morningcalm

Ms. Humphries gave an informative presentation on technology and inclusion in B.C. classrooms, in particular the BC EdAccess society, a volunteer run organization which serves families of children with disabilities. She asserted that ableism – the discrimination and social prejudice against people with disabilities based on the belief that typical abilities are superior still exists in the contemporary classroom.  Citing examples of how technology in infrastructure already allows learner independence (i.e. wheelchair accessibility and ramps, Humphries believes information technology will also allow students to more fully participate and excel in the learning space. She gave two examples, one being the AAC system, which is a way of typing to communicate and the FTI system, which makes sound clearer for students.

It is clear that the first step to accommodating students starts with awareness and communication with students to see if additional help is required. Teachers need to be informed about the IEP and make themselves available to parents to see what resources are available to enhance inclusion for these students. Teachers will need flexibility in all stages of lesson planning, field trips and assessments to allow full participation for all members of a learning community.  I can only imagine how frustrating and painful it may be for parents if their child does not receive the adequate support in the classroom or additional consideration is portrayed as a burden that gets in the way of instruction for ‘typical’ students. Sadly, so many decisions in the school system are dictated by available funding and staffing considerations. Humphries raised the issue of defining the term “disabled” and I am interested in the protocols involved in determining whether a student would benefit from specialized instruction outside of the general classroom. I have witnessed classes where a student was clearly incapable of participating in an upper level history class because of a medical condition and this was often a distraction in the classroom. I fully support an inclusive classroom when merited, but in my example, and I am not an expert whatsoever, it appeared the student was kept in the classroom out of principle rather than benefit to all concerned

Distributed learning refers to non-face-to-face communication between students and teachers.  The pandemic forced people for better or worse to transition away from face-to-face instruction.  One silver lining of this shift is that people ended up engaging with and becoming familiar with technology that they probably would not have voluntarily used if it were not necessary.

Some have argued that online learning is a poor replacement for face-to-face learning and learning tends to be passive whereas others claim the debate surrounding pedagogy vs. modality depends on classroom design. While it is true that whether a learning experience is passive or dynamic depends on the pedagogy applied in that modality, I find that passivity and fatigue set in much faster in a distant online format than a in class format.  Importantly, the question as to who ultimately benefits from distributed learning will influence how we move forward. I believe that this was initially a trojan horse by tech companies claiming that it would lessen the workload on instructors in the hope that they in turn would recruit students to adopt this technology and the utility of this technology for students was serendipitous.

As our class is an example of blended learning, the professor demonstrated how our interactions, content delivery and assessments range on a spectrum of teacher and student control and asynchronous and synchronous learning. The variety provides different avenues for communication.  Could this be the future of public-school learning? Is it necessary for every student to come to brick and mortar facilities everyday when the technology enables to learn remotely? Is the school just a baby-sitting center that allows parents to work full-time? Without a doubt, this technology has allowed for a democratization of learning that will allow rural access to high-quality education.

Last week Trevor MacKenzie gave an informative and very illuminating presentation positing the need for a constructivist approach to learning which argues for student agency and control of learning in the classroom. He emphasized the need for students to be both cognitively and physically active in the learning space. In the Q & A portion of his presentation, he demonstrated constructivism in action by explaining how he co-constructs rubrics and core competencies with students. I found this fascinating because I had viewed things like competencies and rubrics to be areas of concern for the teachers only. Now that I know that when students fully understand what is being assessed and the gap between the teacher’s expectations (be it curriculum or assessment) and students understanding is bridged, it makes sense that student performance will improve and I will definitely try to implement this in my classroom.

I am still a little confused about his explanation of transitioning away from novel studies units to a unit centered around concepts. I understand that this is an attempt to include different underrepresented voices and identities into the canon, but I hope that it would not exclude amazing literature simple for the crime of being old.

MacKenzie also rightly claimed that our learner narrative shapes how we as teachers teach but that not all students learn exactly like the teacher. I never really had considered how the way I learned in the past would influence my teaching practice and how it will inevitably manifests itself in the way I delivered course content and assessment. The thing that I took away from his presentation is how impactful our words and dialogue with students have on a student’s identity and future learning experiences. In the future, I hope that I will remain conscious of that when I speak with students and understand the consequences of these interactions. The unscripted interaction with a former professor of Trevor’s underscored that point. What to the professor was probably a innocuous moment of consideration was interpreted as a profound act of compassion and generosity to the student that positively affected his learning journey.