My Initial Thoughts…
Relationships are key. This is a regular topic of discussion in my work place. Relationships are what allow people to come together in a good way, listen to one another, work together and grow together. People need to be comfortable and feel safe in order to be able to learn.
All of my teaching experience with children have been in face-to-face classrooms. I have never had to teach students in an online environment. Prior to the pandemic, I was working as a Literacy Faciltator and my job consisted of going into a number of schools and working primarily with teachers on a daily basis. Once the pandemic hit, we had to switch to primarily online communication. One of the strategies that we used to support our teachers was to have weekly Treaty Learning Communities, where teachers of similar grades, across the schools could come together and talk about what they were all doing, what was working, what was not working, and we would use this time to also introduce some online tools such as Whiteboard, SlidesMania and Kahoot. The goal was to build community with the teachers, share and learn together.
Not all of the TLCs were as succesfull as the others. Some were strictly business. These TLCs did not have a lot of discussion, nobody wanted to share and despite our efforts, they ended up being almost a lecture style meeting. The TLCs that thrived grew into wonderful communities where members were comfortable being vulnerable with one another. These successful learning environments were engaging and fun to be a part of. There was still a lot of learning going on, but there was also a lot of opening up and growing happening at the same time. It was an amazing thing to be a part of. When I look back on this experience, these were circle style sessions, where everybody had as much input as the next and everybody was valued equally.
Since joining the ECI 834 class, my favourite part is being able to chat with my classmates in the break out rooms. I enjoy listening to what other people are doing, and being able to learn from one another while sharing tidbits about ourselves. It makes everybody seem a little bit more real, instead of just one face of many on a zoom screen.
What I have learned from these experiences is that when people are able to be vulnerable and feel safe, they open up and are able to strengthen their relationships with the people around them, while also furthering their knowledge and share with others. People want to feel valued and contribute, they also want to be seen, heard and respected. Community can be buitlt through
Community in My Online Course
The course I am building is housed in Moodle. The goal of creating the course is to have a place where teachers can go to further their learning in an asynchronous environment, while still being able to be a part of an online learning community.
I will be using Microsoft Teams as a mode of communication for teachers and staff who take the course. A team will be created for the sharing of resources outside of the course and for questions/comments while taking the course. This has been chosen since our alliance already uses Microsoft Teams regularly.
I also plan to create videos of myself, my coworkers and our Elders talking about key points within the course. I feel that by seeing our faces, hearing our voices and being able to relate to some of the knowledge being shared, it will support the teachers in feeling more comfortable and confident about sharing within the discussion spaces.
For discussions within Moodle, I have not yet picked the main mode of communication. I was thinking Flipgrid would be great, but I know that some of our teachers are shy and having people create a video of themselves (and needing to learn flipgrid) will take away from the main outcomes of the course. Right now, I am thinking that a Forum within Moodle, and a Wiki may be my best bet for my adult learners.
Sarah,
This is such a well-written post!
I agree. I enjoy breakout rooms in Zoom, as it makes me feel a little more connected to the people in the class. Like you said, it makes things “real” and more than just some faces on a Zoom call. I learn best through conversation and talking things through with others, so in any online space, I appreciate forums or video chats!
The TLC you were part of sounds amazing… We have communities of practice in my school division. In theory, they sound fantastic and the outcome should be somewhat similar to your experience. However, people have to be willing to be vulnerable and feel safe in the environment.
Depending on the response I must do, sometimes I prefer to write instead of video record. I think most adults prefer written responses, as kids are a little more willing to take risks, especially with technology!