Linzi's EDC blog

As a freelance educator I find it difficult to meet the needs of the pupils when only present within a school two days out of the week. Responsible for several year groups and no official access to online files or systems such as ‘show my homework’ I find the timeframes challenging. A pupil’s lack of attendance means that individuals can fall behind with work and timeframes can pass quickly; meaning information can be missed or simply ignored. I have recently found the idea of a flipped classroom appealing as it would free up more time for the pupils to become constructive and productive in regard to progression due to the knowledge available out with the classroom. It is common for pupils to watch videos and learn material in the studio only to struggle with the analysis and reflection when alone at home. A flipped classroom can tackle this issue and allow the teacher to track and assess the pupils critical thinking if conversations were to take place as a class discussion. Self-directed learning is unfortunately a major role in the flipped classroom and dependent on the pupils motivation.  Therefore this would only work if the material was digested and pupils were proactive. I have found ways to overcome boundaries that affect classroom learning  and in certain locations, information, links and communication can be dispersed through the likes of Facebook groups. However, High schools and local authorities are still in resistance to the positive and beneficial aspects of technology and online forums. Although a helpful and successful tool with one group of Higher Education pupils within another organisation, I am still restricted to communication via e-mail with particular High Schools and their pupils. Despite being harder to track and assess the learning analytics, I have kept a record of the individuals that are proactive in seeking feedback or further knowledge and understanding. I plan to create a visual demonstration from a precious year on the data collected that compares pupils engagement with coursework, engagement within the classroom, attempts to communicate via e-mail and exam results. The locations, organisations, schools, pupils and year of data collection will be withheld due to ethics and the ad-hoc monitoring of students will focus on, target setting, feedback, methods of communication and outcomes.

References:

Selwyn, N. (2014). Data entry: Towards the critical study of digital data and education. Learning, Media and Technology, 40(1), 64-82. DOI: 10.1080/17439884.2014.921628

This weeks assignment was to take part in a Tweetorial over a two day period. Due to work commitments I couldn’t take part and I joined the group over the last few hours. I have to admit that I found the conversations confusing and spent a good hour trying to make sense of the tweets. Whilst reading conversations on Tweetdeck I began to realise that the group was in a phase of ‘norming’. Bruce Tuckman identifies five stages of group development: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning. Throughout the first few weeks our group came together online and our digital presence was characterised by anxiety and uncertainty. We were cautious with each and our behaviour was driven by the need for the EDC group acceptance. The avoidance of conflict, controversy and personal opinion meant that no real conversation took place. We then entered the storming phase by week 5 where we had a general feel for group members and the dynamics of the group. Dominant individuals emerged and opinions and competition began to arise. This week, however, the group seems to have moved through to the norming stage where we seem to be a cohesive group with high morale. An online community is now established where we are flexible, interdependent and information now flows and is uninhibited……I’m looking forward to the final few weeks when we hit the performance stage with our assignments!!