Week 2 - Blended Interactions

Chapter 2 in the BlendKit Reader talks about the necessity of expert interactions with a student as part of the learning experience. I don't remember where I heard it first (somewhere in my teaching practicum coursework, probably) that good teachers teach students how to think like a professional in the field of study—great science teachers teach students to think like a scientist, English teachers teach students to think like a writer, etc. As I think about the teachers in my life that I consider to have had the most impact on my life, that idea holds true. Interactions between a student and an expert teacher are key to the learning experience.

There is also some need for student-directed learning so that students have an opportunity to discover on their own and fuel the fire of their intrinsic motivation.

John Seely Brown's atelier model of learning (an artist's studio model) reminds me of the benefits offered to classrooms by a flipped teaching model where students are allowed to work at their own pace and the instructor serves as a facilitator to point out "innovative approaches" and encourage students to do their very best work. I like this, partly, because there is an obvious opportunity for the instructor to learn something new, as well.

Curtis Bonk's idea of Concierge Learning doesn't particularly sound like a good approach for me personally, but I can see how some instructors could use this method quite effectively. With so much information readily available it would be fairly easy to allow students to explore information they can find and provide some minimal guidance as to better and best sources of information.

Blended learning is the best of both worlds: expert directed learning with an opportunity for students to choose their own path of how they will take the next step. There can be lots of flexibility because the learning environment goes from a 1:many situation to a 1:1 situation.

The chapter also suggests to include an opportunity for students to introduce themselves on a discussion board at the beginning of class. We have used this technique in online courses and it has proven to assist in creating a "community" of learners and gives students an opportunity to learn the tools without also stressing about content for the first postings.

Students expressing their opinions on a discussion board can be very effective because it allows the students the opportunity to think about and carefully draft their opinion...if they want to do so. (I have seen plenty of discussion board postings where students just rushed through the posting to get it done and it was obvious that they were not any more engaged online then they might have been in the classroom.)

I like the concept of helping students to be comfortable expressing themselves in an online forum by carefully selecting meaningful assignments, being clear about the expectations, and providing quality samples of student work.