Hello!  Welcome to my blog for EC&I 834 – Designing for Online and Blended Learning.  I am so excited to take this course and happy to finish my Masters with this last elective!

I am currently a Grade 6/7/8/9 teacher in a small rural Saskatchewan school.  I teach ELA, Social Studies, PE, Art, and Health, and I am the Learning Support Teacher in my school.  Prior to teaching in Saskatchewan, I was a teacher in one of the largest middle schools in Canada in Toronto, Ontario.  I taught grades 7 and 8 and was the Teacher-Librarian for 6 years.  Over my 22 years of teaching, integrating and using technology has always been a passion for me, and I realize that there is always more to learn in the ever-changing landscape of technology.  I have seen the gambit of changes in technology from overhead projectors to tv and VCRs, to document cameras, projectors, Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, screencasting, and video streaming.  It has been a journey of discovery and learning.

When I began my master’s, I had the opportunity to experience a flipped learning style of class.  We completed modules online with discussion forums and met face-to-face once a month during the duration of the course for in-person discussions and applications of the content.  Then Covid 19 arrived and all my classes turned to some form of online and blended learning – from complete online with no face-to-face to online blended with Zoom sessions.  This was all very new to me, as my university career has always involved face-to-face learning, and I wasn’t sure if this style of learning was for me.  But, I have grown to enjoy it and appreciate the flexibility it has afforded me. This online and blended learning also extended into my professional development and has opened doors to opportunities that were not accessible to me at the start of my teaching career – such as virtual PD, attending digital summits, and professional reading book clubs, etc.

As a teacher, technology was always present in my room and a passion for me.  But it wasn’t until Covid 19 that I really had to delve into integrating it fully into the teaching and learning environment.  Up to this point, I used it to supplement my teaching and as a means of enabling students to produce products.  Covid 19 taught me that there are so many ways to use technology to engage, support, teach, and learn with my students online.  It was a time of experimentation for me and my students.  We learned, tried, failed, and succeeded together.  This time opened the doors to pathways that could support my teaching and my student’s learning in a multigrade classroom, and I continue to use much of what I learned in my classroom in a blended learning environment today.  I would say it has become similar to a flipped classroom – especially for my ELA classes.  I build lessons and activities in Microsoft Teams, as this is the platform my division uses, and assign them to the various grade levels.  Each grade works through its lesson and activities to prepare for our discussion and meeting time while I work with other grade groups.  It doesn’t always run as smoothly as I would like as there are sometimes challenges with levels of independence, ability to access components of lessons (sometimes works on teacher computer, but not older student computers), cost of using apps and programs (free versions seem to be disappearing), and the viability of the technology available to my students.  We have extension cords running all over the place in my classroom most days to keep our outdated computers running!  Sometimes, straight lecture-style teaching is faster than blended learning;  however, definitely not always as effective or sticky as using engaging technology and tools.  There is also a constant need to learn and explore all that is available and to stay up to date, which can be time-consuming in an already heavy workload.

However, despite the challenges, I am determined to continue integrating and using technology in our learning environment.  I believe Bates (https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/part/chapter-10-modes-of-delivery/) makes a strong point when he states we need to rethink and build our classrooms to engage our learners and support them in developing the skills they will need to live and learn in a digital world.  I am learning that technology when purposefully integrated into a learning environment, can provide flexible, engaging, adaptable, and diverse learning opportunities for students to not only consume knowledge but also build and create new knowledge that sticks.  It is my hope this course will give me the foundations to build on creating a blended learning environment which promotes active and accessible learning and teaching for myself and all my students.  I look forward to this learning journey!