Happy Digital Learning Day! #DLday

I can’t think of a better place so spend Digital Learning Day than at a school – whether it is a building, a blended learning environment or online.

Today, I was fortunate to be at the Bronx Arena High School in the Bronx. iLearnNYC Implementation managers Britt Neuhaus and Gerard Zoehfeld organized a cohort meeting to take place at the Bronx Arena School. Cohort meetings invite members of each cohort to attend a professional development day focused on blended learning.

In addition to information shared by Bronx Arena principal Ty Cesena, Bronx Arena students toured three different groups around the school – visiting classrooms and talking with students. Bronx Arena High School are for students who are over aged and under credited students who have not yet earned their high school diploma. In each classroom, we saw each student on the computer, the “teacher’s area” was somewhere central in the classroom and the teacher was either circulating around the room or meeting with individuals or small groups of students. The school has a course management system that they developed with content developed by the teachers. This is the content that students are using for their learning.

As part of our observation, we were asked to look for evidence of blended learning around these types of facilitation modes:

• One-to-one support
• Small group mini-lessons
• Small group discussions
• Conferencing
• Whole group instruction
• Peer to peer interaction
• Teacher circulation

In addition to the observations and discussions, we invited three principals to be part of a “Conversation about Implementing Blended Learning.”  This digital learning day activity information can be found on the iLearnNYC wiki. The three principals are all at schools where blended learning is being implemented in a variety of ways. Peter Oroszlany is principal at Mott Hall V, which is a school with grades 6-11. They have begun to implement blended learning with science teachers in grades 6, 7 and 8. PJ Murray is principal of Olympus Academy, a transfer school for students who are over aged and under credited student. And Ty Cesena is principal of Bronx Arena High School, also a transfer school.   They were asked a series of questions.  The common information that was shared if you are planning to implement blended learning is:

• All students need to have their own computer or device
• Start small and build
• Build relationships with teachers and check in with them on a daily basis
• Provide time for teachers to plan and discuss how blended learning is working as related to student outcomes (all schools have dedicated time for teachers at least once a week)
• The teachers now spend more time circulating around classrooms interacting with students both individually and in groups more when there is blended teaching.

The entire conversation was U-Streamed and recorded. Enjoy watching the conversation here.  (Those of us involved in the recording, now realize that we should have had a microphone for the speakers, so the audio is a little quiet in spots).

The questions answered by the principals were as follows:

1. When you first started blended learning at your school, what did you do to support teachers at your school to move in this direction – to buy-in to blended learning?
2. Now that blended learning is functioning in your schools, what ongoing strategies/professional development takes place to support teachers?
3. What measures (formal and informal) are you using in your school that indicate blended learning is being successful?
4. How has the teacher experience different since you have shifted to a blended model?
5. What other tips would you offer an administrator who would like to have their school shift to blended learning?

Happy Digital Learning Day!

“New” Blended Learning Definition

Heather Staker and Michael Horn have done an admirable job of further defining “blended learning” in their latest white paper from the Innosight Institute.  Creating a definition that illustrates something that is not clearly known by those not in the field is a challenging task.  As I have shared in various presentations, it is critical for us to define blended learning so that we know what it looks like so we can study it and we can teach others.  This new iteration of the definition is getting closer to the essence of blended learning. I have bolded and changed the color of the parts of the definition that changed from the definition a year ago (also listed below):

Blended learning is a formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through online delivery of content and instruction with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace and at least in part at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home.  (Horn & Staker, 2012)

The previous definition was:

Blended learning is any time a student learns at least in part at a supervised brick and mortar location away from home and at least in part through online delivery with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace.  (Horn & Staker, 2010)

Their new report illustrates why the definition was changed: to “distinguish blended learning from informal online learning such as playing educational video games” and to “distinguish online learning from using only Internet tools.”  I think there are other reasons adding in the terms “formal education” and “online delivery of content and instruction” are important because it suggests that for blended learning to be effective, it needs someone to guide the education or put together the content or provide some type of instruction…and that “someone” is a teacher.  The type of blended learning that most would agree is effective is one that includes an effective teacher.  Yes, students can learn through computer assisted programs (such as Plato or Education 2020 or Apex Learning and others), but for these programs to be effective, there is almost always a teacher or other educator encouraging and motivating the student.  And, Yes, Horn and Staker explain that their purpose is to define blended learning and that there can be “good and bad” blended learning, just like there is good and bad face-to-face teaching.

Horn and Staker in this report explain that this definition is from the student perspective.  After I read that, I thought, “Ok, so what would the definition of blended teaching and learning be from the teacher perspective?”  Based on studying the variety of definitions of blended learning, reading the iNacol report about quality online course standards, and working to illustrate exactly what “blended learning” looks like (see illustration below), I have taken a stab at defining blended learning from the teacher perspective.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is what I believe the definition of “blended teaching and learning” is from the teacher perspective:

Blended Learning is a pedagogical approach facilitated by a teacher where students have some control over their learning; and the teacher seamlessly incorporates the use of online learning tools (e.g. discussion boards, online collaboration, blogs, etc.), technology tools (computers, digital white boards, cameras, etc.), and face-to-face instruction so that instruction and learning can be accessed at any time by the student through multiple electronic devices.  (Darrow, 2012)

Tomorrow…a discussion of the updated models of blended learning.

Research Based Best Practices – Discussion Boards

Yesterday I wrote about some of the personal experiences I have had in working with online teachers regarding “best practices” that were developed as a result of students not being successful in online courses.  There are a number of research studies that have appeared in a variety of publications discussing best practices as well.  It is important to realize that all of the “best practices” listed here focus on online teaching.  However, all of these best practices can also be utilized in blended learning teaching as well. In addition, even though the studies below may be for college or for adult learners, effective online teaching practices work equally well at every level of teaching.

Overall, establishing an engaging and interactive online course environment is important.  Garrison, Anderson, & Archer (2001) have identified the Community of Inquiry model which involves social presence (ability to connect with learners), cognitive presence (process of constructing meaning with the subject), and teaching presence (design, facilitation and direction towards educational learning outcomes). Everything a teacher does in an online course can fit in one of these broad categories whether in K-12 or in higher education or for adults.

Regarding the use of online discussion boards, a brief overview of effective online discussion boards with citations was written by Hannon (2008) at Latrobe University.  Based on his research, he says that the purpose of discussion boards should be to engage students in approaches to deep learning, achieve a high level of effective student participation and be sustainable and workload friendly.  Furthermore, designing a discussion board should be group centered and promotes a collaborative model of instruction.  He also shares several tips in designing effective online discussion boards and the first tip is to define the overall purpose.

Akin and Neal (2007) in the article, “CREST+ Model: Writing effective online discussion questions” explain the steps in asking the right questions. “The CREST+ model covers the cognitive nature of the question [C], the reading basis [R], any experiential [E] possibility, style and type of question [ST] , and finally ways to structure a good question [+].”

Lowes, Lin and Yang (2007) in the article “Studying the effectiveness of the discussion forum in online professional development courses”  have done considerable research regarding the strategies that enhance an online discussion board conversation – teacher to student and student to student.  They looked at the nature of online interactions.  They refined the teacher role in an online discussion and characterized these roles as cheerleading/affirming (offering praise and encouragement), new information (introduce new ideas or information) and questioning/challenging (raise questions that expand on previous posts).

These are but a few of the best practices that have emerged in the utilization of teaching online with online discussion boards.

 

Best Practices in Online Teaching

When I began working in online learning in 2000, there were few examples of best practices in online learning and there were few research studies that existed.  The only reports that existed were reports that were suggesting that online learning may increase at the college level and at K-12.  The past 10 years have seen effective online teaching practices emerge and many more studies that suggest the types of best practices that work.

When I worked in the Clovis Unified School District we began offering part time online courses to high school students in 2000.  The four teachers I hired to teach Algebra I, Biology, English 9 and Economics were pioneers in the world of online learning, as were others at every level of education who were teaching online.  We learned quickly that effective online teaching was more than posting a PowerPoint on the web or linking daily homework assignments.  When I became principal of the Clovis Online School, a full time online charter school, there was again a learning curve that occurred for all of the teachers – each one who taught one section of their subject to students almost completely online. Very few teachers – whether face-to-face or online – are as successful in their first year as they are in their third or fifth year of teaching.   From my own experience in coordinating both part time and full time online schools and working with teachers, I am listing what I would consider to be “best practices”, and where possible, point to the research that supports that.  This is by no means an exhaustive list, but these are the things that worked for us.

• Problem, Student Dropouts:  In the first summer, close to 40% of the students who signed up dropped out of the online courses in the first week of courses.
  Solution: When I interviewed the students who dropped out, a majority of them replied, “I couldn’t figure out how to log in.”  In the next semester, we instituted face-to-face training to teach students how to work online.  We now know that students may be on the web for Facebook and looking up their favorite entertainer or sports team, but they need to be taught how to use the web for learning and research.  Eventually, our online courses included lessons that taught these skills.  Before a student could ever enter our online school, they would complete a series of online lessons to teach them what learning was like online so they were better prepared.  Once enrolled, students participated in further training to equip the with the skills needed to be successful online.  We developed a checklist that students needed to complete that included signatures by parents.  An increased percentage of students were then more successful in the online programs because of the training.
• Problem, Time Management: We thought that students could manage their own time and do their courses when it worked into their schedules.  Turns out that most teenagers are not good managers of time and need to be taught how to do this.
  Solution: As part of the enrollment process and training, we required students to have an organized binder and to write down when they would do their online work and we encouraged parents to check in with their students daily.  There is a myth that many parents believe that when students reach high school, that students are on their own.  The myth increases online when parents think that because they don’t understand the Internet that they can’t check on their child’s work.
• Problem, Email:  We assumed that students would check their email daily for notes from their teachers and knew how to respond.  I will never forget when I asked one of the more capable seniors in the full time online school to “cc” me in an email and she asked, “What does cc mean?”
  Solution: Email is an adult thing, not a student thing.  It is important to set expectations and to show students how to use email if it will be a communication device in your online program.  Incidentally, knowing how to use email is an important skill for the business world.
• Problem, Student Work Deadlines: Initially, we had lose deadlines for when student assignments were due.  We would tell students that they had an 8-week period within which they could turn in their assignments.  The problem was that many students would not do any work for several weeks and then try to turn in all the work during the final week.
  Solution:  Students liked having weekly deadlines and became more successful with weekly deadlines.  Many teachers also started to use what we called “dailies” which were short 5-10 minute assignments that were assigned every day to get students engaged each day.  Dailies might be discussing a different piece of art for an art history course or doing a vocabulary game at FreeRice.com for an English course or doing a math problem of the week in a math course.
• Problem, Students Would Not Communicate via Email: Teachers became frustrated when students would not respond on email or complete their work.
  Solution: Teachers began emailing a weekly update to all students at the beginning of every week.  When students replied to the email, they received points toward their overall grade.

The ideas listed above are just a few examples of “best practices” or strategies for teaching online.  There are a number of online resources the better organize and share best practices.  The Faculty Focus people provide guidance to mostly online college teachers.  Michael Barbour in this blog post points K-12 online educators to some excellent research based best practices.

What, forget about best practices?

I was surprised when I read the article entitled: “Forget About Blended Learning Best Practices” written by Michael Horn and Heather Staker from the Innosight Institute.  No doubt that the use of blended and online teaching and learning is increasing in both K-12 and higher education but I don’t think we should forget about the importance of “best practices.”  They wrote:

Simply following the guidance of best practices won’t help schools get the best results for their students. The reason is simple.

Best practices take the attributes of what good organizations do and assume that they are the causal reason for their success. But what works well in one circumstance might not work in another. For example, centuries ago, would-be aviators observed that most animals that flew well had wings and feathers. But when humans made wings with feathers for themselves, the results were dire.

I think that best practices develop before theories, and that research causes best practices to be refined. Once research and reports are written that identify these best practices, then the practitioner applies these, which, in turn, leads to better understanding and practice.  Throughout history, people in all walks of life and in all professions have tested out theories and ideas gleaned from others – often called “best practices.”  Any new idea or innovation has to be tested out in the process of development to allow the best practices to emerge.  This especially takes place in teaching – from preschool through college – to test out and try different strategies, concepts, tools, or practices that improve the craft of teaching.  Even in the analogy of humans learning to fly, there were humans that had to create wings and try out the idea of flying like birds before theories were developed and airplanes were invented. And teaching is a lot more complicated and challenging than learning to fly.   The authors then suggested:

Perhaps the best advice for educators is to take best practices with a grain of salt. Keep innovating to serve students, and do what works best for your specific circumstance.

Doesn’t “innovating to serve students” mean to identify best practices, customize them and put them into action?  I think we do want all teachers to learn from best practices and to apply those best practices that have been tested by others.  In  the world of online/blended teaching, these would be strategies that have developed around the effective use of online discussion boards, the importance of communication, how course design impacts online course success and many other components.  In addition, it is from best practices that standards emerge such as iNacol’s standards for the teaching profession.

The authors seem to suggest in this article that what is important is to identify one type of blended learning model and that by implementing this model, that it will move effective blended learning forward and increase the chances for success.  However, it is important to remember that in every case, it is the teacher who makes the difference.  For face-to-face teachers to transform to outstanding blended or online teachers they need not just models, but also scaffolds, guidance and best practices to test and use in refining their craft.  For blended and online learning to be effective, there is so much more than simply putting students on computers for 1/3 of a day or rotating through stations that include the use of technology.  And, it all starts with teacher knowledge, teacher learning, teacher passion, and teachers connecting with students.