The course I designed will be helpful to me next year in my current teaching position. I teach at a self-contained special education campus for all emotionally and behaviorally disturbed students. As a result of this, I have students who are at similar levels behaviorally in one class, but they are at very different levels cognitively and academically. This course will be helpful to me to be able to make adjustments for students who need extra scaffolding as well as being able to provide additional enrichment for students who are ahead and need it. I made a pre-assessment in my course to check for prior knowledge so that within each class I can create pullout groups of students who are at similar ability levels. I was able to plan a progressive program for my students, where they will be able to build on not only their prior learning, but also build on what they learned previously in my online course, just as they would with a traditionally delivered course.
I do integrate online learning now, and will continue to do so in the future. The more that I learn about new ways to do this and new tools that can be used, I am expanding my own knowledge base, so that I can then share the learning that I have acquired with both my students and with the staff that I work with. My students complete some of their tasks and receive some instruction online now as it is. Going forward, I am looking at ways to make the online learning in my classroom more cohesive and connected overall. I have shared much of what I have learned with other teachers and administrators that I work with. I would like to be able to conduct more professional development sessions both utilizing what I have learned as well as teaching others how to do the same. While there are some who are hesitant to learn any new technology, there are many teachers that I work with who would embrace the ability to use new technology in their classrooms with their students as well as professionally for themselves.
Some subjects seem automatically to lean toward being suited for online delivery to students, while others seem more challenging. This is probably due at least in part to my relative lack of experience. A major thing that I would like to continue to learn about in the area of distance education is how to incorporate all subject matter areas seamlessly in the online arena. I would also like to learn more about being able to administer exams successfully without the worry of cheating that often accompanies online learning. One way I have thought about doing this is to focus more on product-based assessment of a student’s learning, rather than a traditional question-and-answer or essay assessment. I would be interested in learning new ways of doing this as well as seeing how other teachers and professional development trainers have accomplished this. I would also like to allow for more collaboration and reflection on the part of my students. In incorporating this, I would like to know how others are doing this beyond the usual suspects (wikis, blogs, etc.).
The new learning I acquire in answering my questions that remain about online education would help me to improve the way that I am able to deliver curriculum and content to my students. Not only would they be able to receive content in a new appealing way that is interesting to students. They would also be getting information in a way that more closely resembles the way in which they will be required to receive and process information after school in the “real world” such as job sites. Collaboration is an important aspect of online education. Sometimes we in education are afraid of allowing students to participate in online collaboration (read: social networking) and many sites at which student could collaborate are blocked. This would be a very central piece in what I would like to learn and see grow in my own teaching practice for the sake of my students.
References
Distance learning on the rise, Brian Towie, Metro Canada, November 25, 2008.
Merriam, s., Caffarella, R., & Baumgartner, L. (2007). Learning in Adulthood, New York: Wiley.
