Week 8 Reflection: Distributed Learning and Alternate Forms of the Classroom

For our EdTech class this week, we focused on the idea of distributed learning and talked about how it can be a useful tool. We started out by looking at and trying out an activity called the ‘Mad Tea Activity’. The set-up of the activity saw us form two concentric circles, one on the inside and the other on the outside, each consisting of an equal number of people. We were then given short prompts and had only a minute or two to discuss them with the person opposite us before the people in the inner circle shifted two spaces to their right and we now had a new partner and a new prompt. This continued a third time before we finished the activity.

In thinking about this activity, it’s similar to one I’ve used in ESL classrooms called ‘lineups’ where we get students in lineups and give them topics or prompts to discuss before having them slide over and talk with a new partner. I’ve always found it an effective strategy because it gives students the chance to discuss ideas with several people and hear different takes and perspectives on various issues, and within a set amount of time. It also forces people to talk and share their ideas without being able to think about them too deeply. It’s especially good for students who are more reserved as it causes them to get out of their shells.

We also talked about the benefits and drawbacks of taking lessons online over Zoom as many of us–myself included–had to do earlier in the pandemic. Certainly, in my opinion, there were some positives to that style of learning. A few of them included more control over schedule and use of time, no commute time or cost, and the fact that everything was centered in one place. On the flip side of that, it was unpleasant to have to stare at a screen all day, I got much less exercise and fresh air, and I was certainly missing out on some of the social aspects to being a student. Pair- and group-work are big parts of learning for me and so not having that particular aspect made it challenging at times.

Another idea brought up in class is synchronous activities versus asynchronous ones, and the idea of blended learning. As someone with experience teaching in a hybrid classroom where some of the students were in person while others were online (even in different time zones) it doesn’t always create an ideal atmosphere. The pace is often much slower and far less gets accomplished, especially due to waiting around for people to get in and out of breakout rooms. Also, if someone doesn’t have the right technology or a patchy Internet connection, it creates a lot of inequality and even frustration among students and teachers alike. While I appreciate that it allowed for more people to stay connected during the pandemic, the circumstances were less than ideal in terms of making sure that students didn’t fall behind due to factors out of their control. However, I have to acknowledge that it has the power to involve more people who may not otherwise be able to participate, such as those in remote places, those with disabilities, and even those with social anxiety or other mental health issues that may not feel comfortable being around so many people.

Our instructor showed us a bunch of different online virtual software apps that are being used to simulate classrooms, board meetings, workplaces, and so on. These apps are meant to make congregating and sharing easier and instantaneous, and are sometimes being billed as the future of work and education. Personally, I’m not sold on all of these ideas as replacing brick and mortar workplaces and schools but I do see how useful they could be to augment those things. Sharing documents and being able to collaborate on them in real time in places like Google Docs is without a doubt a useful tool, but only when it’s adding to an existing classroom or workplace, not replacing one.

Some tools like Google Classroom and Mattermost seem like very useful tools for a high school classroom. In my experience from having used both during the Teacher Ed Program, they make it really easy to share out and hand in assignments between the teacher and the students. Google Classroom especially makes it easy to customize work and expectations for students without having to announce it in front of other people. For instance, if I want to make an assignment easier or more simplistic for a student who is perhaps struggling, I can do that without even that student knowing, which avoids having to tell them and risk the possibility of deflating their confidence. On the downside, as we’ve discussed before in the EdTEch class , Google is a foreign company that shares user its data and so privacy is often at risk. Not every student (or more specifically, their parents) wants to have their private data exposed and so if one or two students opt out, then it creates a lot more work for the teacher in that they would have to connect with those particular students via a different app or method of communication.

All in all, I can definitely see both advantages and disadvantages to having classrooms online, having ones in person, and having a hybrid version of those two. Personally, I lean more to the side of an in-person classroom that is augmented by the use of something like Google Classroom. It seems very handy in keeping everything organized and centers everything in one place making it more manageable for a teacher to communicate with students as well as stay on top of things like grading and assignments. From the student perspective, it also makes it easier to manage their assignments and allows for direct communication with the teacher and other classmates, particularly in times when a student may need to be absent. It was nice to have a broad overview of the different uses of technology and the various ways it can help to supplement classroom learning.