Creating and Sustaining Communities of Inquiry

in Blended Learning Environments

"Demonstrating and discussing how teaching presence can be designed, facilitated, and directed in a blended

learning environment in order to increase levels of student engagement and success."

Britt Gow@brittgow

brittgow@gmail.com

Anne Mirtschin@murcha

mirtschin@gmail.com

Student Engagement•How do we measure engagement?

•Quantitatively by increased attendance

•Student opinion data

•Qualitatively by curiosity for more information

•Willingness to attend nighttime 'extra' classes

• Increased motivation, enthusiasm and involvement

• Increased focus on tasks

• How do we measure success?

• Not just VCE scores, but connectedness to school

• Community involvement & social competencies.

• Pathways to tertiary study and employment

• Enjoyment of learning

Student Success

eLearning

Global Educatio

nRural Education

My Passions!

Meet my VCE accounting class...

Renee

•3 virtual students (one over 2010, 2011!)•1 ESL student•One student in unit 3 / 4 without unit 1 / 2•A mix of two levels of accounting – year 11

and 12

The timetable

Tools used….

School email

Learning Resources

MOOC

textbooks

The students

Learning network

@ Email lists

communities

The virtual classroom!The virtual classroom!

Every student has a voice!

From the chat….

•“this is much better than school classes” (after a night time session)

•James M Sorry, I am on a very bad connection tonight, so it is very slow.

•Virtual student: i had to look at the L on my hand and got confused (in regard to debits and credits)

•Virtual student: •Virtual student: i remember that i just

forgot which side was left and right•i dont even know wat we r looking at??•i havent even started it :/

.......................more chat!

•dont confuse me this tinme

•i dont get why you have that 400 on the debit side

• i always get confused between debtors and creditors, who do we pay, and who pays us??

ESL studentsESL studentsCan you please tell me a summary of the chapter?

Can you please tell me a summary of the chapter?

Visual Learning with Word Cloudshttp://www.wordle.net

I was googled!I was googled!

‘”Miss, can you please give me TRIAL EXAMS for unit 4 vce accounting 2011 and from previous years

My classes are big and my teacher isnt that good withrevision so i was wondering. i was wondering if you know any VCE MATH METHODS and ENGLISH  sites like this so i can email teachers if i dont undertand or want practise exams.”

My Teacher Blog for instructions, reflections and shared conversations

Monitoring ProgressMonitoring Progress

•Check sheets•Blogs•Forums•Comments on my blogs•Google forms•Photos, videos - slide share, voicethread,

youtube, blackboard collaborate•Chat in blackboard collaborate, •Observing students working in blackboard

collaborate via application sharing

Checking understandingChecking understanding

Benefits

•Recordings

•Save chat, whiteboards etc

•Interactivity

•Emoticons

•Every student has a voice

Engagement

•Interactive

•Students are happy to login from home at night

from home when sick or unable to attend school

•Group or individual

•Breakout rooms

•Recording factor

•Application sharing

•Chat

Monitoring and reporting progress

•(This is the hard one) – capturing data that analyzes learning beyond the regular data

•Tools – blogs, wallwisher

•Setup online surveys – google form

•Comments back on blog posts

•Facebook updates

•Dropbox

•interviewing students

Challenges

•Learning•Mobile phone service•Digital objects for accounting•Risk taking – ahead of red tape, but that

follows•Language barriers/time zones•Timetables•Budgets•The 10-20% play factor•Timetables•Different schools’ accessibility/infrastructure•Rethinking school as it exists

Blended Learning - Britt

•Technoscience and Technomaths Blogs

•Connect with Experts

•Communicate with colleagues

•Global Projects - Online Science Fair, International Energy Challenge, Potato Olympics, Paper Airplane Project

•Ballarat University Virtual Teaching Program

•VCE Environmental Science

How did my online classes start?

•Enquiries from students who did a Google search

•Comments on my VCE Env Sci blog and Ning

•Requests from the Victorian Association of Environmental Education

•Not available as a Distance Learning subject due to practical component

•Video practical experiments

• Invite other schools to participate

VCE Environmental Science - Britt•Eight students from four different

schools

•Blackboard Collaborate for 90 minutes each week

•Skype & telephone

•Blog, Email and Facebook

•Face-to-face excursions and study camp

• In 2012, ten students and three first-time teachers with their classes

•Ultranet and PolyCom

My experience....•Each student is unique and has different preferences and ways of learning

•Need to offer a variety of tasks:

• Questions, polls and voting

• Reading, writing, listening

• Images, text, audio and video

• Web tours and application sharing

• Drawing, cutting & pasting images

• Completing tables of data

•

Mathletics as Blended Learning

•Online maths activities, including avatars, games, teacher-assigned activities, help button, assessments, tutorials, rewards, competitions and tracking.

•Can access from school and home.

•Compliments face-to-face instruction

We use Skype and Blackboard Collaborate to connect with our Scientist in Schools partner,

Melissa Toifl, from CSIRO Land and Water Technologies, in Highett and Clayton.

• Connecting with experts in the field increases motivation and engagement by allowing students to ask questions and

actively participate in presentations.

Student success increased by...

•Real choices (subject choices, ways of learning and ways of demonstrating understanding & application of concepts)

•Students can work at their own pace

•Trust that students are willing to learn

•Access to tools and support

•Making expectations clear

A Learning Revolution?

• "Blended learning has the potential to revolutionize K–12 education in terms of quality and cost, as it allows for a fundamental redesign of the educational model around the following:"

• "A more consistent and personalized pedagogy that allows each student to work at her own pace and helps each child feel and be successful at school."

• "Productive new school models that require fewer, more specialized teachers and use space more efficiently."

• ".......Teachers shifting to blended-learning models are finding that they have more time to focus on high-value activities like critical thinking, writing, and project based learning as they spend less time on low-value, manual tasks.....(while still).................creating a strong,

• supportive culture that promotes rigor and high expectations for all students, as well as providing healthy, supportive relationships and mentorship."

References

• http://www.innosightinstitute.org/media-room/publications/education-publications/the-rise-of-k-12-blended-learning/