First, I wanted to say that I really admire Lenora for being proactive and inspired to create an online anti-bullying resource for the band teachers.  Despite the hurdles she will need to face to pull this off, she has the spark and anything is possible with that.  Having said this, it may not end up being presented the way she imagines it to be, but her message will still get across to the other teachers.

I would have to recommend that Lenora first choose a design model prior to beginning.  I would recommend she uses Bates and Poole’s (2003) SECTIONS model as it will help her consider all components in this model and choose the right technology for her project.  By identifying the advantages and disadvantage of each technology she will be able to make an informed decision rather than a hasty one.

S – Students:  Lenora first needs to consider whether her resource would expand to her students using it as well as the teachers.  If her students will not use this resource, eventually, then the “S” for students in this model will now be considered for her fellow teachers only.  As Lenora’s school is on the Tsq’escenemc Canim Lake Band reserve, Lenora needs to think about the demographics of her teacher population and the type of access they would have to this particular resource.  Would they only have access in the school?  What is the bandwidth/connectivity like?

E – Ease of Use and Reliability:  Will this resource be reliable for teachers to use? What is the time commitment like for teachers to learn how to use this resource or work through it?  With the demands on teaching today, is this a resource that the teachers will use?  Perhaps it would be wise to collect this data from teachers before delving into all the work.

C – Cost:  There are many amazing and free software available but with Lenora’s dial-up situation, it may be difficult not from a cost perspective but from a cost of time perspective.  This could take many endless hours to put together if she went this route.  It may even be worth it to pay someone to design this for her if she were to weigh out financial cost vs cost of time.  She has a relationship with the Cradleboard Teaching Project Teacher’s Circle, I would recommend she put together a presentation about the resource she wants to develop and see if this group would support her and either put it on their site or fund her to have someone else develop it.  Another alternative would be if teachers were in favour of this idea, the school could raise money for this project.  There are creative ways to go abouts doing this if she wanted to outsource it.

T – Teaching and Learning:  Lenora needs to ensure she has outlined the learning outcomes for her project.  What will her fellow teachers gain out of this site?  Will it benefit them and if so, how will she measure this?

I – Interactivity:  What is the interactivity level she wants from this site?  Will her site deliver content alone or will teachers have the opportunity to have discussions, take surveys, interact with others in a collective knowledge building environment?  There are different sites that cater to synchronous/asynchronous or both, depending on what she wants.

O – Organizational Issues:  Since Lenora is starting this on her own, she will not have local IT support or school support.  She will need to rely on various online forums/support groups to help her along the way.  Again, with her dial-up issue, network/development issues could end up taking a long time to sort out and the cost of time becomes an issue once again.

N – Novelty:  I don’t see this being of great concern in this situation.  I think if the resource is valuable, teachers will use it and make the most of it for their own professional development.

S – Speed:  Lenora needs to be committed to this project from start to finish.  She will need to update material and deal with teacher interactivity (synchronous/asynchronous) on a regular basis.  Depending on the platform she chooses, most will update itself; however, she would need to check on this prior to selection.

Once Lenora has done this research, she can make an informed decision about next steps.  In my opinion, bandwidth is a critical factor here and the time it would take Lenora to develop her site.  I would highly recommend she speaks with the Cradleboard Teaching Project Teacher’s Circle first to see if they will collaborate with her.  If not, I would suggest she tries fundraising so that she can outsource her project.  It’s a fantastic idea but needs to be well thought out.

I agree with Coates, James and Baldwin (2005), in that technology is neutral until it is used and influenced by the operator of the tool.  A Learning Management System (LMS) is a pre-designed system and affords educators to create content and choose levels of interactions as he/she sees fit.  Once a designer begins to “feed” the tool, it no longer is neutral.  Although there are many pros to using a LMS, there are some pedagogically restricting effects of LMS in my own practice. I am big on Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) and I plan with the end in mind.  However, the process and path to get to the end is dependent on my students. By using a LMS, I would be confined to the structure of a linear path as opposed to a more fluid process of inquiry.  For example, consider the option to create modules.  In an inquiry approach I would not need to go from module 1 to module 4 in such a linear manner, my students would be the ones to generate the content; therefore, “ In-built functions may not encourage awareness of or experimentation with sophisticated pedagogical practices” (p.27).   IBL is a non-structured process and I feel there should be more fluidity and an “open” approach in the LMS.  When I think of the discussion component, the questions are led by the instructor.  In an IBL approach, the questions are asked by the students.  Now I know I could probably design a course to fit an IBL model the best way possible (i.e. let my students lead the discussion with their questions), but at this point would an LMS be the best avenue for this type of teaching and learning?

I would have to say that for large institutions where the lack of time and money to design individual and unique courses could fall into either the pro or con side.   Having standardized courses will save time and money, and an instructor does not need to start designing from scratch; however, “the incorporation of LMS into universities makes it likely that such academics will gain most of their experience in teaching contexts saturated by such systems” (p.27).  I know in our MET courses the instructors work collaboratively to design a consistent course for all students enrolled.  I wonder if any of the instructors feel that there are pedagogically restraining effects teaching this way?  As for disadvantages, I would imagine that when changes are made or newer versions are introduced to the LMS platform, there may be interruptions to the course.  In the MET program, oftentimes Blackboard is shut down for a short period of time for maintenance and this may cause a minor interruption to both the instructor and the students. This also leads into tech support.  If an instructor has an issue or a student, the instructor has to go through some form of IT support.  In previous courses, this has happened when students cannot access certain articles and the instructor has to “get back to them”.  So not being able to troubleshoot yourself is a disadvantage.

As I have touched on personalized learning and how a structured LMS does not lend itself fully to IBL, I would agree withCpiro in that there needs to be more personalized designs if the goal is to achieve a more personalized learning approach.  As Coates, James, & Baldwin (2005) note that “Within limits imposed by particular systems, staff are able to develop interactive web pages, upload and integrate digital resources, and develop assessment tasks and spaces for onlinediscussion” (p. ).  I think this is a great start to more flexibility in design; however, I really like Cprio’s (2014) 3rd point around curation and collecting learner generated content rather than creating the courses and scheduling events which lends itself “towards more flexible and personalized learning material instead of a one-size-fits-all course”.

This week’s readings and discussion made me reflect on the transformation of my school library to a learning commons.  I was on the core committee at my school for this project and although we did not “formally” use the ADDIE model, it definitely is a model we unknowingly followed.  All phases in this structure represented a flexible guideline for the entire process of this transformation and provided us with a sound road map and clear vision.  When it comes to transforming a library, schools need to consider many factors from environment, learning spaces, pedagogy/school philosophy, clients (students and teachers) using the space, technology, and constraints.  For this discussion I will focus on the technology piece.  Prior to beginning this work, the Learning Commons Team had to arrange PD for teachers to discuss thoughts, ideas and concerns about this shift.  Many teachers were unfamiliar with new technologies we were considering such as LEGO Mindstorms and a new green screen.  We held “lunch and learn” sessions to share with each other the benefits of these new technologies and how they could be implemented in the classroom.  The other core components of our committee was a student representation group who also brought forward thoughts, ideas and concerns from the student body, Parent Council, and the school’s IT support person. Students visited an Innovative Learning Technology Center and explored all the technologies that were were considering prior to purchasing.  I felt this to be a thoughtful process and took an entire year before we began making any changes to our library.  In Nel, Dreyer and Carstens’s (2010) article, they suggest that designing a course in teams where many experts work together is a key characteristic of a successful course.  I transfer this statement over to this Learning Commons Project and completely agree that it took many experts from teachers to students and parents to make this shift a successful one.

After reading about the Agile model, I feel this model fits perfectly with how curriculum is delivered by individual teachers using the learning commons space.  Now that they have a space that includes various technologies to choose from and spaces conducive to individual learning needs, students can access the right tools they need for a more personalized learning approach, and teachers can plan with this in mind.

When reflecting on this process, I feel my school spent a lot of time considering various technologies and their affordances.  There may have been some purchases that not everyone was in agreement with as comfort levels varied; however, ensuring the right PD was in place to support teachers in using these technologies was planned for in hopes that teachers would embrace them. Considering the primary and secondary criteria to this situation, we were a collaborative team working together to ensure all the pieces fell into place.  We knew that we needed to break away from a “traditional” lab and library so learning for students was more fluid and project-based.  A common space soon became the school’s “hub” for learning and access to all technologies increased on a daily basis.

References:

Bates, T. (2014). Chapter 4: The ADDIE model; Chapter 8: Models for media selection. Teaching in a Digital Age. (online book)

Nel, C., Dreyer, C., & Carstens, W. A. M. (2010). Educational technologies: A classification and evaluation. Tydskrif vir letterkunde, 35(4), 238-258. (PDF)

Hi!

My name is Shafali and I have been teaching K-2 for 16 years…well, almost.  I have spent the last two years in Denver with my family as my husband was offered an assignment here with his company.  We are from Calgary and will be moving back at the end of June.  I took a two year leave from my school board but I was a little uncertain about teaching in Denver, so I decided to pursue my Masters.  This is my 6th course and I’m looking forward to learning with all of you. During our time in Denver, we have explored Colorado and all its beauty!  My most favourite place here is Vail, CO. It reminds me a lot like Banff and is the perfect mountain escape.  I love skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, basically anything that will draw me in to the mountains 🙂

I do have a personal website I have been working on.  You can find it at: www.shafalihamir@weebly.com.  You can also follow me on twitter: @Shafali_Hamir