Hi Everyone on the course.
I’m glad there are more people than I was expecting! 🙂 My apologies for not attending the first session.
From reading the presentation and the articles, on blended learning, I am really looking forward to all the teaching and learning activities that we are going to undertake. So, reflecting thus far, as Gibbs (1988) suggests in the reflective cycle, my understanding thus far is as follows:
- I have read the aims and objectives, and understood the course requirements, materials, assessment and outcomes.
- I was aware of ‘blended learning’ and having read the account by Friesen (2012), which surprises me because, I have either undertaken courses or taught blended learning. These are the suggested formats;
“The rotation model,” “The flex model” “The self‐blending model,” “The enriched‐virtual model,” Friesen (2012) - I have identified where this course will support and inform my teaching, as a functional skills maths teacher, and help me explore various blended learning and Face to Face (F2F) tools and methods to enhance my pedagogy.
- I am aware of 21st Century technologies in education from Virtual Learning Environments (VLE), such as Moodle to the use of Skype. Plus, more specific tools for use by students with disabilities (neurological and physical). however, I need to explore key themes further, but I am aware that this is evolving and I need to keep pace.
- The portfolio of assessments activities is a great way to learn at steady pace and as a recently diagnosed dyslexic sounds fantastic to me.
‘ “Blended learning” designates the range of possibilities presented by combining Internet and digital media with established classroom forms that require the physical co‐presence of teacher and students‘. Friesen (2012)
I am interested in learning about web 2.0 and how students can use social networking to interact with each other (O’Reilly 2019), the teacher and the course inside and outside the classroom or lecture hall. This includes Face Book, Twitter, Tumbler and Whats App, either synchronously or asynchronously (Ehlers & Sostmann 2013).
Debating and deciding whether this is advantageous or not will be interesting!
References
Ehlers JP, Sostmann K. (2013). Web 2.0 und soziale Netzwerke. GMS Z Med Ausbild. ;30(1):Doc15.
Friesen, N., (2012). Report: Defining Blended Learning. Learning space [Online] Available at https://scholar.google.com/citations? Accessed 23-1-19
Gibbs, G., (1988). Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods. Oxford: Further Educational Unit, Oxford Polytechnic
O’Reily, T., (2019). About O’Reilly. [Online] Available at https://www.oreilly.com/tim/index.html Accessed 23-1-19