Growing up with in-person instruction as my norm, learning online was never an ideal situation, nor was it desired. I was always under the impression that online learning would be too convenient to not be held accountable for missing assignments or skipping class. For this reason, I never opted to do online learning in my K-12 years. I also actively avoided enrolling in distance education during my undergrad. If there was an in-person lecture, that was the choice. I personally felt like I needed the structure and routine to keep me engaging with the learning. If learning online was always my last choice, why the heck am I doing my Master’s this way?
Like I mentioned before, for the first 22 years of my life, this was the only way I knew how to learn. Having the educator in the room with me and my peers working through course content via lectures, assignments, presentations, and discussion felt so natural. I actively sought out opportunities to learn face-to-face to hold myself accountable and get immediate help with what I was working on. When we have in-person instruction that immediate feedback is there and is presented in such a personal way. You develop a strong rapport with your students, peers, and/or instructor when you are all physically present in the room with one another. The face-to-face model of instruction works best, in my opinion, for classes that involve some technical aspect to it all (i.e. art, tech ed, music, computers, and early learning in general). Classes where you are required to use materials and apply them to a project are hard to teach in anything other than in-person. In an art class, if you’re picking up too much paint or holding the material in the incorrect position, having the instructor there to demonstrate techniques and physically correct postures is the quickest and most effective way to get students to learn. It’s like solely learning how to pain through watching “The Joy of Painting” and attempting to imitate Bob Ross as he instructs you what to do. I have tried to learn to paint this way, and there are still some techniques that I know I’m not doing correctly. I cannot figure out how to do it without consulting an art professional and showing them what I have been doing.
As our lives get busier and busier, accommodating in-person class times becomes increasingly difficult. Online learning provides the flexibility to be wherever in the world and engage with the content on our own time. You do not have to work on an assignment every Tuesday because you have to physically hand it in to your instructor during class time. Having the freedom to pick up and do a little bit of work at a time when you have a spare moment makes online learning more accessible. Not to mention the vast array of courses, tutorials, and classes you can take (often for free) online. If you need to learn quickly how to do something, that quick video that explains it might be all you need.
During the pandemic when all the teachers in my district needed to teach online, I (the tech teacher) was relegated to immediate tech support for staff and students. I was no longer teaching classes on how to code, the basics of Microsoft Office, or even giving students the opportunity to practice their typing. Instead, it was my job to coach staff, students, and parents on how to navigate a platform I knew very little about beforehand. I had to learn, and I had to learn faster than everyone else. There would be courtesy calls and emails about how to log on, walking families through how to submit assignments, and making sure I knew enough about the device interface they were using to help them out (i.e. are they using pc, mac, android, iOS). Therefore, I have very little experience formally teaching in an online sphere. I have much more experience being a learner.
The learning curve for online learning is fast and it is steep. For our youngest and our most senior learners, navigating an online space is often more difficult than the course content. Below are just some of the essential skills one must have before attempting online learning. It can be super overwhelming for those who have never done this before.
- Accessing a Zoom or Teams link
- logging into the correct online course platform
- submitting assignments
- writing in the chat
- turning cameras/mics on and off
- raising your hand in online space
- navigating to other sites during class
Once you have the foundational technological literacy supports in place, online instruction works just as fine. One is still able to do readings, hold meetings to discuss our thoughts, get into smaller groups to discuss finer details, and work on assignments. The flexibility of being wherever (home, car, a café, etc.) when participating in class, increases accountability when the environment may need to change.
Both in-person and online learning settings provide an opportunity to learn and connect with peers, just in a different modality. When we learn face to face, our peers are local and it is easy to meet up in a physical space. Oftentimes, there would be a shared context of place. When learning online, the learning community can come from all of the world and learners have different contexts. Many in-class activities can be replicated in both situations – group discussions, readings, video sharing, presentations, and field trips. In either setting, there is accountability to show up, participate, and engage. Both learning formats allow for face-to-face interaction, whether it be a quick consultation or a meeting though Zoom. Feedback can be given to students quickly to learners through conversations or a push of a button. With the technological advancements to accommodate the need for useful online spaces, this more that online learning can do that’s comparable to in-person learning, than not.
It’s really up to the learner to decide which learning modality works best for them. The must consider the learning objectives and if they believe they can achieve success in-person or online. For my own educational journey, my program focuses on Educational Technology, so the digital structure of the courses really lends itself for pushing me to try new web-based platforms and programs. Before starting this program, I had no idea what Menti was, nor had I ever been required to facilitate an online learning experience. Being made to go outside of my comfort zone has given me the confidence to try other technologies in my free time. If my Masters was a more hands-on program, I would be more inclined to do a more locally based in-person course. This fundamental shift to my schema of what learning looks like has been an enriching change. Parts of me still long for the in-person class when I’m struggling to understand how to navigate a platform or program, and I’d love to have someone sitting next to me being able to show me exactly what to do. I look forward to seeing what my instructors and peers introduce to me as we go through the program. I no longer feel like I’m still in the echo chamber of tech that my school district keeps pushing, and I have broadened my scope of understanding by connecting with teachers from all over.
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