Hi Friends,
What Makes a Great Learning Experience?
Olivia and Chris continue to dive into the conversation about curating and creating asynchronous courses. In this episode, they tell us some of what they think about as they develop and support the building of content with and for teachers.
We took a laughing break at 23:30 - if you listen to nothing else you will get a good dose of happiness.
Do your teachers develop their own content? Do they have a place at the table to have these conversations?
Despite being in a virtual space - we are still real people interacting with each other (people) in these courses. Using the virtual world to connect us to resources and relationships with those in other communities can provide a rich learning experience. How comfortable are you when you are interacting and learning virtually?
Takeaways from our conversation:
Template (structure) or formula??
We don’t want to be so formulated when we are developing courses and content that teachers are not authentic, but provide enough structure so people don’t feel lost.
Some want an outline of every step. But, can this take away creativity, and others may just want to through everything against the wall - so they need some guidelines so the end product is easy to navigate for the learner.
We need to be explicit in our communication about how teachers can be creative and move out of our structure once in a while, but not completely remove an “E”.
Adults are not always at the same place at the same time in their readiness to create new assignments - just like our students who learn at different rates we need to accommodate and support them.
At the end of the day, the students need to get into the course and navigate it.
Do Your Teachers Know THE Why?
What is the original intent of the Community of Inquiry - and our 6E’s? I wonder if we have communicated that well? Do you communicate your expectations to your teachers and community?
Revisiting the course, community feedback, and student experience help us to inform our course design and open the space to ask questions about how to create better learning experiences. Are we faithful to the intent of our model of being authentic, relevant, and engaging?
Predictable for navigation - student experience fluid. There is a tension between these two factors in developing a course with our 6E’s. Finding tension in school is easy - but can we move the conversation to a productive place and focus on helping students learn?
The teacher is the most critical part of making sure that students can navigate in the online environment - supporting teachers is one of the best ways to be sure they are able to help ALL the students. On-time professional learning helps to make that easier for the teacher. And when teachers help teachers, they can see and share their successes and options that can help to give flexibility and support to each other.
How do you show people examples of good work without overwhelming them? When readiness meets an example you can share that one piece - don’t try to tackle everything at once! By breaking things down into manageable parts people can start to feel more confident.
It is so important to work together and keep each other fresh and challenged. The idea that we meet people where they are - whether in the classroom or in professional settings we can do that. Asynchronous learning gives us the opportunity to let folks go at their own pace. At 28:00
Calling Teacher Leaders:
Chris is hosting a PLC for teachers this summer to learn to develop their ideas and share them with other teachers. If you are interested in joining her you can contact her directly here - cdavis@iu08.org | 570-243-1003
A Jolt for Virtual Learning
Preparing instruction for virtual learning can be a bit daunting. There is a learning curve that happens when you transition from face-to-face instruction to flipping your class or just offering content that students can access at any time. You want to be sure that teachers feel supported in the transition. Check out this Virtual Learning Design Series in JoltEDU to help your teachers get started.
Our micro-courses are a great way to offer choice and flexibility for teachers on in-service days. As you plan your days for the close of this school year or gear up for 2022-23, let us help you bring short, practical bursts of professional learning to your school.
What Makes a Great Learning Experience #14