Bikers, the Boardwalk, Blog Entries, and the Bouncing Pencil of Boredom

Today's Blog Post Brought to You By the Letter B

Sesame Place Neighboorhood Party Street
Parade by Wally Gobetz source

Today's post, I think, encapsulates the very spirit of distance learning. I am, at this precise moment, sitting in a hotel room in Wildwood, New Jersey, and I am writing a blog post about the strengths and weaknesses of distance education for EDIT 760, a course at a university hundreds of miles from here. Down the street from me, Roar to the Shore rocks on, even as the police are EVERYWHERE. Apparently, the headquarters for the Pagan's MC contingent is ALSO down the street... fortunately everyone seems very nice and relaxed, and their turf rival the Hell's Angels  are nowhere to be seen.

Stock Big Wheel Race by Lynn Friedmann source

Side note: When I was googling "Pagan's MC Roar to the Shore" in an attempt to figure out who all the large bearded men in those spiffy vests were (not being up on my 1%er motorcycle clubs), one of the first hits I came across was this news story from 2010, in the Press of Atlantic City: Pagan's Bikers Discussed Plot to Kill Hell's Angels During Wildwood's Roar to the Shore. But really, that's my point: Can you get that kind of excitement on GMU's Fairfax campus? Would you WANT that kind of excitement on GMU's Fairfax Campus?

That brings me to my first observation on distance learning itself... As was mentioned in the book chapter on School Choice Virtual Schooling, and also mentioned by the student in the Colorodo Online Learning Video, distance education does really require a student to have self-motivation and self-regulation. There are a lot of distractions here, and if I wasn't so keenly intrinsically motivated (the desire to keep getting raises from FCPS is VERY intrinsic to me), it might be difficult to get my work done. And, in fact, the truth is I wasn't always the paragon of self-regulation I am today. 

When I was in high school, I took part in one of the earlier distance learning courses. It was for one of the reasons identified in the Keeping Pace 2017 article... I had finished Calculus in 11th grade, and the next class was Elementary Differential Equations (about which, nothing is elementary). No teacher at Lake Braddock in 1990 could teach the class, so I took the class from a professor at NOVA. I was sent to a room in the library, by myself, and a VHS tape would arrive every week with a packet of papers and assignments. The guy had recorded his voice over a pencil bobbing on a piece of paper. I was supposed to watch this, and if I had any questions, I could send them back in the packet on paper.

                          This would have very likely been better, actually                    

                    

I got tired of listening to the droning voice and watching the bobbing pencil, and I didn't feel like I had any of the interactions identified in the School Choice Virtual Learning chapter. Maybe if the school had followed the model the chapter reports Michigan following, and assigned me an onsite mentor, things would have gone differently, but I did not complete the course. Obviously I was not alone, as that same chapter reports that the rates for that kind of thing are higher for distance learning than traditional courses.

That was FCPS then... I teach in FCPS now, and we do things a bit differently. FCPS has an online campus where students can take courses they might not otherwise be able to take due to the issues Susan Patrick talked about in the two videos assigned to us... things like scheduling conflicts, medical issues, etc. FCPS also requires a virtual course for graduation. Students can also take APEX classes for credit recovery, and are assigned a mentor, much like the Michigan model mentioned earlier. Last year, for example, one of my Geosystems students needed to make up the 1st quarter of the course, and he did it via APEX modules. I was asked to monitor his progress, and mentor him. I had access to his progress and work, and could remind him if he got off track. I think any of these approaches would have made a difference.

To be truthful, though, the thing that excites me the most about online and blended learning is the potential for differentiation, as I am a special education teacher. The School Choice Virtual Learning chapter is quite correct to note that students with special needs are even more likely to struggle with self-regulation, self-discipline, and the skills necessary to complete a course, but even so, they also benefit the most I think from the format. As Susan Patrick talked about in the videos, it can allow students to finish at their own pace. Many of my students have extended time as an accomodation, for example and the ability to work longer on an assignment and still be able to move on to the next thing without falling behind is an amazing tool.

This is the way I have been teaching for the past two years, except that I use the blended model, in that I am in the classroom with the students guiding them through the day's activities, providing assistance when needed, and perhaps most importantly giving them the external reinforcement and motivation so many of my students require. The ones that get it can move on, while I can focus on the students that are struggling. It is a powerful approach, even if it does get a little boring for me. I think all teachers love to hear themselves talk. Also, it is great when students are absent, as they can keep up, and if a student is out of school for a period of time due to illness or discipline, it is easy to send work. I picked this up from my team teacher Kelley two years ago, and our scores were phenomenal. She's the reason I have changed my teaching so radically, and the reason I am in the BOLS program now, to learn more.

If you would like to see more of my thoughts as I worked through the texts and videos (and be honest, who wouldn't?), I have posted a public popplet here.