Chapter 8: Have you had any distance education or blended course experiences? Try to remember what were the benefits and the disadvantages of that experience. If you have not had either type of course, try to imagine what it would be like and what characteristics of it you would like and which ones you would not. Why?
My first year of teaching fell during the year of COVID, and my school chose to implement a hybrid learning schedule. Students had the choice to come to school or to do distance learning. If they chose distance learning, it was asynchronous, and they did not have to log on to any video chat service everyday. I personally felt as if this had both advantages and disadvantages. On the upper hand, students were able to complete work within their own time limits, so long as they met their due dates. However, it eliminated the chance to develop teacher-student relationships, which I feel is an important aspect of education. Further disadvantages that I experienced was a lack of online resources. I found that because I teach upper level science courses, the availability of free online resources was very limited compared to the state tested classes. Softwares like Study Island and Khan Academy did not contain material suitable for my standards. My students learning from home also tended to become dejected and I had a hard time relating to them through text in an email. I think perhaps the biggest challenge of all was that our school is located in a rural area. Therefore, many students who chose distance learning had no internet access, and I had to send their work home each week in packets. This defeated the purpose of using Google Classroom and completing work online. However, distance learning did come with its advantages. The students who took it seriously were able to complete their work and have a part time job. Although this in some cases was not a good situation, I did have a few students who worked really hard and were able to provide for their family at the same time. It was also of great benefit to students who have their own children at home. They were able to take care of their responsibilities without having to leave their children with a caretaker. This year, our district will only be allowing students to do distance learning if they have reliable computer access and a valid medical reason. I think this will help a lot with eliminating failures! My Learning Experiences This week we took a break from group projects and completed 3 projects individually. The first of these was a screen capture of a lecture or procedure. Following our lesson plan from project 2, I recorded myself setting up MLA format on a Google Doc. This was a simple task for me because I did this very thing all year long when I would record lectures for my virtual students. Project 7 was to edit the video that was recorded in project 6 and add transitions, titles, and credits. I decided to split the video into 5 parts: page setup, font, spacing, document body, and header. This project was something I had not done before. Because I had 3 preps this year, I did not have time to edit my screen captures, and I would just upload them. To edit this screen capture, I used iMovie on my personal laptop. I found this task to be very easy because of how well the iMovie interface is setup. Perhaps this year I will have time to edit my lecture videos. Project 8 required the project 7 video to be uploaded to Edpuzzle and made into an interactive learning tool. I personally love Edpuzzle, and used it many times in my classroom this year. However, I always used already made videos. This was my first experience making my own interactive video. Again, I found Edpuzzle so easy to use! I can definitely see myself using this more to upload my lecture videos this year. A common issue I ran into last year was that students would not watch the lecture videos. This year, I could use Edpuzzle and make watching the videos apart of their grade. It would also provide me with documentation if issues with engagement were ever to arise. If you would like to video my Edpuzzle, you can click the link below! The class access code is adalije. Project 6: https://youtu.be/RvTZfyX-cUc Project 7: https://youtu.be/4L-eldVZRxE Project 8: https://edpuzzle.com/assignments/60df3cddba50cd416667ecd4/watch
4 Comments
Carletta S Hurt
7/3/2021 11:01:43 am
HI, Sarah!
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Michaelah Martin
7/4/2021 02:13:22 pm
Hi Sarah,
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Eli Morgan
7/4/2021 02:52:29 pm
Hi Sarah, great work this week on your post and videos! Your blog post reminded me of a phrase our prinicpal told us new teachers walking in to our first orientation before the first week of teaching in Covid: "This will be trial by fire." He definitely wasn't lying, to any of us! I think by surviving this, we all are proven to be stronger teachers for it! The insight it has given us, as you point out in your post, proves that we are far more experienced and knowledgable that we were a year ago, and I am sure we will continue to grow from there. Keep up the great work Sarah!
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Kimberly Jefferson
7/5/2021 06:50:28 am
Hello Sarah,
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Sarah HolderA quirky science teacher with English teacher handwriting. ArchivesBlog Reels
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