Week 6: An Introvert's Perspective on Class

This week, Lorayne has asked us to focus our learning log on what we are doing during class time. Specifically, what am I doing in class time? How much is passive learning? And how much is active learning?

What I'm Doing During Class

Let's start with what I am doing during class time. I have to admit that most of the time I am listening to the conversation and discussion that is happening in class, especially when we are in a larger group. As an introvert, I really find class overwhelming in terms of stimulus because I'm trying to take everything in, including the discussion, chat window etc. I need time to process information... it's just the way that my brain works! I do participate much more frequently during breakout discussions. I appreciate it when we do breakouts as it gives me a break from feeling overwhelmed and allows me a bit more time to process and contribute to the discussion.

Passive vs. Active Learning

In regards to passive versus active learning, I see how Lorayne has set up the course to minimize passive learning. I learn much more when I am actively engaged in the material and I find that my attention span is very limited when learning is more passive. There is a vast array of literature that supports this notion, and I've witnessed this in my teaching practice as well, especially this year. Students in my SL chemistry class learned about electrochemistry through project-based learning; they were deeply engaged in learning all about batteries in order to construct their own. At the end of the unit, I gave them a test and the average was far higher than I've ever seen in past practice, where instruction has been typically more teacher-directed. What's interesting about this class is that they have been frustrated about this approach; they are so used to a teacher-directed classroom and it's been a challenge to get them to buy-in! Change is never easy but, knowing the huge benefits, I will continue along this path as I know it is best for students.

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Week 2: The Innovation-Policy Gap

This week's readings were focused on digital privacy. It is clear from from both Davis (2014) and Leatham & Robertson (2017 ) that there exists some major discrepancies between innovation, the use of technology in education, and policy. In particular, as I was reading the Leatham & Robertson (2017) article, I began to question my own practices and choices of digital tools in the classroom... do they protect student digital privacy or am I unknowingly putting my students at risk here? I will certainly be examining the digital tools that I choose much more closely to ensure that this is not the case. I found the following quote from Leatham & Robertson (2017) particularly interesting: "Teachers, and in particular, early adopters appear to be caught in the cross-currents of multiple and contradictory technology imperatives" (p. 3). This quote really caught my eye because it is linked to the leadership theory that I am working on with my group for Assi...

Week 10: More Case Study Presentations

This week, we continued with the case study presentations in class. My group presented our case study on moving towards online final assessments in high school eLearning courses. It was an interesting and positive experience; however, there were some negative aspects to how this was set up in the course that I'd like to explore here. First, our group found that it was a challenge to get the rest of the class up to the same level of knowledge as we had about our case study. It felt like we spent the majority of the breakout time just getting everyone up to speed that it really took away from the rich discussions that began to occur during the last portion of the breakouts. We provided our case study presentation via blackboard email a few days prior to class; however, no one likely reviewed it before our presentation. I'm not even sure how this could be improved upon but I found that this was a reoccurring theme. Also, people need wait time to process...

Week 3: Group Work

I used to really hate and dread anything to do with group work. I've had some pretty horrible experiences in the past, even as recent as during my B.Ed. For my biology curriculum course, we needed to plan out an entire unit (on plants) and ALL of the work was basically left for me to complete. It was the most frustrating group work experience that I've had to date - aren't teachers supposed to collaborate and work together? If teachers themselves can't do this, how do we expect it of our students? BUT... over the past year and a half, as I've been working on completing my M.Ed. at UOIT, my opinion of group work has done a complete 180. My mindset has changed for a few reasons; I have gained a better understanding of social constructivist learning theories and I have experienced what and how collaborative learning should be implemented in education. This past week, I have focused on working on assignment 2 with my group. We have been develop...

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