Building Community in the Blended Classroom

Whether online, F2F, or blended/hybrid, to help our students learn, we need to build an effective community.  That means learners feel a part of something bigger than themselves, they use bouncing ideas off of each other and working collaboratively to deepen their learning, and they want to take care of each other.


In the F2F classroom, this happens, but shy kids might stay observers, rather than comfortable community members.  In small groups and work done in pairs, shyer kids have an easier time, and also get to use social learning to add ideas, possibly challenge their ideas, and work collaboratively.  Working with a friend feels safer, but sometimes socializing becomes paramount.  Also, if a student has poor social skills – whether in the whole class, small groups, or in pairs – both that student and others have difficulties.

In the purely online classroom, which I have only experienced with adults, the community gets created by effective facilitators build community using discussion forums (particularly where students are required to be active throughout the week) and sometimes small group work.  There are still students who don’t like discussion, don’t like group work, who choose to lurk.  They may be learning, but they are on the edges of the community.

In the blended classroom – partly F2F and partly online – I feel like we have the best of both words.

We build community in the F2F classroom.  But we also build community online.  Shy students have an opportunity to work privately; deliberate thinkers get to think as long as they need to before sharing.  The playing field (to use an overused metaphor) is leveled, because everybody can participate without needing to have the courage to raise their hand.  (See http://adventuresonlineteaching.blogspot.com/2011/05/looking-back-on-our-moodle-year.html).

But in the blended classroom, I’m not limited to posting information or replying to discussion forum posts or uncovering new and interesting resources and activities.  I can also talk with students F2F.  Kids like to hear the words.  And because I can’t count on middle schoolers to go back to a discussion forum to see what I wrote (they tend to consider themselves done once they have posted and replied to other posts), I need to make sure they actually hear from me.   I have to say my kids sure like hearing, “Good post!” or “I enjoyed what you wrote last night,” or “Good point!”   And dealing with problematic posts is easier to do F2F, where communication isn’t restricted to written words, but can include my tone, gestures, and posture. (See http://adventuresonlineteaching.blogspot.com/2011/02/dealing-with-nastiness.html).

As I’ve written before, the blended classroom seems more cohesive and there is more risk-taking.  Many more students raise their hands in the blended F2F classroom because they’ve had success online.  And not just from me.  There are also the “Gee, I didn’t know you were so smart” comments from peers. 

Finally, everybody gets a chance to be successful somewhere.  For example, some students have great computer skills but aren’t strong writers – they get to shine when we’re in the computer lab.  Middle school is not a time when kids feel confident or successful.  And I think the blended classroom lets them find a place to experience success and confidence.

Looking back on our Moodle year

    Looking back on this year, where my students spent the whole year becoming good blended/online learners, I have these observations:

Offering online work can attract those students who are a bit indifferent to school.  If the work is interesting and worthwhile, they can become very active learners.

But offering work online doesn’t change the kids who don’t want to do the work.  If they don’t want to do it, they don’t do it, no matter how much fun it is.  Middle school kids can be experts at stubborn for its own sake. 

Offering work online helps the organizationally challenged because it cuts out all the intervening steps where work gets lost. 

But offering online work doesn’t help those who are just chronically late to do work.  I don’t usually hear from them until after mom saw the zero grade on the Edline progress report for the week. 

Online work is not a panacea.  It does have its advantages, though. 

As I had hoped, offering online asynchronous discussions has brought everybody to the table.  In the F2F class (Face to Face), I have “shared inquiry”/ Socratic discussions on occasion.  We sit in a circle, everybody has to participate, and we have good discussions.  But it’s excruciating for the shy, and the deliberate thinkers feel out of sync.  

Online, though, everybody participates.  We hear from kids who never would have raised their hands in class – and they have something interesting to say.  I overheard one kid tell another, “I didn’t know you were so smart,” after reading his posting.  And kids write back when they like another student’s post – powerful peer reinforcement. 

One unexpected result is that more kids are comfortable participating, more comfortable raising their hands in F2F class.  The very shyest still don’t talk much, but I’m hearing questions from just about everybody, and I’m hearing answers to my questions from just about everybody. 

The culture of the F2F classroom has changed.  We are all much more comfortable with each other.  Individually and in small groups, students have always talked to each other, but now they talk in the whole-class setting more.

Still another reason to like the blended classroom!

Online discussion experience improves critical thinking

    Recently I compared student discussions from a year ago – when I had just started using Moodle discussions with my students – and from today.  The prompt is identical (pictured here), but the results are astonishingly different. 

    Last year, my 8th grade students weren’t quite sure what to do yet.  They gave their opinions, but their entries were short.  Nobody was taking any risks.

    This year, after having most of the school year to work with the Moodle, the students provided lengthy entries, included evidence to back up their opinions, and fearlessly challenged the teacher’s assertion.

    Last year, with about the same number of students, 2,530 words were written in this discussion.  This year, it was 4,044. 

    We have been studying Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Having the discussions online leaves us time for students to act out the play F2F in class.

     I used the same prompt both years, though this year's included a picture of the four lovers arguing. Last year most of the posts were short, like SH’s: I think it is because he thinks that people who have a lot in common will fall in love.

    This year, most of posts were long.  And the very first post, from CW, immediately challenged my analysis:
 

Well, I actually don't really thing Demetrius and Lysander are very similar. Demetrius is very "well, your father said you and I are getting married and I like you so we're getting married, end of subject."

Lysander is very different in that way. He loves Hermia and is willing to break the law and run away to be with her.

Hermia is very detirmined to be with Lysander, even if it means having to leave her home and knowing that if she comes back, Thesus will make her be a nun.

And no one likes Helena. Until they are charmed. So no one REALLY likes Helena.

    After routinely using Moodle discussions for all kinds of work, the students are comfortable with online discussion, and are thinking critically.  Woot!!  Even students who struggle with Language Arts didn’t hesitate to set me straight: I don't think the lovers are similar begins another post. And everybody was part of the discussion. 

     Better still, the discussions are homework, done outside of school during student’s personal time.  And I can see that students go back to read what others wrote, even if they don’t post again.  Talk about extending meaningful grappling with the content beyond class time.

Mock Trial - Blended and Fun

    We are engaged in our annual mock trial project.  We do a lot of in-class work in small groups preparing and having the trials.  We do a lot of reading/research/reflection online that complements what’s happening F2F.  While we’ve repeatedly lost class time to snow days, students have used the class Moodle to stay on target as much as they can.
photo © 2008 KeithBurtis | more info (via: Wylio)

     If you’re interested in how we do mock trial, I’ve attached the study guide and basic case materials for this year.  I divide each class into two trials.  Each half class takes on plaintiff and defense teams for one trial and then acts as the judge and jury for the other trial. 

    Snow days have cost us almost half the days we use for working in small groups to prepare for the trials.  Despite interruption after interruption, students are still remarkably prepared.  First, because students have had to be focused on the time they actually had; there has been no time for fooling around (yay, silver lining!)  Second, I had asked  students to explicitly discuss online how they would cope with a non-participant group member; this brought out some good strategies, encouraged proactive thinking, and even got some of the usual nonparticipants to think about what they needed to be doing.  Third, my students are motivated; they love this project-based learning unit. 

    This is problems from the real world; I use real cases that are working their way to the Supreme Court, using high interest topics like gender-segregated middle schools.  They get to play roles that grownups play (never, ever underestimate their interest in this). They have to struggle to read materials written for adults, but they persevere because they are interested.  They get to read laws that actually impact their lives (Title IX, for example) and relate their lives directly to the Constitution.  They also do a lot of writing that makes sense – questions for witnesses, opening statements to explain their case to the jury, online discussions about how to handle problems, reflections about what they hope to learn and what they do learn.  It’s also inherently dramatic – what kid doesn’t want to shout out, “I object!” 

    Snow days are now impinging on our ability to even have the trials, which is the topic of the next post.

Dealing with nastiness

    Recently, a student posted a snotty comment which put down most other students (I won’t share the specifics here for privacy’s sake).  Another student almost immediately responded, calling the first student on the insult.  The first student backed down.
photo © 2006 Toms Bauģis | more info (via: Wylio)

    As I read the conversation, I was thinking, “What should I do about this?”  I composed responses to the offending student.  I tried again and again.  Inevitably my responses were sarcastic and would not improve the online climate.

    This is one of those times when I’m really glad to have a hybrid class.  With middle school students, talking F2F is so helpful – you get the message to the student immediately, with no waiting for the student to read the posting (and email isn’t an option since middle school students virtually never check their email).  And F2F you can see each others’ expressions and body language. It’s just as important for them to see my expressions as for me to see theirs.

     First, I removed the offending post, which removed that whole small conversation. The first student I saw after that was the student who complained about the initial post; I thanked this student for the appropriate response, and said I had removed the conversation; this student was relieved the offensive comment was gone, and relieved to know that I thought this student’s response to it was appropriate.  I then found the offending student.  I told the student that the post had been removed, and why – and then reminded the student with a grin that it’s not good to put others down while misspelling one of the important words in the put down. Instead of being a tense moment, we both cracked up.  The student got my message though. 

     And we’re back on an even keel until the next time.

Teaching K12 online vs. teaching adults

    As I continue to teach hybrid middle school classes (a blend of online and face to face), I continue to see differences between teaching K12 online and teaching adults.  I’ve just finished reading The Online Teaching Survival Guide by Judith Boettcher and Rita-Marie Conrad; a terrific book, and enormously helpful, but all through it I kept thinking, “yes, but…”

    Adult classes are typically short, often just 8 weeks long.  K12 classes last for around 36 weeks.  This makes teaching K12 online or hybrid very different.

    For example, the planning cycle is different.  I confess that don’t yet have a year’s worth of online activities all ready to go in September for my middle-schoolers.  With an 8 week class for adults, you really have to have everything planned and ready to go ahead of time.  Yes, I have objectives and curriculum, and yes, I have many activities, units, and lessons from the past that support the objectives and curriculum, and from which I will heavily borrow.  But every year I change things, based on what worked – and didn’t work – last time.  Sometimes based on the personalities and capabilities of this year’s kids.  And as I become more adept with Moodle during the year, I try whole new things.  This is a work in progress.

    Another thing: the rhythm is different.  There is an intensive gearing up that takes place with adults because of the time constraints.  You quickly break the ice, break down barriers, help students find common ground, build community, into a crescendo of interaction that strengthens both learning and community.  At the same time, learners are interacting more and more deeply with the content as they fold their learning into their own lives and make it their own. And then it’s over. 

    With K12, yes, you build community, but it’s an ongoing effort that lasts 9 months.  Some kids already know each other, but there are always new kids who need to find a way in.  Kids stop participating and you have to address that.  Kids aren’t so nice to each other and you have to address that.  Kids get sick, have parents deployed to war zones.  Kids have good days and spectacularly awful ones. It’s pretty much all the time, and it’s for the long haul.

    The rhythm in K12 gets wrapped around units and also around activities that weave through the whole year.  A unit starts with interest and hopefully excitement.  Students may dive in or just dip their toes, but there is momentum that builds, peaks, and wraps up; sounds a lot like an adult course.  Then we start again on another unit, and another, all year.   And as with music, the regular notes of repeated activities sound all year.

    I love the intensity of an adult class, but it’s short-lived.  One thing I love about K12 is that I get to work with my students all year.  That time gives us the chance to explore, stumble, figure out, practice, and then practice some more. 

    But for all the differences, there is one big similarity.  It’s all about connections.  When the teacher/facilitator/guide creates meaningful connections with learners, that’s when the learning really goes into high gear.