Online education in K12 : Changes and challenges

Derin ATAY

Bahçesehir University

Practicum : teacher practices – student engagement

Traditional practicum : PTs’ experiences what teachers do to engage students in language classes

e.g. Teacher voice, instructional strategies, gestures, feedback questioning, use of technology

• Student engagement - the “time and physical energy that students spend on activities in their academic experience” (Robinson & Hullinger, 2008, p. 101)
• a multidimensional construct with three dimensions: behavioral, cognitive and emotional (Bloomberg & Grantham, 2018; Lei et al., 2018; Alrashidi et al., 2016).

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• BE- constructive or cooperative engagement in classroom tasks and activities (Buhs & Ladd, 2001).
• pay attention, ask pointed questions and seek help to enable task accomplishment and participate in class discussions (Havik & Westergård, 2020).
• CE - use of strategies that support their learning, and willingness and motivation to learn (Fredricks et al., 2004; Morris et al., 2017).
• more concentrated in learning and show more effort to comprehend complex ideas and master demanding skills (Bergdahl et al., 2020).
• EE- interest, enjoyment, support, belonging, and attitudes towards school, learning, teachers, and peers (Glanville & Wildhagen, 2007).

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• Student engagement and positive learning outcomes, e.g., increased academic success, critical thinking, self-esteem, and persistence to complete tasks (e.g., Hampton & Pearce, 2016; Harper & Quaye, 2009; Kinzie, 2010).
• Studies conducted in face to face educational settings
• BUT NOW THE SETTING IS DIFFERENT

Distance

Distance education is ‘all planned learning that normally occurs in a different place from teaching , requiring special techniques of course design and instruction, communication through various technologies……… ‘(Moore & Kearsley, 2005:2).

TRANSACTIONAL DISTANCE

In the sphere of DE , TD is ‘ the gap of understanding and communication between the teachers and learners caused by geographic distances that must be bridged tru distinctive procedures in instructional design and facilitatİon of instruction ‘(p.223).

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• increasing rate of  dialogue exchange between students and teachers, students and students
• flexibility or rigidity of the teaching methods, objectives and assessment practices. (an inflexible structure might increase a student’s perception of transactional distance)

The study

• 14 PTs –(5 in spring and fall , 9 only in fall)
• K12 - schools
• English classes (homogenous Turkish, bilingual and one multilingual)
• Spring – Fall
• Micro & macro teaching –reflections, zoom meetings (focus group and individual)

• Data collection from PTs – students and teachers
• aim : awareness raising , finding out new teacher roles, strategies and expectations

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The Instructor’s Roles Model

• The pedagogical role modeling effective learning and facilitating student learning in online discussions.
• The social role is related to creating a friendly social environment in which students are encouraged to work together to be successful in the online learning activities.
• The managerial role is about organizing the agenda for the online course and activities for effective learning.
• The technical role refers to providing a transparent technology environment to the learners (Berge, 1995; Berge & Collins, 2000).

Challenges, effective strategies and suggestions

• In young learner classess engaging students is hard work; some students show their favorite toys, colour pencils and even their pets on the screen in the middle of an activity.

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• Some students don’t turn on their cameras- stay passive or do other things (e.g. playing online games)

• as soon as students see that the chatbox is open, they start sending funny things ….  hearts and nonsense words.  Most of the teachers disable chatboxes but they actually need this tool. 

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In a normal classroom you approach the student and want him stop – but it is hard in online education

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• Teachers’ digital literacy developed a lot over the two terms- much more competent in the use of digital tools but this is not everything
• Psychological problems persist
• İn face to face classes teachers had easy access to the counselling dept but now teachers need to act as an online counsellor as well

“Connectedness” is everything. Students are concerned about their sick family members and can not focus on the lesson. In distance education connecting to students is hard but I do believe that some teachers are able to establish a sort of connection with students without physical proximity

• Online teaching limits the opportunity of peer or group work; there are break out rooms but not easy to manage
• Most activities during the lesson are individual and teacher-led.
• Some teachers find it safe to do only grammar – fill in the blanks  

• Teachers generally prefer to carry the activities they did in face to face classrooms directly to distance education as it is.  NEED FOR TRAINING

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• Students and teachers  co-create the lesson in online education

Some teachers are open to this but some look nervous. NEED FOR OPENMINDEDNESS

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• I observed that a teacher’s “affectionate” question can change whole mood
• Students need emotional support – there was a student trying to observe the class from her mom’s store – she was obviously nervous. Teacher asked a question about the store – her face changed – teacher is part of the home environment
• Or a talk about the poster in the room of the student- environments have intertwined TEACHER ROLES NOT LIMITED WITH THE CLASS

• some students struggled to engage in online lessons as their parents kept watching TV loudly. HOME SCHOOL PROXIMITY- TRAINING

Last term there was no group work at all. Teachers only expected students to do the activities given in the course books- did not work at all

But this term group work was a “mirror” of creativity. Students did research on art sports and history. It is the teacher who changes everything in class SHARING OF INFO AMONG TEACHERS

• This process showed me that the student-teacher relation has become much more difficult. I feel lucky that I had this experience before I start my career.

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• It is hard to deal with young learners in online education; I need to improve my skills in addressing the four senses of students – it is so easy to get distracted.
• I know that I need to learn to teach in different modalities –coursebook , technology …

Teachers who did not accept the limits and embraced the potential and used their creativity had promising outcomes

• Teacher Education programs need transformation
• New courses added
• Existing courses need revision

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THANKS FOR LISTENING