This is an overview of my work for my Graduate Certificate in Learning Design. These posts focus on: accessibility and design, electronic assessment for teaching and learning, and teaching and learning online

Accessibility and Design

Electronic Assessment for Teaching and Learning

Teaching and Learning Online

A Manifesto for Online Learning

Online learning is not a monolith, though it is often treated as one. Hailed by some as a way to revolutionize individualized instruction, dismantle systemic barriers embedded in education, and provide opportunity for cutting-edge pedagogy and activities, online learning is capable of these lofty goals, but needs work to achieve them. Though some traditional school districts have implemented online learning in a way that has benefited students, many schools do not utilize, or do not have the infrastructure to support the purported dynamic opportunities of online learning. Similarly, though some virtual schools have reported student success, the United States Department of Education currently lacks meaningful data for online learning in both traditional brick-and-mortar schools and online learning institutions (Digital Learning Collaborative, 2024). It is my hope to clarify what online learning can do and problematize the United States’ current implementation of online learning. 

Personal Definition of Learning 

Before we can discuss what online learning could be, we must clarify what learning is. I believe learning is a process that occurs in context, individually or collectively, where previous knowledge is drawn upon, and new knowledge is acquired through a variety of formal and informal settings, means, and processes. Learning varies from culture to culture; it depends in part on the individual’s identity, the places and spaces where learning occurs, and the value put on knowledge by the individual and society. This definition is both vague and specific by necessity. While learning can occur in a variety of spaces – virtual, online – and places – in homes, at schools, through communities – I maintain there is a requirement for context and knowledge to be used and needed in these various places and modalities for learning to occur. 

Online learning, by definition, requires some sort of virtual space: be it an affinity space like a reddit thread for coding tips, or a learning management system run through a school such as Canvas or Schoology. However, not all online learning has to occur in exclusively virtual spaces. A hybrid model that includes opportunities for learning in virtual and physical spaces can be quite beneficial. This can be seen in the case of field trips where students go into the community and report their findings online, or a hybrid class model where students work predominantly online, but also have opportunities to go to campus and meet in-person. It is also worth noting that online learning in public schools is different from virtual public schools. 

As the Digital Learning Collective (2024) reported: “State Virtual Schools (SVS) do not issue diplomas nor engage in school functions like state assessments or federal reporting” (p.8). This means SVS are supplementary in nature, and do not take the place of a traditional school. On the other hand, full-time online schools “often operate as charter schools or district-authorized entities. . . and are reported by states. . . to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)” (p.11). This distinction is important as online learning can either complement what is being done in traditional in-person schools, or act as an independent alternative to traditional public schools. Therefore, when assessing online learning, or offering suggestions for improving or implementing it, we must be aware of what type of program is being discussed. 

My Experience with Online Learning 

Online learning, as it exists in many schools across the United States, is the antithesis of my hopes for online learning. Virtual learning, as I have seen it, falls into one of two categories. The first, is an inflexible curriculum preset by the company that produced it. It does not take into consideration the background of the students enrolled in the course: what funds of knowledge they have, what their reading or mathematical level is, what kind of hardware do they have to complete the course, and so on. The second kind follows a structure reminiscent of an in-person class, but cuts out collaborative elements or offers inauthentic substitutions for collaboration. For example, I took an online course on social emotional learning that required I read articles, listen to pre-recorded lectures, and then collaborate with my peers via a discussion board. However, by the time I took this course, the discussion board was inactive, and I had no opportunity to work with my peers or ask the instructor clarifying questions. This model which would have worked well in-person, felt inauthentic in an online context. 

I have worked in public education as a high school teacher for five years now. During this time, I have witnessed another troubling trend with online education in public schools. Students will often switch from an in-person core class to online because it is easier to cheat. Programs like Photomath and ChatGPT become tools for easy-A’s and not tools for learning in the hands of unmotivated and disillusioned students. Furthermore, there is the assumption that online classes are easier, which has caused so many students to switch to online courses, that in the span of two years, my school has gone from fourteen sections of in-person English 11 to barely eleven. Currently, this is a major issue schools across my district are facing, and our superintendent is searching for ways to solve this. 

What I Want Online Learning to Be 

Despite my students’ perceptions of online courses being “easier” than in-person, online courses should be made to be no more easy or difficult than their in-person counterparts. Rather, online learning courses should simply be a version of that class designed for the online space. Online learning should not be a copy-and-paste of a physical classroom. Techniques that work in-person, such as think-pair-share, need to be adapted or changed for the virtual environment. Courses, from the inception then, should be constructed in a way that takes advantage of the digital space, and utilizes tools that can bring about the type of organic discussion that happens in in-person spaces. This concept is discussed by Morris and Stommel (2018) in their essay “The Discussion Forum is Dead; Long Live the Discussion Forum.” Rather than having a static discussion board with excessive guidelines for posting, a social media thread or a live whiteboard could be a better solution for discussion, and the type of regulations that require citations can be saved for a more formal writing assignment. This idea is further backed by The Manifesto for Teaching Online (2020) that states “text has been troubled: many modes matter in representing academic knowledge” (Bayne, et al. 2020). When considering online discussion, we must consider what is an authentic mode of communicating online. Sometimes a forum might be appropriate, but equally, so might be a social media thread. 

In my physical classroom, I differentiate assignments for general education and special education students daily. While I use universal design to make my assignments accessible from inception, I end up making lots of decisions on the fly as students sometimes need further differentiation. However, the online space has the potential to bring individualized instruction on a greater scale through not only more course offerings, but the capability to do truly individualized instruction without the worry that students will feel singled out, or be burdensome on the facilitator I believe this because online learning typically can allow students to learn at their own pace, take courses they are interested in, and leads naturally to opportunities to extend learning, as the amount of resources – ie, the entire internet – is readily available. 

Online learning has the potential to confront and dismantle systemic barriers to education. For example, online learning can make education more accessible for learners with disabilities. Screen readers, Dyslexic-friendly fonts, and screen magnifiers are three common examples. Furthermore, virtual tours and online calls have the capability to bring places and people previously inaccessible or out of reach to the learner’s door. This can make “online can be a privileged mode. Distance is a positive principle, not a deficit” (Bayne, et al. 2020). Distance, and online, in the case of virtual field trips, talks, and lectures, helps socioeconomically disadvantaged learners, rural learners, and learners with disabilities connect with the world in ways previously inaccessible to them and even students in in-person contexts. 

Caution and Hope 

While online learning can provide benefits such as individualized instruction and accessibility, it is important to remember these aspects are not always available, and must be intentionally included in course design. Furthermore, while online learning can provide access to rural students, economically disadvantaged, and students with disabilities, this only occurs if said students have access to technology. Rural America still needs infrastructure for high speed internet and the money to provide students with technology: so to, for urban students. Disabled students also need access to technology that works for them. 

It is my hope that I can learn how to design online courses to offer exceptional learning opportunities for all learners. I believe online learning has the potential to shake up traditional education in ways that previous educational movements have not been able to, and bring to the forefront core issues of literacy, mathematical, scientific, and artistic achievement that public education in the United States has been facing since the technological revolution of the mid-2000s. However, unless the same scrutiny that traditional education faces is brought to online education, we will continue to lack concrete evidence of online education’s efficacy and the other areas tied to it that could use improvement. 

References

Bayne, S., Evans, P., Ewins, R., Knox, J., Lamb, J., Macleod, H., O’Shea, C., Ross, J., Sheail, P., & Sinclair, C. (2020). The manifesto for teaching online. MIT Press.

Digital Learning Collaborative (DLC). (2024). Snapshot 24: The post-pandemic digital learning landscape emerges.  

Morris, S.M., and Stommel, J. (2018).  The Discussion Forum is Dead; Long Live the Discussion Forum. In Morris, S. M., & Stommel, J. (2018). An urgency of teachers: The work of critical digital pedagogy. Pressbooks.

Roles, Rules, Time, Task, Turns, Steps, and Language

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.

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.

An aspect I had to think about more for the flipped model was content delivery (I was a little familiar with asynchronous online due to teaching during the pandemic, so it wasn’t as much of a concern for me). Additionally, in a physical class I can answer questions as they arise, much like with office hours for an asynchronous one. However, in the flipped model, students need the same access to new knowledge in order to have confidence working with it in class. Therefore, in version two, I create a mini lecture on diction in order to provide a bite-sized piece of information to help instruct the students before they come to class. In doing this, I realized it would be beneficial for my asynchronous version, so I added it there as well.

As I worked on this project, I kept my most vulnerable learners in mind. How could I break up arguably large lessons — this takes me anywhere from two to three days of 50 minute class periods in my regular classroom — into virtual and flipped spaces without it being completely overwhelming? The answer for me was chunking the information, providing various ways to communicate the information — through reflection, collaboration with peers, and a standard — and easily adaptable — assignment. Providing multiple ways to access the text and a short mini lecture helps all students attain and interact with the content.

Overall, I discovered that my concerns with teaching remained the same no matter what model or method I was working with: how could I deliver content to all of my learners in a way that is authentic, useful, and engaging. By following the RRTTTSL format, I was able to mitigate this concern by keeping it in the forefront of my lesson creation.

Ultimate Unit

Video Transcript: Welcome to my online unit! 

I chose to use Google classroom as it’s the learning management system my school uses. As this provided some familiarity for me, I wanted to challenge myself by using it to build an asynchronous course. Though this is an asynchronous format, I still wanted to include constructivist elements in my pedagogy. This not only aligns with my personal philosophy towards education, it builds off of recommended best practices for online learning. As Pacansky-Brock (2020) found, relationship and community building is crucial to effective pedagogy in online spaces. To help foster connection between students, and between the students and instructor, intentional interactions are planned. I also encourage students to reach out to me if ever they have questions, comments, or concerns. Though not posted yet in order to not clutter up the announcement stream, I plan to host several informal “lunch chats” on the classroom Google Meet where students can “drop in” for a more laid-back version of office hours as a further way of developing community in an online setting.  

We begin with the home page, where I incorporated humanizing elements. Instead of choosing from the stock banners, I made one specifically for this course. I also included a photo of myself as my icon so students can associate my face with my name. The first announcement in the stream is one that welcomes students to the unit. In it, I explain where they likely learned about argumentative writing in the past. This connects to the building knowledge section of the UDL framework. Then, I lay out course objectives, in accordance with the OSCQR standards. The objectives for this unit, phrased as “I can” statements, are: 

• Identify claims, evidence, and reasoning in multiple forms of media 
• Explain how rhetorical devices help an author’s argument 
• Recognize logical fallacies and explain their impact on an argument 
• Use synthesis to support my own arguments 

I remind students I will be in contact with them, but if they’re ever struggling to please reach out to me. Reminders for required technology and grading procedures are also included. 

Moving to the classwork tab, the introduction is provided again so if a student hasn’t seen it or needs a reminder, it is easily accessible. I then provide an agenda for the overall unit, stressing that this is a living document, and that adjustments will be made throughout the unit. 

The first activity is designed to have students call upon prior knowledge and interact with forms of persuasion they likely encounter in their daily lives. Students then move to a screencast where captions are enabled for accessibility, and I include video of myself as a humanizing element. The microlecture covers how to analyze a political cartoon. Students then practice this concept, and for homework, keep an eye out for additional examples of persuasion. 

Day two moves from analyzing images to analyzing reading. Students watch another microlecture on one of the key components of this unit identifying claims, evidence, and reasoning. They then practice this through reading. The attached PDF looks odd, so I wanted to show you what students would see. This is the text they have access to. Students can listen to the text by clicking this icon. 

Days 3-7 work more with the unit objectives of identifying rhetorical devices and explaining how authors build arguments through claims, evidence, and reasoning. A few activities I want to highlight are: on day three, students partner up to discuss what they have learned; day four, students participate in a digital four corners, and days 5-7 function as a first assessment towards the unit goals by having students apply what they’ve learned through writing. 

Day eight contains a mid-point check. This allows me to get a pulse of the class and adjust the rest of the unit accordingly. 

I wanted to use technology intentionally in this unit. As part of this, I wanted to make sure not to introduce too many new platforms to students. However, peardeck is one I use often, so it’s good for students to get familiar with. I also like it because it provides self-paced options and allows students to take notes directly in the notes. This day focuses on the objective working with logical fallacies. Students will then apply what they learned here to reading the article in day nine. 

In days 10-12 students jigsaw an article by reading it through different lenses. Students will then share their annotations with their group members and then reflect on the reading as a whole. 

Days 13-15 utilize a documentary. Instead of filling out notes, I wanted to offer students an opportunity to discuss it as they might in an in-class setting. As such, I offer two options: a synchronous Google Meet, or an asynchronous quick-write option, that will have students interact with a peer. Either way, students will be asked to speak to the rhetoric of the documentary, and evaluate how effective the documentary is in asserting its point. 

Days 16-20 are the culmination of the unit. The summative assessment is a synthesis essay that requires the use of all of the skills they have been practicing throughout the unit. I walk students through what synthesis is in another microlecture – and provide a review of how to set up an essay if students need it. The synthesis essay document itself is set up with tabs to allow students easy access to navigate between outline to draft to peer review and polished piece. While I want to see what students have learned, it is also important for them to realize what knowledge they have received. Therefore, I created an argumentative writing concept map for students to connect key terms from the unit and reflect on their own learning. 

With this unit, I wanted to leverage technology to build community and foster communication in an asynchronous class for high school students. This unit accomplishes this through intentional interactions and a variety of learning activities. 

Thank you so much for listening. 

References

Cast.org. (n.d.). The UDL guidelines. cast.org.

Gardner, H. and Davis, K. (2016). From The App Generation. In J. Burke (Ed.), Uncharted Territory: A High School Reader (pp. 308-323). W.W. Norton. 

Headlee, C. (2021). Unit 1: The Power of An Argument. In SpringBoard Team (Eds.), Springboard: English language arts II (pp. 4-115). The College Board. 

Lo, C. K. & Hew, K. F. (2017). A critical review of flipped classroom challenges in K-12 education: Possible solutions and recommendations for future research. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning, 12(4), 1–22.https://doi-org.proxy1.cl.msu.edu/10.1186/s41039-016-0044-2

McGonigal, J. (2021). Unit 1: The Power of An Argument. In SpringBoard Team (Eds.), Springboard: English language arts II (pp. 4-115). The College Board. 

Orlowski, J. (Director). (2020). The Social Dilemma [Film]. Exposure Labs. 

Pacansky-Brock, M. (2020). How to humanize your online class, version 2.0 [Infographic]. https://brocansky.com/humanizing/infographic2

Turkle, S. (2021). Unit 1: The Power of An Argument. In SpringBoard Team (Eds.), Springboard: English language arts II (pp. 4-115). The College Board. 

SUNY Online Teaching. (2022, March 29). Overview of OSCQR 4.0 [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/W1W-RploaiM?si=RU98S9_jH4VafRot