I'm reflecting on my own adoption of technology at the front of my classroom and wondering how well I've used it to transform what I do rather than just replace a former technology. For the first few years that I taught, I didn't even own a laptop, so I relied on the chalkboard/whiteboard and paper handouts for visual information. Now I hook my MacBook up to the overhead projector just about every class, sometimes to show a Keynote presentation, sometimes to show an online resource, and sometimes to type into a blank document instead of writing on the board.
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| Public domain pic! Gotta love searching on Creative Commons ;-) |
On the one hand, this use of my laptop has drastically changed the experience in my classroom because I post all presentations, links to online resources, and in-class-created-documents to our LMS, thus giving students far more access to class materials on their own time and pace. My goal hasn't been to create content that could replace being in class in person, however. One of my fears is that putting everything I do in class online, say in the form of recorded lectures and/or discussions, would lead to students missing more classes because they figure they can just watch the video later. This fear assumes that being in the classroom with me at the appointed time is the best possible way for students to learn, though, and blended learning asks me to consider carefully whether that is always the case or if some lessons might be taught just as well, if not better, through a carefully constructed, well-thought-out online module.
Which brings us to my second major fear: that the prep and planning for a truly blended classroom would lead to me either failing utterly to maintain any semblance of work/life balance (cue the "Cat's in the Cradle" music) or to me sticking with a course plan that isn't working the way I wanted it to just because I don't want to scrap all of the time and effort I put into creating it. One thing I've discovered in this course, however, is that there are so many great lesson plans, activities, videos, assignments, etc. available for free online if I maintain the right kind of Personal Learning Network that I really don't need to reinvent the wheel to fill my course with quality materials.
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| Anyone else remember doing cat's cradle? photo by stevendepolo |
So as I look to preparing for the fall semester, I very much want to create a blended classroom. I want to let go of my insistence on attendance in favor of accommodating my students' circumstances and competing responsibilities so that they can learn the material even when they aren't physically present. I want to embrace the grit and adaptability required to create, curate, and implement new instructional materials with open hands that can release them and find a new path in response to my students' needs. I want to become as tech savvy as I can so that I can model the technologies my students will need to master. And I want to avoid adding apps and gizmos to the syllabus just to say I'm using technology. Going back to the idea of TPACK that we discussed earlier in the semester, I want to be sure that my content and pedagogical knowledge is informing my decision to include a particular form of technology in my lesson plans and assignments.
And having set myself such lofty goals, I'll just go back to this blog post about why blending learning fails and remember that I shouldn't try to go too fast. I should make the changes I can make and move towards a more blended learning environment over time.
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