3.3 Online & Blended Learning
Candidates develop, model, and facilitate the use of online and blended learning, digital content, and learning networks to support and extend student learning and expand opportunities and choices for professional learning for teachers and administrators. (PSC 3.3/ISTE 3c)
Artifact:
Big Businesses Unit for 5th Grade
Reflection:
The chosen artifact was a unit designed to be implemented within itsLearning, an online management system used in the school. The unit addressed the Social Studies Georgia Performance Standards in conjunction with the Common Core English Language Arts objectives and National Educational Technology Standards for students. The purpose of the unit design was to demonstrate how different tools and options within itsLearning could create opportunities for blended learning in a fifth grade classroom. The Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT) integration was also taken in consideration when designing the unit: specific options for a variety of applications used by students on their personal devices were shared with teachers.
Promoting the blended learning opportunities became a norm in Forsyth County Schools. The past school year was the first time for elementary school teachers in exploring the possibilities for online and/or blended learning in the classroom. Every step, activity, assessment, and resources used in the unit were developed within itsLearning to help teachers visualize what blending learning lessons might look like. Every step was presented and modeled to the fifth grade team to ensure they developed a good understanding of the lesson design, assessment requirements, and technical parts of setting it up within the itsLearning platform. Teachers were able to copy the completely developed unit from shared resources in the staff itsLearning course to their individual courses, make any changes they wanted, and implement it with their students.
One of the fifth grade teachers agreed to work collaboratively on the implementation of this unit. The co-teaching opportunity was a great coaching experience: modeling and facilitating learning activities in the classroom helped the teacher and students see how elements of blended learning could be effectively utilized in an elementary classroom. Students had a chance to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways. Diverse presentation modes promoted student critical thinking and creativity and allowed them to become active contributors to the world of digital resources. Students were encouraged to post the outcomes of their online learning experiences to the online portfolios. Students were able to evaluate each other’s work according to the expectations and specific rubric criteria and post comments online, which was a way to facilitate learning networks within the class.
This blended learning example was used as a strategy to encourage teachers to experience with new tools in the online learning environment. Modeling and scaffolding of each step in this process allowed teachers to build confidence in their abilities to navigate the online management system, communicate with students within the platform, and be creative with implementation of multiple learning activities to support student learning about economics and its history in America. As a result, most teachers on the team discovered at least one tool that they thought would be beneficial to transfer to another lesson and/or subject area in the future. The impact of this artifact on Shiloh Point Elementary community could be measured by observing the increasing number of online learning opportunities provided to students within itsLearning.
To improve this lesson, online resources could be added to support student curiosity and expand their individual interests. For example, if students chose to learn more about relationships between supply and demand, the teacher could have a collection of suggested online resources to support further learning. Additional questions about connections between economy of today and American history could be posed to promote student critical thinking and writing skills. Such opportunities for additional online learning could be communicated with parents to support additional exercises at home.
The chosen artifact was a unit designed to be implemented within itsLearning, an online management system used in the school. The unit addressed the Social Studies Georgia Performance Standards in conjunction with the Common Core English Language Arts objectives and National Educational Technology Standards for students. The purpose of the unit design was to demonstrate how different tools and options within itsLearning could create opportunities for blended learning in a fifth grade classroom. The Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT) integration was also taken in consideration when designing the unit: specific options for a variety of applications used by students on their personal devices were shared with teachers.
Promoting the blended learning opportunities became a norm in Forsyth County Schools. The past school year was the first time for elementary school teachers in exploring the possibilities for online and/or blended learning in the classroom. Every step, activity, assessment, and resources used in the unit were developed within itsLearning to help teachers visualize what blending learning lessons might look like. Every step was presented and modeled to the fifth grade team to ensure they developed a good understanding of the lesson design, assessment requirements, and technical parts of setting it up within the itsLearning platform. Teachers were able to copy the completely developed unit from shared resources in the staff itsLearning course to their individual courses, make any changes they wanted, and implement it with their students.
One of the fifth grade teachers agreed to work collaboratively on the implementation of this unit. The co-teaching opportunity was a great coaching experience: modeling and facilitating learning activities in the classroom helped the teacher and students see how elements of blended learning could be effectively utilized in an elementary classroom. Students had a chance to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways. Diverse presentation modes promoted student critical thinking and creativity and allowed them to become active contributors to the world of digital resources. Students were encouraged to post the outcomes of their online learning experiences to the online portfolios. Students were able to evaluate each other’s work according to the expectations and specific rubric criteria and post comments online, which was a way to facilitate learning networks within the class.
This blended learning example was used as a strategy to encourage teachers to experience with new tools in the online learning environment. Modeling and scaffolding of each step in this process allowed teachers to build confidence in their abilities to navigate the online management system, communicate with students within the platform, and be creative with implementation of multiple learning activities to support student learning about economics and its history in America. As a result, most teachers on the team discovered at least one tool that they thought would be beneficial to transfer to another lesson and/or subject area in the future. The impact of this artifact on Shiloh Point Elementary community could be measured by observing the increasing number of online learning opportunities provided to students within itsLearning.
To improve this lesson, online resources could be added to support student curiosity and expand their individual interests. For example, if students chose to learn more about relationships between supply and demand, the teacher could have a collection of suggested online resources to support further learning. Additional questions about connections between economy of today and American history could be posed to promote student critical thinking and writing skills. Such opportunities for additional online learning could be communicated with parents to support additional exercises at home.