Creating the Anywhere, Anytime Classroom. Casey Reason
brain, however, will revisit and more deeply reflect on the frothy burst of energy you observed when you mixed calcium carbonate with hydrochloric acid.
This process of taking in new information and going through consolidation to sort out the meaningful from the meaningless doesn’t happen for everyone in the same way or in the same time. Some of us need to observe the same phenomenon several times to help us to capture its importance and remember the correct elements of either the process or the outcome (de Jong, 2010).
Furthermore, what’s also interesting about this process is that our brains rely on retrieval to bring forward memories or stored learning elements at times when that learning is relevant. Thus, students with varying speeds of retrieval power drive our classrooms. In traditional, synchronous classrooms, students who are fast retrievers tend to be rewarded. In teacher-centric learning environments, where the teacher moves from respondent to respondent very quickly, without the opportunity to explore answers in depth, will find that students who retrieve information quickly are oftentimes perceived as having superior learning power. Learning theorists have found that this ability to quickly retrieve is no demarcation of intelligence. In fact, slower retrieving students may be calling on a deeper and more comprehensive reservoir of stored, contextual learning before formulating a response (de Jong, 2010).
What does all of this mean for asynchronous digital learning? Asynchronous learning activities allow students to control content intake, listening and observing multiple times or rereading key elements for the sake of understanding. Furthermore, when dialoguing with one another in an asynchronous environment, students who are slow retrievers are given an opportunity to participate in a time frame that is comfortable for them (Magistro et al., 2015). Their reflections may be even deeper than some of their fast-retrieving counterparts and, as a result, their input may be richer and deeper (de Jong, 2010). Despite its digital visage, asynchronous online learning may allow us to learn and engage our brains in a far more natural and organic way than ever before (Harris, 2014; Steiner, 2009). As if these benefits are not enough, it also leads to more thoughtful communication.
Asynchronicity and Thoughtful Communication
One more often-ignored advantage of the asynchronous nature of the DEL environment revolves around the realization that every asynchronous comment hangs in virtual abeyance—waiting for random or directed consumption. This effect is different for an online classroom where there are consequences, than it is for people posting to some random website under anonymous pseudonyms. This is a powerful distinction because whatever documentation or commentary we provide in a digital learning environment must withstand the potential scrutiny of careful observation and analysis.
How many smooth-talking businesspeople and politicians struggle mightily when confronted with a word-for-word transcription of exactly what they said—unable to hide what might be a shallow or misguided message behind their velvet delivery or handsome visage? Learning in a digital environment requires participants to think more carefully about how they contribute, the words they choose, how to formulate their thoughts, and how to respond to others who do the same. If the words we speak face to face in real time were to hang in this virtual abeyance, we’d all probably be more careful about what we say and how we say it. Thus, asynchronous communication with DEL creates the right conditions for superior quality work.
This does not mean toxicity cannot creep in, of course. An important element related to the successful facilitation of distance learning revolves around the prevention and the appropriate response to toxic or inappropriate behaviors online. In an era when the challenges associated with cyberbullying and other attempts to threaten, dominate, and otherwise inhibit learning in a digital learning environment are rising, we will be focusing our attention on strategies that you can implement that will help you avoid these scenarios altogether by creating engaging learning experiences. Intervening when necessary is important; however, just as we have learned in the best examples of face-to-face pedagogy, the best way to avoid a classroom with off-task behaviors is to create an engaging learning environment where students are wrapped up in their work and don’t have time to throw spitballs, cyber or otherwise.
Given online, asynchronous approaches’ advantages, we believe the best modality for learning is one that strives to achieve balance or a blend between traditional (synchronous) and online (asynchronous) learning modalities.
Blended Asynchronicity
Blending both asynchronous and synchronous modalities gives students the opportunity to directly interact with the facilitator, ask questions, and develop a greater sense of connection to the facilitator, other students, and the content. The classroom’s cyber-asynchronous components enable learners to work at their own pace, and eliminate time and work condition constraints that cyber-synchronous components demand (Ge, 2012).
Is it all exactly this simple? No. It never is. That is why we wrote this book, to give you a guide to facilitating learning online.
Goals for This Book
Technology has transformed more quickly than have our attitudes, assumptions, and instructional strategies. Many K–12 teachers still have very little experience with online learning or facilitating digital learning experiences. Furthermore, those who have begun to experiment with DEL, in many cases, do not feel entirely confident that the digital learning experience is as effective as they would like it to be (Li & Choi, 2014). This book is written with those educators in mind.
HOW POPULAR IS ONLINE LEARNING?
Five U.S. states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, and Virginia) require K–12 learners to take at least one online class or learning experience or have the online learning experience incorporated into each course of the required curriculum, and North Carolina is testing such a requirement (Watson, Pape, Murin, Gemin, & Vashaw, 2014).
To better prepare these educators for the challenges and opportunities available in teaching online, we provide two things. First, we provide a philosophical overview in relationship to what is possible with DEL and how educators need to think about applying tools within the realm of technology to support online learning. Second, we provide direct guidance on the specific steps educators must take to set up, manage, and facilitate state-of-the-art online digital learning opportunities. To accomplish this, we address the following topics.
■ Reflecting on the myriad of DEL applications available and the influences that shape our thinking about them
■ Understanding the importance of a guaranteed and viable curriculum in designing, delivering, and assessing digital learning
■ Understanding and applying best-practice strategies in setting up and initiating a digital learning experience
■ Learning and applying practical strategies for designing engaging digital lessons and keeping the learners engaged throughout the learning experience
■ Identifying best-practice recommendations in facilitating learner interactions and dealing with potentially disruptive or toxic learner interactions
In breaking down these topics into concise, manageable chunks, each chapter of this book establishes specific key questions that you will be able to answer upon completion of the chapter.
Finally, we hope this work provides a strong, philosophical framework to undergird the work of educators now and in the future—because we know that the landscape in digital learning will continue to change. We want this book to make you Monday-morning ready for these challenges and arm you with a mindset and philosophy that allow you to make good judgments as tectonic shifts in technology continue to occur.
To that end, throughout this book we offer educators a number of specific suggestions and examples related to pedagogical practices associated with digital learning. However, to ensure the material is delivered in a succinct manner, we do not necessarily differentiate these illustrations and examples by various K–12 levels of application. This is purposeful. The knowledge you gain in this book will support your instructional practices involving digital learning at whatever level you teach. Digital learning modalities are simply tools that help you deliver your own best-practice-driven, grade-level or content-specific learning opportunities.