Towards a HyFlex Model of Teaching and Learning in Adult Language, Literacy, Numeracy and Digital (ALLND) Education

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

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

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. 

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.  

Online Learners Overnight ... the Next Step

This presentation was delivered on 15 October 2020 to the Learning for Employment (Lfe) consortium, Melbourne, Australia.

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. Developments and refinements to the model continue. 

PS. Click on each slide for a better view. There are links to short video snippets accompanying some slides.

PPS. the commentaries below are lecture notes - more "stream of consciousness" than crafted composition

***

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.

—- Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis, ‘Five Theses on the Future of Learning’ https://tinyurl.com/y4gtpg7n

***

"Why we go back I can do all online? We working together just like in classroom, why we go back?”

—- M., Adult ESL learner, surveyed about study preferences for 2021 in an imagined COVID free situation

***

Slide 1 : Frontispiece /Intro

...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.

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.

Hopefully this presentation can provide some pointers.

Slide 3: Changing direction 

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?

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.

The logistics of their delivery, retrieval and correction are very problematical.

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.

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. 

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?

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.

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)

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.

My approach attempts to encourage pair and group work, to build relationships and communication between students.

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6_c1kkSbAo

Slide 4: More points of communication

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.

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.

Overall the work returns were actually patchy and only the most technologically savvy or best supported students were reliable. 

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.

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. 

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)

Slide 5:  Towards plasticity  

Imagine, a workbook which could ....

• be delivered to the students instantly;
• be completed and corrected effortlessly;
• be a document in which a range of other media, links and resources could easily be embedded;
• be shared with more than one student with strategies developed to get them working together and communicating with one another.

Imagine a workbook that did not require printing or returning;

• that could be read on any device and require no installation of software;
• 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;
• that is linked to a series of cloned copies that can be shared and be moved between by the teacher and even other students;
• that is totally free. 

That workbook is already potentially available in the form of Google Docs.

Slide 6: Interconnected Activities

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.

 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) 

*Supportive use of "low-tech" (phone!) to support activities and encourage peer interaction

*More time can be carved out during the week for short one-on-one sessions with the teacher. 

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.

Slide 7: Google Docs as a communicative learning environment 

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.

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.

I developed a range of workbook types : individual workbooks and assessment booklets, pair work and larger group workbooks. 

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.

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 

For now the teacher can enter into a “chat” dialogue with the student(s)  in the margins with the workbook using the Comments tool.

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.

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.

Slide 8: Three types of Google Docs workbook

As stated above, I have designed three types of "workbook" 

1) individual (mainly for assessment);

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 ; 

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.

Slide 9: Mini-lessons as a more effective mechanism for teacher review and observation of student work

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. 

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! 

These mini-lessons or reviews evolved out of my individual work with students negotiating and overseeing learning plans which you can read about here.

Slide 10: Zoom Classes - beware the danger of allowing it to become a totalising classroom surrogate

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. 

2 hours on Wednesday - consolidates/extends work done on Tuesday in pairs or groups and shared through the Google Doc Workbook.

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?

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. 

It provides an opportunity for some whole class socialisation, some role play through breakout rooms, some review through Sharing - but that’s about it. 

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? 

*Why not teach students to use Zoom as a convenient recording tool for their own presentations, role plays etc? 

*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? 

Zoom needs to be used sparingly and amongst other tools and strategies so a productive and flexible balance is struck.

https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cY6D197ZBT 

Slide 11: "Correction" and Review revisited - video use / mini-lessons

Correction and review videos - short screencasts produced by the teacher which allow students to review activities in their own time. 

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? 

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. 

Better still, why not use peer review incorporated into activities themselves as another strategy for review and correction?

https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cY6lcJKRww

12. Links, readings, reviews ...

https://youtu.be/AbDYDiXbanQ

https://tinyurl.com/y4xxk664

https://www.ibteachershub.site/2020/05/my-mantra-leave-no-one-behind.html

https://tinyurl.com/y6s9kje8

https://dalepobega.blogspot.com/

https://dalepobegateaching.blogspot.com/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1145556932248422

 Kalantzis and Cope : https://newlearningonline.com/e-learning

Disclaimer: the views expressed and approaches taken are my own and not necessarily those of any organisation for which I work or am contracted.

Devices and Design : Improving online learning experiences for adult students with low level digital skills

A reflection for Adult Learners Week 1 - 8 September 

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). 

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. 

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. 

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. 

Some interesting observations from the end of Term 2 gleaned from my students’ learning plan review/interview sessions:

• 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);
• 4/13 had devices, peripherals and connectivity they had to share with other family members which limited their ability to study;
• 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).

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. 

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. 

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.

 

Week 8 —- Bringing Individual Learning Plans to Life Online

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.

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.

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?

N. talks about the cultural and language obstacles he faces - s well as his strengths and advantages - in
 becoming an importer of oil from India. 

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.

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?

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..

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.

In this guided dialogue, N. adapts a model text about dimension, weights and measures to describe the products he is interested in importing

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.

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.

At this stage, Dale introduces the subject of "specifications" or "specs" so N.
can practice the language of comparisons. All the while Dale is recording the session,
note taking and observing.

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.


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.

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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?

Week 4 —- Online Corrections

I know that many of us are probably struggling with the challenge of correcting student work in this online ‘sojourn’ of ours.

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.

Correcting their photographed hand-written work and getting it back to them is much harder - time consuming and a bit clunky.

Faster to just print, mark, scan, save and send back? No way!

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?

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.

Week 3 —- Leave No One Behind

This article appeared in May on the International Baccalaureate Teachers Hub (Turkey) under the title: My Mantra: "Leave No One Behind."


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. 

My students know that I have expectations of them, that our classes have not been suspended. We are working differently but learning goes on. 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. 

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.  

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

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 the shock of the lock down and fear of the virus would drive my adult learners away to more pressing issues. 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.

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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.




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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.

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. 

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).

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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 discuss issues of language, engage in a role play, discuss a story or homework submitted and any difficulties being experienced.

I 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.

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.

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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. locate my site, download from it, save files, print docs, send and reply to email, attach files to email, view video, login and submit quizzes.  

On the surface it is a simple model - but the work involved in servicing it is considerable.  In terms of production there is: a 20+ page workbook of relevant materials, audio, video and quiz to create on a weekly basis. Add to this managing student communication - phoning, texting, responding to emails, receiving, correcting and returning homework. Then there is the required administrative and compliance level of work. I’m tired just thinking about it - for how long can I sustain this effort I wonder?

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.



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. 

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.

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My delivery model can be viewed at https://dalepobega.blogspot.com/