Perhaps the biggest problem with advancing online education and people’s attitudes towards online education is a result of their prior knowledge. Please understand that online education of the past will be replaced with a form of hybrid learning that integrates the positives of the physical world and the virtual world. That’s why it is imperative that districts and educators who advocate this new model of schooling are crystal clear as to what it looks like and how it will be different from our traditional perception of “online education”.
Explaining the role of the teacher in these Hybrid Learning Environments is critical so people understand that, given new forms of technology, teachers will act as content specialists AS WELL AS facilitators for all subjects depending on the avenue they choose to pursue. Teachers that are more comfortable with acting as “content specialists” will be more inclined to work as an online instructor. When students are completing their online instruction, content specialists will be participating in videoconferencing with students to provide them with a deeper understanding of their subject area. These teachers may, or may not, be the same instructors that students would interact with when they performed their practical activities in the structure we now call “school”. In this structure, teachers will work with students on interdisciplinary projects that require them to draw on deep levels of content knowledge to solve complex problems.
I foresee teachers embarking on three potential avenues of the profession in the future:
1. Online Content Specialist: These teachers will deal exclusively with content in an online capacity and handle large amounts of kids in developing a deeper understanding of isolated topics while also teaching students to think critically about the ways that these topics are applied to the “real world”.
2. Teacher Facilitator: These teachers will work within the building structure that we currently call “school” on interdisciplinary projects with students so that they learn to think critically and put the pieces of the puzzle together that they gain from their online experience. They will have rotations of kids in shifts before sending the students to other areas of the school to work on other projects with other teacher facilitators.
3. The Hybrid Teacher: For teachers that are interested in both models of education, they will be afforded the opportunity to work in both capacities.
One of the benefits of this system will be that teachers will have choice as to how they interact with kids. Adequate teacher preparation programs will train their students in both modalities so that they may alter from year to year. This will prevent teachers from feeling constricted to a specific system and give them freedom of choice to tailor their particular style to what they deem most enjoyable.
Where do you foresee yourself fitting in?
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Thanks for this post, you’ve made some really good points. Teaching will definitely change in a blended environment. Good facilitation techniques, such as questioning skills and providing specific and timely feedback, are very important online.
Thinking about this situation takes me to the next level of school operations. What skills do you think administrators in a blended environment are going to need?
I think scheduling will be a challenge, and flexibility and collaborative skills will be used daily. I would love to hear what skills you, and others, think administrators will need.
Cheers.