1.2: Reflection as a Way of Life: Post 2

 

My first blog post for Module 1 outlined mainly the harmful consequences I have witnessed with online learning technology and outlined the historical context for my belief in the necessity of teaching about technology and through technology, balanced with the potential harms on social skills. For this entry, I will focus more on the most promising areas for innovation in learning technology. Philosophically, online learning technology offers the promise of being more engaging, more relevant, and more wordly.

Engaging

Philosophically, a specific aspect of online learning technology that I am most interested in is the power of gamification and multi-modal delivery for engaging learners with shorter attention and competitive spirits, of whom boys represent an outsize portion in my experience. I don’t ever feel like my students are as engaged as they are when we are playing a Kahoot or I have them involved in some manner of game where their progress is measured against themselves or their peers.

Relevant

Online learning technology is relevant to students because it mimics the tools that they use in their personal lives. The reason why my students are so familiar with using microphones, video-chatting, and using the chat function within an application like Zoom is because they use similar applications in their own lives, such as Discord. Not only is the technology itself often more relevant to students than in-person teaching, but the social skills that they can build in terms of online conversation may be more valuable to them than in-person behaviour. After all, we could face a nightmare scenario where COVID continues evolving, or is replaced by other dangerous, highly contagious diseases that force us to live more isolated, technologically reliant lives for years to come.

Worldly

The theoretically limitless reach of online learning technology is something that I had heard of, but not considered deeply with regards to social skills. To put it in simple philosophical terms, online learning technology allows students to communicate with a much wider range of other people (Bauerlein & Fisher, 2020). Theoretically, I bring in experts to teach a guest lesson to my class from anywhere in the world. As I write that, I wonder if I should ask my cousins in Seattle if they might be willing to Zoom in for our upcoming online careers day.

All that being said, my question remains:
How will innovations in online learning technology aid or hinder the development of students’ social skills?
 

As with my first post, if anyone found the time to comment, I would greatly appreciate feedback on my question and reflection.

References:

Bauerlein, M., & Fisher, C. (2020, December 8). Online Learning [Audio blog post]. Retrieved from https://munkdebates.com/podcast/online-learning