Back in January, things were looking pretty rosy. I was on track with the COETAIL final project, tech integration was growing at a fantastic rate in the classrooms, we were just about to start our digital citizenship program with grades 6 through 10, and I had done a considerable chunk of the yearbook, which caused me a lot of pain in the previous year; mostly down to the fact that I had only two months to do it in. And then the rug was pulled out from all of us, with what would become a pandemic. Words that we seldom used before, would enter our everyday vocabulary, like quarantine, self-isolation, social distancing, and contact tracing. Life, as we knew it, had to go on pause for a while. It was a time of great uncertainty for everyone. I consider myself one of the lucky ones, as neither I nor anyone I know get sick from this disease, but my heart goes out to those who have suffered from this affliction, directly through health issues, or financially, through the global shutdowns that quickly followed. It was hard to predict what would happen next, and I often felt powerless and lost, almost like being lost at sea.

Opportunities

What followed for me was three months of virtual learning, some of which I spent in Thailand. And it was pretty much all hands on deck for everyone. I have to admit that back then, after my initial anxiety, I was super excited about the opportunities that virtual learning would bring. And, rather surprisingly, more than a couple of students really came out of their shells and produced quite outstanding work – something I was not quite expecting. However, it is my opinion that there is no substitute for being in the same physical space as your students. I remember now, that before we got our students to complete a textual analysis, we created a Flipgrid to check and connect with our students, rather than dive straight into academic work. This was something that we would redo over the coming weeks and months. It also served as a timely reminder for me about the importance of digital citizenship (ISTE 2c) and the significant role it would have.

Empowered Students

In my first blog post way back in course 1, I argued that we should see technology as a platform to project from, and my students did just that. They went from being really shy, and not willing to get onto the camera to upload content to Flipgrid, to using it on a regular basis to share not just their own work, but to give feedback to each other. Furthermore, they have taken part in MS Teams lessons (meetings), interacting with their friends and peers to collaborate and catch up on the latest news. They have communicated openly, without fear of judgment for the Pecha Kucha presentations, each telling their own personal journal over the past three months. I truly believe that our students are seeing the tech that I have introduced in the classroom as a powerful tool, that can be used to stay connected with each other.

Just last Thursday, we had a blended learning (hybrid) lesson, with students working collaboratively in groups both offline and online. You can see from the picture below, that the students are talking to a student who was calling in from Malaysia! They were in a private channel, hosting their own meeting so that the student not in the classroom felt part of the group. It was so exciting to be able to do this, and although it was far from perfect, it was a start in the right direction to making the lesson accessible to those outside the four walls of the classroom.

We also used the class time to watch each other’s movies, and give feedback both verbally and in Padlet.

A Blessing in Disguise

As I mentioned in my final project video, virtual learning has created a legion of tech integrators the world over. Before teachers would often invite me into lessons to support, or redesign a unit using technology, but these would be the same teachers. It is fair to say that some of my colleagues and teaching friends are a little afraid to jump onto the tech integration boat. However, as also mentioned in my first blog post of course 5, they had no choice for virtual learning. They had to survive. And in my opinion, they are better off for it. 

Just the other day a dear friend and colleague were boasting to me about the 5 screencasts that he had created. Another teacher worked with me, so that she could record a live lesson from her iPad, whilst also simultaneously annotating on it using the Apple Pencil, moreover, she was also using it as a document camera. It was epic. 

So, thank you COETAIL. Thank you for making me go the extra mile. And thank you to each of my COETAIL 11 colleagues, whom I hope to work with, either virtually or offline, in the future.

Next year I will be integrating technology with Grades 1 through 5, as well as Grades 6 to 12! I find working with younger students to be hugely rewarding, as they are at an earlier stage of their learning journeys, I have an opportunity to teach them how to use tech in a much more playful way. Before I set off on this perilous journey, I must introduce my traveling companions; Grade 5 students and teachers! The reason for choosing these amazing people is that I want to prepare them for the transition from elementary school and up to middle school. Now that I have assembled the team, let me run through the supplies that we have accumulated:

• iPads, 1 between 2
• MacBook Airs, 1 apiece
• A green screen
• A tripod
• 1 lavalier microphone
• A tech integration map, which will guide us through the learning adventures ahead…

What Learner Be Ye?

In the student’s first quest, they will be required to read through the official IB Learner profile infographic. After they have finished digesting the content, they should choose one of the attributes that they feel most attached or connected. Then, they will create a simple poster, the aim of which is to promote that particular IB learner attribute (linked to ISTE standards innovative designer and creative communicator) As this is our brave heroes’ initial quest, there are some guidelines to adhere to, these are:

1. Include a picture of yourself, taken with a device of your choosing
2. The school dragon logo, it cannot be resized, but it can be positioned anywhere on the poster. Air dropped from the teacher
3. It must contain a single word, that of your chosen attribute
4. A color palette, taken from a https://coolors.co/ or similar
5. You must focus on contrast between the CARP principles

There are many reasons why I chose this particular infographic, but I will only discuss two. The first is that I want to raise the profile of the learner attributes. And the second is…complicated, so without further ado let me dive into the reason why. I am very grateful that the IB provided a resource to demonstrate the 10 attributes of an IB learner, but this particular infographic reminds me of something one might see at a dental conference, detailing the benefits of the latest dental curettes! Yes, you can argue that they have used the CARP principles, but seriously, what G1-5 student is going to stop in awe when they see this!?

Call Yourself a Citizen?

Now for some of the nitty-gritty, and one could certainly argue, a topic that needs a lot of attention, but can seem rather bland at the best of times. I am talking about digital citizenship, and it neatly ties in with the ISTE standard of Digital Citizen. The challenge for our companions is to complete all DQ World zones over the course of 4 weeks!

Although most of our motley crew of Grade 5 students, and teachers, will no doubt have knowledge of how to create strong passwords, what personal information is, and the importance of NOT sharing it online, they may not have developed a deep understanding of just how important digital citizenship is, and the bigger part it plays in our online and offline society. 

For this particular quest, I will enlist the help of one of the all-stars of digital citizenship learning programs, none other than the infamous DQ World. It is getting a bit old in the tooth, but it is still keeping up with the new crowd when it comes to digital citizenship. It is interactive, age-appropriate (grades 4-7), fun, challenging, entertaining, and informative. DQ World breaks down digital citizenship into 8 key areas, including screen time management, cyber-bullying, and digital rights. Teachers can also monitor their students’ progress through the intuitive and interactive dashboard, finding out how much of any particular area a student has completed. Furthermore, parents can also take part in learning with their children. In fact, students need to enter their parents’ email addresses when they first signup.

Crack the Olde Code!

No tech integration treasure hunt could be considered complete without the inclusion of a coding challenge! I love coding because it helps students develop a bunch of different skills, including problem-solving, thinking outside the box, collaboration, resilience, and patience; also see ISTE Standard – Computational Thinker  If you have ever coded before and spent hours looking for a bug, only to find out you dropped a semicolon or misspelled a variable you will know what I mean when I mention patience! And this time the challenge would be to master various coding techniques such as variables, loops, and iteration; linked to maths where appropriate.

Now, the question is, which coding program should I choose? There are many more players in the market now than there were when this old treasure hunter began coding, but I will stick to Swift Playgrounds for this particular challenge. Why? Well for one it now runs not just on iPads, but also on OS devices as well; as long as you have Catalina installed (or their next 64-bit iteration). 

It combines drag and drop coding, along with typing swift code, and it comes loaded with teacher workbooks and student challenges. It is an excellent gateway into XCode, although this could be some way off. Regardless, the concepts introduced in playgrounds could be traversed into other coding apps such as Scratch.

And Finally…

I really am super excited to be working with elementary school students again, and this blog post is just a taste of the amazing things that I look forward to collaborating on with my colleagues in Grades 1-5.

At some point during the current COVID-19 pandemic, I decided that I needed to escape the daily onslaught of horrible and depressing news from around the globe. I wanted to check out of life just for about 30 minutes each day (sometimes longer), and all the binge-watching of Tiger King and Mandalorian wasn’t cutting it. So, I decided to download the game Star Wars, Galaxy of Heroes. It is a great little smartphone game, with a lot of layers and complexities that I wasn’t quite expecting. Essentially, the aim of the game is to win battles against other players, using a turn-based combat system. You have to choose which characters you want in your squad, before embarking on a battle. Now, this is where it gets interesting… Your squad will perform better, or worse, depending on who else is in it. If you pair up characters who work well with each other, they can perform above expectations. Likewise, you could have the most powerful characters in the game, but them into a squad with players they don’t have synergy with and you may be usurped by a “lesser” team with better synergy. It was this combination of strengths that reminded me of the importance of building strong and meaningful communities that you too can work together with, and perform better than expected.

Sustained Engagement

I had already joined a bunch of WeChat groups, followed different ed-tech personalities and companies on Twitter, and subscribed to various tech-themed YouTube channels and Podcasts. Furthermore, due to the earlier COETAIL course materials, pushing us to expand our PLNs and to contribute to these, I was happy with my level of participation and how it had grown organically over the last year. Admittedly, I did start to contribute more to WeChat conversations, but I find these can be overwhelming at times, and I am not sure about the equal participation therein. Having said that, I have met a couple of very knowledgeable and kind people in these groups (James Rong), who have given me inspiration for various ed-tech projects.

Conclusion

I chose to focus on WeChat (unfortunately I deleted my chat history), Twitter and then later on, Reddit, to have follow-up conversations. They are great for finding out other people’s experiences, sharing common problems, finding out new apps, and coming up with creative ways to implement tech in the (virtual) classroom.

I made the decision to disable YouTube comments and likes, quite early on. I share my video tutorials with the teachers and students I work with (I also put them on MS Stream). Before I disabled the comments, I have to admit that I did not find the majority of these productive. In fact, on the contrary, they have been counterproductive; at least in my experience. For example, I disabled the ability for viewers to see the likes VS dislikes after I had received 8 likes and 6 dislikes, as I wanted to see what kind of impact not seeing this would have on viewer behavior. Surprisingly, the same video now has 113 likes and 17 dislikes!

One of my biggest successes was collaborating with two colleagues at my school and one in Hong Kong. Through our online and offline conversations, shared interests, and passion for education, we decided to team up and work together on the Technology in Education website, YouTube Channel, Twitter Feed, and Podcast. Having access to these amazing people offline (except my colleague in HK), has really solidified not just our mini PLN, but our friendship as well. We have each committed to spending between 2-4 hours per week on developing our knowledge and understanding of how tech can be used to accelerate learning for our learners.

So, if you have not begun your own PLN already, then start today!

It has been quite some time since I was last in an offline classroom; 2 months and 28 days to be exact. And in that time, all of the learning opportunities that I have provided have been based on virtual/remote/distance models. Now, rumor has it that we might be back in schools shortly, and as such, we should prepare for a blended learning model! 

Before I start my journey into the blended learning jungle, it is apparent to me that the most important thing is to get all the players to buy into the process – if it is to be successful. This is particularly important for the students and teachers who aren’t in the country at the moment. They, like all of us, will be going through a roller coaster of emotions, which will be made worse by the fact that they won’t be able to be in the same classroom!

How To Create a Blended Learning Environment?

Before setting out what I believe the blended learning environment should look like, there are some key questions and tasks I must find out the answer to and also prepare for. These are:

1. An accepted definition of Blended Learning.
2. Develop an overview of Blended Learning for our school, based on our current circumstances.
3. How to physically implement Blended Learning (hardware and software).
4. Create a SWOT analysis for Blended Learning.

Whatever plan I come up it has to be adaptable and be able to pivot at a moment’s notice, given the amount of uncertainty that we face on a daily basis.

Blended Learning Definition

After reading several websites, papers, and blogs on what blended learning is*, it is clear that it must require some form of physical in-class interaction between teacher and student. *My favorite resource, and most in-depth, comes from The Christensen Institute. Now, given that a lot of our teachers and students are not in the country, and cannot enter because of restrictions on entry, we will be using an enriched virtual model (without face-to-face learning, for some students).

We have already been using a hybrid enriched virtual model since the beginning of February, as have most schools in the world by the time this post comes out. Our school is in the fortunate position of having the hardware and software to best support virtual learning. The main hurdle that we face has been which apps, websites, and software work without a VPN. The question of every international school teacher in China. Also, as we are now into our 11th week of Virtual Learning, the technological knowledge of our faculty and students is robust, with all members of our community adapting to the tech and emotional challenges that they face every day.

Blended Learning Overview

I will now set out what blended learning will look like at our school, using in-class scenarios.

• We will need to provide face-to-face lessons for students in the classroom. 
• We need to provide *online learning for those students not in the classroom; since the borders in China have closed, a lot of students and their families have not made it back into the country.
  • *The online learning will involve the use of Microsoft Teams to broadcast the lesson to those, not in the classroom. Students will also be able to use MS Teams to communicate with each other regarding tasks in the class.
• Group work and collaboration have been very difficult to implement in the virtual learning world. Not only is this down to all of us not being in the same room but not even in the same time zone. Fear not, as I like to see myself as a solution based. So, to increase interaction for group work in the Blended Learning world, students could be allocated channels in Teams to collaborate. Perhaps we could have 3 offline and 2 online students in each group; this will vary depending on the number of students in and out of the class. These private groups, moderated by teachers, would serve as breakout rooms, where the students should be able to lead their own learning. Hopefully, this will give value to participation and increase their buy-in!
• The teachers who did not make it back into the country would provide lesson plans to be facilitated/delivered by supply/substitute teachers. They would also be online in MS Teams to be able to communicate with the students.

Implementation: Balancing Act

Ok, now we have some blueprints to work from, let’s assemble the equipment that we will need. Unlike many governments from developed countries. I did mention this briefly in my previous post on bold predictions, and the good news is, we already have (most of) the equipment needed.

It is incredibly important, to maximize buy-in, that the amount of extra equipment be kept to a minimum, although the balance is required. Too much and we run the risk of putting teachers off from using it effectively. Too little, and the blended learning experience may be of poor quality and therefore reduce its impact.

• Teachers to create calendar events for each meeting
  • Training required? Use my awesome YouTube tutorials!
  • Modeling of how a lesson would like should be carried out at least a week in advance or whatever is practical; dependent on notice given by the government of when we can open.
• An iPad or Macbook to stream the lesson from
  • Including power supplies
  • Extra cabling required?
  • What will be captured – the board? Teacher?
• Check lighting and audio are sufficient to enable a quality experience
  • Is it necessary to purchase lavalier style microphones? 
  • Wired vs Wireless
• Additional resources (software) to increase interactivity for those not in the classroom
  • Quizzes
  • Channels within teams to increase participation and collaboration
  • For more active blended learning tasks, see Defining ABL from the University of Northampton

SWOT Analysis

This is just an initial SWOT analysis of blended learning, and I will most definitely be adding to it as we get closer to the big day. 

Strengths

• Our faculty and students have been virtual learning for over 11 weeks now, so their technology levels are at least competent.
• We have enough streaming devices for each classroom.
• Our tech team is knowledgeable and will be able to set up all appliances so that teachers can focus on teaching!
• All lessons can be recorded and played back by students, not in the classroom.

Weaknesses

• The quality of video and audio will not recreate the classroom experience.
• The private channels that students will be in will take time to moderate by the teacher.
• Students in different time zones may not be able to attend all lessons during the school day.

Opportunities

• Increased collaboration between the tech team and teachers.
• Upskilling in how to run live streaming events.
• Upskilling in the many new apps, websites, and software due to the necessity of using them in a live online lesson.
• Students who may not like to speak up in the classroom may find it more comfortable to do so virtually.
• Increased understanding of what an upstanding digital citizen is; particularly during MS Team chats.
• Participation from students’ parents, whereas before it would have been difficult to come into the school, now they can do this from the comfort of home with their children.

Threats

• Bandwidth could be too low to provide a quality blended learning experience.
• We are reliant on tech support for advanced troubleshooting problems.
• Potential for Teams Bombing if meetings are not set up correctly. I.e. only one presenter.
• Cyberbullying could occur if students do not follow our RUP and digital citizenship advice.

As I sign off on this post, it is clear that the technology, the implementation, the plans, and the definitions are minuscule without the hard work of our amazing faculty! I, and my team, will do everything in my power to enable these amazing teachers to continue to provide meaningful and engaging lessons for our awesome, adaptable, and resilient students.

Last year, I was asked by a teacher to deliver a series of lessons based on the concept of students making bold predictions and how artificial intelligence would change our lives in the future. Little did we know at the time that we would be looking square in the virtual face of these coming to light. One of the more interesting predictions was that students would learn mostly online and in virtual learning environments and that teachers would be a thing of the past. At the time I thought that this could be a reality, but having survived the first 7 weeks of virtual learning and social distancing, I no longer hold faith in this prediction….

We need human interaction – even if this means staying 2 meters apart, and greeting each other with #ELBUMP. I brought up this point in a recent zoom meeting I was invited to speak at. In the most recent survey that we did with our students, and through various different reflection activities our students have told us that they miss being with their friends in the classroom and seeing their teachers! It reminds us that although technology can be used to accelerate and deepen learning, it is best when served* with lots of human contact. And no amount of Zoom calls, Teams meetings, or Google Meets can overcome being in an offline classroom. 

New Norms

Whilst it is way too early to say what the new normals will be after the pandemic dust settles, COVID-19 has been overcome and we are back in the classroom. Although I certainly ain’t no fortune teller, I will make a few of my own bold predictions of what I think will happen in the immediate future – life after virtual learning.

Video Conferencing

The first of these is students’ ability to use video conferencing apps. At our school, we have a hybrid approach of Teams and Zoom, and our students, after an initial hesitation to use them (not wanting to be on camera for example), have really shone! From attending morning meetings to taking turns in read-aloud, and working together in small collaborative groups – our students have been incredibly adaptable in making the most of their new virtual environments. They have been able to maintain the connections, lost in the classroom in the digital world that they find themselves thrown into.

Sure there are times when students go into private chat groups or start a meeting too early (Teams not Zoom), but this is to be expected initially. As long as we address these situations with our students, and use the lessons to better educate them as digital citizens (ISTE Standard 2), our students will become much savvier on the best practices on how to communicate online. I have seen a few infographics (an awesome one made by my friend and colleague Boramy Sun) on how to come to a set of agreements on participating during these meetings. I think as we go on, it would be awesome if teachers, in collaboration with students, come up with a set of protocols for each classroom.

Blended Learning

I strongly believe that video conferencing – blended learning will become as ubiquitous as having to wash your hands for 20 seconds, several times a day!

Blended learning (a mix of offline and virtual learning), in its simplest form, is when a teacher is teaching their lesson but with the addition of the lesson being streamed, in Teams, Zoom, or Meet. Students who are not in the classroom (currently because they are in quarantine/ in the future because they cannot make it to school for whatever reason) will still be able to participate online. The teacher could still interact with the online students through the app, whilst still engaging with the class. It may require some new equipment such as having a decent webcam, microphone, and increased bandwidth – but surely it is worth it. 

This idea could also be rolled out to various coffee mornings that schools hold for parents on different initiatives taking part at school. More often than not, it is difficult for parents to take time off work to come to school and attend this – they would need to request for time off, not to mention the incurred travel time to and from their place of work to school. But now they could simply join in from the comfort of their workplace, and truly be part of the conversation and community.

Virtual Art Exhibition

Our school normally holds an annual art exhibition for IB DP Art students to showcase their work. It involves the students setting up their own areas where they display their work and parents, students, and all members of the community are invited to admire the work that the students have put into their DP projects. 

Of course, due to our school closure, this is not possible. But it would be possible for students to create their own virtual art exhibits:

1. Each student will set up a webpage of their work.
2. These web pages would be shared with the teacher who could then upload them onto a central digital map/website.
3. When an online visitor goes to the digital map area they can choose which art exhibit to visit.
   1. The virtual art exhibition could be accessed at any time, but there could also be a planned exhibition time for Q&A (see point 5).
4. Each piece of work would be accompanied by a QR code. When the QR code is scanned it loads a video of the student talking about the artwork. To make this more immersive HP Reveal* (since writing this article HP Reveal has been discontinued) would be used when the QR code is scanned the video plays in its place; using augmented reality.
5. Students could be available for Q&A in a video conference at a designated time.

Whether or not my predictions will come to light may as well lie in the hands of Zoltar from Big or in a magic 8 ball, but we are certainly more technologically confident than we ever have been before.