Is a blend of e-learning and face-to-face learning viable for reform?

#Edchat  9-21-2010 – 18:00 CET 12 PM EST

 

This #edchat discussion was fast and furious and obviously a topic close to the hearts of many who participated. We are very grateful to Lisa Tingey (@lisalearner)who, with her background in educational software and learning online has produced a fantastic summary which gets right to the heart of the issue. Find out more about Lisa from her bio at the end of the post. Thank you Lisa for a great post!

Major Themes

●      Teaching Practices. E-learning is not a substitute for sound teaching practices. A poorly trained face-to-face   teacher is also likely to be a poor e-learning teacher.

●        Accessibility. Will established e-learning programs extend the learning beyond the walls of the classroom and provide students with opportunities to take courses that aren’t normally taught at their school? At the same time, could these programs widen the gap between rich and poor or students and their peers with disabilities? 

●        Differentiation. E-learning is a feasible way to differentiate instruction if programs provide assessment tools for teachers and allow students to progress at their own rate.

●        Student Engagement. E-learning places responsibility to learn on the student. Success is more dependent on student engagement with e-learning than it is in a traditional learning environment.

●        Asynchronous Learning. What’s more powerful, synchronous or asynchronous learning? How does feedback play into this?

●        Professional Development. Will a blended e-learning implementation be an intuitive process for teachers and students? Or will a lot of time be wasted learning to navigate e-learning technologies?

 Hello, fellow edchatters! I’d like to start this recap with a big thank you to @rliberni for the opportunity to synthesize last week’s #edchat and share my take away. Each #edchat I’ve participated in has left me inspired and enlightened, so thank you, too, for welcoming me into the community and for joining the conversation

Last week’s #edchat was of particular interest to me, considering my experience creating educational software. We discussed the benefits and potential challenges of blending e-learning with face-to-face learning.

Many contributors were excited about the prospects of more differentiated instruction, wide accessibility that extends the classroom beyond school hours, and students who are more fully engaged in learning. Still, others were concerned that e-learning programs would benefit only the most engaged, leaving other students to fall behind, and that accessibility would be an issue for both underprivileged students and students with disabilities.

In the end, one theme I took with me was that technological advances do not and cannot make up for poor teacher training, which often results in bad practices, and that even with additional technology teachers must continue using sound teaching skills to find success in the classroom.

While there were so many important tweets that enlightened the discussion, I sifted through and pulled what I felt were the best representations of the opinions, sentiments, and ideas of last week’s #edchat—listed in chronological order to represent the development of conversation. Also, take a look at the links section at the end, full of great resources that were shared during the chat. Special thanks to moderators @shellterrell and @rliberni, who did a great job in steering the conversation.

k_shelton: E-Learning can be blending into virtually any situation as long as it is with properly trained educators and appropriately supported #edchat

rliberni: @Becky_Ellis_ agreed, so design is very important but the std driving is what makes good e-learning #edchat

TwitClass: Would a blend of Elearning & Face to Face instruction be viable for all age groups & levels? #edchat

Tkraz: Experience lectures at home (through gaming, etc.) and discuss in class #edchat

Fliegs: E-learning will be one more way to widen the gap between rich and poor. #edchat

Rliberni: @olafelch they need to be able to self-manage their learning, to be self critical and honest about their work & make thr own choices #edchat

 Akevy613: Again as with any technology e- learning is a tool used but the focus as always has to be student learning #edchat

Becky_Ellis_: One HUGE advantage to E learning is the think time asynchronous instruction can provide for students. #edchat

Tina_Barr : @aklinekator @Becky_Ellis_ @MissCheska bad teachers R bad no matter the format does elearning have potential 2 make tchrs better? #edchat

ShellTerrell: Amazing! RT @fliegs: True. Last year, we used skype to help a very sick child stay connected to the class. #edchat

Paulbrichardson: @Becky_Ellis_ Agree that ‘think time’ is important. Asynchronous can give the shy learner opportunity to flourish #edchat

andycinek: I see “e-learning” as an organizational tool to assist and archive the classroom learning. It does not replace the learning process #edchat

iDESIGNsol: @lisalearner right on! in an e-environment, students move at their own pace in a safe environment-not always an option in trad model #edchat

frogphilp: RT @ShellTerrell If all schools integrated elearning then this would help extend learning beyond the classroom walls #Edchat that’s the key!

Anotherschwab: Student engagement is even more important in E-Learning, if they are not engaged it doesn’t work. #edchat

Andycinek: Whether its f2f or e-learning the content is the same.stdnts still need 2 B taught. SD learning only works w/ skill sets in place #edchat

olafelch: @drdouggreen I did. And from my own experience, learning how to learn online is neither instant nor instinctive. #edchat

fliegs: In most schools I’ve encountered, f2f learning needs to be differentiated more. Tchrs need to focus there and leave e-lrning out #edchat

ShellTerrell: Agree! RT @Becky_Ellis_: elearning helps differentiate for the individual student more effectively than 1 teacher can. #edchat

rliberni: W/ good elearning u take ur time, u choose ur direction, u self-evaluate, get good feedback. it opens up a new world #edchat

Tina_Barr: Will elearning make school difficult or impossible for some students w/ learning disabilities? #edchat

eshwaranv: @Tina_Barr VLEs need not be always visual. Blended learning can be customized. That’s the beauty of it. #edchat

cybraryman1: The key factor is having teachers who know the best methods to improve student learning with & without technology #edchat

ColinTGraham: The challenge with introducing anything new to your teaching approaches is that it should be purposeful, not just experimental #edchat

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To follow the complete discussion see here

 For the stats on #edchat participation see here

Great Links

 markbrumley: @aklinekator Here’s my view of that. I think sports and other elective will drive this. http://tinyurl.com/23qtd4y  #edchat

jonbergmann: Check out how we do the blended classroom http://bit.ly/3PAZ1K http://bit.ly/dwA6to  #edchat

ISILBOY: Why Blended Learning is so imp? http://bit.ly/98sryY #edchat

Drdouggreen: @fliegs http://bit.ly/chShUa here it is. #edchat poor kids and handhelds.

Brunsell: @ShellTerrell @regparsons elearning does enhance f2f – http://tinyurl.com/y9jr6gs #edchat

Rliberni: Some amazing work done in India on kids teaching themselves and then others http://bit.ly/d5j4UK Sugata Mitra #edchat

ShellTerrell: Gaming in the classroom: Rock Band http://bit.ly/9k5jTU #edreform #edchat

Briankott: Virtual degrees? Is online education the way of the future or just a fad? http://nyti.ms/b7xsQv  via @NYTimes #edchat #edtech

RebeccaLeaRay: Social Learning Snapshot http://bit.ly/alYv5y #elearning #learning #leadership #astd #hr #lrnchat #edchat #edtech20

Rliberni: 10 e-learning principles http://youtu.be/ngN1yGRI3jw #edchat

Rliberni: Good and bad e-learning http://www.johnconnell.co.uk/blog/?p=2176 #edchat

Jonbergmann: I have started a blog on blended learning and how we are implementing it http://bit.ly/90OWo1 #edchat

JBEducation: How important is it for students to be physically in the classroom? http://nyti.ms/9PVvCt #edchat

Eshwaranv: @Tina_Barr Here is something which I had blogged sometime back on this: http://bit.ly/dqgssV #edchat

ISILBOY: E-learning Vs Classroom Learning http://bit.ly/aFDjIC #edchat

Eshwaranv: @Tina_Barr Check out my post on this: http://bit.ly/bFqaKO #edchat

ImagineLearning: How is this for e-learning expectations? #edchat http://yfrog.com/mzu7xkj

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Bio for Lisa Salazar Tingey

Lisa has taught English as a second language in the US and abroad and, for a period of time, attempted to teach Spanish (a language she used to know well) to a class of Hungarians (in a language she barely knew).

After a brief stint as a magazine writer and editor, Lisa joined the software development team at Imagine Learning, where she writes stories and designs activities to help children with language and literacy. She is honored to work with teachers every day in developing tools to help their students succeed, and she would love to hear from you—just tweet @lisalearner

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