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.
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.
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:
De-Centred Virtual Classroom
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| Click on the graphic for a better view 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. |
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.
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.
Read more about my approach at:
https://dalepobegateaching.blogspot.com/2021/03/learning-circles-extending-study-skills.html
and https://dalepobegateaching.blogspot.com/2020/06/week-8-bringing-individual-learning.html
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| Click on the graphic for a better view A one-on-one session in which teacher and student negotiate a learning plan. A de-centred approach allows for time gains, a broader spread of teacher attention and arguably, better outcomes for all. |
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.
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.
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| Click on the graphic for a better view 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). 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). It also provides precious time gains for the teacher, convenience and structure for students as they work individually and collaboratively. |
View some of the video at: https://youtu.be/aB4s8HzM0y4
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.
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?
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. 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?
A Hybrid Approach
There was a brief period in 2021 when f-2-f classes were able to return for one day a week.
Two other days of class were conducted online.
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?
 Click on the graphic for a better view |
| Continuing to access materials in the face to face classroom with a workbook of QR codes. Students attending remotely were able to access the same workbook through Google Docs. 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. 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. |
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
What is Hyflex?
HyFlex is an approach which tries to combine or mix a use of modes to maximize opportunities for study. It is a 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.
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!
I commented:
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
1) fully face-to-face,
2) part f-2-f / part online,
3) fully online with real time streaming to students remotely located at home or elsewhere
4) fully online self paced
5) flexible, customised variations of the above which students can move in and out of.
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? 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?
Imagine if we could organise these delivery variations and provide a whole range of students with genuine choice and flexibility?
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.
And yet what alternatives do we really have in such uncertain times?
The centre will not hold as far as traditional, classroom delivery is concerned.
Post Script September 2022: 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.
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.
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.
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