EDET 678 Emerging Technologies Week 3 Blog
Essential
Question: Which emerging pedagogy appeals most to you, and might be most useful
for your classroom and students? Why?
The
emerging pedagogy that most appeals to me out of flipped classrooms, MOOCs, and
genius hour is MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses). MOOCs might be the most
useful for my classroom because it can provide topics that I am not an expert
in or that my school can’t provide. I have used an open online course from
Harvard for two-three weeks to fill in some extra time at the end of the school
year. I wanted to expose my students to computer science and the process of
coding. This was a big task for me because I had no idea where to start and
really didn’t have the skill set that I was wanting for my students to learn.
Therefore, I used the materials and resources of a MOOC from a course that I
have heard positive reviews from teachers in Alaska. Having this course for my
students and I to learn was something that the District could not provide for my
students or me.
Bock and
O’Dea bring concern of MOOCs that they don’t provide differentiate instruction
for students and I agree with this (2013). K-12 schools do have a
responsibility to reach all students and to help all students learn in the environment
that is best for them. If students take MOOCs on their own, they will need to
be students who are motivated intrinsically. Thompson describes MOOCs to be
helpful for AP courses or for students who are used to learning more on their
own (2013). This is true about most online courses anyways. I think this is
where in K-12 we have the flexibility to support students in MOOC courses by
supplementing instruction when needed or providing information in a different
manner. I see MOOCs as a flexible way to learn some great material because it
is free to everyone, including teachers, therefore teacher and student can be
learning together and supporting each other in these courses.
The other
two emerging pedagogies did not quite fit well with my classroom and my
personal goals for each class. Flipped classrooms require students doing work
at home and for some students, there is not a stable environment for them to be
doing schoolwork. Genius hour is a great idea but after reflecting on it for a
day, I am not 100% sure I can model it correctly in my math classroom because I
would want students to pick something that interests them that is connected to
math. This would be limiting students their desired learning topics.
Resources:
Bock, M. & O’Dea,
V. (2013). Virtual educators critique
value of MOOCs for K-12. Education Week. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/02/06/20moocs.h32.html
Thompson, G.
(2013). Get ready: MOOCs are coming K-12.
The Journal. Retrieved from https://thejournal.com/articles/2013/09/02/get-ready-moocs-are-coming-to-k-12.aspx
I'll admit, I'd never really thought of bringing a MOOC into my classroom. I'd always thought of them as higher education or alternative education choices. I am really interested to hear about your coding and computer science work, next week in our Twitter discussion. This is definitely an area that I should learn more about.
ReplyDeleteGood blog entry. I have participated in a MOOC here at UAS. It was interesting. I liken MOOCs to the way the old operating theaters worked. Everyone looked in to see what was being shone and done, and if they had a question or comment they were encouraged to ask or give their comment. Everyone was learning from everyone, but if they already knew it, they moved on.
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