Online learning... with Facebook?
Hi everyone!
It has been about a month and a half since my last post. Usually I'm inclined to apologize but life, as I'm sure you know, has been crazy. My last post was about the ideas I had for online learning during my placement. Needless to say, COVID-19 is still a very relevant part of my life. So relevant, it has changed what the start of my career was supposed to look like. All's well, but just not what one expected. Oddly enough, I find it super ironic that the year schools need to go digital and learn how to teach via distance learning, is the same year that I take Internet for Educators.
In starting a new job, especially at a distance (almost 1000 km away from my school), I feel a little lost and unsure of myself. How do I even approach online learning? At first, especially given how simple I found navigating this blog, I thought I would make a new blog for my students to visit to find videos/digital lessons. I even went and made the blog, formatted it the way I wanted, etc. But I noticed, other staff at my school were using Facebook. I found this surprising since I find Facebook to be the big "no no" of social media, especially in schools. I remember being able to access Twitter, but not Facebook when I was in school. It also made me think about if we were expecting students to access the lessons, or are we putting this on the parents? Either way, there's no clear cut path to doing this online learning "correctly".
I decided to follow suit with my colleagues and create a Facebook page for people to access lessons. I figure that, even for parents without Facebook accounts, people can click on the link (that I'll send to them via email) and connect with the lessons. Unfortunately, this does put the responsibility on the parents to access the lessons for their children. With the ages I teach, however (4-13 years old!), I think many of them will rely on their parents for help with online lesson accessibility.
The other issue is assessment. I don't even know where to begin! As of right now, I am asking students (via video) to participate in these activities, but I have no record of them actually doing them. Sure, maybe some parents will like to send me photos or video of the rain stick their child made, which would be fabulous, but that is not an expectation. I don't think....
Anyway. These are things on my mind as I try to navigate the murky waters of online learning... with Facebook. Wish me luck!
It has been about a month and a half since my last post. Usually I'm inclined to apologize but life, as I'm sure you know, has been crazy. My last post was about the ideas I had for online learning during my placement. Needless to say, COVID-19 is still a very relevant part of my life. So relevant, it has changed what the start of my career was supposed to look like. All's well, but just not what one expected. Oddly enough, I find it super ironic that the year schools need to go digital and learn how to teach via distance learning, is the same year that I take Internet for Educators.
In starting a new job, especially at a distance (almost 1000 km away from my school), I feel a little lost and unsure of myself. How do I even approach online learning? At first, especially given how simple I found navigating this blog, I thought I would make a new blog for my students to visit to find videos/digital lessons. I even went and made the blog, formatted it the way I wanted, etc. But I noticed, other staff at my school were using Facebook. I found this surprising since I find Facebook to be the big "no no" of social media, especially in schools. I remember being able to access Twitter, but not Facebook when I was in school. It also made me think about if we were expecting students to access the lessons, or are we putting this on the parents? Either way, there's no clear cut path to doing this online learning "correctly".
I decided to follow suit with my colleagues and create a Facebook page for people to access lessons. I figure that, even for parents without Facebook accounts, people can click on the link (that I'll send to them via email) and connect with the lessons. Unfortunately, this does put the responsibility on the parents to access the lessons for their children. With the ages I teach, however (4-13 years old!), I think many of them will rely on their parents for help with online lesson accessibility.
The other issue is assessment. I don't even know where to begin! As of right now, I am asking students (via video) to participate in these activities, but I have no record of them actually doing them. Sure, maybe some parents will like to send me photos or video of the rain stick their child made, which would be fabulous, but that is not an expectation. I don't think....
Anyway. These are things on my mind as I try to navigate the murky waters of online learning... with Facebook. Wish me luck!
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