tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26961647155373467582024-03-13T10:07:56.727-07:00A Second CrackThis is my reflective journal which can be loosly read against Dale's Free ESL Club, a blog I use in my classroom as an instrument for weekly presentation of material to my Adult ESL students here in Melbourne, Australia. The 'Second Crack' refers to my most recent burst of activity on the Victorian e learning scene via ACFE's Circles of Professional Classroom Practice Project, 2009.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-36718624144318908202023-04-09T22:13:00.015-07:002023-04-09T23:11:33.049-07:00Generate Quick Dialogues for English Teaching Using ChatGPT and Narakeet<p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpDw8Pl0raQdhqEY6R6xvnDK31N8U8X6ekEZvZjq3PHHDs0mKCV29-_3hYZsexPRCtRY3EOST2ZiUqZe1BDX5ykMDKwwFBGqS7nsP6gomZITucbs22ZMUQa6XRF5i59TUDRV3pNXDarly7KztegzCrdzcWxjs4Fc1G4G6qbj2fNd8Cz3yaQ7_7dKTl/s640/mannequin-915135_640.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="447" data-original-width="640" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpDw8Pl0raQdhqEY6R6xvnDK31N8U8X6ekEZvZjq3PHHDs0mKCV29-_3hYZsexPRCtRY3EOST2ZiUqZe1BDX5ykMDKwwFBGqS7nsP6gomZITucbs22ZMUQa6XRF5i59TUDRV3pNXDarly7KztegzCrdzcWxjs4Fc1G4G6qbj2fNd8Cz3yaQ7_7dKTl/s320/mannequin-915135_640.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face=""Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #191b26; margin: initial; padding: initial;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/geralt-9301/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=915135" style="color: #191b26; cursor: pointer; margin: initial; outline: none; padding: initial;">Gerd Altmann</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=915135" style="color: #191b26; cursor: pointer; margin: initial; outline: none; padding: initial;">Pixabay</a></span></i></span><span face=""Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #191b26;"> </span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">T</span>eachers spend a lot of time searching for recorded dialogues to use in English language classes. Finding the right dialogue for a specific language teaching situation involves a great deal of time and preparation which sometimes ends in disappointment or frustration. More often than not, the fit between a recording we locate and situation we want to teach around is far from perfect. There are also technical and legal questions around the reproduction, use and redistribution of files that can be unsettling. How many of us resort to creating our own, home-made recordings which unfortunately can be of poor quality and take up even more time we just do not have?</p><p>Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now opening new possibilities for time strapped teachers. Here I demonstrate the combined use of two powerful, online tools to generate a dialogue.</p><p>ChatGPT and Narakeet can be used together to create engaging and dynamic dialogues for use in an English language class. <br /><br />ChatGPT can generate the dialogue itself by being fed some simple prompts, while Narakeet is a text-to-speech tool that can convert text into lifelike speech.<i> (See Pictures 1 and 2 below) </i></p><p>By combining these two tools, teachers can easily generate dialogues using ChatGPT and have them spoken aloud by Narakeet. There is the ability to select accents used by the speakers, to pause and control the speed at which the interlocutors speak as well as add audio such as sound effects and background noise. <i>(See Picture 3 below) </i></p><p>Narakeet has other powerful possibilities beside this text to speech facility including, creating slides to video, adding voice overs and supportive audio to text for those whose reading is not strong. <i>(Note: some of these features require a paid subscription)</i></p><p>The screen shots below show how quickly a situational dialogue can be composed and generated. <i>Picture 4 and Picture 7</i> show two transactional texts - both related to buying train tickets.</p><p>Teachers can, additionally, use ChatGPT and Narakeet to generate possible questions and responses that can be used for classroom and individual aural practice. <i>(See Picture 6) </i><br /><br />ChatGPT is even capable of effortlessly generating exercises based on the dialogue that you can use at a later time to test student comprehension.<i> (See Picture 8) </i><br /><br />You will undoubtedly think up other creative uses for these tools once you get started. This is new territory for teachers with immense possibilities for enhancing teaching and learning in the classroom and beyond. I encourage you to get started and have fun exploring.<br /><br /><i><span style="color: #2b00fe;">*This post is based on notes taken from a guide I am currently producing for new EAL and ALLND teachers in Australia and the Asia Pacific region.</span></i></p><p><i><span style="color: red;">(Click on the Pictures below for an enlarged view)</span></i></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKc2VQbqZQZ2Xj29ZlyLFPwBy0us-gsw8ZfafTtMff7Vu7uYraffGYfp-1ZyJdjItjU-M530ArvyrX5NyHuBpQcDBF9xdSZXxDkPyCgRa_AY46EVeRWqTDRzrprQ-MwULuHnBXEmQT2PnFVKAiwISD5Lz2O6iTXIM6FfOo9QmIMhVtid4iYy1XUwQX/s602/Picture1.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="324" data-original-width="602" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKc2VQbqZQZ2Xj29ZlyLFPwBy0us-gsw8ZfafTtMff7Vu7uYraffGYfp-1ZyJdjItjU-M530ArvyrX5NyHuBpQcDBF9xdSZXxDkPyCgRa_AY46EVeRWqTDRzrprQ-MwULuHnBXEmQT2PnFVKAiwISD5Lz2O6iTXIM6FfOo9QmIMhVtid4iYy1XUwQX/w400-h215/Picture1.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Picture 1 : Prompt ChatGPT to create a dialogue</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjasgVRJIDww_yR20pqFQGk4cuucQJwylRNbNNBSMptFRDqe5Xz5Eu6OQAyc-VPGEJErzZUV74yPUp5Sy0A02OraMT3EDMBAgorR-UO9KQn078RuQTfYk23lr1LdlHWoQOHjqFSzdneobRQH95tU53vO_DqgHc29LeMNTR5TkgYNHXea9ouKwk_cYub/s602/Picture2.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="602" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjasgVRJIDww_yR20pqFQGk4cuucQJwylRNbNNBSMptFRDqe5Xz5Eu6OQAyc-VPGEJErzZUV74yPUp5Sy0A02OraMT3EDMBAgorR-UO9KQn078RuQTfYk23lr1LdlHWoQOHjqFSzdneobRQH95tU53vO_DqgHc29LeMNTR5TkgYNHXea9ouKwk_cYub/w400-h225/Picture2.png" width="400" /></a><br /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Picture 2 : Cut and Paste the generated dialogue (with your edits) to Narakeet. Choose accents, speaking speed, other variables</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmY70NDLiEoESaIUUuFzhRWXjYKux3Rpg7PvkGu-fynjdTDW8g7NEjAzLbAL2c3sDLiXJRzcyQQcUrCYuPTk033NRUnyQUHQP8zjYpEU9VXMBCJ37R-NuCeTMbyArwPQ0Pmmm67yVGKwmVSxv5DScCJZXAb3tTNjDBc7V_pKbnHCo3VcRmPtoDjFjr/s602/Picture3.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="602" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmY70NDLiEoESaIUUuFzhRWXjYKux3Rpg7PvkGu-fynjdTDW8g7NEjAzLbAL2c3sDLiXJRzcyQQcUrCYuPTk033NRUnyQUHQP8zjYpEU9VXMBCJ37R-NuCeTMbyArwPQ0Pmmm67yVGKwmVSxv5DScCJZXAb3tTNjDBc7V_pKbnHCo3VcRmPtoDjFjr/w400-h225/Picture3.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Picture 3 : Initially you will need to access the reference section of Narakeet to learn about "stage directions" ie. command lines for adding more than one speaker as well as adding various other features and elements.</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqEGugtOK0zOwpbPTx5dozddcctO2E0RLHOhGVuiY3URRUpHFbvB3loilfr4FynU6_69_Nd0fdeZV9F6y_4HQMTRW45P3zNHZxfVR-Pei2v85JALNerMO759nX8QK44pki-qAlwfAJ16EyJu_WaIwTLimeoSjNv89Ep2-AgYK2m2eSAwCfUD0jxfjW/s602/Picture4.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="602" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqEGugtOK0zOwpbPTx5dozddcctO2E0RLHOhGVuiY3URRUpHFbvB3loilfr4FynU6_69_Nd0fdeZV9F6y_4HQMTRW45P3zNHZxfVR-Pei2v85JALNerMO759nX8QK44pki-qAlwfAJ16EyJu_WaIwTLimeoSjNv89Ep2-AgYK2m2eSAwCfUD0jxfjW/w400-h225/Picture4.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Picture 4 : Generate the audio file<br /><br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhue6bitbtqBV681k3_AUhVgo3fF-0se2PrH2Wzpeajsq2nAXUcHvtVFHHVUEsPRMzDS39Jn-6KTQJRNf4XGY4jykv-UdbUhSGcHvf8JcxWn4lC0nMQ1qPGFrDl2fmYegJpAXDYgyvCNBG3uvza4NHlvbYO51UFUvWsDynn0R6ucDLUT9--HMiDCcOO/s602/Picture5.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="602" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhue6bitbtqBV681k3_AUhVgo3fF-0se2PrH2Wzpeajsq2nAXUcHvtVFHHVUEsPRMzDS39Jn-6KTQJRNf4XGY4jykv-UdbUhSGcHvf8JcxWn4lC0nMQ1qPGFrDl2fmYegJpAXDYgyvCNBG3uvza4NHlvbYO51UFUvWsDynn0R6ucDLUT9--HMiDCcOO/w400-h225/Picture5.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Picture 5 : Test and download / share the audio file<br /><br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKWQLqUekRHoTsd7ob5A-vyDmTNEZVSdMfIsZKXAtr0Q2vVojTX0bzF7ys4CgKsXNrP-SDfbYSewupZwp-dZGrl6AFXV2_z-ve6E6RpPTvInZww9eplZZYAfGSkErUBuChtHUOAClkFfs9TkGyd1SjbdoKxlT7oOrKsH4XaDhG0FuGIh9naMEorYHN/s602/Picture6.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="324" data-original-width="602" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKWQLqUekRHoTsd7ob5A-vyDmTNEZVSdMfIsZKXAtr0Q2vVojTX0bzF7ys4CgKsXNrP-SDfbYSewupZwp-dZGrl6AFXV2_z-ve6E6RpPTvInZww9eplZZYAfGSkErUBuChtHUOAClkFfs9TkGyd1SjbdoKxlT7oOrKsH4XaDhG0FuGIh9naMEorYHN/w400-h215/Picture6.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Picture 6 : Generating variation questions for aural class practice in Chat GPT <br /><br /></i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><br /></div><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV7Toqt5jzTaa9hkFHVs3RHcz3q3WoPoi45t_4KPEKUs3uAWKvxMRnKmtKP--TS0Ez7LkAWi-vOTLnsEkfm-VIyvCkZkN2giTRN8Gf_Q09fn9PLHqCOxxaaF7_eM3KUMi4yhDgSSBobIJK-hSo5j9W0ZrteLLYSYX1gR9wt4fVzKhB3-R1fcA9tUGR/s602/Picture7.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="322" data-original-width="602" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV7Toqt5jzTaa9hkFHVs3RHcz3q3WoPoi45t_4KPEKUs3uAWKvxMRnKmtKP--TS0Ez7LkAWi-vOTLnsEkfm-VIyvCkZkN2giTRN8Gf_Q09fn9PLHqCOxxaaF7_eM3KUMi4yhDgSSBobIJK-hSo5j9W0ZrteLLYSYX1gR9wt4fVzKhB3-R1fcA9tUGR/w400-h214/Picture7.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Picture 7 : Generating a second dialogue in ChatGPT about buying a ticket </i></td></tr></tbody></table><i><br /></i><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ccG5ALlZiALrPZ03NXnbAahncsVrI7kR6_Qned0iSojR14GizYaLtyv83r2-q6n7A0iJLCUdY1jsrd1A9-N4PTmLTBIGs1jhsjb08gMA2Wh_ftrldT3thQCzglJDCN-l8yetT3K7APKSQRs9UNX8CLaScPQM9Yzos5IreKri1ejwtBMORRrnBGjB/s602/Picture8.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="324" data-original-width="602" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2ccG5ALlZiALrPZ03NXnbAahncsVrI7kR6_Qned0iSojR14GizYaLtyv83r2-q6n7A0iJLCUdY1jsrd1A9-N4PTmLTBIGs1jhsjb08gMA2Wh_ftrldT3thQCzglJDCN-l8yetT3K7APKSQRs9UNX8CLaScPQM9Yzos5IreKri1ejwtBMORRrnBGjB/w400-h215/Picture8.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Picture 8 : Generating some comprehension questions in ChatGBT based on the dialogue</i></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><b>ChatGPT</b> can be located and freely used at : <a href="https://chat.openai.com/auth/login">ChatGPT | OpenAI</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Narakeet </b>can found and freely used (with some limitations)
at <a href="https://www.narakeet.com/">https://www.narakeet.com/</a></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-10773693053717870612023-03-26T18:44:00.258-07:002023-03-29T21:42:01.619-07:00Potential Benefits and Drawbacks of HyFlex Learning for Adult Literacy and EAL Education<p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i style="font-family: arial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">H</span>yFlex Learning is a relatively new approach to education that has gained popularity in recent years across sectors. It combines the flexibility of online learning with the interactive experience of traditional classroom learning, allowing students to choose how they want to participate in their courses. HyFlex Learning is particularly suited for Adult Literacy and English as a Additional Language (EAL) students, who may have limited access to traditional classroom settings, are remotely located or who need a more flexible approach. This article explores the potential benefits and drawbacks of HyFlex Learning, with a focus on its applications in Adult Literacy and ESL programs.<br /><br /></i></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4AaT_4TptfZoToEiQULWptghfQv3PAqQIDE6xyh-xrEi0EgRALiRQVCR3sLdCX4S5bi8S-lencaejy_K3yyxA-XETKi1q3Uzx1Q05ClReAfom1C_CepWa1IlAfBm0Dk5TYkTTosnmVoEInCMWB5nFZzJU3YA6ndZmDA1s8jVXa0XjVlqfATAfEbWT/s640/didactics-6086216_640.webp" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4AaT_4TptfZoToEiQULWptghfQv3PAqQIDE6xyh-xrEi0EgRALiRQVCR3sLdCX4S5bi8S-lencaejy_K3yyxA-XETKi1q3Uzx1Q05ClReAfom1C_CepWa1IlAfBm0Dk5TYkTTosnmVoEInCMWB5nFZzJU3YA6ndZmDA1s8jVXa0XjVlqfATAfEbWT/w400-h268/didactics-6086216_640.webp" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image: Elf-Moondance : https://pixabay.com/illustrations/didactics-distance-learning-6086216/</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: arial;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div><div><b style="font-family: arial;">HyFlex : Basic Principles</b></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span><div><br /></div><div>HyFlex Learning is an educational model that empowers students to choose whether they want to attend classes in person, remotely, or both. This approach allows students to take control of their learning experience and manage their schedules more effectively, making it particularly beneficial for those with other commitments such as work or family responsibilities.</div><div><br /></div><div>Instructors in the HyFlex model teach the same material to both in-person and remote students, utilizing a variety of methods to ensure that all students receive the same quality of education. This approach promotes interactive and collaborative learning, which enhances the overall learning experience for students.</div><div><br /></div><div>However, for this model to be successful, teachers must engage in careful planning and preparation. This involves creating engaging and interactive lessons that can be delivered effectively in both in-person and remote settings. Teachers must also be prepared to manage the logistics of accommodating different modes of learning.</div><div><br /></div><div>HyFlex Learning could be particularly effective in adult literacy and English as an Additional Language (EAL) teaching. Adult learners often have competing demands on their time, making the flexibility of this model essential. Moreover, the HyFlex approach can address the unique needs of adult learners by catering to different learning styles and preferences. This approach can provide a sense of autonomy and control over their learning, which enhances motivation and engagement.</div><div><br /></div><div>To effectively implement the HyFlex Learning model in adult literacy and EAL teaching, instructors must be mindful of the specific needs and challenges of this student population. This requires creating culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate lessons and providing adequate support and guidance for learners who may be less familiar with the technology used in remote learning. With careful planning and execution, the HyFlex Learning model can provide a flexible, dynamic, and inclusive learning environment that meets the needs of a diverse student body.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Application of HyFlex Approaches in North America </b></div><div><br /></div><div>Several adult literacy and EAL programs have implemented the HyFlex approach, some it would appear, with positive results. </div><div><br /></div><div>One example is the Community Literacy of Ontario (CLO), which is a non-profit organization that supports adult literacy programs across the province of Ontario, Canada. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, CLO launched a HyFlex pilot project to enable adult learners to continue their education remotely. The project provided teachers with training on how to use digital tools effectively to support HyFlex learning, and learners were able to choose whether to attend classes in person or remotely. The pilot was successful, and CLO is now expanding the HyFlex model across its network of literacy programs. <b>(1) </b></div><div><br /></div><div>Another example is the program at the Pima Community College in Tucson Arizona, which has integrated the HyFlex approach into its ESOL classes. Instructors use a variety of digital tools, such as video conferencing and online discussions, to facilitate remote learning, while also providing in-person support for learners who prefer to attend classes on campus. The program has found that the HyFlex model has increased student engagement and has enabled more learners to complete their courses successfully. <b>(2)</b> </div><div><br /></div><div>These examples demonstrate the potential of the HyFlex model to provide greater flexibility and accessibility for adult learners in literacy and EAL programs. By offering a range of learning options, the HyFlex model can cater to the diverse needs and preferences of adult learners, enabling them to achieve their educational and career goals. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Application of "HyFlex" Approaches in Australia </b></div><div><br /></div><div>There are claims that Adult Literacy and English as an Additional Language programs in Australia are using a HyFlex approach to deliver but what they means exactly I am not sure. My own literature search revealed little in terms of how HyFlex is being applied in Adult Literacy and ESL programs specifically. </div><div><br /></div><div>The HyFlex model should enable learners to choose between and combine in-person and remote modes of learning, allowing them to better manage their schedules and achieve their educational goals. </div><div><br /></div><div>No doubt there are programs which throughout the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond followed a model of provision not unlike my own but there is little to demonstrate how exactly these programs operated. </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://dalepobegateaching.blogspot.com/2022/09/towards-hyflex-model-of-teaching-and.html" target="_blank">You can read about my approach here</a>. <b>(3) </b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Potential Drawbacks </b></div><div><br /></div><div>Initiating such innovation is not straight forward. There are barriers which exist in terms of perceived and actual resistance from funding bodies for any kind of literacy or language program which is not totally face-to-face. There is even reservation on the part of some providers who are not confident programs other than those that are delivered in-person are effective or desirable from a management over-sight point of view. </div><div><br /></div><div>Despite this, the HyFlex approaches described above show that Adult Literacy and EAL programs can be adapted and developed even though we are just at the beginning of the project. </div><div><br /></div><div>While the HyFlex model has many benefits for Adult Literacy and EAL students, there are also potential drawbacks to this approach. One of the main challenges with HyFlex learning is the need for effective time management skills - for both students and teachers. </div><div><br /></div><div>Students may need to balance their study time between in-person and remote classes, find time for collaboration with other class members as well as self-direct some online learning tasks. This can be challenging for some students, particularly those with limited experience using technology or those who have limited access to reliable internet connections. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Teachers</b><br /><br />Teachers too need to carefully manage planning and preparation, the technology, follow up and communication with their students. One of the potential issues for less experienced or tech savvy teachers may be a "blow-out" in time required to prepare and deliver with so many learning options being offered. Teachers also must be prepared and capable of working with various modalities of delivery and be critical in their application of technologies. </div><div><br /></div><div>Just how much time and at what hours of the day and night are teachers, for example, prepared to work with time strapped individuals? Are there industrial implications here? Is it realistic to expect students to make themselves available and communicate outside regular class hours? </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Management</b><br /><br />As mentioned previously, there are also concerns from the point of view of management around investment in technology as well as the effectiveness, accountability and oversight of programs. </div><div><br /></div><div>I am of the mind that such concerns are largely unwarranted. For the last two decades most providers, even those relatively small in the community sector, have availed themselves of funding for technology and have encouraged their staff to attend training in the use of the internet for learning. Streaming and recording of classes does not need to involve an expensive set up (an iphone, some basic lighting and tripod are sufficient). If there is concern, it should probably be directed at ensuring students have adequate connectivity and support if required.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The End of Community Building?</b></div><div><br /></div><div>One of the greatest fears for those working in the community education space is the potential danger of reduced interaction and community building among students. In-person classes provide opportunities for students to build relationships with their classmates and instructors, and to develop a sense of belonging within the learning - and wider - community. In remote or online learning environments, these opportunities may be more limited, which could possibly lead to disengagement. </div><div><br /></div><div>HyFlex learning may not be suitable for all learners, particularly those who prefer a more structured and predictable learning environment or for those with no or very basic experience of learning. The flexibility of the HyFlex model may be overwhelming for some students, who may prefer a more traditional classroom-based approach. </div><div><br /></div><div>Personally, I feel this danger is a little exaggerated as HyFlex includes exclusive in-class learning as a valid student choice. No one is going to throw students without tech skills into a situation in which they are bound to fail. Increases in online learning can slowly be introduced as the least tech savvy students learn skills and if they need to change or combine the mode of learning.</div><div><br /></div><div>Except for some, many students already engage with technology on a daily basis via social media. Over the past three years they have in many cases developed skills while studying and attending classes during the Covid-19 health emergency. It places them in a good position to engage in new, Hyflex aproaches. </div><div><br /></div><div>While the HyFlex model has many benefits, it is important to restate that there may well be some risks when implementing this approach in Adult Literacy and ESL programs. It is important for instructors to provide adequate support and guidance to students, particularly in the areas of time management and online skills, and to ensure that there are opportunities for students to build relationships and a sense of community within the learning environment. </div><div><br /></div><div>On the other hand, HyFlex provides a welcome extension to time and location fixed types of in-person provision which deny many adults an opportunity to learn because of their inflexibility and inconvenience. </div><div><br /></div><div>One such group who come to mind and stand to benefit are adult learners who live remotely. By providing remote access to learning content and instruction, the HyFlex model also enables students to engage with the material and other class members whose time is compromised by long days working in agricultural settings or working in itinerant situations or living in locations distant from community centres and colleges. </div><div><br /></div><div>The use of digital technologies, such as video conferencing and online discussions, can provide opportunities for these remote students to connect with their instructors and peers, and to participate in collaborative learning activities even with the limitations and potential problems described above. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Effectiveness and Pre-requisite Conditions for Success </b></div><div><br /></div><div>It is important, however, to note that the effectiveness of the HyFlex approach for remote students will depend on several factors, including... the quality and reliability of internet connectivity, the availability of appropriate technology and equipment, high levels of support and guidance provided by instructors. Instructors will need to ensure that remote students have access to the same quality of instruction and support as in-person students, and that they are able to fully participate in the learning experience. </div><div><br /></div><div>The HyFlex approach could be an effective solution for remote students, but it is important to carefully consider the unique needs and challenges of these learners, and to provide appropriate support and resources to enable them to succeed in their studies. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Conclusion </b></div><div><br /></div><div>HyFlex Learning is a valuable tool for Adult Literacy and ESL programs, providing students with the flexibility and convenience of online learning while still offering the benefits of a traditional classroom experience. While there are some drawbacks to the HyFlex approach, such as the need for a period of very substantial planning and technical preparation, the rewards of much greater flexibility, improved access to learning, convenience and student engagement, are worth the effort . </div><div><br /></div><div>Overall, the benefits of HyFlex Learning make it a promising option for Adult Literacy and ESL providers looking to innovate and broaden their teaching and delivery practices. Many adult learners in the community want to learn but cannot do so in the time and location bound dimensions of exclusive face-to-face provision. We owe it to them to innovate.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Notes: </b></div><div><br /></div><div><b>(1)</b> <i>Considering Use of the Hybrid Flexible Model in Adult Educatio</i>n, Amadapour, K., EdTech Centre for World Education, 2022, <a href="https://edtech.worlded.org/considering-use-of-the-hybrid-flexible-model-in-adult-education">https://edtech.worlded.org/considering-use-of-the-hybrid-flexible-model-in-adult-education</a>/ <br />from Digital Literacy Success Stories, Community Literacy of Ontario, Nov. 2020 <br /><a href="https://www.communityliteracyofontario.ca/wp/wp-content/uploads/Digital-LIteracy-Success-Stories-Nov-2020-FINAL.pdf">https://www.communityliteracyofontario.ca/wp/wp-content/uploads/Digital-LIteracy-Success-Stories-Nov-2020-FINAL.pdf</a> </div><div><br /></div><div>The article by one provider, PTP, is worth considering in terms of the development of some delivery beyond standard blending learning and into HyFlex: "We have also started to deliver a program in a HyFlex learning model with an in-class teacher using smartboard and a small number of in-class students with more students watching online with Zoom, all at the same time." </div><div><br /></div><div><b>(2)</b> <i>Building on a Pilot: HyFlex ESOL Class at Pima Community College</i>, Hawes, Vi. 2022, <a href="https://edtech.worlded.org/building-on-a-pilot-hyflex-esol-class-at-pima-community-college/">https://edtech.worlded.org/building-on-a-pilot-hyflex-esol-class-at-pima-community-college/</a> </div><div><br />This project is one of many based around the application of ideas found in Brian J. Beaty's excellent book , <i>Hybrid Flexible Course Design: Implementing student-directed Hybrid Classes</i> , EdTechBooks (2019) <br /><br /></div><div>A PDF Version can be found here: <a href="https://edtechbooks.org/pdfs/print/hyflex/_hyflex.pdf " target="_blank">https://edtechbooks.org/pdfs/print/hyflex/_hyflex.pdf </a></div><div><br /></div><div><b>(3)</b> <i>Towards a HyFlex Model of Teaching and Learning in Adult Language, Literacy, Numeracy and Digital (ALLND) Education</i>, Pobega, D, 2022. <a href="https://dalepobegateaching.blogspot.com/2022/09/towards-hyflex-model-of-teaching-and.html">https://dalepobegateaching.blogspot.com/2022/09/towards-hyflex-model-of-teaching-and.html</a><br /> </div><div>My plan for this year is to add another layer (live streaming from the centre / downloadable recordings for those who cannot watch or attend in real time) which will hopefully allow students from a very wide range of geographical locations and problematical life situations a genuine choice of the type and modalities of delivery that are convenient to or preferred by them.</div></span></span></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-82172331242259320712022-09-11T18:23:00.016-07:002022-10-18T16:59:22.224-07:00Towards a HyFlex Model of Teaching and Learning in Adult Language, Literacy, Numeracy and Digital (ALLND) Education<p><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">In October 2020, I published a series of notes and slides on a presentation I gave for the Learning for Employment (LfE) Consortium in Western Melbourne about developments in my initial online learning model which was hastily prompted by the appearance of COVID-19 and subsequent need for classes to migrate online. </span></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">The presentation focused heavily on the need to facilitate collaborative work and communicative opportunities among Adult Literacy, Language, Numeracy and Digital Skills (ALLND) students rather than keeping them in isolation at home "studying" with a paper based workbook or electronic equivalent. It also outlined the logistical problems of delivering and retrieving print based materials to and from students which I immediately identified as a limiting factor for learning. The low level of effective group interaction was also indicated in the approaches I had observed taken by many providers of adult education, forced as they were to pivot to online delivery for the first time with some teachers having little or no training or experience.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;">I explored and presented ways in which greater levels and types of interactions between teacher and student, student and student and even students and family members or friends could be introduced into learning. A brief recapitulation of parts of this approach:</span></p><p><b style="background-color: white;">De-Centred Virtual Classroom</b></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fluHv9QdEwM/YDXbvOF_PgI/AAAAAAAAFTs/AoCczd9R_1ML6yDegJZ6CC6-oPKENh0SQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Student_screensharing3_edited.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fluHv9QdEwM/YDXbvOF_PgI/AAAAAAAAFTs/AoCczd9R_1ML6yDegJZ6CC6-oPKENh0SQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/Student_screensharing3_edited.jpeg" width="400" /></a><br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click on the graphic for a better view<br /><i><span style="color: red;">A mini-class convened by the teacher in which students review and screen share their work. The teacher can start the process and teleport out to other mini-classes or sessions.<br /><br /></span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"><br />Teaching students to form online study circles and mini-classes in which they direct some of their own learning has been a valuable addition to whole class synchronous sessions over the last year or so.</span><p></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">Time carved out to work individually with students on materials sent electronically, learning plans, review of writing, conversation and the like (while others may be engaged in their study circles or be doing some self paced work) provided a third pillar to the initial approach and subsequent developments. </span></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">Read more about my approach at:</span></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://dalepobegateaching.blogspot.com/2021/03/learning-circles-extending-study-skills.html">https://dalepobegateaching.blogspot.com/2021/03/learning-circles-extending-study-skills.html</a></span></p><p>and <a href="https://dalepobegateaching.blogspot.com/2020/06/week-8-bringing-individual-learning.html">https://dalepobegateaching.blogspot.com/2020/06/week-8-bringing-individual-learning.html</a></p><p><br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wPWbt-Lvi1U/XtYklpwjbGI/AAAAAAAAEls/ofdlCSZwkLoRukP5UeOau0ajkXMMp8cQwCLcBGAsYHQ/s602/Nik1.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="602" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wPWbt-Lvi1U/XtYklpwjbGI/AAAAAAAAEls/ofdlCSZwkLoRukP5UeOau0ajkXMMp8cQwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h225/Nik1.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click on the graphic for a better view<br /><i><span style="color: red;">A one-on-one session in which teacher and student negotiate a learning plan. <br />A de-centred approach allows for time gains, a broader spread of teacher attention and arguably, better outcomes for all.</span></i><br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><br /></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;">The attendant problems associated with the distribution, collection and correcting of print based materials during that period - as well as the issue of many teachers not knowing how to facilitate an effective virtual class, was on my mind. I did, however, see the practical side of producing sufficient materials or "workbooks" for students but knew activities had to be created that were effective and not just limited to reading comprehension and flat grammar exercises. Why wouldn't we maintain similar classroom practices and norms by including interactions through technology that were communicative, pair or group centred, that engineered potential for some joint research, sharing and review of work? What simple tools were available to allow students to continue learning together? It was not just about using new technologies but thinking carefully about the nature of tasks being set and how to include group interaction rather than the individuals being left to navigate materials alone.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;">The new situation also provided an opportunity to test other ways of teaching - not always having to be the one who is front and centre of attention but to be more dispersed orchestrating different kinds of learning structures ranging from individual one on one to formations of students planning and meeting themselves whether it be on the phone, through email, chat, WhatsApp or Zoom. </span></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjigAw9MEGt5Axb-YxP0eKwriRy2ZmKJU-n13w9vSCRQWbl6uzdXkK62RBrqLpWrLjS4JgGI6cbavxSI7pOJozg4JK2fOWL0ROql50FgkL7olrwvC2ZXp41QXtv8kaQcQZOXESjJagc6Fa75EwXCLwF-YiN94Qei1nzgtVuXpsmoouuNwHer5hwyb3g/s1193/sesame_ice.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="685" data-original-width="1193" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjigAw9MEGt5Axb-YxP0eKwriRy2ZmKJU-n13w9vSCRQWbl6uzdXkK62RBrqLpWrLjS4JgGI6cbavxSI7pOJozg4JK2fOWL0ROql50FgkL7olrwvC2ZXp41QXtv8kaQcQZOXESjJagc6Fa75EwXCLwF-YiN94Qei1nzgtVuXpsmoouuNwHer5hwyb3g/w400-h230/sesame_ice.png" width="400" /></a><br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">Click on the graphic for a better view<br /><i><span style="color: red;">This is video snippet gives some idea of how I typically designed activities using Google Docs to which students could be assigned to work together on a common project or task. The activity being discussed is one in which the paired students work individually and together on parts of a challenge - in this case, locating and finding out about the teacher's favourite icecream. They need to describe it, find out where it is produced, where it is available and how to get to the supermarket where it is sold. (The range of transferable language and technology skills here are fairly obvious). <br /><br />The students also have a further opportunity to talk about their answers and the set tasks as a whole group in a second ZOOM class scheduled for later that week. So you can see that the material is covered in a variety of ways, with a range of skills being developed and many inputs being included from across the class over the week. The video also provides the students with points of comparison between their answers, those of the teacher and other answers from other workbooks the teacher might share with the class in the video (or in ZOOM later on). <br /><br />It also provides precious time gains for the teacher, convenience and <br />structure for students as they work individually and collaboratively.<br /><br /></span></i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"><i>View some of the video at: <a href="https://youtu.be/aB4s8HzM0y4">https://youtu.be/aB4s8HzM0y4</a></i></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;">The results I am still getting from students, their satisfaction with the flexibility and variety it provides got me thinking how my teaching might look in the longer term. </span></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">What I asked myself then as Covid restrictions eased and students started returning to f-2-f classes in limited numbers was "why would we now jettison the changes and gains made during the worst of the pandemic?" Did a return to the bricks and mortar classroom mean abandoning more flexible ways of working? Why would you give up the possibilities that online learning provides - even if you are primarily operating out of the face to face classroom?</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;">Is actual attendance always the best option for those who might also work, live remotely, have limited transport options, have disabilities or struggle with illness, have complex family and caring arrangements? There are those who can attend some days but not others. </span>Of course there are very real advantages to be gained in attending an actual class and there are activities and personal interactions that cannot be easily replicated virtually. But why can’t we work and develop pedagogy somewhere in the middle? Why can't we design an approach that caters to variety of complex, adult needs and circumstances?</p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"><b>A Hybrid Approach </b></span></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">There was a brief period in 2021 when f-2-f classes were able to return for one day a week. </span></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">Two other days of class were conducted online. </span></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">In that time I found myself wanting to use the f-2-f time we had together as best we could for certain activities but not de-couple the learning from the types of communicative online activities that were working so well. I also anticipated that some students would not want to attend or could not attend due to COVID-19 (10 of the 15 students I taught in that time fell sick) so how could I cater in these complicated circumstances? </span></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGh_Ldd63fLEUk37cDC3OMMWeI5UxZBvh8iiy9oO_RNtdQV0DxYYb8_Pq1aZqsrtGesP4KLn2zfvPwBkt0uuyBBXOGbvBoHEDC2NGfdWEIY2EeHLK2ZhgZ9CDlA9YXFhnKGbzavB2_KlEI212fS_QEQR_llVOrAdpbXKYJfw73_c8ryIPHi0BJf9IM/s895/blended_learning.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="895" data-original-width="600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGh_Ldd63fLEUk37cDC3OMMWeI5UxZBvh8iiy9oO_RNtdQV0DxYYb8_Pq1aZqsrtGesP4KLn2zfvPwBkt0uuyBBXOGbvBoHEDC2NGfdWEIY2EeHLK2ZhgZ9CDlA9YXFhnKGbzavB2_KlEI212fS_QEQR_llVOrAdpbXKYJfw73_c8ryIPHi0BJf9IM/w268-h400/blended_learning.png" width="268" /></a><br /><br />Click on the graphic for a better view</td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Continuing to access materials in the face to face classroom with a workbook of QR codes. <br />Students attending remotely were able to access the same workbook through Google Docs.<br />Activities were designed to include students attending face to face and remotely. They worked collaboratively through learning circles. Some activities were individually based and could be completed by the "absent" students in a self paced fashion.<br />The next logical step would have been to stream the class live to those attending remotely and facilitate some of the activities synchronously between the two groups. The aim was to maximize possibilities for student interaction through a rich blend of study activities and learning arrangements.</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">The students were mostly able and willing to work from home but now instead of being able to connect with others virtually, they would be be excluded for the duration of their time in quarantine. This is an obvious downside of a delivery mode that requires all students to be physically present at the same time and in the same place. If you are going to have a face to face class, students who are either sick or unable to attend physically, still need to be to attend or keep up some other way. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;">I created workbook is sent to the online students by email or WhatsApp - there are links and QRs and instructions about making contact and communicating with the teacher and other class members so the work can be completed in a similar fashion to the way it is in the "real" classroom but in a much more flexible, time friendly fashion.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;">Either way, the students were working f-2-f and online with most of the collaborative activities being designed to allow students who could not attend to plug into work groups out of hours. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;">What my model tried to achieve was a blurring of the boundaries between the f-2-f classroom and online classrooms - learning is approached from both angles no matter where the students are located and what time they have available. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;">I now realise we were moving towards a form of “Hyflex” teaching and learning which unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to continue developing.</span></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">As it turned out, the surging pandemic put an end to that brief blended experiment and the students went back to studying fully online for the rest of the year as infection numbers soared. </span></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white;">Predictably, the pivot to returning online was not a problem for them. It was simply a return to the online modes in which they were well versed. The structure and arrangements for learning were clear and well understood. The learners took up from where they left off the term before. Ironically, there was less disruption to learning for those who fell sick during the brief period in which we were able to return to class physically. </span></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The question now is could the hybrid model described above be taken that step further? Could we actually transform delivery by providing students with even greater levels of choice and access? Imagine being able to also stream to remotely located students on top of using the other strategies described. </span></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">This is the crossroads at which I now find myself but fear the almost total snap back to face to face delivery across all sectors of education will preclude the potential for further developing the hybrid model which worked for both me and my students in 2021.</span></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><b>What is Hyflex?</b></span></p><p><span color="inherit" face="arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">HyFlex is an approach which tries to combine or mix a use of modes to maximize opportunities for study. It is </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #4d5156;">a</span> form of teaching in which some students are in the classroom and others attend remotely - or both. There are different graduations and levels of synchronous and asynchronous, individual and group work as well as engagement with the teacher which takes place. By streaming the class in real time another option is added to students participating remotely. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In a recent forum, I addressed the concerns of parents of immuno-compromised children who were nervous about their kids returning to the f-2-f classroom because of escalating prevalence of Covid across the community - at the time of writing almost 40 000 cases a day!<br /><br />I commented:</span></span></p><p dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>What is disappointing right across Education - regardless of the sector - is the missed opportunity to introduce a HyFlex approach that could cater to a range of students with varying and diverse needs. By HyFlex, I mean forms of delivery which are either<br /><br />1) fully face-to-face,<br />2) part f-2-f / part online,<br />3) fully online with real time streaming to students remotely located at home or elsewhere<br />4) fully online self paced<br />5) flexible, customised variations of the above which students can move in and out of. </i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.3px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>We have the technology to roll out such a model and with some thoughtful planning and teacher PD, could revolutionise the way we deliver across the educational spectrum. But that’s not going to happen is it, with the great snap back to the tired status quo of traditional schooling? </i></span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Why are we so stuck on pushing an industrial era model of education that is largely out of date, inflexible and incapable of properly serving us at such a critical time?</i></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><i style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></i></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Imagine if we could organise these delivery variations and provide a whole range of students with genuine choice and flexibility? </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I have no doubt that the level of planning and preparation would add greatly to workload of a teacher. An issue that needs a lot of attention in itself. Hyflex also involves a investment in technology for live streaming but I think even more crucially, a very substantial upskilling of teachers. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And yet what alternatives do we really have in such uncertain times? </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The centre will not hold as far as traditional, classroom delivery is concerned. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Post Script September 2022: </b></span>Now in what some (erroneously) call the “post-pandemic” period, most students have returned to long days of face to face study. Absenteeism is rife, teachers are regularly sick themselves and at times educational programs seem to be at crisis point - right across Education. </p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">It appears, however, that inventive, flexible ways of moving forward do not actually have much traction or support. There has been a definite shift back to the classroom and almost dismissal of online delivery as a failure or at best a necessary evil or last resort in the event of a total meltdown. </p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Ironically, the health emergency exposed a great deal that was wrong with education and offered some new ways forward. My personal sense of the situation is that the opportunity to create a more responsive teaching/learning pedagogy is quickly disappearing as we move back to “normal” life and learning again. </p><p style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="MBtdbb" data-ved="2ahUKEwiMlsX3yZbzAhW1zTgGHcjCCF0Q7NUEegQIOhAD" id="exacc_yDlNYYySFbWb4-EPyIWj6AU89" jsname="rozPHf" style="background-color: white; position: absolute; visibility: inherit; width: 652px;"><div class="ymu2Hb" jsslot="" style="position: relative;"><div class="t0bRye a2qtDc r2fjmd" data-hveid="CDoQBA" data-ved="2ahUKEwiMlsX3yZbzAhW1zTgGHcjCCF0Qu04oAHoECDoQBA" id="_yDlNYYySFbWb4-EPyIWj6AU90" jsname="oQYOj" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; opacity: 1;"><div id="yDlNYYySFbWb4-EPyIWj6AU__17"><div class="wDYxhc" data-md="61" style="clear: none;"><div aria-level="3" class="LGOjhe" data-attrid="wa:/description" data-hveid="CC0QAA" role="heading" style="overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 20px;"><span class="ILfuVd NA6bn" style="line-height: 24px;"><span class="hgKElc" style="padding: 0px 8px 0px 0px;"><div class="MBtdbb" data-ved="2ahUKEwiMlsX3yZbzAhW1zTgGHcjCCF0Q7NUEegQIPxAD" id="exacc_yDlNYYySFbWb4-EPyIWj6AU95" jsname="rozPHf" style="position: absolute; visibility: inherit; width: 652px;"><div class="ymu2Hb" jsslot="" style="position: relative;"><div class="t0bRye a2qtDc r2fjmd" data-hveid="CD8QBA" data-ved="2ahUKEwiMlsX3yZbzAhW1zTgGHcjCCF0Qu04oAHoECD8QBA" id="_yDlNYYySFbWb4-EPyIWj6AU98" jsname="oQYOj" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; opacity: 1;"><div id="yDlNYYySFbWb4-EPyIWj6AU__20"><div class="wDYxhc" data-md="61" style="clear: none;"><div aria-level="3" class="LGOjhe" data-attrid="wa:/description" data-hveid="CD0QAA" role="heading" style="overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 20px;"><div class="MBtdbb" data-ved="2ahUKEwiMlsX3yZbzAhW1zTgGHcjCCF0Q7NUEegQIQBAD" id="exacc_yDlNYYySFbWb4-EPyIWj6AU97" jsname="rozPHf" style="position: absolute; visibility: inherit; width: 652px;"><div class="ymu2Hb" jsslot="" style="position: relative;"><div class="t0bRye a2qtDc r2fjmd" data-hveid="CEAQBA" data-ved="2ahUKEwiMlsX3yZbzAhW1zTgGHcjCCF0Qu04oAHoECEAQBA" id="_yDlNYYySFbWb4-EPyIWj6AU100" jsname="oQYOj" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; opacity: 1;"><div id="yDlNYYySFbWb4-EPyIWj6AU__23"><div class="wDYxhc" data-md="61" style="clear: none;"><div aria-level="3" class="LGOjhe" data-attrid="wa:/description" data-hveid="CD4QAA" role="heading" style="overflow: hidden; padding-bottom: 20px;"><span class="ILfuVd NA6bn" style="line-height: 24px;"><span class="hgKElc" style="padding: 0px 8px 0px 0px;"><div class="MBtdbb" data-ved="2ahUKEwjEjIqGy5bzAhXU7XMBHZBeAakQ7NUEegQIAhAD" id="exacc_8zpNYYTHENTbz7sPkL2FyAo6" jsname="rozPHf" style="position: absolute; visibility: inherit; width: 652px;"><div class="ymu2Hb" jsslot="" style="position: relative;"><div class="t0bRye a2qtDc r2fjmd" data-hveid="CAIQBA" data-ved="2ahUKEwjEjIqGy5bzAhXU7XMBHZBeAakQu04oAHoECAIQBA" jsname="oQYOj" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; opacity: 1;"><div id="8zpNYYTHENTbz7sPkL2FyAo__6"><div class="wDYxhc" data-md="83" style="clear: none;"><div class="di3YZe" style="line-height: 1.375; margin-bottom: 20px;"><div class="RqBzHd" style="padding: 0px 20px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: arial;"><span style="font-variant-ligatures: common-ligatures;"><em style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #4c4c4c; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="meta" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; margin: -10px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 20px; text-align: start; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1019.2px;"><br /></div></em></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-27689267681189057612021-08-16T22:10:00.002-07:002021-08-16T22:11:43.478-07:00Interview : Australian Council of Adult Literacy (June 2021)<p> </p><h4 style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: left; text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span face="Oswald, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida, sans-serif" style="color: #333333; font-weight: 500;">This interview also appeared in </span><i style="color: #333333; font-family: Oswald, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida, sans-serif; font-weight: 500;">Profiling literacy and numeracy specialists : Dale Pobega</i><span face="Oswald, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida, sans-serif" style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-weight: 500;"> (June 2021) </span></span><span face="Oswald, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida, sans-serif" style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-weight: 500;"><a href="https://acal.edu.au/profiling-literacy-and-numeracy-specialists/">https://acal.edu.au/profiling-literacy-and-numeracy-specialists/</a></span></span></span></h4><div><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span face="Oswald, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida, sans-serif" style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-weight: 500;"><br /></span></span></span></div><p><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;">How did you start your career in LN?</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-4df15e3a-7fff-1826-58f7-3a8cb4bcea90"><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I returned to Australia in 1990 after living and working overseas for most of the preceding decade. I taught English and worked in journalism and publishing mainly in Latin America. While I was completing a second degree in Melbourne I taught Adult Literacy night-classes at a local Community Centre. I knew straight away that this was the field for me as there was a very pressing demand in the community at the time for classes and a real need for dedicated teachers to work with adults. I then went to work at the Duke Street Community House in Melbourne’s West which was a very forward-thinking organisation at the time and where I taught for the next 25 years with a couple of interesting ”sabbaticals”. There was a stint with the Victorian Adult Literacy and Basic Education Council (VALBEC) in the mid-90s as editor of their journal “Fine Print” and as the writer/producer of “The World Times”, a VALBEC / Oxfam “simple-English” newspaper on development issues funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs. That work provided me with an entree into a new-fangled thing at the time called the “internet” and I immediately saw its potential for teaching and learning. I secured a position as Manager of an Online Learning Networking that operated out of the then TAFE Virtual Campus in the early 2000s. The rest is history – I continue to do work that straddles language teaching and E-learning. I currently teach EAL at Wyndham Community Education Centre for part of the week and do E-learning consultancy, teacher training and educational project work the rest of the time.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What motivates you to work in this profession?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The adult students I teach – they’re the ones who motivate and inspire me. Their struggles negotiating an increasingly complex world that demands a great deal in terms of a spoken additional language, literacy, numeracy and digital skill is very real to me. My own parents had very few opportunities to learn due to the dislocating factors associated with war, poverty, migration and disability. In my own students today I see reflections of them. That inspires me to stay where I am needed and do the best I possibly can as a teacher. I also find my work endless fascinating. There is a lot to learn about language. I’m a keen learner of languages other than English myself and have lived for a long period overseas so like my students, I have some idea what it is like to be at a linguistic and cultural disadvantage.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How have you developed your professional skills and knowledge over time?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve kept a blog (on and off) for about the last ten years dedicated to documenting my work and I think that kind of reflection is important. It helps me to focus on what I could possibly do better and moves me in new directions. Stepping back and reflecting on what works and what doesn’t is important to me. I’ve always been an active member of language and literacy communities, particularly online ones, from the early days of subscribing to mailing lists to nowadays regularly contributing to Wyndham CEC’s Digital Learning Centre. I also joined LinkdIn last year. I’ve joined a range of ALLN and E Learning groups from across the globe. I always thought LinkdIn was just a type of Facebook for Corporates in search of greener pastures – I’m surprised at how useful it has been in terms of making contacts, discovering new networks and accessing resources.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Can you describe any key points in your career that have helped shape the way you work in delivering LLN or foundation skills?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think my long engagement with technology to facilitate learning going right back to 1990 has been central to my approach. I have always incorporated some form of online learning into LLN classes. With the emergence of the Internet I immediately understood how crucial Digital literacies would become for all of us. And the pace of change in terms of key skills and literacies relating to technology shows no sign of abating. Many Adult Community providers – at least here in Victoria – were very well placed in the 90s to be leaders in the field of online and blended delivery but somehow did not manage to build upon that success – during the late 90s and early 2000s the few community based learning networks operating out of the TAFEVC were, in my opinion, the most outstanding.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s interesting that the health emergency prompted by COVID has forced us back into that online space through necessity and what I think the experience showed was that many of us were not really set up or adequately prepared to meet the challenge, though there were islands of great creativity and skill amongst some providers. I just hope we don’t drop the baton this time round and that we take the opportunity to re-think our traditional models of provision and develop some new ways of moving forward as a sector.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How do you renew your ideas and practices?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Last year I became a mentor in the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Professional Development Program (ALNPP) funded through the division of Adult Community and Further Education (ACFE). It is an ambitious program promoting ALLN practice within the preaccredited education sector and was delivered entirely online. It was interesting being the facilitator working with a range of participants – some new, many seasoned and highly skilled – who were drawn from across the field and the state. We met weekly online and worked through modules based on Theory, Frameworks, Practice and Reflection – it became a really valuable forum for learning and reassessing some of my own positions and assumptions about literacy, numeracy, teaching and learning in general. Being a facilitator or teacher always makes me realise what others can and do teach me. I’m always learning. I’m a student as much as I am a teacher.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think too that as practitioners we all need to be aware of the changing demands of our work — ie. understanding there are new things to teach adults and new ways of teaching. The Digital world with its own sets of skills and literacies, are now a very important part of what we need to know as teachers of language, literacy and numeracy more generally. Knowing the potential and limitations of technology, being open but remaining critical of these advances – while always keeping the interests of adult students struggling with language in mind – is really important.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What professional development do you value?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like everyone else I’m strapped for time. I am often too busy to attend formal, face to face PD and I actually don’t like losing time with my classes or having someone else substituting when there is so much work to cover. So the PD has to be online and preferably bite size. During the first phase of COVID using Zoom for meeting with colleagues to do required validation and moderation was very convenient and I found more tends to get done than if you meet face to face. My only regret is that a lot of PD – apart from participation in accredited course work of some kind – is not captured and recognised professionally. I’d like to see a system of micro-credentialling operating where all of the PD we do is officially recognised and becomes a part of a bigger whole that has actual currency. I also read a lot and keep abreast of developments through a range of online networks, including peak bodies like ACAL, ACTA and ALA.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How can vocational trainers prepare for LN needs in their classroom?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mmm …”vocational trainers” – what are they? I’m not sure we should consider any teaching work as being something that can stand outside its obvious connection to language, literacy and numeracy. I don’t think you can separate content from the form of presentation or technique in anything you teach. By that I mean all teachers are, in a sense, LLN teachers because how can you facilitate learning if you aren’t able to assess your students’ English language, literacy and numeracy for yourself – in effect, to know who they are and what they are capable of as learners? How can you teach any subject unless you have knowledge of LLN and the skills to break it down and support learners ? This was something I discussed at length with the participants of the recent ALNNP program I taught for ACFE. It is all about breaking down complexity, recognising the particular literacy and numeracy difficulties of individuals in your classes and hopefully not throwing up your hands when you encounter problems.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">During the first phase of COVID I was freed up to spend much more time than usual working with each student in my class on their individual learning plans. Rather than just eliciting glib responses from students about goals, challenges, needs and the like, I had a lot more time to genuinely find out about them and to assess in a meaningful way what they could and couldn’t do, to find out what their broader long term goals were and to set some tasks we could work on together – just me and that particular student. Students have particular goals and needs that have been articulated but then they are referred to LLN classes with a standardised curriculum and a standard set of assessments. It’s a systemic problem and it’s a contradiction of sorts. You wonder about issues of relevance for that individual and the time wasted – sometimes years – spent in classes where they don’t learn the particular literacies they actually need to realise those vocational goals.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Changing the current model would involve a lot more time being made available to teachers to work with individual students, many more resources – in fact, probably having more than one teacher – and it would also mean developing a more nuanced curricula approach that genuinely takes individually articulated goals, needs and facilitated learning into account. I don’t see that happening very easily, certainly not in the accredited education space.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Can you recommend a particular resource or professional reading to support vocational trainers meet these needs?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I designed a Digital Literacies Unit for my delivery of ALNPP and relied heavily on the ideas of Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis’ in the theory section. Their works “Literacies” (2016) and “E Learning Ecologies (2017)” are invaluable and have deeply resonated with me. In fact, they have established a very interesting space for learning communities on their CGScholar site </span><a href="https://cgscholar.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2ea3f2; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://cgscholar.com/</span></a><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and on their own website, “Works and Days” have linked many extra resources and companion readings to their books that are freely available. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://newlearningonline.com/kalantzis-and-cope" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2ea3f2; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://newlearningonline.com/kalantzis-and-cope</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kalantzis and Cope actually discuss the future of education and offer five theses about the ideal directions they feel school, tertiary and vocational education need to take including the most controversial thesis : #1 There will be no pedagogical differences between learning in person and learning online. It is a thesis I personally – to the surprise of some – do not accept when it comes to adult literacy and numeracy learners but is a part of a broader and timely discussion that ACAL has so bravely entered into about the advantages and disadvantages of online provision during the initial lockdown phases of COVID.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Literacies (2nd Edition) 2016</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">by Mary Kalantzis (Author), Bill Cope (Author), Eveline Chan (Author), Leanne Dalley-Trim (Author)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cambridge University Press; 2 edition (5 July 2016)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">E-Learning Ecologies: Principles for New Learning and Assessment</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">by Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis | 17 February 2017</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Routledge; 1st edition (17 February 2017)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 11pt;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #353535; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dale’s blogs</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://dalepobegateaching.blogspot.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2ea3f2; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://dalepobegateaching.blogspot.com</span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://dalepobega.blogspot.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span face=""Open Sans", sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #2ea3f2; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">https://dalepobega.blogspot.com</span></a></p><div><br /></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-37210610603876813712021-07-01T20:45:00.019-07:002021-08-16T22:14:09.244-07:00Notes on Blended Learning (1) From Online to Blended ... and back again<p><br /></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-a2d6a348-7fff-2fb8-c245-39f89b9cfca9"><span id="docs-internal-guid-cd7a69f5-7fff-6188-1ed4-e3840e620777"><div align="left" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 0pt;"></div></span></span><span id="docs-internal-guid-9e3046cd-7fff-f7ea-12d8-220267ac74e5"><div align="left" dir="ltr" style="margin-left: 0pt;"><table style="border-collapse: collapse; border: none;"><colgroup><col width="261"></col><col width="363"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height: 0pt;"><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YSF9uI7l6E4/YN6p2w6AqyI/AAAAAAAAFjs/3mXkc0lCkCwGfxMEm9S0cyypYyw6i_2bQCLcBGAsYHQ/w258-h640/Semester1_cycle.png" /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://dalepobega.blogspot.com/2021/02/term-1-2021-learning-cycle.html" target="_blank">Click here to view the outline </a></b></div></td><td style="border-bottom: solid #000000 1pt; border-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: solid #000000 1pt; border-right: solid #000000 1pt; border-style: solid; border-top: solid #000000 1pt; border-width: 1pt; overflow-wrap: break-word; overflow: hidden; padding: 5pt; vertical-align: top;"><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Approach to online / blended learning in a nutshell over Semester 1, 2021</b></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div dir="auto"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">What impressed me about my own students over this period was their ability to quickly pivot back to full online learning mode during the sudden Lockdown at the end of Term 2. </span></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think this is due to the skills they developed studying online over such a long period which have not been lost and are being maintained via the current blended learning model now being followed.</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is a simple curriculum outline with some explanation as to how classes operated during Term 1 (fully online) and then transitioned to a blended model (one day face-to-face and two days online) thereafter.</div></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-4350746992393520242021-03-04T20:50:00.011-08:002021-04-07T18:37:38.869-07:00Learning Circles - Extending Study Skills<p><i>Click on the images to get a better view</i></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1Br4Aox3-ro/YDBLGeE272I/AAAAAAAAFSs/GaX7mbieldMK5ozhcTg-Nj7-ufoGGdwQgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1719/articlescreensharing2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="988" data-original-width="1719" height="184" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1Br4Aox3-ro/YDBLGeE272I/AAAAAAAAFSs/GaX7mbieldMK5ozhcTg-Nj7-ufoGGdwQgCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h184/articlescreensharing2.jpg" width="320" /></a><br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Students in this learning circle are practising screen sharing. They have started learning to create and schedule their own Zoom get-togethers for the purpose of doing collaborative work. They are also practising their spoken English both inside and outside scheduled class times. </i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><p></p><p><br />In face to face classes we are used to dividing students into various groupings to practice drills, work together on exercises and the like and yet in ZOOM it is easy to fall back into a much more traditional and narrow model (teacher front and centre stage orchestrating all of the interactions) in a situation that is hard to effectively manage. Of course in Zoom and its video conferencing counterparts, there are break out rooms, a chat window, sometimes a whiteboard and these can be used for the purpose of facilitating small group discussion and collaboration. This is, however, not the case for all versions of these synchronous conferencing programs across operating systems and devices. The tools mentioned (breakout rooms, chat, whiteboard) are variously located across different interfaces or totally lacking, so planning and using them is problematical.</p><p>So there is a problem related to the narrowness of interactions possible with virtual "real time" meetings in which the whole class is present. What about the engagement we might like students to have with one another outside of the main group or scheduled class? </p><p>One of the strengths of online learning is supposedly its flexibility but I wonder if this is in fact the case when it comes to employing synchronous environments? At best, they serve a purpose alongside asynchronous, planned activities that come before them and after. They are an opportunity to "meet" and for participants to bond, but I wonder if we are over-estimating their actual pedagogical value?</p><p>As I mentioned, it is hard for the teacher to manage large numbers of learners in a single, virtual space. Over the last year, I have been considering how to take better advantage of environments like ZOOM by thinking outside the box of its use as a total substitute for a face-to-face class - something it can never effectively be.<br /></p><p><br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sAmey71CGOQ/YDSA1utGnxI/AAAAAAAAFTU/9ilxqfv0hGUqIbyCv_OcZUvknzBcJqsrgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Learning_Circles_2_edited.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sAmey71CGOQ/YDSA1utGnxI/AAAAAAAAFTU/9ilxqfv0hGUqIbyCv_OcZUvknzBcJqsrgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Learning_Circles_2_edited.jpeg" width="320" /></a><br /><br /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>In this Learning Circle, these students work with the teacher on an activity that was more difficult for them. I started by creating a ZOOM meeting for them to meet and send the link via email or text. </i><i>As their skills develop the plan is for them to learn to meet independently. In the first instance, they learn to work together through a simple exercise and to share their screens. Soon they will do this alone. </i><i>Learning Circles can fulfil a number of purposes to suit the range of language levels and digital proficiency that may exist in the same class. </i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fluHv9QdEwM/YDXbvOF_PgI/AAAAAAAAFTs/AoCczd9R_1ML6yDegJZ6CC6-oPKENh0SQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1920/Student_screensharing3_edited.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fluHv9QdEwM/YDXbvOF_PgI/AAAAAAAAFTs/AoCczd9R_1ML6yDegJZ6CC6-oPKENh0SQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Student_screensharing3_edited.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">The skills developed in Learning Circles are recycled back into the whole class meeting online. R. shares her screen with the whole class at a session in which work book exercises (completed in pairs) are being reviewed. She learned to do this in the previous week during her scheduled Learning Circle session with a limited number of classmates. What is interesting about this small grouping of students who meet socially, discuss or share homework, etc. is that it broadens learning possibilities for the whole class (17 in total). A greater range of activities can be done -- before, during and after scheduled Zoom sessions -- as students gain confidence, develop their skills and ability to work within the environment more efficiently and creatively. </span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>The Learning Circles concept came out of an earlier experiment aimed at improving the way student and teacher worked with Individual Learning Plans. I believe the virtual space provides much better opportunities for a student to work with a teacher one-on-one. <br /><br />See my article, <i><a href="https://dalepobegateaching.blogspot.com/2020/06/week-8-bringing-individual-learning.html" target="_blank">Bringing Individual Learning Plans to Life Online</a>. </i></p><p>These sessions led to setting learning goals and I found that some students had very similar goals and interests - why not pair them up? </p><p>Why not have them working together - sometimes with me, at others times together or alone? </p><p>So there has been a natural kind of evolution happening that had its roots in this one-on-one work I was doing with students earlier last year. I'm very pleased with the progress made so far. <br /><br />It will be interesting to see where this leads as students become more confident and proficient with the platform (ZOOM) as they assume the driver's seat and use it differently from the way it was presented to them as a "classroom" managed by the teacher.</p><p>There is some way to go getting all students involved and up to speed with the skills required to do this, but so far, students who started out studying online last March because of COVID are now up to the challenge.</p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-65306398620379298602021-01-03T16:35:00.027-08:002021-01-24T00:28:36.000-08:00The ALNPP and Digital Literacies 2020<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MlxudsJHI8U/X_J6YqN3HtI/AAAAAAAAFJ0/Tn_bdaB-a3Aa2QRDRN_jz-mhu1f-zvupwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1258/ALNPP.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="191" data-original-width="1258" height="61" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MlxudsJHI8U/X_J6YqN3HtI/AAAAAAAAFJ0/Tn_bdaB-a3Aa2QRDRN_jz-mhu1f-zvupwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h61/ALNPP.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br />The Adult Literacy and Numeracy Professional Development Program (ALNPP) is a course for those working in preaccredited education across the state of Victoria, Australia, through the division of Adult Community and Further Education (ACFE). </p><p>For 10 weeks at the height of Victoria's lock-downs (August to November) participants from across the state met and worked through a wide range of topics across four broad areas - Theory, Practice, Frameworks, Reflection, Resources.</p><p><b>Digital Literacies</b></p><p>The development of a fifth major area for investigation - Digital Literacies - was an addition to the course I delivered for Wyndham Community Education Centre.</p><p>As the Australian Council of Adult Literacy (ACAL) has recently stated<br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;"><i><span><span face="Open Sans, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #353535;">Digital skills are increasingly being discussed and incorporated into programs and funding models. ACAL has started a conversation around whether digital literacy is different to digital skills/ the mechanics of using technologies. We are suggesting that digital literacy is the interaction between literacy and numeracy practices within/in technological contexts – digital literacies.</span><br /><br /><span face="Open Sans, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #353535;"><a href="https://acal.edu.au/toward-a-definition-of-digital-literacy/">https://acal.edu.au/toward-a-definition-of-digital-literacy/</a></span></span></i></span></p><p>The ACAL definition seems a bit arcane to me but (I think) basically posits the idea that "Digital Skills" are the mechanics and "Digital Literacies" are the contexts in which communication using those technologies takes place. I think of the difference in terms of the types of "knowing" the French distinguish. Digital Skills are a kind of "savoir" = "how to do" and Digital Literacies are more akin to "connaître" = a kind of "deeper knowing" or more nuanced acquaintance. In this case it would involve understanding not only how to use a technology, platform or tool in the mechanical sense but understanding when it is best used, for, by or between whom and why you would use it.<br /><br />There is a good discussion of the distinction <a href="https://medium.com/@amandabaptiste_61605/digital-skills-vs-digital-literacy-bee3269f706a#:~:text=The%20difference%20has%20been%20explained,1).&text=It%20seems%20that%20digital%20skills,focused%20on%2C%20especially%20in%20classrooms." target="_blank">here.</a></p><p>It was precisely the exploration of this intersection between "digital skills" and "digital literacies" that I was keen to explore with the group.</p><p>The approach taken involved an exploration of theory and practice specifically in relation to:<br /><br />*Critical analysis of Kalantzis and Cope's <i>Five Theses on the Future of Learning</i>;</p><p>*Critical analysis around the practicalities of migrating f-2-f classes into various online environments;</p><p>*Critical consideration of the Digital Literacy Skills Framework (DLSF).</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-46-ds6dkaQE/X_J7VnHp9-I/AAAAAAAAFJ8/t3R0fpDTqaYvjfovQDukUeBaHccBZN8ZgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1609/ALNPP%2BDigital%2BLiteracies.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="966" data-original-width="1609" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-46-ds6dkaQE/X_J7VnHp9-I/AAAAAAAAFJ8/t3R0fpDTqaYvjfovQDukUeBaHccBZN8ZgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h240/ALNPP%2BDigital%2BLiteracies.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><span><br /></span></p><p><span><br /></span></p><p><span><br /></span></p><p><span><br /></span></p><p><span><br /></span></p><p><span><br /></span></p><p><span>Access the Digital Literacies Unit website here :</span></p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-6608afb1-7fff-c126-8ead-676d87eb4368"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://sites.google.com/view/alnppdigitalliteracies/home" style="text-decoration-line: none;">https://sites.google.com/view/alnppdigitalliteracies/home</a></span></span></p><p><br /><b>Other Delivery Components</b><br /><br />The course delivery also included these extra components :<br /><br />*a supportive orientation stage consisting of a video guide, printed manual and tutorials for those new to to online conferencing;</p>
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="157" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/J583Z95d4NQ" width="280"></iframe>
<p>*a rigorous communication strategy directing participants to readings, discussions , recordings, and resources before, during and after weekly conferences;</p><p>*a private archive of conference session recordings for for those who could not attend a particular session and subsequent reference, research and review;</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AdWxM__ssH8/X_J9U5_Bv8I/AAAAAAAAFKI/wTf_7bSvZkQyhoWirbEBU_BjpRx780x_ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1581/archive.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="1581" height="78" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AdWxM__ssH8/X_J9U5_Bv8I/AAAAAAAAFKI/wTf_7bSvZkQyhoWirbEBU_BjpRx780x_ACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h78/archive.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>*a program of "guest participants" (experts in a particular field) who would attend and participant in group discussion, leave a posting and other resources for the group to bounce ideas off. Many of the participants themselves also volunteered to do "mini-presentations" on aspects of the course which they felt they had particular expertise.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vPMF5fFamzE/X_J-cMSNT7I/AAAAAAAAFKQ/XDUYFesS24EJVE6Ros5gpxoogEgkS78IACLcBGAsYHQ/s862/McCormack.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="449" data-original-width="862" height="209" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vPMF5fFamzE/X_J-cMSNT7I/AAAAAAAAFKQ/XDUYFesS24EJVE6Ros5gpxoogEgkS78IACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h209/McCormack.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /><br /><b><br /></b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b><br />Feedback </b></p><p><br />There was a great deal of feedback collected. It was overwhelmingly positive and reinforces my impression that teachers, not only in the fields of adult literacy, numeracy and language education, but much more generally, are looking for opportunities to extend the range of their practice. Once they are presented with examples of what can be done online, they seem keen to forge ahead. </p><p>As one participant put it ...<br /><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; white-space: pre-wrap;">
</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; white-space: pre-wrap;">The introduction of Digital Literacy to the ACSF and how it will affect our approach was magnified in this time of Covid. I could not have imagined 6 months ago that this topic would have generated so much discussion within the group. I was reassured that my concerns within this space were somewhat echoed by others. However, it was not a tone of despair, it was a feeling of 'How as trainers can we do this better?' The digital literacy unit offered some answers. Why would you simply create a pdf of existing resources to deliver training? The opportunity to deliver in a whole new way that actually enhances the learning experience is within our grasp, however the learner must stay central to the decisions surrounding the development of such platforms.</span></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-83637711004773048072020-11-10T04:02:00.675-08:002021-01-03T18:08:26.443-08:00Online Learners Overnight ... the Next Step<p><i style="font-family: verdana;">This presentation was delivered on 15 October 2020 to the Learning for Employment (Lfe) consortium, Melbourne, Australia.</i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>The focus was on changes made to the model of delivery associated with migrating my own adult EAL class online from the beginning of the COVID-19 health emergency in March 2020.</i></span><i style="font-family: verdana;"> Developments and refinements to the model continue. </i></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>PS. Click on each slide for a better view. There are links to short video snippets accompanying some slides.<br /><br />PPS. the commentaries below are lecture notes - more "stream of consciousness" than crafted composition</i></span></p><p><i style="font-family: verdana;">***</i></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; font-family: "EB Garamond", serif; font-size: 16.002px; letter-spacing: 0.28px; text-size-adjust: 100%;"><i>Then e-learning comes along, and the old school seems to change. We don't have to be in the same time and space to learn. But pedagogically, things stay much the same. The cells of the timetable become the cells of the learning management system, blocks of time in the syllabus, day after day, week after relentless week. In “flipped classroom” videos, the teacher still mostly talks and the student mostly listens. The communications architecture is still one-to-many. Didactic knowledge transmission has gone online.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: EB Garamond, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; letter-spacing: 0.28px; text-size-adjust: 100%;"><i>—- Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis, ‘Five Theses on the Future of Learning’ </i></span></span><span face="Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 12.8px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><i><a href="https://tinyurl.com/y4gtpg7n">https://tinyurl.com/y4gtpg7n</a></i></span></p><p><span face="Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 12.8px; text-size-adjust: auto;">***</span></p><p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.6667px; text-size-adjust: auto; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>"Why we go back I can do all online? We working together just like in classroom, why we go </i>back?” </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 14.6667px; text-size-adjust: auto; white-space: pre-wrap;">—- <i>M., Adult ESL learner, surveyed about study preferences for 2021 in an imagined COVID free situation</i></span></span></p><p><span face="Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 12.8px; text-size-adjust: auto;">***</span></p><p><i style="font-family: verdana;">Slide 1 : <b>Frontispiece /Intro</b></i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X-Id2nIzWJs/X5J6LhUiVKI/AAAAAAAAFAg/v6WJ4QycUT8RZKTDKOIa9OjcvsXRf8HlQCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X-Id2nIzWJs/X5J6LhUiVKI/AAAAAAAAFAg/v6WJ4QycUT8RZKTDKOIa9OjcvsXRf8HlQCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h180/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">...Even if COVID went away tomorrow, isn't it time to reconsider the traditional teaching set up that has been with us for the better part of a century now? How useful, flexible and satisfying is traditional classroom delivery for busy adults who are also searching for work and have a range of other responsibilities and issues? As the astonished disbelief of my student, M., demonstrates, not all adult learners are so keen to get back to the traditional bricks and mortar classroom as many would assume.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Shouldn’t we be taking the opportunity of this period to reform the system? Students need to start genuinely owning and managing some of their own learning and teachers need to start developing a range of skills to help them (and themselves) adapt to online and blended environments that are going to be with us into the foreseeable future.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Hopefully this presentation can provide some pointers.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--mw2kTZAIok/X5J8q4wh0VI/AAAAAAAAFAs/NGSDOcO728QrLx2F51_zBqah7W3AegnGwCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--mw2kTZAIok/X5J8q4wh0VI/AAAAAAAAFAs/NGSDOcO728QrLx2F51_zBqah7W3AegnGwCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h180/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a><div style="text-align: left;">Slide 3: <b>Changing direction </b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">My initial model was influenced by the belief we would be returning to the classroom within a few weeks! Little did I know it would be most of 2020 ... and who knows what the future holds?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Let’s take the use of print based workbooks during the first lockdown phase. While others rushed to produce them and struggled to distribute and collect them I had serious doubts about the whole strategy.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The logistics of their delivery, retrieval and correction are very problematical.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">1) When exactly do the workbooks reach the student and get returned to the teacher - either through arrangements for pick up and drop off, or the postal service? Both systems became progressively problematical during the restrictions as direct personal contact between students and centres was cut due to OH&S considerations. It was also costly, risky and slow asking students to make use of the postal service to return photocopied work.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">2) Aren’t there issues around “correcting” work in any case? Is corrected student work really revised by the student when it is returned? In my experience the answer is usually "no” so just like “homework” which has limited value in most cases, this exchange is essentially a time wasting exercise for both parties. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Or was it just a way of proving work had been set, done and returned to please management, funding bodies and the like regardless of whether learning was actually taking place?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">All of this went against the rich collaborative work and communication amongst students we normally facilitate in class. I was determined to involve the students themselves in working together and reviewing their work amongst themselves - and not just have me receiving homework to tick and return.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Sure, there is a role for the teacher - but the time for direct review of student work and progress by the teacher is better spent with the student face to face whether it is actual or virtual - see my discussion about online mini-lessons with students below)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Multiple dialogues and lots of group interaction are key. Learners should not be confined by the narrow one-to-many teaching approach : this transmission model is amplified in an online situation with studying online becoming a very lonely place for students stuck at home.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">My approach attempts to encourage pair and group work, to build relationships and communication between students. <br /><br />My “workbook” is really an "anti-workbook" of sorts - it is more an occasion for setting up situations for inter-student communication and collaboration rather than focusing on content which the individual consumes in isolation from others. It should be a jumping off point for actual practice in the macro skills rather than a lonely and tedious form of busy work.</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4aXlXjncSjo/X5J87iW14KI/AAAAAAAAFA0/qoqxNIhNCs4KCwjqg30_rVichzYy5iSLwCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%25282%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4aXlXjncSjo/X5J87iW14KI/AAAAAAAAFA0/qoqxNIhNCs4KCwjqg30_rVichzYy5iSLwCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h180/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0097a7; font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6_c1kkSbAo" style="text-decoration-line: none;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6_c1kkSbAo</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Slide 4: <b>More points of communication</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">The first version of my workbooks were also focused heavily on content (as the slide above illustrates) although each activity had some ‘talk’ engineered around them. Students used the phone and later video chat to talk about their answers with one another but more you interaction was needed.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Something interesting started happening almost of its own accord during that first phase - the students themselves were restless for more interactivity and began photographing and sending the work by email and SMS to me on their own volition. I also noticed that a few were starting to use video chat clients and the like to communicate and socialise with one another.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Overall the work returns were actually patchy and only the most technologically savvy or best supported students were reliable. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">There was a downside to these electronic returns - a huge increase in collecting, correcting, responding and filing it at all hours throughout the week - in fact, it became overwhelming.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">In response to these developments and challenges I started to reconfigure my workbook, reducing the amount of content and setting up more points of communication (by phone, video chat, and later, Zoom) with each activity I designed. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">The workbook was in PDF - a huge advantage over its paper-based counterpart as it could be reliably and quickly distributed by email without delay. But it occurred to me that these efficiencies afforded by the technology could be better (See Google Docs discussion below as an instant channel for distribution and interaction)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8S7rMCmJTr0/X5KSsFtC2aI/AAAAAAAAFBA/4Ypc5wcyk_A2yW5g7v9FX6aDcRMQd0tbQCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%25283%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8S7rMCmJTr0/X5KSsFtC2aI/AAAAAAAAFBA/4Ypc5wcyk_A2yW5g7v9FX6aDcRMQd0tbQCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h180/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%25283%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br />Slide 5: <b>Towards plasticity </b><br /><br />Imagine, a workbook which could ....</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>be delivered to the students instantly;</li><li>be completed and corrected effortlessly;</li><li>be a document in which a range of other media, links and resources could easily be embedded;</li><li>be shared with more than one student with strategies developed to get them working together and communicating with one another.</li></ul>Imagine a workbook that did not require printing or returning;<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>that could be read on any device and require no installation of software;</li><li>that is not just a workbook but more of an environment in which students and the teacher "meet" to share, edit and comment on each others'work;</li><li>that is linked to a series of cloned copies that can be shared and be moved between by the teacher and even other students;</li><li>that is totally free. </li></ul></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">That workbook is already potentially available in the form of Google Docs.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G--cUMHpatI/X5KTUAzhGII/AAAAAAAAFBI/Fhn5zz6nBcMYWqqtJC17bJS4fnXS7_SnwCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%25284%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G--cUMHpatI/X5KTUAzhGII/AAAAAAAAFBI/Fhn5zz6nBcMYWqqtJC17bJS4fnXS7_SnwCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h180/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%25284%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Slide 6: <b>Interconnected Activities</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">The reformed learning cycle aimed to be like the dynamic structure of an Ecosystem rather than be an inert, management system. A learning cycle in which the parts flow into one another and work together (activities in the workbook prompt communication between students who must work together to complete it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"> The workbook prefigures extension activities done in Zoom or followed up on discussion boards or through quizzes ... and a range of other platforms / use of apps --- and these in turn, flow into others and this worked well, as long as there are not too many difficult layers for learners to navigate (multiple logins, difficult interfaces, etc) </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">*Supportive use of "low-tech" (phone!) to support activities and encourage peer interaction</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">*More time can be carved out during the week for short one-on-one sessions with the teacher. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Time to review and check on students individually is important so a key "affordance" of online delivery is that there is time and space for this to happen, unlike the classroom, in which the group is pushed along a certain path together and assessed at the end of the cycle regardless of whether they are ready or not.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NsSfrsPPgEw/X5KTvnXsTGI/AAAAAAAAFBQ/dlFRvtoQ9EwSK0XkO-2ePN9qzMXPzr-mwCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%25285%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NsSfrsPPgEw/X5KTvnXsTGI/AAAAAAAAFBQ/dlFRvtoQ9EwSK0XkO-2ePN9qzMXPzr-mwCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h180/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%25285%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Slide 7: <b>Google Docs</b> <b>as a communicative learning environment </b><br /><br />Google docs can be used as an environment or location in which work is done collaboratively with interactions between students and teacher almost being synchronous.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">The workbook can be stand alone and self paced to a degree - it can be downloaded and worked on offline whenever a student chooses. However, it was the potential for devising “real time”, “plastic” virtual structures for collaboration and direct communication between students that most interested me.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">I developed a range of workbook types : individual workbooks and assessment booklets, pair work and larger group workbooks. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">The latter types prompt the teacher to think about activities in terms of interaction not just content to be consumed and completed by each students individually.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Using Google Docs as the workbook medium, they can actually be released simultaneously. If all students are logged on and have their workbooks open, the teacher can literally line them up across her screen and jump between each workbook, correcting, commenting and observing as students work in pairs or teams. Imagine being able to talk to the student while she and her partner work together - not possible as yet </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">For now the teacher can enter into a “chat” dialogue with the student(s) in the margins with the workbook using the Comments tool.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Google Docs can also be used as a good channel for written assessment - When an assessment task or booklet is completed in Docs it can be instantly converted to PDF and be sent to the assessor via that student's unique email address thus providing a certain level of reliability as regards authentic authorship.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">The 2 step verification process which is required to take out a Google account helps to verify the identity of the student - it is almost as good as an electronic signature, and cannot be easily exploited.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0Dep8GwzGmU/X5KUFdB9GeI/AAAAAAAAFBc/_OCnekRL0P8byuqnvxZKzrm3_BvuPWdpQCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%25286%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0Dep8GwzGmU/X5KUFdB9GeI/AAAAAAAAFBc/_OCnekRL0P8byuqnvxZKzrm3_BvuPWdpQCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h180/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%25286%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Slide 8: <b>Three types of Google Docs workbook</b><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">As stated above, I have designed three types of "workbook" </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">1) individual (mainly for assessment);</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">2) pair workbook - students working collaboratively on information gap type activities - incorporate use of phone and video chat into pair activities - use as a base for group activities in Zoom ; </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">3) Group Workbook - students working on larger projects of 3,4 or more. There is no reason you could not design a single class workbook in which everyone works on the same page (something I am experimenting with now) with the smart use of designated tables.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yqdTb2AiJH4/X5KUjestm5I/AAAAAAAAFBk/ySa1n5qz1EoNBVzjMqz7f9DdjlNel152ACLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%25287%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yqdTb2AiJH4/X5KUjestm5I/AAAAAAAAFBk/ySa1n5qz1EoNBVzjMqz7f9DdjlNel152ACLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h180/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%25287%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Slide 9: <b>Mini-lessons as a more effective mechanism for teacher review and observation of student work</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">By scheduling a day in which students generally work together on a combined project in preparation for an online, whole class conference, time can be carved out for individual sessions with students. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">This is something not afforded the teacher and student in the traditional, time bound, face to face classroom in which every student is more or less pushed through the same program at the same time, in the same place and at the same pace! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">These mini-lessons or reviews evolved out of my individual work with students <a href="https://dalepobegateaching.blogspot.com/2020/06/week-8-bringing-individual-learning.html" target="_blank">negotiating and overseeing learning plans which you can read about here</a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uOoMYDVjB9c/X5KVKhMYpQI/AAAAAAAAFBs/lDGguX2u7_AeDR0kLXdHt1vm86RSZUtxwCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%25288%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uOoMYDVjB9c/X5KVKhMYpQI/AAAAAAAAFBs/lDGguX2u7_AeDR0kLXdHt1vm86RSZUtxwCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h180/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%25288%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Slide 10: <b>Zoom Classes - beware the danger of allowing it to become a totalising classroom surrogate</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Two scheduled Zoom meetings (1.5 hours Monday afternoon - picks up on activities collaboratively done by pairs or groups on Monday morning through the Shared Google Doc workbook. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">2 hours on Wednesday - consolidates/extends work done on Tuesday in pairs or groups and shared through the Google Doc Workbook.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Zoom should not be used like some kind of “nanny-cam” - it is being used as such in many programs as a substitute for f-2-f classes. Again, just another way of proving the class is happening (you’ve got your students there and captive as you do in the f-2-f classroom) ...with little to show for actual learning?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">There is a danger that this use of Zoom reduces possibilities for the development of other flexible and creative strategies, use of other platforms and products. Zoom is not a classroom replacement. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">It provides an opportunity for some whole class socialisation, some role play through breakout rooms, some review through Sharing - but that’s about it. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">It has its use as a virtual place to meet but the more I think about it, the more I am starting to think we need to move away from its application as a totalising “classroom surrogate” and start teaching students to use it to convene their own meetings? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">*Why not teach students to use Zoom as a convenient recording tool for their own presentations, role plays etc? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">*Why not re-purpose it as a tool for student initiated collaboration rather than always using it to ape the outdated practices of the traditional classroom environment? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Zoom needs to be used sparingly and amongst other tools and strategies so a productive and flexible balance is struck.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s12rUKOGkrU/X5KVzR7jrMI/AAAAAAAAFB4/vOUKMFholJgXQFEY3B42NepWmxFv-UrYgCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%25289%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s12rUKOGkrU/X5KVzR7jrMI/AAAAAAAAFB4/vOUKMFholJgXQFEY3B42NepWmxFv-UrYgCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h180/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%25289%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a><br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><a href="https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cY6D197ZBT" style="font-family: Tinos; text-align: start;" target="_blank">https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cY6D197ZBT </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tinos; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Slide 11: <b>"Correction" and Review revisited - video use / mini-lessons</b><br /><br />Correction and review videos - short screencasts produced by the teacher which allow students to review activities in their own time. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Why not use synchronous environments productively/creatively rather than a teacher led opportunity for dry, lock step correction of exercises dished out to students via workbooks? </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Yet again, another mechanism in which we see platforms like Zoom being used to replicate the worst of the traditional classroom in online learning environments. One on one mini-lessons can be used as an opportunity for students to ask questions about aspects of set work they do not understand. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">Better still, why not use peer review incorporated into activities themselves as another strategy for review and correction?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lyrf3Vdz7TA/X5KXdX-THRI/AAAAAAAAFCE/EC3nAkP4LrsLTR-aETqpa6plSb-U7cD6gCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%252810%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lyrf3Vdz7TA/X5KXdX-THRI/AAAAAAAAFCE/EC3nAkP4LrsLTR-aETqpa6plSb-U7cD6gCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h180/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%252810%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tinos; text-align: start;"><a href="https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cY6lcJKRww">https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cY6lcJKRww</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;">12. <b>Links, readings, reviews ...</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ep9pt6oW838/X5KYKKA6OZI/AAAAAAAAFCM/tLlEkx9wWvUJjIeTIjm7ezdSCr1mlFBRgCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%252811%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="180" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ep9pt6oW838/X5KYKKA6OZI/AAAAAAAAFCM/tLlEkx9wWvUJjIeTIjm7ezdSCr1mlFBRgCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h180/Djerrawarrh%2BPresentation%2B15%2BOct%2B2020%2B%252811%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tinos; text-align: start;"><a href="goog_2088053718" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/AbDYDiXbanQ</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tinos; text-align: start;"><a href="goog_2088053718"><br /></a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tinos; text-align: start;"><a href="https://tinyurl.com/y4xxk664">https://tinyurl.com/y4xxk664</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tinos; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tinos; text-align: start;"><a href="https://www.ibteachershub.site/2020/05/my-mantra-leave-no-one-behind.html" target="_blank">https://www.ibteachershub.site/2020/05/my-mantra-leave-no-one-behind.html</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tinos; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tinos; text-align: start;"><a href="https://tinyurl.com/y6s9kje8" target="_blank">https://tinyurl.com/y6s9kje8</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tinos; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tinos; text-align: start;"><a href="https://dalepobega.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">https://dalepobega.blogspot.com/</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tinos; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tinos; text-align: start;"><a href="https://dalepobegateaching.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">https://dalepobegateaching.blogspot.com/</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tinos; text-align: start;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Tinos; text-align: start;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1145556932248422" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/groups/1145556932248422</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: verdana; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"> Kalantzis and Cope : <a href="https://newlearningonline.com/e-learning">https://newlearningonline.com/e-learning</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><p style="font-family: -webkit-standard; text-align: left;"><i style="font-family: verdana;">Disclaimer: the views expressed and approaches taken are my own and not necessarily those of any organisation for which I work or am contracted.</i></p><div><i style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></i></div></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-58200168558973559342020-08-29T00:18:00.190-07:002021-01-03T18:06:03.964-08:00Adult Learners Week 2020. “The World is Crazy Time” : Adult Learners Speak For Themselves About Studying Online<p><br /></p><p><i><span style="color: red;">A shorter version of this article was published in the Victorian Adult Literacy and Basic Education Council's journal, "Fine Print", November, 2020</span></i></p><p><i>***</i></p><p>Why is it assumed that older learners with very basic digital, language and literacy skills are incapable of studying online?</p><p> "They can barely organise a folder of work let alone use technology", someone at a webinar I recently attended stated with dismissive certainty. "We really need to get back to the classroom."<br /><br />How jarring that pronouncement seemed to me when I compare it to the experience of my own ACSF Foundation level 2 learners who for 17 weeks now have been adapting well to the online environment. It was revealed in the course of that webinar, by the way, that those learners unable to organise a folder were working at Foundation Level 3 - draw your own conclusions).</p><p>Moreover, it is frustrating for those of us who have always integrated technology and the teaching of digital literacies into our practice that we are still being confronted by resistance. There is an obvious and timely need to initiate adult basic education students into ways of learning mediated by technology. These skills and literacies - that first step of learning to operate in a digital world - are those increasingly required in the workforce as well as other domains of social and civic life.</p><p>Throughout this posting I want you to hear the voices of my adult learners. I want you to read what they have to say about the migration of their class online, their own experiences, challenges, discoveries, fears and preferences. </p><p>These surveys were conducted at the end of June after ten straight weeks of their learning online from home. I have already documented the very basic face to face training the students received in Term 1 prior to the periods of restriction. I have also documented the evolving strategies and approach I have taken to initiating the students online elsewhere. (Scroll down through earlier postings for more).<br /><br />The surveys are a part of the students' Individual Learning Plan Reviews. The reviews were conducted using a Google Docs template which was cloned for each individual student, thus allowing me to comment and elicit further information in near "real-time" conditions as they worked on the doc through a typical school day. </p><p>My questions in <b>bold</b>, verbatim student responses in <span style="color: red;"><b>red </b></span>...</p><p>(Click on each Survey to enlarge for better reading)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AD14CQrHvlc/X0nfCXAsGNI/AAAAAAAAE2E/f01zBNB3MC83WdfHyRaTF3hjU2YN9qbtwCLcBGAsYHQ/s830/survey1.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="830" data-original-width="798" height="410" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AD14CQrHvlc/X0nfCXAsGNI/AAAAAAAAE2E/f01zBNB3MC83WdfHyRaTF3hjU2YN9qbtwCLcBGAsYHQ/w394-h410/survey1.png" width="394" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Observations: </b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This student understands that working online can potentially provide a better mechanism and time for review than it normally would in a classroom setting.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">She refers to assistance sought and negotiated in the set up phase which improves her ability to work with others.<br /><br />The student refers to her own emerging capacity for problem solving ..."If I don't understand I look and look again and I work out myself. My learning better" <br /><br />The student is appreciative of the time savings she has to dedicate to study alongside other daily responsibilities ..."If I go to school with my daughter I have to wait 50 minutes to pick me up Travel is a problem. Not online."</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eXKnDyg5vYw/X0nlvcANyDI/AAAAAAAAE2Q/aH4mgRBdPN0aGfNRNec1uwS8q1XpZ03mgCLcBGAsYHQ/s927/survey2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="927" data-original-width="815" height="410" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eXKnDyg5vYw/X0nlvcANyDI/AAAAAAAAE2Q/aH4mgRBdPN0aGfNRNec1uwS8q1XpZ03mgCLcBGAsYHQ/w360-h410/survey2.png" width="360" /></a></div><br /><p><b>Observations: </b></p><p>The student is aware of the advantages online study affords her because it is flexible ..."I can housework and study at the same time."<br /><br />The student recognises the power, plasticity and immediacy of the tools she is using online to learn ..." Google docs, Video Rooms and Google Video [YouTube] too. I liked Google Docs because I can do anything in that and send it straight away to my teacher. It was very fast."</p><p>The student does, however, feel (at this point at least) that activities involving speaking and listening are better suited to the classroom, whereas reading, writing and grammar are better learnt online.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uj_2Y_zw7i4/X0nqn3cpZqI/AAAAAAAAE2c/LCTVPIWz8RovGLPOQjHxoMMgAmI8s4m7wCLcBGAsYHQ/s932/Survey3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="932" data-original-width="856" height="410" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uj_2Y_zw7i4/X0nqn3cpZqI/AAAAAAAAE2c/LCTVPIWz8RovGLPOQjHxoMMgAmI8s4m7wCLcBGAsYHQ/w376-h410/Survey3.png" width="376" /></a></div><br /><p><b>Observations:</b></p><p>The student expresses her frustrations learning online at home where she has to share a laptop with other family members during the lock down ..."At first I was finding it hard. Because everyone home at the same time ... I [wish] I have my own laptop."</p><p>The student is becoming more organised as an online student, she is managing her learning better .."I learn to check email and follow lesson every day. So much and you have to keep an eye on it."</p><p>The student misses her classmates and teacher but is developing an appreciation that social contact can still be made and sustained through synchronous online means ..."I miss my friend in class but maybe we meet again. Sometime i talk with my class friend in video chat and you too. That's nice."</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T5ttfnkRsj0/X0nvH6nOAhI/AAAAAAAAE2o/oB4mElZQ6wIxYWwzi6Jj84RfCh7i0xsCACLcBGAsYHQ/s828/survey4.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="713" data-original-width="828" height="353" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T5ttfnkRsj0/X0nvH6nOAhI/AAAAAAAAE2o/oB4mElZQ6wIxYWwzi6Jj84RfCh7i0xsCACLcBGAsYHQ/w410-h353/survey4.png" width="410" /></a></div><b>Observations:</b><div><b><br /></b></div><div>This student was slow to start and initially found the experience of going online overwhelming. He refers to the difficulty of studying with just a mobile phone (I refer to this at greater length in my previous posting). At a certain point he was able to get access to a computer and a friend helped him to set up. Arranging to get access to a computer and connecting to the internet must have been difficult (and I suspect expensive for him) considering restrictions, his material situation and limited ability to speak English. By the end of the term, however, his skills had developed substantially. The student would prefer to go back to class but points out that he "learned a lot and can do so much with computer now. IT was good experience."</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rCbjpTKz_8w/X0ny4pORIzI/AAAAAAAAE20/pX3Cad4C6ZIdKrm7BIu8d1AZQD2vbYI2ACLcBGAsYHQ/s830/Survey5.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="751" data-original-width="830" height="370" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rCbjpTKz_8w/X0ny4pORIzI/AAAAAAAAE20/pX3Cad4C6ZIdKrm7BIu8d1AZQD2vbYI2ACLcBGAsYHQ/w410-h370/Survey5.png" width="410" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: left;"><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: left;"><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: left;"> </b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Observations:</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here is a student who would prefer to go back to the classroom. What I notice in his response is a desire for connection, something he feels is missing by not being able to come to school and learn amongst friends. This student is the youngest in the class and lives alone. I am sad that there was not much I could do to help him sort his problems ... "No one helping me at home." </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I later discovered that like the other (male) student above, this student still only has a mobile to work from. He liked the Video Chat and he and I used this a lot to communicate throughout the term because I knew he needed extra contact and attention. Interestingly, he liked the assessments - unlike most of the other students! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2lnF7bwH_w4/X0n1Fdj4NUI/AAAAAAAAE3A/fxEk5qYynicKniXmgP9NDNXwfUMgWuPgQCLcBGAsYHQ/s846/Survey6.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="846" data-original-width="833" height="410" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2lnF7bwH_w4/X0n1Fdj4NUI/AAAAAAAAE3A/fxEk5qYynicKniXmgP9NDNXwfUMgWuPgQCLcBGAsYHQ/w403-h410/Survey6.png" width="403" /></a></div><b><div><b><br /></b></div>Observations:</b><div><b><br /></b></div><div>The student is receptive to and appreciative of the frequent teacher communication required to keep up class enthusiasm and to keep learners on track while being mindful of the need to always be patient and kind :-) in such stressful times.</div><div><br /></div><div>Again, there is mention of kids being used as a resource and support to learning ..."practising with me" </div><div><br /></div><div>This student likes both the classroom and studying online and it occurs to me that most students are capable of deciding for themselves what they think is the right balance for them when it comes to a choice between studying in a classroom, online or a blend of both. It really does depend on their individual circumstances - and yet we insist on endlessly pursuing the one size fits all arrangements of scheduled, classes in four walled classrooms. <br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2_9EtEOoIpo/X0n3wBe-KYI/AAAAAAAAE3M/LhiWGvvKVg4A51Wp_uHl7qgSOHgERju_gCLcBGAsYHQ/s880/Survey7.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="880" data-original-width="832" height="410" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2_9EtEOoIpo/X0n3wBe-KYI/AAAAAAAAE3M/LhiWGvvKVg4A51Wp_uHl7qgSOHgERju_gCLcBGAsYHQ/w387-h410/Survey7.png" width="387" /></a></div><br /><div><b>Observations:</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div>Whether in a classroom or online ..."together is the best way"<br /><br />"I had good time teacher and the world is crazy time. We are students and continue study we are lucky thank to you"<br /><br />***<br /><br /></div><div>For me, this period of teaching and learning raises some questions ...</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>What arrangements will providers make - if any - for those learners uncomfortable or unwilling to return to the classroom even when the health situation is presumed to be safe? Nearly all older and vulnerable students surveyed expressed their fear of COVID-19 and did not want to return to an unsafe situation.<br /><br /></li><li>Will providers continue to offer online study an an option to those who prefer it? <br /></li></ul></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Are traditional classrooms really the most effective, efficient or flexible learning environments? Scheduling long days of instruction - often 6 hours a day for the most of the week - is a huge imposition on the time of adult students also searching for work and having a range of other responsibilities such as families to attend to. <br /><br /></li><li>Does this questionable use of time in which most of the day is dedicated to attendance make for better quality learning? What are its impacts on quality teaching practice? Would some of this time be better spent planning lessons and following student progress? Would some of the time be better spent by students completing work at home instead of struggling through a long day and returning home exhausted?</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>How prepared and willing would providers be to continue online delivery for adult basic education and EAL students? I suspect this could be a very marketable and strategic point of difference for those who can - there would definitely be a demand. The question of whether most providers have staff equal to the challenge of providing the service, are sufficiently capable or willing to change administrative and management practices to the degree that is required, is another question.</li></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>How prepared and willing are funding bodies to facilitate new arrangements and ways of delivering? This too would entail a revolution in thinking about models of provision, compliance, administration and management.</li></ul></div><div>The world certainly “is crazy time” and I think there is a heavy responsibility weighing on all of us in the field to ensure our adult learners continue to receive an uninterrupted, quality education. That this education may need to be delivered differently should not be considered an impediment. </div><div><br /></div><div>The sample survey returns convince me the way forward is not too hard and that students themselves are looking for more flexible, convenient and relevant ways to learn in any case. </div><div><br /></div><div>Reading back over the students' reflections I feel deeply moved. It has been - and continues to be for me as a teacher - a long, hard slog where things in the virtual classroom sometimes go wrong, just as they do in the bricks and mortar classroom, but mostly go right. There is a lot more work required at the level of preparation and assessing progress than usual and there has to be an enthusiasm for experimenting and developing new techniques appropriate to the varying virtual spaces in which teacher and students find themselves. But this sea change in thinking, practice and organisation is not impossible.<br /><br />I hope these student voices make an impression.</div><div><br /></div><div>These are the words of my fabulous, resilient adult learners who take their education just as seriously as you or I. I have no doubt they will continue to soar. </div><div><br /></div><div>I wonder how long it will take others involved in adult literacy and language education to catch up with them?</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><br />(Adult Learners Week 1 -5 September, 2020)</i></div><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-14236621635381564282020-08-21T23:15:00.009-07:002020-08-22T02:39:23.464-07:00Devices and Design : Improving online learning experiences for adult students with low level digital skills<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--NYO-C0grno/X0Csb7jehxI/AAAAAAAAE0w/32_c_YPqhPQm3YxcPyA-Qi6S8h9QoLb7ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1280/E77D6B71-E797-433A-AB57-82C5B399C3AE.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--NYO-C0grno/X0Csb7jehxI/AAAAAAAAE0w/32_c_YPqhPQm3YxcPyA-Qi6S8h9QoLb7ACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/E77D6B71-E797-433A-AB57-82C5B399C3AE.jpeg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A reflection for <i>Adult Learners Week 1 - 8 September </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I'm thinking 🤔 a lot about the devices my students are actually using in this period of the health emergency to participate remotely - at least 3 of my 14 only have mobiles (though luckily all Smartphones). </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This obvious ‘disadvantage’ has led me to start designing my lessons “to maximise viewing for mobile”. It’s also part of a strategy to give students with varying levels of digital competence choices in terms of the type of ‘workbook’ they wish to work in. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Nearly everyone has graduated to working through Google Docs now (I can even correct, comment and chat with them at the same time as they write!) but there is the option for anyone to either download the workbook in Word or PDF. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The PDF version is probably the best alternative for those struggling to view and work with the document through a tiny screen. It is also a basic ‘entry level’ alternative for students new to class who might be overwhelmed and are only capable at this stage of downloading and printing out. It is easily printable for those who want to write by hand, photograph the pages and return it to me by txt or email. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Some interesting observations from the end of Term 2 gleaned from my students’ learning plan review/interview sessions:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>3 of then 13 had their own dedicated devices, apart from a mobile, peripherals (printer) and had a good internet connection (predictably those performing at the top of the class);</li><li>4/13 had devices, peripherals and connectivity they had to share with other family members which limited their ability to study;</li><li>6/13 had very limited access - usually just a mobile phone and a small amount of data on often over-priced phone plans. Half of these learners also had no other family members to help or support them in setting up hardware or negotiating technological problems and challenges (they are the students typically performing at the bottom of the class - another predictable correlation).</li></ul><div>So you can see the logistical difficulties my adult learners have been working against for 16 weeks now. There have been, however, improvements and advances made. Three students from the most disadvantaged group have in the last 5 or 6 weeks either bought or got their hands on laptops or tablets and now have home internet plans. </div><div><br /></div><div>It’s the three remaining students with unchanged, resource poor situations who concern me. If there were no health emergency , if there were no lockdown or curfew, I’d be on their doorsteps. </div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">And yet there is a silver lining - or at least some personal consolation - to this dark cloud hanging over us. I would never have gained such an insight into my students’ lack of resources - in effect their material poverty - nor devised the strategies I have to ensure our class continues and actually functions better than in did in the f-2-f environment we had in Term 1, if it were not for the prolonged time afforded us to learn together online.</div><div><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-75587313010833817332020-06-26T21:30:00.024-07:002020-06-27T00:09:12.055-07:00Week 11 —- Assessment “Crisis” - Some thoughts about my approach during COVID<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ujYpS6WrMbE/XvbRnU7adBI/AAAAAAAAErU/sWxCHEtXW2U9gTeVSiaN8fN8VOwzCkoUwCK4BGAsYHg/s513/assessthumb.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ujYpS6WrMbE/XvbRnU7adBI/AAAAAAAAErU/sWxCHEtXW2U9gTeVSiaN8fN8VOwzCkoUwCK4BGAsYHg/s513/assessthumb.jpg" style="clear: left; display: inline; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="513" data-original-width="498" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ujYpS6WrMbE/XvbRnU7adBI/AAAAAAAAErU/sWxCHEtXW2U9gTeVSiaN8fN8VOwzCkoUwCK4BGAsYHg/w389-h400/assessthumb.jpg" width="389" /></a></div><p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Managing assessment remotely with language learners who are challenged by the technology is hard. Not only language but digital skills are being developed in less than ideal circumstances during the COVID-19 pandemic. There has been insufficient preparation for the students to easily engage with the media through which the assessments are being delivered. Progress is being made. I think it is observing my students develop the skills to access and return the materials, rather than the tasks themselves, which is most fascinating - and valuable. </p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.6px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">There are now ‘smart’ automated means to assess, analytics that can applied, a range of whizz bang apps and platforms potentially at a teacher’s disposal. And if only I had a software engineer as a volunteer to help me out ...my worries would be sorted.</span></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.6px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Though seriously, in this situation where crisis management is the order of the day, one has to ask how realistic it is to incorporate more interactive and automated tools from a distance with my low level learners? </span></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.6px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Like Kalantzis and Cope I dream of a day when the ability to track learner progress formatively through Artificial Intelligence and intensive data collection at each point of a learning cycle becomes common. This will be a time when summative assessment approaches will be left for dead, or at least be subsumed into an over-arching, formative assessment process. </span></p><p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"><br /></span></p><p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Put simply, those dreadful, one-off, classroom staged, paper based tests that we pretend are somehow indicative of broad skill development over time really need to go. As ‘assessments’ they actually provide us with very little information about what students know or are capable of doing.</span></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.6px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: Helvetica-Oblique; font-style: italic;">Our goal should be to make assessment integral to all learning insofar as continuous feedback would be provided and progress tracked. Assessment would then become so pervasive that it all-but disappears. Literacies are an ideal site for the development of such a seamlessly integrated learning and assessment environment. What if we move all assessment data collection into the space of learning? Then all we would ever measure is the substance of learning. There could be no need for after-the-event inferences, because what we are doing is measuring learning itself, at its source. And the more data we collect, and the more we view this data through the greatest variety of lenses, the more valid and reliable our assessments will become.</span></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.6px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: Helvetica-Oblique; font-style: italic;">From Cope, B., Kalantzis, “Technology-Mediated Writing Assessments: Paradigms and Principles.” Computers and Composition 28:79-96.</span></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.6px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">But reality intervenes. I feel I am in an odd situation with my learners who have been thrown into the online “deep end”. </span></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.6px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">For me, the approach has been to design and collect a number of varying, formative tasks which have been prepared for through research and work with others. The assessments have been returned to me across the term, I correct them, collate them and convert them into complete PDFs for each individual. I am limited by having to make reference to a range of Elements, Required Knowledge and Skills outlined in standardised tests. So there are obvious constraints and parameters to work within. I am stuck with one foot in the world of a tired traditional approach, the other online (with my head in the clouds?)</span></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.6px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">On the practical delivery level, all assessment tasks are finally transferred to a shared folder that my coordinator can access, download and process at her end.</span></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.6px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">I have to admit, my dreamy head is spinning. </span></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.6px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">It has taken me a lot of time gathering all the parts, collating and converting. (In the future all of this could be done by a bot or some form of AI - oh yes, please </span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: "apple color emoji";">😂</span><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">) but I’m stuck having to cope with this alone for the time being. </span></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.6px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">There are a range of technical challenges and I’ve brought in some ‘industrial strength’ conversion and compression software to deal with huge file types emailed or messaged to me by the students and/or their “home-schooler/helpers”. These helpers are usually their (grand)kids and this impressive collaborative work, (considering my students knew little or nothing about ways of conveying files electronically), is precisely the type of relevant, hands on learning we should be promoting.</span></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.6px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">There are also official cover sheets requiring signatures and various sections that need to be completed by the teacher that need to be integrated for compliance purposes. Pages are missing, further communication has had to occur - and that takes a lot more time to rectify than it normally would. </span></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.6px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">It should be remembered that my adult language learners do not (as yet) have the skills to work in the same way as young, tech savvy college students. </span></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.6px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">They started studying online with a single week’s notice and very limited training. At best what can be hoped for is the gradual initiation into ‘smarter’ ways of working. </span></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.6px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">What’s required is a revolution in our approach to both classroom based teaching and assessment that I believe will eventually filter down into the adult literacy, language, numeracy and basic education field.</span></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.6px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Again, I am in agreement with Cope and Kalantzis, </span></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.6px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: Helvetica-Oblique; font-style: italic;">...curricula and assessments in their traditional formats and media are in need of updating in order to make optimal use of the affordances of these digital spaces, and to create learning and assessment environments which are manifestly contemporary in the communicative options they allow.”</span></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 19.6px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></p>
<p style="color: #313131; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none; font-family: Helvetica-Oblique; font-style: italic;">(Op.cit)</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-59766886530386385552020-06-02T03:37:00.011-07:002020-06-02T07:03:06.789-07:00Week 8 —- Bringing Individual Learning Plans to Life Online<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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N. and Dale meet for a 30 minute 'mini-lesson' in which N. is interviewed by Dale who scribes and assists in prompting what his learning goals are, what resources they could use and a strategy for study that can be monitored, adjusted and documented as they go.<br /><br /></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The ‘Individual Learning Plan’ units within the EAL Frameworks curricula at all levels (Access, Employment and Further Study) are the bane of many teachers’ existence. It’s often remarked that they are impractical and at odds with the ‘packaged’ units they are taught alongside. Delivery, unavoidably, happens in the context of a group - often times a large one - so in classes all students are (rightly or wrongly) assumed to be more or less at the same level and are collectively moved through language units with clear, common goals in sight.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">In a ‘Standardised’ approach to teaching and learning, the elements for most units of language instruction are clear, envisaged outcomes are tangible, required skills are easily defined. But when it comes to those units about developing personal learning skills - it’s the ‘messy’ individual who is placed at the centre, in a position where things become a lot more difficult to nut out. How do we ascertain what the student needs or wants to learn and how does the teacher go about negotiating this within the context of as many as 20 other students with 20 other differing, individual learning plans?</span><br />
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N. talks about the cultural and language obstacles he faces - s well as his strengths and advantages - in<br />
becoming an importer of oil from India. </td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m in agreement. There is something of a contradiction between this involved process of individual goal setting, articulation, development, review and documentation and the apparent impossibly of ever actually realising it in the context of the face to face classroom where time is in short supply and other units (which are much easier to deliver to the group) nonetheless must also be taught and assessed. “It’s a joke!” is the typical response of many frustrated and struggling teachers.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">They have a point. How does the classroom teacher conceivably negotiate one-on-one, individual plans with as many as twenty students, monitor progress, review and adjust the plan while monitoring the process of all the others within the classroom context?</span><br />
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Once a course of action has been negotiated, Dale and N. meet for their next mini-lesson. N. has done some of his own research and preparation on the subject of products and importation. In this exercise N. uses the prompts to describe the procedural stages in a supply chain - from manufacture to transport, distribution and retailing of the products he dreams of importing. N. practices the use of the Passive Voice and experiments with new vocabulary and lexis he has already studied..</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">I dare say that under these conditions, the learning plans of the many are more likely to be ‘dictated’ rather than developed by the teacher at a single sitting. At best, some options can put forward to the group and individuals are encouraged to pick and chose and even copy those authored by the teacher. The follow up reviews are negotiated in the same vein - as long as the annoying assessment requirements can be got out of the way is all that matters.</span><br />
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In this guided dialogue, N. adapts a model text about dimension, weights and measures to describe the products he is interested in importing</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">This is not what an individual learning plan is meant to be about. And it is a pity considering the huge potential for genuine individual learning such a course of goal setting, study, review and reflection can achieve.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">In the time of COVID-19 something has started to occur to me that I think is hard to appreciate in the fast lane of ‘real world’, face to face, classroom teaching. That is, the traditional classroom group is in many ways the problem and a conservative system in which summative assessment is king, distorts and works against any chance of individualised learning and gradual, formative assessment and development occurring.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />At this stage, Dale introduces the subject of "specifications" or "specs" so N. <br />can practice the language of comparisons. All the while Dale is recording the session,<br />note taking and observing.</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Communications between the individual student and teacher remotely distanced from one another, on the other hand, provide an opportunity for this more intimate, one-on-one teaching and learning to take place. COVID has provided lots of time and breathing space for student and teacher to meet online, (or even just to talk by phone) about their learning, in a way that the time gobbling nature of a large class precludes. At least, this is how it appears to me.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">There is also an element of bad timing when introducing learning plans. There are very few providers which introduce a substantial process of goal setting and developing an individualised plan at the time of a “Pre-Training Assessment” of skills. This would appear to be the logical or optimal time to combine assessing and goal setting. This is a “Zone of Proximal Development” that Vygotsky (1926) might describe as a moment to determine what the student can do and can’t do - as well as knowing what she wants to do and doesn’t - and to start erecting meaningful scaffolds for learning. The point is the process requires time, individual attention and appropriate scheduling.</span><br />
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N. and Dale look through a text they are using and decide upon where they next logical step for study should be. Here N. is taking some responsibility for articulating need and interest. Dale will think about the sorts of activities to plan around this for their next mini-lesson</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The mammoth task usually falls to the teacher to get underway at the start of a term - usually during the first week of classes - when she is preoccupied initiating her students into the course and getting the ‘real’ teaching underway. There’s no time to waste and little freedom to cater to individual needs - the assessment schedule has been determined and must be met. The class is swept along from one week to another, from one assessment task to the next ...but the learning plan seeking some complex individual time and interaction, is barely touched.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">What occurs to me from this period of online teaching is that the structures of learning: the timetabling, the configurations of traditionally delivering to a large number of students all at once in classrooms largely </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">happens at the expense of denying time for dialogue between teacher and individual students. We need to dramatically renovate our teaching and learning arrangements and architecture - from the way we manage the time available to us to the ‘real’ and virtual environments we use.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Dale has recorded the lesson in Zoom and has made notes with screen shots as they go so N. can develop a portfolio of notes. Dale intends N. to take on this role of note taker and recorder in coming lessons.</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Kalantzis and Cope (‘Literacies’ 2020) have drawn attention to the great results in learning and enhanced mechanisms for assessment that can be gained by reorganising classes through online learning into flatter, more engaged, collaborative and communicative smaller groups where teacher input can be less intrusive and more strategic. If such a model can work it would also provide the teacher and an individual student some much needed time and space to conference more privately and meaningfully about what and how the learner might want to learn. Does dramatic change in group learning provide the necessary conditions for individuals to take greater control and for learning plans to actually begin making sense? Could a model of organised learning - whether it be wholly online or blended - which provides flexibility, a liberal time frame, freer study choices and opportunity for a greater range of interactions, activities and roles to be negotiated between teacher and students be the answer?</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-50792470000913317222020-05-17T21:57:00.000-07:002020-05-20T20:39:29.681-07:00Week 6 —- Communication and Assessment through Video Rooms<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I was loathe to upset the apple cart. I had established a fairly simple and reliable form of delivery combining my blog for Workbook downloads, email for additional support, phone and SMS for daily contact, a weekly correction video via YouTube and Review Quiz via Google Forms. Would introducing a synchronous layer complicate an arrangement that was working well?<br />
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Assessments, however, loomed and I wondered how I would go about negotiating this with students. How would I “talk my students through the tasks” as they really do require additional verbal support to fully understand what they need to do? I could achieve this through phone discussion perhaps but that in itself is not a perfect solution as there is something of a disconnect between the visual and the verbal. By that I mean I want them to “see” the task in front of them as we closely look, ponder the subtleties and discuss it together - just as you would in the classroom.<br />
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I’d also been looking forward to some interaction wth the students, some virtual FaceTime, to make up for the social interaction we have lost.<br />
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Discounting that synchronous possibility would be a mistake.<br />
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I’ve met those two challenges by using Messenger Video Rooms - which have only just appeared online. What’s great is that students don’t need to download any app or program, be users of Messenger or any other Facebook products.<br />
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You can simply supply a link (in this case by email) have them enter their names into the window that appears before them in a browser and join the room as a guest.<br />
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There were a few glitches. Some students were locked out for a while but I think I’ve remedied that problem now. Make sure you keep the room “unlocked” in your Messenger Video Room Settings.<br />
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I was really happy that two of my weakest students were able to join me and that by using my iPad I could give them a bit of a tour of my house and garden, as well as the insides of my fridge 😱 to get them relaxed and talking! We then went on to discuss the tasks. On the other hand, my brightest student was on to Video Rooms in no time ...and has already submitted the first task! I’m now looking forward to experimenting with these rooms for structured oral practice.<br />
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There are a range of issues pertaining to principles of assessment, particularly validity and reliability, that could be raised. I am, however, much more concerned with the issue of fairness for those thrown into a chaotic situation for which they were not really prepared. With that said, I’m amazed at how well my students are performing in these conditions that are new and challenging.<br />
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I’ve been discussing with colleagues the types of adjustments that need to be factored into assessing remotely in terms of presentation, support, collection and documentation. Our judgements cannot be formed without taking the new learning environment into account. Much of what I see in other places looks hidebound and messy - old world summative approaches that won’t and don’t work neatly in this online context. I think the best assessment in this crisis situation needs to be gradual, formative, inventive and flexible.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-36455009840269576912020-05-12T21:13:00.000-07:002020-05-12T22:14:51.530-07:00Week 5 — Technique not Technology<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I took my students “walking” this week ...with a video presentation and 6 activities to gradually do over three days. I worked the virtual excursion into the recreational side of the general elective we’re studying using the activities to produce a model to assist them in creating a walk of their own in their local area.<br />
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It’s a relief getting away from my own workbook/video/quiz delivery for a week as I discover it is probably better to err on the side of giving less, more targeted work that can be done in the space of a day and be followed up in my mini lessons by phone (or in the case of three students now, an individual video call via Messenger). <br />
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Note to self: don’t overwhelm them with too much material. Spread it out. What endlessly fascinates me about teaching online is the realisation that most of the principles that apply to good classroom teaching also apply here. It’s about technique and not just technology.<br />
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I’ve left the video and half the activities open for anyone to access.<br />
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<a href="https://dalepobega.blogspot.com/2020/05/week-5-term-2-virtual-excursion.html">https://dalepobega.blogspot.com/2020/05/week-5-term-2-virtual-excursion.html</a><br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ORwrc_TfYcs/XruBvpxzSXI/AAAAAAAAEgY/b09zzW2VV2s4hPtk95Iog_pKBgopoIbTACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/69EEEF41-25B3-4316-9A7D-840CEE0EB545.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="384" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ORwrc_TfYcs/XruBvpxzSXI/AAAAAAAAEgY/b09zzW2VV2s4hPtk95Iog_pKBgopoIbTACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/69EEEF41-25B3-4316-9A7D-840CEE0EB545.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div>
<i>Student work (posted with permission)</i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-45632798597085334682020-05-08T16:38:00.000-07:002020-05-08T16:45:06.930-07:00Week 4 —- Online Corrections<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KXpDPaVTdow/XrXsekq6UzI/AAAAAAAAEd8/izUPiFdlNOooW0HUS1LbHVMm5_cTDRwZACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/A0042228-B589-45FB-B710-C8186C97F6DC.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KXpDPaVTdow/XrXsekq6UzI/AAAAAAAAEd8/izUPiFdlNOooW0HUS1LbHVMm5_cTDRwZACLcBGAsYHQ/s400/A0042228-B589-45FB-B710-C8186C97F6DC.png" width="300" /></a></div>
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I know that many of us are probably struggling with the challenge of correcting student work in this online ‘sojourn’ of ours.<br />
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I’ve managed to get most of my students photographing , attaching and sending their work to me by email which is a welcome and an unexpected progression considering the level of their skills.<br />
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Correcting their photographed hand-written work and getting it back to them is much harder - time consuming and a bit clunky.<br />
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Faster to just print, mark, scan, save and send back? No way!<br />
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I’ve started to take screen shots and dump into Pages on my iPad. There is a tool for Apple Pencil in that app, but it only works on an iPad Pro. And who’s got the money for or an iPad Pro?<br />
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There is, however, a ‘smart annotation’ tool you can use. Not perfect but a work around of sorts. The experimentation continues. Please pass on any suggestions.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-46124645044442715552020-04-28T18:19:00.005-07:002020-06-27T00:34:23.003-07:00Week 3 —- Leave No One Behind<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /><br />This article appeared in May on the <i>International Baccalaureate Teachers Hub (Turkey)</i> under the title:<i> <a href="https://www.ibteachershub.site/2020/05/my-mantra-leave-no-one-behind.html" target="_blank">My Mantra: "Leave No One Behind."</a></i><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">My mobile is running hot. Messages stating “I am here” are lined up in my inbox. Most of my students have by now ‘checked in’ to class by SMS or email. It’s the equivalent of them walking through the door with a smile and respectful greeting for their teacher. </span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">My </span><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">students know that I have expectations of them, that our classes have not been suspended. We are working differently but learning goes on. </span><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">I’ve responded to the SMSs and emails and have allocated the students time for a ‘mini-lesson’ by phone. I’m doing the rounds. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">They all seem to have downloaded the first Workbook and found ways to print (“I took a print out at Officeworks”, says N.) ...I have also talked to one of my student’s daughters helping her Mum set up a laptop and newly acquired printer. “It’s my first printer. Just for me. It was $39 from the Post Office,” my student proudly tells me about her new ink jet. I’m moved by the fact she sees the purchase as a valuable investment in her own education. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 17.41px;">I have also discovered the valuable resource of children and grandchildren who are assisting their parents and grandparents to download, print or save files to devices and to follow the model of delivery I’ve devised. It has been one of my best days teaching in almost 40 years</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">It took a pandemic to drag many Community Based providers - as well as most others across Education - back to online delivery. I have been following up on the unexpected success of the first week anticipating</span><span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;"> the shock of the lock down and fear of the virus would drive my adult learners away to more pressing issues. </span><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">That appears not to be the case. I’m now dealing with an avalanche of homework being sent to me by email - something half the class has done without prompting.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">It’s now the end of Week 1 and I’ve created the Workbook Review and Correction Video for Friday. Having completed most of the exercises in the first half of the week this follow up stage provides an opportunity for my learners to compare and review their work. It also gives those who take longer the opportunity to go back and look at their work at a later stage.</span><br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="257" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/F6_c1kkSbAo" width="380"></iframe>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">It’s another 2 weeks on now and happily for me, student attendance and enthusiasm has remained high - 11 of 13 checking in everyday. I’ve finally made contact with the two who were “lost in space” for a week and got them back on track. I don’t blame them - on the phone I can hear kids rampaging around, TVs blaring and they tell me they are scared, not well and have not had their minds on study.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.41px;">The delivery model is bedded down and most of the students feel confident about the simple weekly cycle - workbook, mini lessons by phone in the first part of the week, email activities and communication half way through, the review video to watch and Quiz to complete at the end of the week. There is nothing they cannot do beyond the digital skills drilled in the 8 weeks of Term 1 before the closure. </span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">The wheels of the machine are underpinned by lots of telephone communication and responsiveness through email. The students are applying the skills of locating files, downloading, saving, retrieving and printing. Email basics in using gmail - receive, reply, attach are vital as is using their accounts to ‘sign in’ to secure Quizzes and docs for their eyes only. I am now thinking about how to formally assess - a tricky, but not impossible, layer to incorporate. (A separate posting coming soon).</span><br />
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">My three day week consists of back to back individual ‘mini lessons’ with each student on a Monday. I make sure the workbook and audio has been downloaded and that the exercises are understood. During the mini lesson by phone, we </span><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">discuss issues of language, engage in a role play, discuss a story or homework submitted and any difficulties being experienced.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 17.41px;">I </span><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">guide them to the Weekly Workbook Review and Correction video I’ve created embedded within my blog. I provide a commentary with visuals ranging across any difficult language points or parts of speech and will soon include actual samples of student work for shared analysis.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 17.41px;">The third layer in the delivery strategy is a Workbook Video Quiz. Students use their google logins to gain access and submit directly to me. I think embedding the Quiz is useful for giving the students a direct channel through which they can send work and get immediate feedback. It also allows me to capture "evidence of participation” for each of the units I am teaching.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 17.41px;">I devised this delivery model thinking we would only be out of the classroom for a couple of weeks. It has turned out rather differently! I've tried to keep the architecture simple and the skills required to navigate the site within the limited range of skills of the students - ie.<b> locate</b> my site, <b>download</b> from it, <b>save</b> files, <b>print</b> docs, <b>send</b> and <b>reply to</b> email, <b>attach</b> files to email, <b>view</b> video, <b>login</b> and <b>submit</b> quizzes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 17.41px;">On the surface it is a simple model - but the work involved in servicing it is considerable. In terms of <b>production</b> there is: a 20+ page workbook of relevant materials, audio, video and quiz to create on a weekly basis. Add to this <b>managing</b> student communication - phoning, texting, responding to emails, receiving, correcting and returning homework. Then there is the required <b>administrative</b> and <b>compliance</b> level of work. I’m tired just thinking about it - for how long can I sustain this effort I wonder?<br /><br />I will get better at this as time goes on and learn to be more economical, but like any teacher you find yourself working around the clock - much more than you would if you were normally preparing and turning up for work. There is no way of “winging it” online - every mistake is glaringly obvious.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 17.41px;">My mantra has always been "leave no one behind". It is easy to teach to the top of the class but a good teacher ensures everyone is included and achieves . So after three weeks only one student (out of 13) seems to be struggling. I am making extra efforts to get him the workbooks by mail, I'm ringing and texting frequently (though he often doesn't answer) and sending emails that I am unsure are being read. If it were not for COVID-19 and the restrictions, I'd be crying out at his gate. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 17.41px;">We will return to the classroom and I am sure that one student currently lost in cyberspace will be there too. I'm trying my hardest. Leave no one behind.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 17.41px;">My delivery model can be viewed at </span><a href="https://dalepobega.blogspot.com/">https://dalepobega.blogspot.com/</a><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-80993023240909719542020-04-21T18:28:00.000-07:002020-04-28T18:30:01.852-07:00Week 2 —- Video Production On the Fly<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">An unexpected advance in the production of my Workbook videos - PowerPoint, a program I generally hate, but which I’ve discovered is very good for creating video presentations (if you have a relative recent version of the program). </span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">I used my iPad camera, screencast-o-matic and Adobe Scan to produce the video for my Week 1 Workbook - a circuitous but quick process (advantage) but fairly scrappy end-product visually (disadvantage).</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">This time I simply dumped screenshots from the workbook into a series of PowerPoint slides, used voice narration for each slide and exported as a video (MP4). I then uploaded to YouTube.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">1) Very easy, practically automated process. No problems converting presentation to video. There are loads of simple YouTube tutorials to follow if you get stumped;</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">2) Good quality audio (voice over narration) and resolution;</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">3) Facility to easily edit voice over narration;</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">4) Can use call outs, shapes, pointers, text boxes, drawing and other tools to enhance slides.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">1) Tend to spend a lot more time on initial creation of the presentation as there are more tool choices;</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">2) Took a long to time to export presentation to video;</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">3) Huge file size (from 30MB presentation to 250MB video) - slow upload time to YouTube.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-32108283867777892992020-04-14T06:07:00.000-07:002020-04-29T15:37:45.651-07:00Week 1 —- Sink or Swim : Delivering without Notice<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ScnJ08tSe64/XqoBe7f2k6I/AAAAAAAAEcg/7X7U9bEjTps49QvZwAcuZCHUFlsSM8XNgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/85667466-0E1F-45AF-990A-B2E6A9F42DBC.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: 17.399999618530273px; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ScnJ08tSe64/XqoBe7f2k6I/AAAAAAAAEcg/7X7U9bEjTps49QvZwAcuZCHUFlsSM8XNgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/85667466-0E1F-45AF-990A-B2E6A9F42DBC.jpeg" /></a></span>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;"><br /></span><span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;"><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">The COVID-19 Emergency has sent many teachers into a panic with little or no time to set up online and/or distance based learning for their students or to consider a delivery strategy appropriate to the actual skills of their students.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.41px;">Many have little or only limited skills themselves with technology - very few have any experience or confidence delivering remotely. There is a naive belief that platforms like Skype and Zoom can miraculously replace the physical classroom. More generally, there is understandable angst and sheer terror of being thrown in at the deep end unprepared.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.41px;">It immediately occurred to me that my own current group’s limited language and digital skills pose critical challenges in this chaotic time. In such a situation it is important to remain faithful to the knowledge gained from working with such learners in the early 1990s - keep it simple and work with what they know and can cope with.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.41px;">I am determined to pursue the simple delivery strategy I put in place and piloted with my students a couple of weeks before the closures having anticipated the crisis.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">With this ‘hibernation’ period looking as if it is going to stretch out for the entire term, I am depending on my downloadable PDF Workbooks to largely fill the content gap with related </span><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">Weekly videos, screencasts and quizzes being used as supports.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.41px;">Email, SMS and phone calls provide a </span><span style="font-size: 17.41px;">reliable, underpinning channel for frequent communication.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.41px;">My resources are all located at a single, familiar location to minimise confusion. All activity circles around my blog which my current learners have used for a term to access homework and other activities to support their class work.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">There are definitely a few students who will need extra support. There are one or two who may even need to have workbooks sent to them by mail. There are one or two students (of about thirteen in total) who do not have internet at home and a few who have little interest in learning by online means. Interestingly though, all have smartphones and data.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">So that’s a brief outline of my plan. I’m using some of my ‘holiday’ time now —- is anyone really on holiday? —- thinking the delivery strategy through more carefully and setting up behind the scenes.</span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">What’s missing from the concept? What other problems am I likely to experience? </span></div>
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<span class="s1" style="font-size: 17.41px;">My starting point is always the students themselves. My mission is to leave no one behind. Let’s see whether this delivery model sinks or swims.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-83499962641800121562010-12-29T22:36:00.000-08:002010-12-30T00:13:25.856-08:00A Reply to Stephen Downes' "The Knowledge Hunters"This is a reply to Stephen Downes who kindly took the time to address some of my criticisms on his blog, <a href="http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2010/12/knowledge-hunters.html">Half an Hour, in his posting entitled, "The Knowledge Hunters"</a>.<br /><br />***<br /><br />Hi Stephen<br /><br />I've read back over my review and cannot find a reference to any "Downseian fanatical training agenda". <br /><br />What I did say was :<br /><br />"an attempt was made at ConVerge 2010 to promote and massage this Downesian connective knowledge theory into the government's fanatical training agenda."<br /><br />I am not accusing you of fanaticism. The point I was making is that an educational theory espoused by you is being tailored to fit the questionable and narrow educational agendas of others ie. the entrepreneurs of a particular eductional ideology endorsed by Govt/Industry. No great surprise. A reduced, simplistic version of what you are talking about sits very nicely with the e-learning sales pitch of most institutions here in Australia : learning what you like, when you like, wherever and however you like --- making sure of course you do it on their platform, using their software, working within the parameters they allow, conforming to the rigid, received competency standards they articulate ... and most importanty, paying big bucks for the privilege!<br /><br />This is not "Open Learning" as far as I am concerned. It is also contrary to any tradition of Open Source sharing, free exchange and social networking. <br /><br />You say, and I totally concur :<br /><br />""we are probably very much in agreement - there is very much a contradiction between what I would encourage in an educational system and what those who envision a fleet of learning management systems, core vocabularies and competencies, and standardized assessment mechanisms would envision."<br /><br />In your reply you hone in on my mention of observing students note taking, give it a interesting twist and transform it into evidence of questionable practice on my part.<br /><br />You say:<br /><br />[what you do] ... "sounds like a desire to engage students in creativity and participation, but is actually a countervailing edict. Unless there is an active discussion taking place (in which case we might still see some note-taking, but demonstrably less) what is being lost is rather their rapt attention as someone feeds them 'the facts'. That's not engagement, activity, or anything of the sort. It's receptivity."<br /><br />Are you suggesting that any kind of explicit instruction or presentation when it is required (eg. a sentence written on a whiteboard by the teacher to illustrate a part of speech, verb tense or language point for the purposes of explanation/clarification and ultimately practise by the students ) is not kosher?<br /><br />It's easy to characterize presentation as ineffectual, boring, "receptive" or as just "feeding facts". It is often a small part or lead-in to the staging of subsequent interaction or other more engaged activities. Let's be honest -- presentation, as a time honoured technique, is used by a range of teachers (and others - you?) across a range of teaching situations.<br /><br />My students have at best a very confused knowledge of these lingustic "facts". In the first instance, the information presented to the group does indeed require some attention, thought and engagement with the one person in the room who actually does have a thorough knowledge of it -- the native speaking, English teacher. I don't see anything particularly contraversial about that. I'd hardly describe this as craving "rapt attention". Many language learners - often with little experience of the classroom - copy the board because they think that's what students are meant to do or what the teacher expects.<br /><br />Personally Stephen I have no trouble with PLENK. As I said in my initial post, it's an approach for people like you and me, for those who already have had the opportunity to acquire a solid educational foundation. The approach, it seems to me, requires a capacity to explore and exploit the tools, to access and criticially sort social networks, to have the wherewithal to negotiate new media and genres productively and independently.<br /><br />You say:<br /><br />"... I am dismayed when people say that students today just don't have the chops to manage their own learning. It's a denial of the sort of education, of the sort of life, that is worth living. It is to suggest, contra all the evidence to the contrary, that there's no point teaching them to live their own lives, because they'll never learn."<br /><br />I agree, questions of learning run deep. There is, therefore, a serious responsibility for teachers to ensure learners are not left floundering -- as was often the case in the 70s under the regime of what you call Discovery Learning. <br /><br />I am not opposed to supporting students in "learning to learn", of helping them establish the foundation they need to function and participate in a complex 21st century society. My own work in this area has been pretty substantial - <a href="https://groups.google.com/group/dalepobega/web/dales-e-learning-archive?hl=en">any doubts check out this link.</a><br /><br />Students do, however, need that initial foundation (literacy and numeracy, technology basics). And dare I say, this might involve some form of traditional work in the classroom and computer lab - with the teacher (God forbid)taking the lead!<br /><br />You say:<br /><br />"I know, oh I know, that many students and even adults are not in a position to manage their own learning. They do not have the skills and discipline. This is unfortunate, because it leaves them dependent and unable to adapt."<br /><br />Even in that admission I pick up a hint of hostility to the idea that a "teacher" might be needed? (They - the students - will always be "dependent") Would it be better to leave them to their own devices? <br /><br />Since there seem to be problems in your scheme associated with learners "without skills and discipline", I wonder then if you really believe PLENK is universally applicable?<br /><br />***Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-11734991127092056142010-12-19T02:04:00.000-08:002010-12-19T14:06:45.445-08:00Hunters and Heels, PLENKS and Platforms : ConVerge 2010 - A Review<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_l1QlPNlYC_Q/TQ3cKzriXNI/AAAAAAAAAi8/K5Qr-brVumI/s1600/barcelonashoe.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 244px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_l1QlPNlYC_Q/TQ3cKzriXNI/AAAAAAAAAi8/K5Qr-brVumI/s320/barcelonashoe.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5552335993847307474" /></a><br /><br />It was the Twitter stream projected on multiple screens which held my attention at the recent ConVerge 2010 Conference in Melbourne (November 25-26). As the Tweets birbled and scrolled on screen the keynote speakers faded into the background. On both days I'd watch as those in audience tapped away on their laptops quoting those who spoke, pouncing on the words of others and just as quickly setting them free into cyberspace as if they were liberating caged doves.<br /><br />This behaviour fascinated me. The "knowledge hunters" in the audience presumably believed they were broadcasting valuable or new information to wider networks and audiences elsewhere. There was something almost slavish about the "note taking" behaviour of those in the audience which troubled me. In fairness I generally worry about voracious note takers --- are they actually listening to what is being said? I discourage my own language students from taking too many notes. I want them to be there with me in the moment, hopefully engaging me or the material I present directly, thinking through and subsequently coming to new personal understandings for themselves. <br /><br />On those two days of the conference I had no sense of the Twittering forming a part of any worthwhile dialogue. There seemed to be relatively few or no Tweets coming back at us which provided any constructive or critical foil to what was being reported. Sure, it was fun and there were one or two comical Tweets on screen which provoked a giggle or two from the audience. But just how important was it to discover that the keynote speaker had picked up her high heels during a recent trip to Barcelona? <br /><br />And all the while I wondered if the mad tappers actually believed they were contributing to some larger fund of knowledge elsewhere?<br /><br />Who were they talking to? How widely distributed, how valuable, was this strange on the spot reporting? Were these virtual gems evaporating into the Twitter-sphere as quickly as they were being typed out? Or were the Tweets being received by other like-minded professionals providing new leads and references, faciliating bold new insights and opportunities for reflection and learning somewhere? <br /><br />All of this got me thinking about the quality of information circulating within these personal online networks --- the Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) if you like --- of the conference attendees.<br /><br />By coincidence, members of an online community of Adult Community Educators to which I belong, had recently started a discussion about PLNs. <br /><br />PLNs and PLEs (E for Environment) or more broadly, PLENKs (Personal Learning Environments, Networks and Knowledge) appear to be all the rage at the moment. <a href="http://www.downes.ca/">The PLENK philosophy popularised by Canadian, Stephen Downes</a>, is basically a connective knowledge theory underpinning the explosion of social networking and use of Web 2.0 for teaching and learning.<br /><br />New Zealander, Joyce Seitzinger (of the Barcelona High Heels fame) referenced many diverse examples of PLNs, encouraging the attendees to study the self-articulated learning programs of various practitioners from around the world --- and to add to the long list with a PLN of their own. These PLNs, to my mind at least, end up looking like indecipherable diagrams from Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory though they may be helpful to some. <a href="http://edtechpost.wikispaces.com/PLE+Diagrams">Take a look and judge for yourself.</a><br /><br />Now on the subject of PLNs, I must say that Stephen Downes ideas appear to me to be neither new nor particularly "revolutionary". The great romantic image of the Automath --- "the self-taught man" --- the person who possesses a high degree of self motivation and enthusiasm for self education is very much an elitist 19th century notion. <br /><br />Pedagogically, the reality is not all of us are in a position to "teach ourselves" as easily as Downes suggests. Many people do not possess the foundation skills, knowledge, language, literacies or the required access to social networks to embark upon such an ambitious, self directed learning project in the first instance. <br /><br />Here I think about my own Adult Literacy and Language students with often low or no education in their first language. They neither possess the means to buy, set up nor contemplate online social networking as a meaningful learning pathway or program. PLENK assumes a substantial pre-existing knowledge and skill base to be useful to the learner. OK for me and you, but as a general educational approach for all?<br /><br />Another colleague, Michael Gwyther, commenting on the discussion about Downes and PLENK at acenetwork.ning remarked:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">The ol PLN idea suggests we are already skilled in using knowledge, sorting it, shaping it, customising it, catergorising it. What of those who are not? Perhaps I am redredging the old Learning to Learn arguments we had in the late 80s and wonder if this is a fine idea with those of us hip to organising knowledge and using Web 2 but wheres the roadmap to helping those who aint?</span><br /><br />Downes ideas largely impress me as being a new form of 70s style Progressivism (a "let them feel their own way" approach, this time with a high tech, social networked twist). Both old and new versions of this story are essentially the same, with the focus on the individual possessing an almost-mystical capacity to articulate his or her own learning needs. He or she realizes this potential by force of his or her own will and by conjuring the knowledge-power of others through diffuse networks. A tall order project indeed.<br /><br />But back to the Conference. <a href="http://wodongatafe.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/blended-learning-souffle-or-sandwich/#comments">I commented on Geoff Young's blog</a> recently that "the assumed learners" at nearly every workshop and presentation I attended at ConVerge 2010 were "young, tech saavy twenty-something year olds".<br /><br />Older adult learners -- adult basic education learners -- do not exist in this ideal, high tech vision of personal learning through networks. <br /><br />I commented:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">There was hardly a single mention of older learners within the TAFE sector (although they actually make up quite a considerable percentage of the student cohort). Have older learners fallen off the radar all together? What about the pedagogy / androgogy + relevance of Web2.0, social networking etc, etc for this significant proportion of learners? Most students in the Adult Community Education sector are 55+ but I suspect the focus is well and truly on younger learners in TAFE because of the greater number of potential articulations into employment that can be made? </span><br /><br />Geoff's reply, took not only older learners, but interestingly, older teachers into account. His fears are, I agree, cause for concern:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">I’m worried about both sides of this cohort; are our older teachers and learners tech savvy enough to be active participants within a framework that would seem to be catering to a much younger market?</span><br /><br />And there's the rub --- we are really talking about education for Youth and not considering the needs of many learners who require careful initiation into the use of technology and online tools for learning.<br /><br />Of course it it easy to bang on about technology and PLNs when your learners belong to a class and generation accustomed to social networking, who are au fait with the internet and comfortable with the idea of using technology independently for learning and leisure purposes. <br /><br />I was disappointed that the organisers felt it necessary to haul in <a href="http://web.mac.com/andrewdouch/Site/Home.html">Andrew Douch</a>, apparently for a second year in a row. "Douchy" is a teacher from the secondary school sector working with already tech saavy teenagers. Andrew is an "inspiration" but teenagers are a far cry from your regular adult learners challenged by technology. The two groups are hardly comparable and I thought the choice of this presenter was rather inappropriate and confirmed my suspicion about the narrowness of focus on younger learners.<br /><br />Interestingly an attempt was made at ConVerge 2010 to promote and massage this Downesian connective knowledge theory into the government's fanatical training agenda.<br /><br />At ConVerge 2010 we were introduced to the TrainingVC, (formerly the TAFEVC) and its new LMS centre-piece, Moodle 2.0. <br /><br />At times I wondered if Moodle Inc. might not be the major sponsor at ConVerge 2010 so heavy was the spin being placed on the product by the entrepreneurs of the TrainingVC. We were led to believe this Learning Management System (LMS) confined within the secure, firewalled boundaries of a "virtual campus" - a mere platform - is capable of accomodating or facilitating just about anything as far as elearning is concerned.<br /><br />Pause for reflection on the words of <a href="http://www.eurodl.org/materials/contrib/2006/Christian_Dalsgaard.htm">Christian Dalsgaard from Aarhus University</a>:<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">learning management systems do not support a social constructivist approach which emphasizes self-governed learning activities of students ...self-governed and problem-based activities are not very well supported by LMS. LMS are to a large extent developed for the management and delivery of learning – and not for self-governed activities of students. Learning processes of the kind described in the social constructivist approach outlined in this article cannot be managed. What can be managed, however, is the administrative aspects of a course. Thus, a management system is limited to organizing administrative issues</span><br /><br />For me, there seems to be an apparent conflict or contradiction between PLENK and the world of the controlled LMSs of the TAFE institutional sector, which as main beneficiary of the Government's fanatical Training agenda, has most to gain. It surprises no one that business managers and bureaucrats are interested in the administrative power of tightly managed LMSs which provide convenient (but by no means reliable) evidence of "learning outcomes". It amused me that at ConVerge 2010 there was so much talk about social networks and ephemeral philosophising around the concept of PLENKs --- all the while imagining elearning happening within highly controlled, institutionally driven online educational environments. <br /><br />And even though I tweeted and twittered incessantly wanting an explanation why and how TAFEVC in 2001 had become the TrainingVC 2010, I predictably got no reply. So much for my attempts to find answers through the twitter stream at #converge10!<br /><br />Note: Photo of Joyce Seitzinger's Spanish high heels republished with the permission of @botherbybees<br /><br />This article also appears at <a href="acenetwork.ning.com">acenetwork.ning.com</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-49681826998566349622010-08-15T06:52:00.000-07:002010-08-15T06:58:10.376-07:00#5, 2010 : Bon Voyage - Teaching Online Forms to ESL and ALBE Students<p style="text-align: left;"><img src="http://api.ning.com:80/files/U-SHb1Mc8YHg2HBSJxHU70XbtBlM-xXGI1GHOVETM9nrQ0rOiawlMflJQO83-d7Jb26prSoUKdjs58jMpSlWZs3xQdlKCTO5/mockticket.jpg?width=721" alt=""></p><br />Have some fun (with students or without!) creating your own first class boarding passes on Qantas, Air France and even the ill-fated PanAm International at Ticket-O-Matic: http://omatic.musicairport.com/<br /><br />Teaching forms is a staple of nearly all ESL and Adult Basic Ed curricula ... but can be deadly boring for all involved. Just how many forms can students read and complete without going totally troppo? I have been using a few good sites like Ticket-O-Matic and the Flight Search pages of Air.Asia to introduce students to the most common features of the online genre. Nothing too complicated or overwhelming. Students seem to get a real kick out of producing a fun product to print off and take away. I have also been integrating listening and role plays into the picture via ipadio, having students working in pairs with their mobiles or home phones set on loudspeaker to "make inquiries" about flights between a client and travel agent. If you're interested in hearing a couple of examples have a sticky at some student phlog recordings at: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.2px;"><a href="http://dalepobega.blogspot.com/2010/08/up-up-and-away.html">http://dalepobega.blogspot.com/2010/08/up-up-and-away.html</a></span></p><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><br></p><br /><p style="text-align: left;">For our ESL Frameworks Elective this semester all levels are doing Australian Government and this involves timely learning about elections and voting. I have been able to incorporate form basics by using the Australian Electoral Commission's <i>Online Polling Place Locator</i> which consists of a single input field, drop down box, check box and submit button <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.2px;"><a href="http://www.ehoundplatform.com/Services/Map/AEC">http://www.ehoundplatform.com/Services/Map/AEC</a> . This locator is also great little tool for teaching maps, location, directions and the like with students whose skills are very basic.</span></p><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.2px;"><br></span></p><br /><p style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13.2px;">Now I'll settle back into my First Class seat and enjoy the (albeit, imaginary) trip to Hong Kong on Qantas! Bon Voyage!</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-37619036930103882762010-08-03T04:05:00.000-07:002010-08-03T04:06:25.424-07:00#4, 2010: Ring, Ring, Why Don't You Give Me a Call : Mobile Phone English<p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><img alt="" src="http://api.ning.com/files/s8pMpFIKLibVPiHhpk2hP4NgRlTvLe0e9tj83a26JfXwrWIeV4gHtEYNvEAHZBKhEGBWU0YCLBxYsx110xArK5pFxTokin4I/ringring.gif"></p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"></p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left">This week I have introduced phonecasting to my ESL learners with surprising results. (That's not really true ... I knew they would love it!) Noticed that the use of Mobiles and home phones for quick recording tasks immediately appealed to students at all levels of lingustic and technological competence. The recording procedure is infinitely easier than other voice tools (eg. Voxopop - though in other respects, not necessarily better) and the familiarity of the phone as a communication tool seems to help in circumventing fears and certainly cuts down the time it takes to teach students how to put their voice on the internet.</p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left"><a href="http://www.ipadio.com/phlogs/DukeStreet/"></a></p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left">I have set up a Duke Street Phlog at ipadio.com : <a href="http://www.ipadio.com/phlogs/DukeStreet/">http://www.ipadio.com/phlogs/DukeStreet/</a></p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left"></p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><img alt="" src="http://api.ning.com/files/WeTmt906*BKVUKGgBnbqZU1Bd-269eU0Fm1byCIrT8snwQTF7bu5JBSZxDOATfN5TaRmGv0rrTtEGFcmgnl5njxAb5lSnXt9/phlog.gif"></p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left"></p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left">Level 2 and 3 students started with a simple exercise based on telling the time. I pitched it as "a little experiment" and used the landline in my office (with speaker-phone switched on) to demonstrate the procedure. Each took a turn at phoning in their task and were amazed at how easy it was.</p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left"></p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left">We then moved back into the classroom, flashed up the ipadio phlog site on the whiteboard and listened to the recordings. Before long the SpinVox scripts were generated for each recording made and students could see their "speech as writing".</p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left"></p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left">There was an immediate sense of achievement. No one had to engage with "layers of screen" (logins -> finding the right page -> finding the discussion ->mastering the recording client -> testing ->uploading, etc) or clunky tech extensions (getting headphones or microphones to work). The familiarity of the telephone worked wonders in cutting through frustrations.</p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left"></p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left">Some students were concerned whether the service really is free, if their phones and mobiles could be hijacked or tracked by spammers, advertisers, Telcos, stalkers and the like ... but once they were assured this was not the case and that they were phoning in with numbers and pins that were not related to their own phone numbers in any way, they relaxed --- and could not be stopped!</p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left"></p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left">I printed off a simple instruction sheet for each student to follow and this will be used at home this week to complete another simple task.</p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left"></p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left">My Level 3 students working on VPAM544: Australian Government (Elective) are listening to a range of Community Language Radio programs embedded in this week's lesson on my Blog.</p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left"></p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left"><a href="http://dalepobega.blogspot.com/">http://dalepobega.blogspot.com/</a></p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left"></p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left">They will phone in short summaries which will then be compared with written summaries they submit via a Goggle Docs form which I have similarly embedded. A couple of screenshots:</p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left"></p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><img alt="" src="http://api.ning.com/files/vREWN6ou*j5Bx2wzERZg45rdAaVhkp49oxqHY8yZekPrLVh0HXwVr05E*w0TCab6riFi0GCqfIVDYqCrkIh*JTiFT0BrfGc1/ringring2.gif"></p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left"></p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"><img alt="" src="http://api.ning.com/files/WeTmt906*BKzcNCqt8eKmYS1NgfMaSfUdd3sjAPFEZE6BaaMKu*dUEvV5hq4hdMcZp4OoohMWDJ50oAhrIHPzyxoIcRvogwu/ringring3.gif"></p><br /><br><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left">It has been a fascinating and rewarding day. I am looking forward to seeing what my students come up with and am thinking of various other ways in which I could use this technology effectively in class - and how my students could use it out of class.</p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left"></p><br /><p style="TEXT-ALIGN: left" align="left">And to think I don't even own a Mobile ! (yet)</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-80420998462186396712010-08-03T03:56:00.000-07:002010-08-03T04:00:48.887-07:00#3, 2010 : Phlog me (again)!<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" width="352" height="200" id="embed-352x200" align="middle" title="Ipadio Audio Player"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="never"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="false"><param name="movie" value="http://www.ipadio.com/embed/v1/embed-352x200.swf?phlogId=29025&phonecastId=34461&channelInView=WEBSITE_CHANNEL_29025&callInView=18882"><param name="scale" value="exactfit"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff"><embed src="http://www.ipadio.com/embed/v1/embed-352x200.swf?phlogId=29025&phonecastId=34461&channelInView=WEBSITE_CHANNEL_29025&callInView=18882" quality="high" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="352" height="200" name="embed-352x200" align="middle" allowscriptaccess="never" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" scale="exactfit"></object></embed> <br /><br><br />A telephonic reflection about the trip to Portland by Dale and Michael G ... and other musings ... happy listening!<div><br></div><br /><div>The SpinVox script and tags (talking about pickles!) is fascinating. Here's an excerpt [unedited] :</div><br /><div><br></div><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic;">I have decided to do my latest reflection by a flog(?) using our patio and I hope the people don't know anything how captive being how captive for the duration of this monolog. Something that I'm aware of is that unlike writing you can't skim and scan and something that my solicit(?) become massive all those pictures ___ administrators so that rises the issue of ___ me and I guess I'm working against my unprepaired method of expression which is writing which is something that infinitely editable(?) and I think that voice on the other hand seems to be very unforgiving you got one chance to get it right and then if you want to record from scratch you're in a bit of a pickle so look I'm using some scratchy notes too.<img src="http://www.ipadio.com/images/spinvoxclosequote.png" style="border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 5px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px;"></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-33076425077267176752010-06-28T08:03:00.000-07:002010-06-28T08:05:39.042-07:00#2, 2010: Phlog Me<object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" width="352" height="200" id="embed-352x200" align="middle" title="Ipadio Audio Player"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="never"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="false"></param><param name="movie" value="http://www.ipadio.com/embed/v1/embed-352x200.swf?phlogId=29025&phonecastId=31624&channelInView=WEBSITE_CHANNEL_29025&callInView=17545"></param><param name="scale" value="exactfit"></param><param name="quality" value="high"></param><param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff"></param><embed src="http://www.ipadio.com/embed/v1/embed-352x200.swf?phlogId=29025&phonecastId=31624&channelInView=WEBSITE_CHANNEL_29025&callInView=17545" quality="high" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="352" height="200" name="embed-352x200" align="middle" allowscriptaccess="never" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" scale="exactfit"></embed></object> <br /><br/><div><br/></div><br /><div>Was with Michael today up in Ballarat planning sessions and strategies for taking on the Barwon Region as part of the Ementor/Champion project and along the way MG introduced me to "Phlogging" (and it didn't hurt a bit!)</div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div>In a nutshell PHLOGGING = phone blogging</div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div>Yep, we were just wrapping our heads around creative uses of "Blogs" and now we've got Phlogs to contend with :-o Actually, it's a simple extension of blogging and another easy-to-use voice technology with some wonderful possibilities for teaching and learning.</div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div>Stay tuned as Michael and I phlog together as a part of the Ementor/Champion Project. We are building a dialogue over the coming weeks using mobile and conventional telephony via ipadio.com</div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div>We have set up a Wordpress blog for our voice journal at: <a href="http://yum.vic.edu.au/barwon/">http://yum.vic.edu.au/barwon/</a></div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div><a href="http://yum.vic.edu.au/barwon/"></a>Depending on the results of this experiment we will hopefully be able to draw in our Barwon participants. At the very least we will have yet another very interesting tool to present amongst a kit bag of new and old tricks and techniques for elearning.</div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div>It might come as a surprise to you but I actually don't own a mobile phone but that does not deter the use of ipadio for Phlogging.</div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div>We discovered the conventional apparatus plugged into the wall works just as well as your Nokia or Apple Thingamejig. You call a 1800 number, key in your pin and start recording! The recording is created and almost instantaneously some very smart voice to text conversion software (SpinVox) is activated creating (an albeit imperfect) script of your verbal input.</div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div>This excites me as I can see an immediate and simple use of this technology for my ESL and Adult Lit students who are adept (if not totally addicted and almost physically attached to their mobiles).</div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div>The bonus is the voice to text generated script which can be edited and recycled. You can save the script for discourse analysis in the classroom afterwards.</div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div>I imagine creating questions on a website or blog and getting my students to "phone in" their answers anywhere, anytime. They could do their oral presentations from a mobile phone, do on the spot commentaries during excursions and I have only just started thinking about what we could do as a group if the Speaker Phone function were turned on.</div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div>Have a read of the EDUCATION section on the ipadio site to gauge broader, potential uses. Here's an intereresting snippet:</div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Mobile technology is playing an increasingly large role in the classroom - most students have a phone of their own, so why not use a device that they're familiar with to engage them with education? ....<br/><br/>... In brief, Ipadio technology links up the telephony networks with the internet, enabling the live broadcast of audio directly to the internet... all from a standard telephone. There's never been an easier way to record oral assessments, create revision podcasts or collect homework.</span></span></div><br /><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br/></span></span></div><br /><font class="Apple-style-span" face="'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 13px;"><a href="http://www.ipadio.com/page.asp?section=99&sectionTitle=ipadio+in+Education"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">For more about educational uses click here</span></a><br/></span></font><div><br/></div><br /><div>It's the potential applications (not the technology per se) which really stirs the imagination. Michael and I talked a lot about this today ...embracing the principle of "applying technology" and developing new techniques as opposed to getting caught up in the worship and hyped-up promotion of applications and technologies for their own sake. It's how you use the tools, not the tools themselves that are important.</div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div>Using ipadio.com, the recording can be easily embedded (see the example above) or else if you use Wordpress the file can automatically be fed into your blog and become a posting.</div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div>Will keep you posted on further developments.</div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div>A brilliant day MG. Enjoyed the exploration and play, the demonstrations, examples of student work from Moodle, the discussion about facilitation techniques and management inside Elluminate. Learnt more in a day than thrashing around on my own at home for weeks.</div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div>PS. thanks to you and Erin for the delicious chicken salad and umpteen cafe lattes and cups of tea. Loved YUM headquarters too - very tasteful indeed.</div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div>Looking forward to the Barwon Roadshow.</div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div>Dale</div><br /><div><br/><br/></div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div><br/></div><br /><div><a href="http://yum.vic.edu.au/barwon/"></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2696164715537346758.post-19535514019284654692010-06-10T21:34:00.001-07:002010-06-16T22:19:19.020-07:00#1 - 2010: Learning Styles: A Myth<P><br /><OBJECT height=385 width=480><PARAM NAME="movie" VALUE="http://www.youtube.com/v/sIv9rz2NTUk&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><PARAM NAME="allowFullScreen" VALUE="true"><PARAM NAME="allowscriptaccess" VALUE="never"><br /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/sIv9rz2NTUk&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="never" width="480" height="385"></embed></OBJECT></P><br /><P></P><br /><P>I thought the "visual learners" amongst you would appreciate the video.<BR><BR>For those with an "auditory disposition", listen in here:<BR><BR><A href="http://www.thepsychfiles.com/?powerpress_pinw=661-podcast">http://www.thepsychfiles.com/?powerpress_pinw=661-podcast</A><BR><BR>Nothing touchy / feely I'm afraid for "kinesthetic types", but these articles might interest you:<BR><BR><A href="http://www.learninginfo.org/learning-styles-myth.htm">Learning Styles a Myth British Researchers Say</A></P><br /><P></P><br /><P><A href="http://www.thepsychfiles.com/2009/03/episode-90-the-learning-styles-myth-an-interview-with-daniel-willingham/">The Learning Styles Myth: An Interview with Daniel Willingham<BR></A></P><br /><P></P><br /><br /><P>Oh yeah. And last but not least, a fascinating piece I came across the other day with the irresistible title:</P><br /><P></P><br /><br /><P><A href="http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=1519150">The Rise and Rise of Educational Bullshit</A></P><br /><P></P><br /><br /><P>Happy reading</P><br /><br /><P>dale</P>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0