From prior knowledge, I know that building relationships in a classroom is integral in student engagement. A student’s ability to feel welcome and safe in a learning environment allows them to take risks in their learning journey. Relationships bloom from communication and meaningful interaction between students and teachers. It is important to establish lines of communication early in K-12 online and open learning spaces in order to make students feel open to communicating with both teachers and other students. By including a form of communication that can be private or public, students have autonomy in what form of communication works with their needs and comfort levels.Â
Types of online learning:
Amy Garrett Dikkers explores the research behind communication and the importance of a social online learning community in “Handbook of research on K-12 online and blended learning”. Garret Dikkers states that the “…social presence is an essential literacy for cultivation emotions and relationships that enhance the overall learning experience” (2018, p. 513).  She goes on saying, although it is widely accepted that a social component is necessary, there is little current research on open and online learning with an emphasis on social interaction (p. 509-510). Nevertheless, She was able to find research to support this accepted fact and zoom in on the building blocks that are needed. To start, there are three forms of social interaction: Learner-learner interaction; Learner-instructor interaction; Learner-content interaction.
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
Overall, most researchers could agree that learner-content and learner-instructor interactions were the most beneficial in creating grade improvement and the feeling of socialization in an online space (Garret Dikkers, 2018, p.511). Learner-learner interaction is often underdeveloped in online learning spaces, only appearing as small collaboration projects or peer teaching (Garret Dikkers, 2018, p. 512). Furthermore, there are challenges incorporating students with different learning needs into learner-learner interaction when most popularly, it is in a collaborative project supplying the learner-learner interaction, which is not successful for all learners (Garret Dikkers, 2018, p. 515). A teacher must use the UDL principles to guide how to effectively include all learners into learner-learner interactions. Garret Dikkers puts forth that it is up to the teacher to cultivate a learning space that is conducive to communication, collaboration, and socialization. The use of the “social presence model” can help guide teachers to a successfully interactive course (Garret Dikkers, 2018, p.513).
Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash
Different online tools can be used to create these successful spaces, but it is up to the teacher to also consider FIPPA and acceptable use policies and to gain consent before implementing these tools. With all of this in mind, teachers should strive to build relationships through online learning through connecting with their learners through their instruction and through their content and build spaces for students to connect.
In the future, I want to learn how to build these connections. What are successful ways to connect learners to each other, to you, and to the course content?
Citations:
Garrett Dikkers, A. (2018) Social Interaction in K-12 Online Learning. In R. Ferdig & K. Kennedy (Eds.), Handbook of research on K-12 online and blended learning (pp. 509-522 ). Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University ETC Press.
laurenmclean
Feedback for EDCI 339:
The blog post was a good summarization of the key ideas in the Garret Dikker article. I liked that you acknowledged the idea that collaborative projects are not successful for all learners and to utilize things like UDL to ensure that ALL students are able to participate in projects. I also enjoyed how you said “Garret Dikkers puts forth that it is up to the teacher to cultivate a learning space that is conducive to communication, collaboration, and socialization.”. Often teachers, in online classes, do not understand that students can only be as successful as the projects that teachers put forth. It is up to the teachers to facilitate these experiences. Finally adding the idea of having two forms of communication that allows autonomy for students was smart in this explanation. One sentence that could have been worded better is “with all of this…students to connect”. The word through is used many many times. I think that if you are to expand this blog post I would put more emphasis on the third paragraph.
hgus123
I think that your blog post demonstrates a clear understanding of the first topic and the importance of the types of relationships that exist in a classroom setting. I really enjoyed how you highlighted the importance of UDL when considering the needs and abilities of your students. One way you could expand upon this is by maybe linking the UDL principles to your blog to allow readers to review what those are. Also, maybe write out UDL as Universal Design for Learning first then put the abbreviation in brackets for clarification. At the end of paragraph 3, you mention the “social presence model” and I recommend expanding upon the model as there is a clear connection towards the types of relationships and this model. I really like your ending question as it provides readers with the opportunity to reflect on their classroom connections in and we can share ideas with other teachers. I also noticed you did not include anything from the Reagan and Jesse article but maybe you could incorporate some of the ideas behind personalized learning and how it correlates to UDL. Loved reading your article and I can’t wait to read your next one!
sarahbjelde
Hi Alexa! I really loved your opening paragraph on the topic of classroom relationships and how they connect with student engagement and motivation. Through integrating the video on the different types of elearning, I was able to connect the content to our course readings and activities. It was interesting and very pleasing how you transitioned so smoothly between this week’s topics: first classroom relationships, then the Garrett Dikkers article, then the different online tools for schools, and then finally FIPPA and privacy. The way you made each of these topics seamlessly flow into the next was breathtaking. One tiny thing that would make this blog post even more amazing would be to do an extra little glance over your work at the end to make sure that there are not any random capitalizations of letters within your sentences. Great work and I can’t wait to tune in next week!