept late work, giving grades of  such as refusing to accept late work, giving grades of zero, and refusing to allow students to redo their work may be intended as punishment for poor performance, but such policies will not really teach students to be accountable, and provide very little useful information about students' mastery of the material."  Students tend to learn and comprehend,  in contrast to memorization,  when they aren't concerned about testing. Often times students fear the test causing complications such as test anxiety, inability to digest material, even stress to the point of needing medical attention . Other classroom complications include the inability to comprehend intellectual languages. Dr. Robert Williams's B.I.T.C.H. Test discuss how African American testers score lower on test based on Caucasian dialect versus the counter of sciring exceedingly well when information and tests where communicated in terms privy to their culture. In the Article "Black Intelligence Test of Cultural Homogeneity and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale scores of Black and White police applicants" written by authors Joseph D. Matarazzo and , Arthur N. Wiens when completing their experiment there where "non-overlapping distributions of scores on the BITCH, with no White Ss scoring above Black Ss." This further solidifies that basing the classroom on communicative further opens the classroom dialect allowing students to provide feedback proving their level of understanding the material.

References

Brinko, K. T. (1993). The Practice of Giving Feedback to Improve Teaching: What Is Effective? The Journal of Higher Education, 64(5), 574.

Cohen, P. A. (1980). Effectiveness of student-rating feedback for improving college instruction: A meta-analysis of findings. Research in Higher Education, 13(4), 321-341. doi:10.1007/bf00976252

Johnson, M. B. (1998, November 30). Communication in the Classroom. Retrieved May 05, 2017, from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED436802

Lee, G. C., & Wu, C. (2006). Enhancing the teaching experience of pre‐service teachers through the use of videos in web‐based computer‐mediated communication (CMC). Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 43(4), 369-380.

Matarazzo, J. D., & Wiens, A. N. (1977). Black Intelligence Test of Cultural Homogeneity and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale scores of Black and White police applicants. Journal of Applied Psychology,62(1), 57-63.

Wormeli, R. (summer 2006). ACCOUNTABILITY: TEACHING THROUGH ASSESSMENT AND FEEDBACK, NOT GRADING. AMERICAN SECONDARY EDUCATION, 34(3), 14-27