Blended Online Learning BOL

Reflection on Webinar:Blended Online Learning

Attended on: MMVC14 Date: 1st August 2014

By Dr Nellie Deutsch

I had a chance to attend a very interesting session with Dr Nellie on Blended Online Learning during the MMVC14 Conference with a number of participants from around the world on 1st August 2014. It was a live webinar using the WIZIQ platform. I got a chance to ask questions from presenter and interact with the attendees which was a completely unique experience for me, different people, different countries and different time zones interacting at the same place made worth attending.

The presenter started by asking all attendees to compare a face to face conversation with this virtual communication, she encouraged to use the chat box, share thoughts about what is it being in a virtual classroom.

She began with asking attendees about “ Blended Learning” , some interesting responses were shared like a mix of face to face and online learning, blend of synchronous and asynchronous etc. What I understood is learning taking place in the same physical space/virtual space and time using available resources, a blend of face to face and computer mediated activities. Blended online learning then is something completely online, all interaction and communication is online, one of the attendees shared an example of WIZIQ and Moodle for blended online learning. Presenter asked if someone had experienced a fully online training or course, a few responded with yes they had attended a few classes.

I really liked the part where presenter shared Richard Davidson work on brain on how new brain and  new skills are developed due to changing circumstances around us. I would surely like to read more on this to get a better idea of how actually this happens seems really interesting.

The Presenter brilliantly linked the work done by Daniel Golman in his book FOCUS about how distractions keep you away from learning, how multitasking cannot help retain attention to situation during a live webinar and chat going on in the chat box, attendees tend to get distracted and lose focus. It seems like more of teacher controlled class.

She talked us through synchronous and asynchronous learning modes and how they are different by several examples. My understanding developed now says synchronous learning provides more opportunity for interaction, its online, in real time , more open communication like webinars, text messaging etc. Where as in asynchronous learning provides more time and space to learners, they can engage with the content, change and edit as and when required, and I feel it is more convenient for learners as they get opportunity to learn at own pace such as email, online courses, discussion forums, blogging, google drive etc. But what is important is the fact that both synchronous and asynchronous learning are important, only attending a 40 minute live session would never be enough and would not help build concepts.

I liked the part where presenter talked about how does actually learning take place through not only experiencing, experimenting, exploring and then finally documenting your work, which is important if we want to sustain learning. I really find it very relevant because while writing this reflection a lot of things now became more clearer and now I understand why documentation is so important.

During the session and while writing this reflection I kept thinking how could I use BOL in schools. One of the things possible is in teacher training, since we have initiated a new project titled ELE (Enhanced Learning Environment) in schools and we would need intensive teacher training programs to be launched to get them equipped with the latest tools and technologies, how to lesson plan, maintaining e-portfolios etc. Blogs could be created where teachers could share their best practices, a few good teachers could share their best practices through live webinars etc.

What I find challenging is looking for teachers who are tech savvy, because they need to be trained to handle online sessions, proper course content would need to be developed for such trainings, though we have the technology equipment needed to conduct such sessions but still would need a thorough planning which i feel is a challenge.

I can surely begin with discussing with my training manager the pros and cons of such course, developing a feasibility report, followed by  planning a short course which focuses on blended online learning, teachers need to be aware of the concept. We need to identify core levels, core subject areas and identify teachers who could be part of this process.

I felt comfortable, overwhelmed during the session, a complete learning experience looked like a real classroom to me, the presenter encouraged questions, attendees along with me got a good chance to not only interact with the presenter but with the attendees too.

Question:

Q. Blended online learning and its importance in schools, what role can it play for Early Years education and secondary education? a comparison of impact on both schools.

D:\Desktop\Moodle\BOL.swf

Sheeba Ajmal

RETC Northern Region

Beaconhouse School System.