I did not know until this class that distance learning is also called distributed learning.
I really appreciated hearing everyone’s opinions on Distributed learning and what they see as the pros and cons of it, especially during the pandemic. I hope that we can look at the positives (for example: Being able to still participate when you have to stay home; Allowing flexibility for people who work, have disabilities or have children; TIME) and carry them forward to synchronous in-person learning situations.
There were a lot of things I had thought about in relation to teaching and online learning, Especially as I offered zoom childcare during the first covid lockdown and the delivery was very much like delivering lessons. but I was fairly shocked by how little I was prepared for zoom not only opening the doors to students/children’s home and interior lives, but also how this would influence interaction and questions between and from the students themselves. It was quickly clear that some students had no idea others lived differently from them. We tried to turn it into a positive experience and have students who wanted to share their lives and homes, do that, but also made effort to have students show things they had made or their favorite things so that students who were not comfortable sharing their homes or inner lives still shared. i also had to redirect a lot of inappropriate questions about things like “why don’t you have your own room” or “that is your kitchen!?! but it also gave me the opportunity to read them some books showing different people’s lives and help broaden their perspectives on how people live. I bring this up in detail solely to highlight how many things there are to consider besides just teaching!!
It was really fun to get to play with minecraft in class! i had never used the education version or played with so many people at once, again so fun. I can really see the potential with minecraft for some students who are not as comfortable in the ‘real world’ to submit work / projects , especially in the realms of building and design, but also students could get creative for ELA. SOCIAL STUDIES, MATH AND more!