Hello digital world! My name is Sarah Ficko (pronounced Fee-ko) and I am a middle years teacher in a community school in Regina, SK. My experiences with blended and online learning has ebbed and flowed over my 15-year career. In the beginning of my career, I was a middle years teacher and a high school arts teacher in a school in rural Saskatchewan. In the area of the arts, I used to incorporate a lot of technology. I remember having the students create short stories and represent them using stop motion animation. The students also collaborated to write, act, film, and edit a short “movie.” Students were highly engaged in these activities and proud of their creations. During this time, I also remember the division was also highly into pushing the use of innovative technology in the classroom. They used the SAMR model to help teachers think more critically about their integration of technology.
Lefflerd, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Fast forward a few years to my next school, we used an LMS system called Seesaw both to post online activities for the students to complete and as a means of sharing and documenting learning for families and caregivers. Currently, my school division uses Google Classroom as an LMS option. I try to incorporate technology meaningfully in the classroom but sharing of resources and lack of teacher training hinders that. Additionally, it can be difficult to create or find appropriate digital resources to support the learning of a wide range of abilities without support.
The pandemic also highlighted some challenges in using technology. When our school moved to online learning, it magnified the inequities experienced by many of my students and their families. Out of approximately 20 students, three were able to attend and participate in our online learning. Many were unable to access appropriate technology or even Wi-Fi to participate. Instead, we had to make photocopied “learning” packages and deliver them door-to-door for most of our students. Education during the pandemic amplified the line between the haves and the have-nots.
I hope to use the knowledge I gain from EC&I 834 to remind me how technology can be used to differentiate for a wide range of learners. I hope to learn how to more meaningfully integrate blended learning into the classroom beyond a one-off lesson. Bates’ ideas helped me to understand that a lot of considerations must go into making choices on which mode of delivery to incorporate. Also, Bates stresses that “unless the design changes significantly to take full advantage of the potential of the technology, the outcome is likely to be inferior to that of the physical classroom model which it is trying to imitate.”
Sarah, thanks for sharing the SAMR model. Incorporating technology is definitely a different experience for every teacher depending on context. I taught at a rural school during the pandemic which came with its own set of challenges, but the school was able to lend those students without access to technology a chromebook. Since being in a new school and only teaching math, I am finding it more difficult to use technology beyond the one-off lesson. I also hope to develop some skills that allow me to develop more cohesive lessons that include online and offline learning. I look forward to learning with you, Sarah!