Designing Learning Experiences Online Part 1

Designing Learning Experiences Online Part 1

2nd Sep 2020/Wednesday

This blog post is inspired from my online course with #ISTE about designing learning experiences online. Its an insight into what is online learning and what are the important elements that need to be taken into account while designing experiences online. This is important for us as educators because due to COVID most learning is happening remotely and online. We will look into strategies that could be used to make learning online more effective and meaningful. So, lets begin.

Online  learning is basically the combination of instruction and assessment that happens online. Where as blended learning is a combination of both face to face and online instruction but it includes student agency. We will look into what is student agency and why is it important for online learning.We need to differentiate between asynchronous learning and synchronous learning. Asynchronous learning means that both the instructor, the audience do not need to be online at the same time, the content is available online and can be accessed at the learners convenience. Its self paced learning. Synchronous learning is the opposite, both the learner and the instructor have to be present at the same time. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. For example with asynchronous learning,learning can be individualized, its more flexible, students have more autonomy to do tasks in their own time, feedback can be differentiated, multiple tools can be used etc. The disadvantage could be that its more challenging for students who need teacher guidance and support, it has to be intentionally planned and there is no immediate feedback,the instructor will respond when he/she finds its needed or appropriate. 

Similarly, when we talk of synchronous learning, the main advantage is that it encourages and provides opportunities for face to face online interaction and communication, the feedback is immediate, very effective for small group sessions. The disadvantage is that its not that flexible (because of the time constraint), does not support individualized feedback and guidance and there can be issues of equity and access.

Lets pause for a moment and think of challenges we all face as educators while teaching online. One of the main challenges that comes to my mind is designing the content for online lessons, how to make lessons more interactive, how to create differentiated lessons? how to keep students motivated?how to make lessons more student centered, how to assess online learning, how to involve students in the learning, how to get feedback, and then there are technical issues, does every one have access to technology? does everyone have the devices available 24/7? are both students and teachers trained to used device safely and do they know how to be good digital citizens? and so one. These are all valid concerns and we all face them.

So, how do we design an online experience and what do we keep in mind. My course instructor Michele Eaton suggests two things, first designing lessons intentional for online learning, second include opportunities for lots of interaction, collaboration and reflection. We should think where is the opportunity to get data from the students that shows whether they have understood the content or no? where is the opportunity for formative assessment? where is the opportunity where teachers can give feedback to students? where is the opportunity where students can discuss and share with their peers, instructors? for example instead of sharing a YouTube video about a content, a teacher could explain it and add her own video, that would make the teachers presence in the online classroom. Students could listen to their teacher anytime. Also give feedback regularly. Also look for interaction between the students and the content, instead of just watching the video , what is the activity followed after watching the video? is their a tool used for collaborative note taking? are they using Padlet to jot down key points or adding to the video content or making connections with prior learning experiences? or are they working on a the application of the topic in a new context in a shared google doc or slide etc Some of the formative assessment strategies could be using exit tickets in a shared doc, using games, discussion boards, graphic organizers, quick write ups ( 1 min summaries or reflections) or a meeting with the instructor. Our usual practice is designing content, followed by assessment which doesn't work every time. 

Another important thing that we need to do before designing an online experience is that we write down our goals for online learning, why do we want to design an online experience. Consider the following questions:

• Do I want to increase student agency by incorporating online learning? 
• Do I want to create opportunities for students to discuss, share and collaborate online
• Do I want to personalize learning, provide individualized support?
• Do I want to increase student engagement and motivation through online learning?
• Do I want to improve the quality of online digital content design?
• Do I want ti use data from online learning to feed into my instruction design?

Select one of these goals for yourself. So if you have taken the first goal , lets consider how could you bring student agency in the classroom. So what is student agency? student agency means incorporating student choice and voice in the learning. When students are allowed to follow their interests, learning is meaningful and relevant. You could bring student agency in the classroom by adjusting pace, path and time/place. When we deliver online lessons, we are giving students more pace, they do not need to go along with the teacher even when they do not understand, they follow at their own pace. Because of online lessons, students could choose their own learning materials, they can choose to demonstrate the understanding of the content using any materials thus increasing chances for teachers to

provide individualized support to learners. Third, you could provide feedback to students any time, one group could be working online while others in face to face discussions.

For example you create student agency  in the classroom by using student choice board,  playlists or checklists, you could create these in google doc, google drawings, google Jam board, google forms. Students have to complete a number of activities of their choice. Its like a tic tac toe or checker board. Below is an example of a choice board.

Once you have decided the goal, and further narrowed it down to which aspect of student agency you want to work on, things being more focused and easy. You can now consider how will you stricture your lesson.

Marcia and Jeff Kish have designed a 4Cs choice board incorporating communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking. It has details about the cards and the activities that students can choose to do (1). These choice boards could be integrated into any curriculum. These boards could be used for differentiation. They could be designed for longer units, spread over weeks.

Similarly you could design play lists, the only difference between a play list and a choice board is that, you have to follow the activities in a sequential order where as in a choice board there is no order. Its like a music song play list, but instead of songs there are activities or tasks that students have to complete.

You could also create a playlist with a shuffle button, where students could choose to the assignments they want to do first. You could also design a learning meal, it is structured like a course meal, there are three sections, an appetizer, main lunch and a dessert. All three sections have varying activities. The appetizers could have simple tasks, the lunch could have heavy activities and the desserts could be treated as extension activities. The levels could be varied.  You could add more choice and voice in the playlists thus personalizing the learning experience of the students. 

Moving on, what are some of the tools that could aid in adding student agency ? how do you create an online learning digital tool box? what should you consider before adding tools in your digital tool box? lets explore this in the next blog post titled "Designing Learning Experiences Online Part 2".

Enjoy Reading till my next blog post soon InnShaaAllah.

Regards and prayers

Sheeba Ajmal

References:

1. Garage Sale Choice Board Activities, Marcia and Jeff Kish, accessed online https://www.dsdprofessionaldevelopment.com/blog/garage-sale-choice-board-activities, 2nd Sep 2020.

2. Three ways to blend learning in the classroom, Darcy Meuller, accessed online https://www.teachervision.com/blog/morning-announcements/three-ways-to-blend-and-personalize-your-classroom, 2nd Sep 2020. 

3. Teacher Guide to Online Learning, accessed online https://michiganvirtual.org/resources/guides/teacher-guide/ , 2nd Sep 2020.