Methods for Online Teaching and Learning (EDU 654) - Personal Reflection

The close of my first semester as a graduate student (attempt number two) has arrived and in turn, the expectation of reflection on my experience and learning.

The course outcomes for Methods for Online Teaching and Learning can be synthesized to the development of online instructional strategies and the development of best practices in encouraging multi-directional communication and feedback between students and instructors.  If I begin my journey here, it is easy to see what I have learned (and what I still need to learn!).

Online Instructional Strategies
Online instruction is a dichotomous world of asynchronous events and synchronous events. Current learning models throw environment into this mix - where a student may be learning from home or from a brick and mortar school, or from...  The models are varied and the best "use" of the instructor can be argued, but my learning distilled two important characteristics of effective online instruction: student engagement and class discussions.

Discussions - It could be argued that discussions are one way to engage students, but my reading and experiences in EDU 654 made it obvious that discussions are the wormhole to deeper learning that also allow teachers to build community, perform formative assessment, and help students form the connections with material that enable them to do more than regurgitate learning.  Choosing the format (casual versus formal), the location (in a learning system versus social media), and even the roles of participants (leader, participant, questioner, antagonist, summarizer, etc.) has a great impact on the educational outcome.  As if those decisions aren't big enough, teachers still have to find ways to engage students in the conversation.

Which leads me to characteristic two of an effective online learning environment:

Engagement - Learning style inventories and movements such as Universal Design for Learning have come into play because research has solidified the belief that student learning is proportional to student engagement. (proportional - my first attempt at a master's degree was a masters in math)
Engaging students in online learning environments is more challenging from the perspective that an instructor can no longer use volume/tone of voice and proximity to maintain a student's focus.  However, because online learning can be anonymous, social stigmas that inhibit participation in face-to-face learning can be reduced to allow a broader audience.  Ultimately, the same rule for student engagement in a face-to-face classroom applies to an online environment: consider the needs of your students and antagonize and/or incentivize their participation while meeting their needs.

Self-Assessment of My Development of Online Instructional Strategies - Experience has taught me how to build relationships and use learning styles to personalize learning in a traditional classroom. This skill set translates fairly easily to an online environment.  Where I would like to continue to develop personally is finding ways to get students to take more of a leadership role in asynchronous discussions.  Building personal connections and seeking information relevant to their own ideas feels like a great way to maximize student learning.  I would also like to continue to develop stronger skills in facilitating synchronous, online learning experiences.  This is a deep skill set that requires TPAK at a mastery level that I have NOT yet achieved.

Communication and Feedback
While not part of Methods for Online Teaching and Learning, one of the best examples of the power of communication and feedback on learning is the video Austin's Butterfly: Building Excellence in Student Work. First, this video is a clear demonstration of the power of meaningful feedback.  Through continued pursuit of a high standard, a first grade student constructs an image of a butterfly that begins as a rough image of a winged insect but, with the help of peer feedback, becomes a textbook-worthy illustration.  You read that I said first grade student right?!  That means the feedback came from peers in first grade also. Peer feedback is the second part of the importance of this video in illustrating my learning.  Coaching of the instructor to build a community of high expectations led to peer feedback eliciting outstanding results.

The connection between this video and what I learned in Methods for Online Teaching and Learning comes down evaluating the best possible role of the teacher in the classroom.  Is it the sage on the stage?  Is it the guide on the side?  Can it be both? Communication and feedback are the key to answering these questions.  Communication pathways between students and between teacher and students are what establish the classroom culture.  If cultivated well, the vital feedback necessary for growth and learning can come from peers or the teacher.  The role of the instructor then becomes that of facilitator - a sometimes leader, a sometimes participant, an all-time instructional leader.

Self-Assessment of My Development of Communication and Feedback in My Classroom
A lot of the activity in the classrooms I supervise are evaluated with performance rubrics.  This inherently requires communication between student and teacher to help the student ensure the performance or artifact of learning demonstrates proficiency.  What doesn't come as naturally is the peer feedback and communication.  As I continue in my role of curriculum and instructional design manager, I will endeavor to provide the professional development necessary to my staff to establish this multi-dimensional world of communication and feedback.  Based on my learning from this course, I believe this will amplify the learning in the classrooms.

In Conclusion
Teaching is an art form.  There is no scientific formula that makes a perfect teacher.  Online and blended instruction only add to variables that a teacher must balance for an effective classroom. Methods for Online Teaching and Learning illustrated this art form and its complexity.  As it is only my first course in online pedagogy, I am in awe of the remaining techniques to be learned.

Feast or Famine: Providing students with the FEEDback They Want Without Starving Yourself of Freetime

From the joy of the little gold star to the dread of red ink, we have been trained from an early age to seek feedback from our instructors as a means of growth.  Whether teaching to a live and/or lively class of 26, to a blended class of 30, or to an online class of 12, providing feedback can be a challenge.  Gone are the times that right/wrong will suffice for feedback.  With the growing trends of competency-based education and growth mindset, ensuring our students have meaningful guidance is at the forefront of our teaching role.

"Feedback is an important intervention for the online educator because it is an opportunity to develop the instructor-learner relationship, improve academic performance, and enhance learning." Leibold and Schwarz (2015)

Delegate

In this age of instant gratification, it is not enough for students to get meaningful guidance eventually, students are seeking feedback that they can use to improve NOW. Douglas et al. (2016) found that a delay in feedback from the teacher resulted in negative class ratings from students because they felt the feedback came too late to actually use.

The good news is that research is pointing to students to help relieve the grading burden. Ching and Hsu (2013) conducted a study that engaged students in providing formative feedback to each other in a project-based online learning environment. While the work of Ching and Hsu( 2013) did show that coaching students on how to give effective feedback would be necessary, the results clearly indicated that students appreciated the feedback and were able to use the suggestions from their peers to improve their projects.  

And for those teachers worried about being judged for the use of "child labor", Liu and Carless (2006) have great research that supports the use of peer feedback to promote learning to higher levels:

"One important way we learn is through expressing and articulating to others what we know or understand. In this process of self-expression, we construct an evolving understanding of increasing complexity. One aspect of this process is providing learners with opportunities to explore and articulate criteria and standards in the context of working on specific assessment tasks. In order to clarify notions of quality, learners need to analyse real, illustrative exemplars. This is where examining the work of peers offers meaningful opportunities for articulating discipline-specific knowledge, as well as criteria and standards. " Liu and Carless (2016)

Big Picture Grading
Once you are able to train your students to give feedback and reduce your workload, the next "letting-go" moment comes in with the use of big-picture, rubric-based feedback.  Whether you are reviewing the steps a student took to complete a math problem or circling fragments in an essay, the inclination to go line-by-line in student assignments to provide specific feedback may be a time-waster.  Jones and Blankenship (2014) found that students preferred and felt more able to use big picture feedback.  The students in this research study indicated that in-text feedback was less helpful than comments on their overall work.  When used with a rubric - which had more finite details - students reported that big picture feedback gave them ideas on how to improve.

Tech Support
Finally, when you have embraced a new paradigm of grading, you may be ready for one-last suggested tweak to your practice.  Orlando's (2016) research into the use of video for providing feedback shows that students felt they retained more of the suggestions when they heard the teacher's feedback - as opposed to when they read the teacher's feedback. Instead of inserting comments for specific incidents of feedback, imagine using a program like Screencastify to record your thoughts and comments for students.
The cautionary tale behind this suggestion, however, is that Borup et al. (2017) found no link between increased social presence and use of video feedback when compared to text feedback.  And, while Borup et al. (2015) showed that video feedback fostered supportive and conversational feedback, both students and teachers preferred the efficiency of text feedback.
In Summary
While changing times have increased the demand for feedback, challenging students to become part of this process has the benefit of reducing teacher workload and amplifying student learning. Furthermore, whether through pen and paper or video dialogue, using rubrics and big picture feedback to guide student performance results in more digestible applicable information for students while also saving teachers from having to insert line-by-line commentary.  

References:
Borup, J., West, R., & Thomas, R. (2017); An analysis of instructor social presence in online text and asynchronous video feedback comments; The Internet and Higher Education, Volume 33, pages 61-73

Borup, J., West, R., & Thomas, R. (April 2015); The impact of text versus video communication on instructor feedback in blended courses; Educational Technology Research & Development, Volume 63 (Number 2), pages 161-184
Ching, Yu-Hui; Hsu, Yu-Chang; Peer Feedback to Facilitate Project-Based Learning in an Online Environment; IInternational Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Volume 14 (Number 5), pages 258-276
Douglas, Tracy; Salter, Susan; Iglesias, Miguel; Dowlman, Michele; Eri, Raj (2016); The Feedback Process: Perspectives of First and Second Year Undergraduate Students in the Disciplines of Education, Health Science and Nursing; Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, Volume 13 (Number 1)
Jones, Irma S.; Blankenship, Dianna (2014); What Do You Mean You Never Got Any Feedback?; Research in Higher Education Journal, Volume 24
Leibold, N.; Schwarz, L.M (2015); The art of giving online feedback; Journal of Effective Teaching, Volume 15(1), pages 34-46
Ngar-Fun Liu and David Carless (2006); Peer feedback: the learning element of peer assessment; Teaching in Higher Education, Volume 11 (Number 3), pages 279-290
Orlando, J (2016); A comparison of text, voice, and screencasting feedback to online students; American Journal of Distance Education, Volume 30 (Number 3), pages 156-166