Most recent public comments by Clement Uduk https://nowcomment.com/users/147720 https://nowcomment.com/documents/377143?scroll_to=3331983 https://nowcomment.com/documents/377143?scroll_to=3331983 I was thinking about the hybrid course I took for one of my GIS classes. We had a synchronous in-class lecture and then the associated labs and projects were to be completed asynchronously during the week. I remember grumbling that I did not like the fact that there was an in class lecture for something that could have been done purely online. It is one of those moments where looking back: were all of the instruction options dutifully considered before the course hit the banweb?! Mon, 15 Jul 2024 18:09:52 -0400 https://nowcomment.com/documents/377143?scroll_to=3331982 https://nowcomment.com/documents/377143?scroll_to=3331982 The United States decision to transition from a traditional in-class curriculum to online learning caused interminable confusion about how online learning, online teaching and online education genuinely function. As mentioned in last week’s blog post, I really enjoy words. And as much as words are incredible, they can be used in ways that are detrimental to their meaning. That is the exact thing that happened between the years of 2020 until the middle of 2022. Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) may be the official term but through a massive game of telephone, ERT lost its meaning and use in the conversation. Within that conversation, it seemed as though people were conflating ERT as a 1:1 comparison with online learning and teaching. The link between the two appears strong, these are both means of relaying education, despite the underlying mechanisms shouting, “NO, DO NOT MAKE THIS ASSUMPTION!” Having a handful of teachers as friends, the number of stories that were told where distrust of technology and its ability to help teach was reason enough to highlight that the United States’ ability to transition its schools to any level of online learning and teaching was a trial in futility. Thus, within any emergency, lacking that amount of preparation, you’re hoping to survive. It’s truly incredible that despite the spate of teachers resigning, education as an institution still stands. This is also a great reminder and highlight of human ingenuity, human persistence and human evolution: there are still aspects of this life we as human beings can solve through iterative mastery. What constitutes the difference between emergency remote teaching and traditional online learning and teaching is decidedly in the manner the learning environment is created, planned and supported. With those three tenets in hand, traditional online learning and teaching also has history, data and institutional confidence in how it is utilized in practice. What makes a good learning experience is when the instructor can build a rapport with their students, maintain a consistent lecture-esque style of class, provide multiple forms of media content (i.e. not just the book for the class, but article links, TEDxTalks, etc.) and provide time during the class for the learners to engage with the materials amongst themselves. The way in which this class and CLDT 1300 were proctored are the way I would like to work in an online learning and teaching environment. What I really truly enjoy about the way these have been proctored is that there is a major asynchronous component that requires the learner to actually use the internet. I know and understand that there are a handful of people from previous generations that would do anything else than use the internet. Accounting for this subset of people, there is an even larger subset of people who genuinely live on the internet. It is an opportunity for two different perspectives to mesh because they must engage in forum discussions because the discussions are where the rapport is built, and learning can be monitored. A reason for why many of these online classes function, require and demand this level of participation is because there is not a “common room” (i.e. literal classroom space). Professor Richard Schwier of the University of Saskatchewan intimated that a challenge for him with online education and learning is that the “experiential factor of a classroom, walking through the door, finding their seat and managing [the] space” is lost. Those moments of preparation before class are actions that need to be physically done to truly understood how important they are to the thought of “being in a class setting.” While I understand the merit of his challenge, what I am unsure he realizes is that there is an even greater appreciation for these actions when an online learner is preparing for class: situating oneself in a space they won’t be deserved; letting the people around them know they have class and do not want to be disturbed; checking internet connection and that their computer is working properly; and most of all, being as closed to relaxed and unbothered prior to class because instead of commuting to campus, learners are commuting to their couch, office, kitchen table, etc. Allowing students to access high quality educational instruction and content in their homes on their schedule allows for potentially better outcomes because there is one less stressor removed. When the world and the internet are your classroom, when the learning management system is the repository for all the knowledge shared instructor-to-learner and learner-to-learner, online teaching and education turns the chaotic world (wide web) into a well-oiled machine. Mon, 15 Jul 2024 17:59:40 -0400