A big question that I have been contemplating this summer is: “How am I going to build relationships and create a class community with my students in an online classroom?” I have attended online conferences and played the role of the student, who is in unfamiliar waters with strangers from around the world. I have attended webinars where I cannot see anyone’s face, but I can chat with other attendees in the comments box. I have written a blog for other teachers, and have read and commented on other blogs. The best thing that any online facilitator has done to build relationships and community is making an intentional time and space for students to socialize in the online environment.
Is socializing online in the age of a global pandemic the same as socializing in the classroom? That is a hard question to answer. We know that social play is so important for cognitive and social-emotional development for students of all ages. My particular students, 15-18 year olds, get affirmation of identity and support in school that they might not get from home. Making eye contact with someone, asking them about their latest hairstyle or work of art, or debating in a Socratic Seminar are some key aspects of socializing in the physical classroom.
So how does this translate to a Google Meet, my district’s chosen tool for synchronous instruction? Well, the eye contact is difficult; not all students feel comfortable or safe with their webcams being on. While I can force myself to stare into the webcam when I talk to individual students, it is lonely talking to a sea of first initial icons. Creating a space for whole-class discourse and norms for discourse during synchronous instruction is up to the individual teacher and may differ from class to class. One of my Latin colleagues always does a “Salve” (“sall-way,” Latin for “hello”) circle, in which each student has a chance to unmute and greet another student, all the way back to the teacher. In my case, the longer the class had been together, the more likely they were to unmute and keep their webcam on; this was the norm in my junior and senior Latin and AVID classes.
So how does this relate back to Web 2.0 tools? All students should be supported to share their voice online and be heard. Blogs, wikis, and podcasts offer an online space to create and publish content to a wider audience. Students interact and build community in an online space, as they comment on a peer’s product or participate in the process of producing and publishing a podcast. As the teacher, we control the setup of the Web 2.0 tool. There are many good options for student creation and publication, even if your school has internet privacy filters or the web application you want is not approved. My district has its own blogs site, which is hosted on WordPress, for student and staff use. Check with your school’s technologist. There might already be something in place. Another good place to start your search is Common Sense Education’s edtech reviews, which give the learning, community, and privacy ratings of various applications.
With Web 2.0 tools, it’s more about the process than the final product. The teacher scaffolds norms for online interaction by providing writing frames (prompts), commenting and editing protocols, and the means for assessment. How you assess your students’ products will depend on the learning outcome. Are you using a blog as a way to build community in the pandemic classroom? Are you using an anonymous wiki space as a peer review tool, as I discussed in my previous entry? Will your students make a podcast about a particular topic or to chronicle time in the 2020-2021 classroom? The possibilities are as wide open as the channels for socializing must be. How will you include opportunities for socialization and interaction in your virtual classroom?
There are two things that resonated with me while reading this blog entry. You mentioned that building a learning community in a virtual space requires creating "intentional time and space for students to socialize," and using "Web 2.0 tools is more about the process than the product." You couldn't be more right. Although I am currently teaching military adults leadership skills in an online environment, the need for socialization is still there if I want to truly engage them in the learning experience. I would say it's a little easier for me to "encourage" participation from the students since it's the Army, I out-rank them, and they have to do what I say, but **authentic** participation is what I am going for, and that takes time to build. On the second day of class, I have students introduce themselves to everyone by turning on their cameras and their mics. I give them some ideas of what they can talk about when they introduce themselves, but if they choose to share more I let them. Although this takes almost an hour to do, I feel like it's worth it. It allows the students to see each other as more than just a uniform on a screen and shows them that they may have more in common than they think. The following day as students are logging in, they tend to be more conversational with one another before class starts. They often jump at the opportunity to show their peers their children or their pets, and this usually sparks a lot of conversation in the virtual space, despite the fact that there are 3o of them in the "classroom." They take the opportunity to use the chat box or their mics to chime in, and I feel like both methods of communication have proved useful, especially the chat box for those shy students. Needless to say, if I want to do a better job of getting my students to participate and engage in an online environment that may be unfamiliar to many of them, I have to give them the chance to speak to one another outside of class. And just like you said, this requires the designated time and space--and it certainly does take time, which is where the process comes in :)
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a lot of relevant comparisons between K12 and adult learners; everyone wants to listen and be heard. I too like utilizing the chat function in the videoconference. During the first week of school, we have done a lot of relationship building and learning about one another: talking about things that have nothing to do with school, sharing common interests, show and tell of pets--I got a snake necklace last week--and siblings, etc. The "camera on" is a view into an online learner's life; you can see their passions on their walls of their learning space: Pokémon, collecting shoes, Transformers, and more!
DeleteI was also thinking back to 784--do you remember the "Water Cooler" discussion forum, where we could talk about anything? It's interesting to see how spaces have been made for us as online learners through the duration of this program.