Blended Learning - Finding a Balance

A Blended Approach to Learning... 

Not as Hard To Swallow as I'd Feared

This being my very first semester of school after a 7 year hiatus from college, a lot has changed. Grad school is a whole different ball game in itself... the mindset is just different. Plus, there's the fact that "being a student" is not my only job this time.  Now I'm a bank teller and mommy. It's a balancing act to be sure.  A real exercise in tightrope walking - without a net. Hey, speaking of "net"... internet... technology... what a segue, right!?

The thing I've noticed has changed the most in my seven year absence from higher learning is the integration of technology. 

In undergrad, I had a laptop... but I don't remember ever taking it to class.  Papers were submitted in hard copy form - and I had a terrible relationship with every printer on that campus, I swear! Quizzes and tests were on paper too, and you were lucky to get open note/book. The professor's PowerPoints were not available to view at my leisure - you'd better take good notes in class! I remember making horribly hurried sketches of Renaissance paintings next to their titles and descriptions in my notebook just to try to remember this Madonna and Child is different from that Madonna and Child (and that one... and that one...) 

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And do you even know how many renditions of the Assumption there are!? After class I'd have to find images of each piece of art online and print out good-sized thumbnails to glue onto note cards with the descriptions on the back (while everything was fresh in my mind) so I'd have them to study for tests. Thank goodness eventually artists branched out from religious imagery - if only for variety's sake! 

Had those art history classes been part of a Blended Learning curriculum, my chicken-scratch sketches would have been unnecessary.  I could look at the professor's PowerPoint lecture, viewing the paintings at my own pace. The Online Learning Consortium defines  Blended learning courses are classes where usually 30%-70% of the instruction is delivered online.  The rest of the class interaction takes place online. The degree to which online coursework replaces traditional varies greatly by class, discipline, and learning objectives.  

In an article on Converge, David Haglund, principal of the Riverside Virtual School 

"Allowing students to pursue learning experiences that are relevant to them -- including traditional seat-based environments and digital learning opportunities -- is the best strategy. The same thing with adults, frankly. I don't want every teacher to be teaching in a virtual environment because not every teacher has the interest or skills to support that type of an instructional environment.... 

...Students who need more flexibility in their schedules, want real world learning situations or need a confidence boost are well suited for blended learning"

I've expressed before that I am not a huge technology fan.  I fear I was born in the wrong generation.  So when I realized how much of grad school would take place online I was very intimidated. Although I usually do express myself verbally through writing than speaking aloud, aside from constant printer issues, I had no problem with hard-copy assignments.  I actually enjoy writing essays. In case you haven't noticed if you've read these blogs, I am particularly verbose in written form. :)  But submitting written projects via internet doesn't bother me - nor does accessing readings or quizzes.  

My hesitation lay in the fact that I didn't think the collaborative or discussion elements would be as effective online. I feared that I would basically be wandering aimlessly in the cyber-wilderness without much direction.  I value interaction with the professor... insightful conversation and collaboration with my peers.  My sister-in-law is getting her nurse practitioner Masters entirely online right now (aside from the clinical experience)  Although it is convenient that she can work on coursework around her bizarre hospital schedule - and all the clinicals - she often feels like she is learning in a vacuum with sporadic virtual interaction with all these anonymous classmates she's never met.

I have yet to take a course completely online. Of the three classes I am taking this semester, my Psychology class has been all face-to-face (but the lectures, readings, and rubrics are available online.  The quizzes were also online, which I loved.).  The other two take a blended learning approach.  In the two truly blended classes, I must say that in one it has been extremely helpful, in the other it has been confusing. In this Instructional Technologies class I am required to blog away on my reflections on classroom content combined with other videos and readings made available online, experiment and report on different technological "Cool Tools" - apps and programs that could be incorporated into my own teaching, and keep track of my Major Project progress, and (the horror!) "Tweeting". It hasn't been as bad as I'd feared. The course content is so well organized and easy to follow that it doesn't interfere with any learning, in fact if facilitates it. I think that blended learning might be most appropriate when teaching a class about technologies that help us learn!  As Stacey Hawthorn says in our topic video, "You are learning your own way... just in a structured environment." 

My other class, a Literacy course... well... I'm so confused.  The environment is not well "structured." The professor - who is very nice and knowledgeable - inherited the course from someone else and pretty much kept the same online content.  But it is so disorganized - especially whenever she incorporates her own assignments. Some assignments are in 2 different places, sometimes required discussion forums aren't accessible at the right time, dates are incorrect, the syllabus changes, there are articles everywhere but it's unclear which assignment they are for. It can be very frustrating!  The professor has a very laissez-faire attitude towards it all, although sometimes she seems frustrated with Springboard as well - "We'll get through it together" seems to be her general attitude.  I don't want to figure this out with you - I can't help but think - I want you to have this figured out so I can just find what I need to learn!

Stacey says that mindset is the most important factor for successful blended learning instructors: What are your core values and beliefs and how does that line up with your instruction?  Can you embrace and accommodate change, are you flexible... Are you familiar with the technology?  That right there would be what I would struggle with as a Blended Learning instructor... that whole familiarity with technology.  I'm getting there, but I guarantee any third grader could teach me a thing (or seven) about iPads.  

I doubt I'll ever do a full-blown Blended art class - it would be very hard to instruct without being able to get my hands on students' projects as they work and help them address their issues.  I can't mold clay virtually.  I can't show them how to blend on their acrylic painting.  However, art history content - as I speculated about above - now that I could see as a great environment for experimenting with this whole techy-teaching experience.  We shall see...