This project asked me to take the same assignment and rework it for two different styles. In this case, an asychronous and flipped classroom model.

Version One – Asynchronous Online – RRTTTSLDownload
Version 2 – Flipped – RRTTTSLDownload

Reflection on Modes

As a face-to-face instructor in a K-12 classroom, I rarely have to worry about collaboration between students. It is an aspect of teaching that comes naturally to me. In my classroom, students sit in pods, so they always have someone to bounce ideas off of or turn and talk to. I work collaboration deliberately into my lessons through knowledge-checks, discussion questions, and time to work with partners on in groups. This assignment forced me to think about authentic collaboration in online and hybrid spaces.

As someone who thrives on self-directed learning, the urge to make version one, my fully asynchronous online learning course, solely individual was strong. However, I know students often learn best in collaboration with one another and to create community in an online space, deliberate steps must be taken. Therefore, I had to determine what would be an authentic mode of communication for these virtual students, and how could I ensure follow through for a group of online 10th grade students. I determined that deliberate partner pairings and a deadline for a group discussion board would be a manageable amount of communication. The “turns” consideration wasn’t a large one for this mode — other than partners should be prepared to reply to one another in a reasonable amount of time. However, steps and rules become crucial to maintain effective progress in the lesson. Making sure students know what is expected of them in a response, as well as what needs to be completed are two ways I worked with this aspect.

Rules and roles are just as important in the flipped classroom, which is what I chose for version two. While constructing the lesson, I had to ensure students knew what would be expected of them before class, and what they would be doing in class in order to maximize learning time. Two sets of rules were then needed: how to handle individual work and how to handle collaborative work.

Reflection on Modes

As a face-to-face instructor in a K-12 classroom, I rarely have to worry about collaboration between students. It is an aspect of teaching that comes naturally to me. In my classroom, students sit in pods, so they always have someone to bounce ideas off of or turn and talk to. I work collaboration deliberately into my lessons through knowledge-checks, discussion questions, and time to work with partners on in groups. This assignment forced me to think about authentic collaboration in online and hybrid spaces.

As someone who thrives on self-directed learning, the urge to make version one, my fully asynchronous online learning course, solely individual was strong. However, I know students often learn best in collaboration with one another and to create community in an online space, deliberate steps must be taken. Therefore, I had to determine what would be an authentic mode of communication for these virtual students, and how could I ensure follow through for a group of online 10th grade students. I determined that deliberate partner pairings and a deadline for a group discussion board would be a manageable amount of communication. The “turns” consideration wasn’t a large one for this mode — other than partners should be prepared to reply to one another in a reasonable amount of time. However, steps and rules become crucial to maintain effective progress in the lesson. Making sure students know what is expected of them in a response, as well as what needs to be completed are two ways I worked with this aspect.

Rules and roles are just as important in the flipped classroom, which is what I chose for version two. While constructing the lesson, I had to ensure students knew what would be expected of them before class, and what they would be doing in class in order to maximize learning time. Two sets of rules were then needed: how to handle individual work and how to handle collaborative work.