Aurea - Blended Learning Final Project (Coursera)

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    BLENDED LEARNING:

    Personalizing Education

    for StudentsFINAL ASSIGNMENT:

    IN

    -

    CLASS AND LAB

    ROTATION PILOT

    IN

    AN ENG LISH

    LANGUAGE

    COURSE AT

    A PRIVATE M IDDLE SCHOOL

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    INTRODUCTION

    Hi, my name is urea Anguiano. Im a student from Mexico, finishing mymajorsinPsychology and EFL(Englishasa ForeignLanguage) Teaching.

    I am currently working as a counselor and also a teacher assistant injuniorhigh(grades7-9) ata private school inMexico.

    I am trying to convince the school administrators to implementa BlendedLearning Model that will allow personalized and mastery-based courses,collaborative work and a chance forstudents to actually be in charge oftheir own learning, where they feel empowered and motivated toinvestigate and seek for help with theirpeers and/or teacherwhose roleisto be a facilitatorintheirlearning.

    The pilot program began this month, and it is solely used in the EnglishLanguage courses. It includes a rotational structure within the classroom(at the teachersdiscretion) butthatwill also include a weekly session at

    the ComputerLab.

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    BEFORE

    : Traditionally Structured Classroo

    Students take (almost) all their classes in the same classroomandteachersare the oneswho switchclassrooms.

    As you can see on the right, the classroom is structured in atraditional way, thatis, having all students seated on the rows ofdesks one behind another and facing the whiteboard. Thisseating arrangement is basically teacher centric and mostlypromotesindividual work.

    Group work can only be done if students rearrange their desksand that translates ina lotofnoise and the lossofpreciousclasstime(and this type of desks arent designed to promote groupwork).

    No online learning can take place in the classroomsince there isno room available to introduce enough multimedia equipmentfor20-25students (laptopsortablets foreach learnerare notanoption, due to budgetconstraints).

    Seating informa tion in th is sect ion and the ne xt is taken from: htt ps://exploreb2b.com /a rt ic les/seating-for-schools-and- lecture-theatre-seating-smart- layout-ma tters

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    AFTER

    : In

    -

    Class Rotation

    The first change in the new structure is CLUSTER SEATING, whichpromotespeertutoring and groupwork.

    Students are seated in a group of 3 to 5 with their desks facingeachother.

    It is easier to momentarily orient the chairsfacing the teacher for the full class instructionstations (instead of the whole desk back and forth).

    This arrangement allows the teacher to walkaround the class, sitwith students to guide theirwork andengage themincooperative learning.

    Seating in the same cluster students with asimilar language level enables personalizing thepencil and paper activities and a much betterassessmentoftheirspecific needs.

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    +Lab Rotation

    To solve the problem oflack ofspace forthe online learning station, studentswilltake one ofthe three weekly language sessionsin the computerlab.

    The computersare already connected to the Learning ManagementSystem (LMS)and online tools, features and the course contentshave been previously installed.The use of authentic material and resources through the new technologies alsorepresentsa great improvementinthe quality ofthe contents.

    Studentswill be assigned individualaccountsto log inso the system will

    keep track of their activities and progress, all of which can bemonitored andreviewed bythe teacheratanytime.

    Since the course materials (audios, videos, readings, web-links,activities) are already loaded, each student is able to work at his/herown pace, at their just-right level, and once theyve mastered eachtopic, they canwork onactivitiesofthenextlevel.

    Collaborative work is also promoted through the use of Wikis.Conversational skills are practiced through chats and live e-meetingswith native speakers. Discussion boards will also provide asynchronous

    interactionsand encourage critical thinking.

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    DEBRIEFING

    How hasthischanged the role of the adults?

    Before, the lessonswere mainly teacher-centered,where he/she talked and only fewinteractionso

    Now, the teacher is more of a facilitator of learning, guiding students, assessing them and bemeaningfulone-on-one tutoring when needed.

    Monitoring hasbecome easierand they are showing betterrapportwith theirstudents.

    Online tutoring via Skype isan optionforthose studentswho need itasan additional resource to he

    Parents/Adultsare also more involved intheirchildrenseducation, keeping more intouch with the

    e-mails, weekly reports and monthly parent-teacher meetings. Most of them even help andschoolwork athome instead ofonly relying onwhathappensinthe classroom.

    How has thischanged the learning for the students?

    Studentsshowmore motivationand focus, theyare relying ontheirownskillsto find the answersanworking collaboratively hasallowed themmeaningful interactionswith theirpeersand teacher.

    The differentstations from the rotation model has helped them to feel more in charge of theirowncanwork attheirownpace andfocusonspecific aspects,andmove ononce theyve trulymastere

    Theyalso enjoy workingonline both individually and withtheirpeers, and showinglotsofcreativity

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    DEBRIEFING

    What are the implications for future practice in thisclassroom/school?

    Since itiscontentbased, itnotonly providesflexibility by using the same topic in classwithlevels (for each cluster and online learning), but also the language class can be used inother subjects to connect knowledge and actually use the language to communicate, wchances ofauthentic interactionsand undoubtedlyan improvementintheirconversational

    Moving to the new structure hasnt been easy because it means using the schools alreathe procurement and provision of resources and new classroom furniture, as well acoordination of the EFL teachersand computer lab personnel.

    It is worth mentioning that this has been a joint effort of school authorities, teachers, pathat will translate in the improvement of the quality of the schools educational servimeaningful independent learning and, hopefully, will also strengthen the sense ocollaboration among everyone at school.

    This is m o re o r less w ha t th is p ro jec t is a b o ut

    a nd , if it p rove s to b e ef fec t ive , m a ybe it wi ll

    b e im p lem ente d to m ore, if not a ll, co urses in

    the ne xt sc hoo l cyc le.

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    MY BLENDED LEARNING PILO

    Un fo rt un a te ly I w a sn t a llo w e d t o re c o rd o r u se t he v id e o c am e ra fo r t his p ro je c t , so I a p o lo g i

    Th e b e st I c o u ld d o w a s to u se som e a rc h iv ed fo o ta g e a n d im a g e s from th e In te rn et to v isu a

    a n d a fte r th a t I m a t tem p t in g to re a c h th ro ug h th e in tro d u c tio n o f a Ble nd e d Le a rn in g M o d e

    THANKYOUVERYMUCHFORYOURFEEDBACK, ITWILLBEGREATLYAPPRECIATED.