Videoconferencing in Online Teaching: The case of ELT

BlendIt Course, Online Instruction, online learning, Online Teaching Practices, VLE, VLEs 0 comments

Granada’s Art School, Granada, Nicaragua - Photo by Jonathan Acuña-Solano

Videoconferencing in Online Teaching:

The case of ELT

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed.

School of English

Faculty of Social Sciences

Universidad Latina de Costa Rica

Saturday, May 12, 2018

Post 319

After taking part of an online session with Prof. Janet Bianchini from the Consultants-E in which we were discussing the questions below, she sparked my interest for deepening myself into trying to put in words what I think about different areas of online teaching in English Language Teaching (ELT). And now that I am involved in piloting a synchronous language course fully online with a flipped learning approach, I feel the need to see, in black and white, what I am thinking of all this project at this moment.

The areas that I want to explore through my writing are the following, as the one suggested by my instructor on our synchronous session:

a) Videoconferencing chat and why to use it,

b) Benefits and challenges for learners,

c) Benefits and challenges for instructors, and

d) Any other thought that can pop up in my mind.

Let us explore together then a bit each of these areas based on my current experience and gained expertise.

1	*Why would you decide to use videoconferencing chat in an online language course?*

Now that I am piloting this flipped-learning English program and teaching one its courses, many ideas gallop into my neurons making lot of noise trying to climb to the surface when videoconferencing in online course is named. In this course that I instructionally designed and continue to develop even today, videoconferencing plays an important role in student oral production. To start with, my students, e. g., have to work on the course platform and must cover certain amount of content before they show up to our virtual classroom to practice it. The LMS we are currently using allows my learners to review vocabulary, watch short videos with grammar explanations, get lots of controlled exercises to practice the new content, and are exposed to reading exercises based on a thematic unit. And as their instructor, I can see their progression and achievements inside the platform.

But what about oral production? Having a system where a virtual classroom can be created to have a “regular, live” session with my language trainees is the place to work with them and to have them produce. Depending on the system that it is being used, breakout rooms can or cannot be part of one’s session. Its presence or absence will guide how you will organize the session to have even participation, to set up a take-turning technique for speaking in class, the use of tools provided by the platform to work collaboratively, and so on. In my situation, I have the chance to create breakout rooms to pair up pupils, to have them work in small groups, and to coach them individually or as part of a small segment of the whole cohort of students in my class. Videoconferencing is a great addition because it allows me to work with students despite their location and time zone.

2	*What are some of the benefits and challenges for learners in videoconferencing chats?*

Bearing in mind the flipped learning model I currently use with my online ELLs, there are different benefits I can easily identify. As an instructor, who expects learners to have covered the content they have been requested based on the course chronogram, I can work with students in various areas; to start with I have the freedom to help them with new vocabulary in terms of its pronunciation and right use in a conversational context. The new structures they are studying autonomously are also practiced with semi-controlled and free-production activities/tasks during the videoconferencing sessions. Students can also take part in conversations where I can monitor the use of new lexical items linked to the thematic unit being studied, intonation why formulating questions or providing answers, and intelligibility while communicating in conversational tasks. Learners profit from these videoconferencing chats because they can be coached to improve their production since they can be scaffolded from the beginning to the end or our virtual sessions.

Though our first impression can be that videoconferencing with partners can be tough for an online learner, this can actually be handled without much trouble or anxiety. As the old dictum states, “humans are animals of habit,” and like in any other routine activity in life, the use of a videoconferencing platform can be mastered with a few sessions. My language trainees, for instance, now ask me to activate the virtual room’s whiteboard tools to write, to draw, to include a smiley, or to upload a document or presentation for the class. And how did we get to this point? We all arrived up to this point since part of my working sessions with them allows pupils to grow more confident in the use of the virtual classroom features and functionalities. That is, if they use it once, twice, three times, they then know what to do the next time they are asked to do something on the whiteboard. Though there are technical challenges for students, they can be fixed with patience and with some good troubleshooting training carried out by the instructor.

3	*What are some of the benefits and challenges for the online teacher in videoconferencing chats?*

When I help in the training of new teachers where I work for the online program, there are two things I never get tired in repeating over and over again that can be capitalized as benefits or can turn into challenges. Both of these things were well learned by me as a webinar presenter time ago and as an online instructor. 1) Whatever you plan for a videoconference with students may be “too much” to be covered in a single session. As suggested by my many current and former online instructors, an agenda needs to be planned to have good timing for the transition from one activity to the next one. Time flies, but it flies faster when you are working with students online. The dynamics is not exactly the same compared to when you are in a F2F class; adjustments need to be made in one’s pacing. Therefore, the advantage of having this session agenda (or lesson plan, if you prefer this term) is an advantage towards organizing videoconferencing chats to be fruitful for both language trainees and their instructor.

2) Do keep a notepad with you! Why? Well, it all depends on the number of participants you have in your virtual classroom and how the system displays them for you, the instructor. The challenge any instructor is going to face is the assurance of even participation in a videoconferencing chat. Google Hangouts, Zoom, Blackboard, GoToMeeting, Wiz IQ, Skype, etc. have a different way of allowing the teacher to see people in the classroom. You will soon discover that something needs to be done to assure some kind of even participation in the virtual classroom. Regardless of the way these videoconferencing systems do it, the notepad can help you monitor yourself and your language trainees by ticking the number of times students participate in class. If you are the one asking the questions, then the notepad can help you see who you are asking the most and who you are forgetting in a corner of your virtual classroom.

4	*Any other comments, thoughts or questions on using videoconferencing with language learners.*

The videoconferencing chatroom is a safe place for both pupils and instructor. If it is well-managed by the instructor (who we suppose has been well-trained to face technical difficulties), nothing strange has to happen. As a concluding anecdote to what I have lived as an online facilitator, I remember I was about to start class and my permanent virtual classroom disappeared from the system. I had to find a quick solution to begin my class, so I generated a new room, uploaded the instructional material for the class, and went into my email to contact each and every student. And, of course, I asked the first people to arrive to get in touch with their peers to let them know of the new link for our video conference.

How would you have reacted towards this situation? Another of our teachers had the same kind of problem the other day but could not react in the same way. He contacted his supervisor, who in turn reached me to ask for help. In the end, as I had discovered about my “tough” situation was linked to the “cookies” and browsing history in my laptop, something that can be easily fixed if proper training is provided to teachers. It is for reasons like this that the instructor has to be ready to face unexpected situations before or during a live session.

Journal Entry 02 BlendIt Course

Saturday, May 12, 2018

What I Feel I Have Learned about Working Online

BlendIt Course, Online Instruction, online learning, Online Teaching Practices, VLE, VLEs 0 comments

Valle del Zamorano, Honduras - Photo by Fernando Carranza

What I Feel I Have Learned about Working Online

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed.

School of English

Faculty of Social Sciences

Universidad Latina de Costa Rica

Thursday, May 10, 2018

Post 318

I’ve been working online for about four years already, and each time I start a new course with a group of learners, I start with an open mind towards what I am about to face and experience with a new cohort of learners. All groups of students are different in terms of attitudes, skills, disposition to work collaboratively, and so on; I cannot say that I have had the same kind of experiences with all of groups I have had all these years as an online instructor. However, despite all challenges one can bump into while teaching online, the fact is that working online has helped me develop skills and competences I never thought I could have when I started “my” life first as an online student and then as an online instructor.

What kind of skills have I developed in these four fruitful years as an instructor? Among them I must highlight the importance the instructor has to put on the written word detached from any other visual or auditory cues such as gestures and tone of voice. Writing cannot be felt coercive by learners but needs to be perceived as if prompting them to be proactive for their own learning. It is also transcendental to comprehend the significance of student praise and formative feedback to help learners develop their own skills with the “manipulation” of new content and knowledge, which is gained through good instructionally-designed learning tasks. Student encouragement is also essential in online courses, and it is vital for the support and motivation that pupils in class need from us. The weight that course expectations has in course results is another learned lesson working online. Not defining for learners what they can wait from me as an instructor, and not letting them know what it is expected from them as students can drive us into a dead-on street full of frustration. Dealing with frustration in one’s job as an educator is not new for any of us; why don’t we try to minimize the impact that frustration can have in our teaching lives?

And what about “learning agendas” for a week’s work? Isn’t this another lesson learned while working online? At least for me, this was one of those other pieces of learning I have acquired while working in virtual learning environments (VLEs). An agenda needs to be very well-defined for students so they know what they have to do anytime, anywhere within a given time period and specific deadlines. Believe me, learners are learners no matter what kind of medium is being used; in a F2F or in a virtual course our students behave in the same way, if you understand what I mean. And like any other pupil of yours or of mine, they can undergo difficult or tough moments, so one needs to be compassionate and flexible depending of the circumstances. All of us have those moments in life when a helping hand in needed especially since the purpose of instruction is learning and not just providing pupils with a numerical grade. Providing learners with some human bond and some time-management tips to cope with online work can come handy for many of them especially when they have never been part of an online course.

For sure, one can conclude that online teaching expertise is only gained when you have been on both sides of the VLE equation. One cannot start being an online instructor overnight; one needs some good coaching to transition from the regular F2F teaching one is accustomed to having to a virtual “reality” where other skills, beyond the technological ones, are needed to deal with class interaction, socialization, tutor presence, praise, and so on. Being a student in an online course is another part of the transition one needs to undergo to help us abandon the old education paradigm that learning takes place only when we have students sitting down in front of us within four walls.

Journal Entry 01 - BlendIt Course

Thursday, May 10, 2018

Potentials for Data-Driven Instruction: What is in Store for ELT?

Blended Learning, Data-Driven Teaching, LMS, Teacher Training 0 comments

The Chess Fountain, Gran Estación Mall, Bogotá, Colombia - Photo by Jonathan Acuña

Potentials for Data-Driven Instruction:

What is in Store for ELT?

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed.

School of English

Faculty of Social Sciences

Universidad Latina de Costa Rica

Sunday, May 6, 2018

Post 317

As a curious traveler who intends to explore new places, I’ve been too several intriguing but fascinating non-conventional sites in my life. And while strolling down the many shopping places, museums, and other tourist attractions in Bogotá, my wife and I came across this amazing sight, a chess fountain. And since I am the kind of person who always wants to understand things beyond what is really perceived by the naked eye, here I was faced with these gigantic chess pieces, like the mammoth issue linked to the “effective, meaningful” usage of an LMS (learning management system) in a language institution interested in using data coming from it to refine its language programs.

Whenever I think of chess, I always picture those Muslim noblemen from a different era making their right plays towards a chess mate to win a game. And as you must be certain, in order to win a chess game, several moves are made to achieve that goal. However, when I relate data-driven instruction in ELT to winning a chess game, I often wonder if we can ever get to win this game we are playing now to have learners profit from their use of an LMS. How far have we come along this road to take advantage of an LMS aligned with an institution’s curricula? Well, let me share a bit of what I have experienced and mull over for quite some time …

The LMSs in the Lookout

At this point in our history, most publishing houses in the ELT business have come to devise their LMS to provide schools, language institutes, universities, etc. with a digital way to track student coverage of thematic units from the coursebook they have chosen for their programs. I refrained myself from using the word learning (to replace coverage of thematic units) since the act of learning is a very personal moment of self-discovery that is not exactly measured through an LMS devised by a publisher. For me, learning is an intimate moment when each individual discovers s/he is now in possession of new knowledge that can be used otherwise. And the “possession” of new information can be attained through a platform such as the LMS.

What worries is not the presence of an LMS in a language institution, but the way it is being used by the school’s instructors. Based on my personal experience with teachers having to assign content in the institution’s LMS and memoranda that I have written to myself over the years after talking to my peers in various university settings in my home country, the school’s platform is more likely to be used as the substitute of the paper workbook we used to have before; it has become an e-Workbook full of exercises that can be assigned or de-assigned by the instructor. The statistical evidence that a system like an LMS can generate is not being used profitably to enhance the learning process by educators or school policy makers. All this situation resembles again as if we were in this chess game against one of the Muslim noblemen facing a “check,” and we are close to discover that any effort is not enough to win the game because we are not really using the LMS to help plan for learning.

The question now is, is this abandonment of statistical evidence taking place because of lack of teacher training or dearth of understanding? Are we about to lose our chess game because of lack of expertise in the game? Being someone dealing with some sort of administration of an LMS, I see the lack and dearth in teachers’ platform tasks. Based on my reflections regarding this abandonment of statistical evidence, educators are not grasping the real use of an LMS for learning purposes. We have not trained our educators/players with the right “plays” (moves) to use a platform for the sake of student learning. Additionally, instructor supervisors are not providing an accurate and meticulous follow-up of teacher work on the platform. And all this panorama makes us wonder whether we really overlooked the real potential of Data-Driven Instruction (DDI) in ELT or not. Did we also overlook the fact that chess players are also taught or self-instructed to be good in the game, even when it comes to be playing against a computer software?

Pinpointing Problem Areas

The one question to ask over here, in this chess game-like situation, is: “are we teachers planning around troublesome areas when teaching and then using an LMS as part of our blended learning approach for student language development? If we all use the data that LMS platforms generate to enhance our teaching, we “teachers can more accurately pinpoint the problem areas that most of the students have and then spend class time on those” (Baber, 2013). However, we tend to plan around the textbooks rather than around the troublesome areas that our institution’s platform is revealing but that are not being taken care of “accurately.” By far the LMS can help us spot “problem areas” by analyzing data connected to student performance while working on the exercises (or tasks) on the platform. But, are we doing it? If we are not exactly doing this, not spotting the language learners are struggling with, planning cannot be geared towards aiding pupils to improve and master vital contents in their language development.

Baber (2013) suggests being more creative in the use of a data-driven language class. For him, “being perhaps a bit more creative, there’s scope for different classroom constructs altogether” (Baber, 2013). What about teaching a class based on data from the LMS that has been analyzed; the analysis can tell us what needs to be taught and who needs to be guided and instructed. Suppose we have a group of students dealing with past perfect, and there might be a section of the class that with the platform work they are able to master the topic quickly and accurately. What do we do with these pupils? Baber (2013) suggests that “instead of shepherding them all into one room three times a week,” we can “have three different classes, each focusing on a different problem area that a subset of those students have.” And the benefits? These can be much better for all students by having the ones with very particular troublesome areas to overcome practice work with the instructor, and those who do not need that much instruction can focus their attention on other language contents that require more work for them.

A Shift in Class Constructs

Based on what Baber (2013) comments about “shepherding” students, why do we have to make learners attend class? As educators we have all experienced the situation where a subset of learners in class already know the content we are to study. Depending on the ages and maturity of students, this particular scenario can trigger boredom and class disruption affecting classroom management. Isn’t it better to ask pupils to come when they need to? “While the total classroom time per student is less, it meets the needs of those particular students far better, and performance can be increased” (Baber, 2013). Language instruction does not always happen in the classroom; many of the LMSs do include this instruction with inductive and deductive tasks for learners to come up with their own rules, or simplified versions of the content (especially grammar) that needs to be mastered by the student. The class needs to become a place to practice the language being studied for those pupils who have areas that they must strengthen. “The online component is also delivering teaching, not just consolidation exercises or assessment, so students benefit via both mediums” (Baber, 2013).

As the chess players of these teaching scenarios where an LMS can provide us with information about our learners, are we profiting from these learning platforms by using the right moves? “Blended learning has long been heralded as the Holy Grail but I don’t think we’ve actually seen the benefits yet” says Baber (2013). Learning management systems can provide us with data to drive our teaching to help students where they really need; it can provide as with very punctual information about where students are experiencing a problem area. We are at a “check” point on our LMS chess game because we are not really instructing our educators (and ourselves) to use every datum to potentiate student learning and mastery of the target language.

Data-Driven Performance Improvement

Are we really meeting learner needs in the classroom? If we think we are fully fostering student learning in our classes, we can be surprised by what students can say about that. That we are not trying to attain the correct deployment of LMS use is not being stated here, but that we need to try to redirect our teaching to meet learner needs is by far a fact of teaching and language mastery goals.

Data-driven teaching can be the way to cater for learner needs and language mastery goals. Can student performance be really improved with this new approach for playing this chess game-like new way of planning? Why not!?! If we teach what data coming from the LMS states, we are bound to discover that learning materializes in different ways. Since “Data Driven Instruction and Inquiry (DDI) is a precise and systematic approach to improving student learning” (New York State Education Department, n.d.), the usage of the inquiry cycle of data-driven instruction that “includes assessment, analysis, and action and is a key framework for school-wide support of all student success.” And as data-driven instruction is conceived, assessment is already covered by our students when working on the LMS, but analysis is what may be missing in the correct “play to attain a check mate;” that is, when we analyze the data, the proactivity in action we are to embark ourselves in our teaching and planning is linked to the problem areas students must improve to master the piece of language they are studying with us.

Taken from the Engage New York New York State Education Department’s web page at https://www.engageny.org/sites/default/files/ddi-arrow-chart-small.png

The Need for More Training

“Teachers who are trained in using [the LMSs] and evaluating students’ performance data can make a real difference to their students’ learning” (Baber, 2013). But the fact of life is that we are not there yet, and we must work towards teaching our instructors how to use the DDI teaching model. And this has to be done through closer supervision. We cannot pretend that our language trainers will learn to do this overnight, especially when we think that the trainers are the first ones that must be trained to coach their supervisees.

The first step towards the use of data from the LMS to teach is to help educators understand and analyze reports. All teachers must have their eyes open to see how to make their next “chess-playing movement;” once instructors can identify the red flags, they have to analyze time spent on tasks to spot troublesome areas, the grades students are getting, the number of attempts registered in the platform, the frequency of sign-ins to platform, and so on. But more than identifying the red flags, they must read between the lines to see what is actually happening with pupils and their language learning.

Concluding Remarks

For those of us newbies with LMSs, data-drive instruction, the DDI teaching model, and so on, we must all agree that:

1) It’s important to get trained to profit from all data coming from a platform and convey more significant learning to and for our pupils in the classroom;

2) It’s sensible to expand our understanding of all these new elements that are becoming “the next big thing” as Eric Baber, former IATFL President called all this back in 2013. The more we get familiarized with the data functionalities in the LMS, the better for our teaching and for our pupils’ learning; and

3) It’s our responsibility to have us deepen ourselves into data-driven instruction to find more meaningful ways to teach our students, so they can really profit from any time they invest in their language learning.

Let’s turn our teaching more DDI-ish to really provide language learners in our classes with more accurate instruction and more memorable learning moments for our students. By doing all this, and many other “chess plays” or tricks we can learn along the way, we can become better players aiming at winning the game and materializing student language learning.

References

Baber, E. (2013, May-June). Data-Driven Teaching: The Next Big Thing? (IATEFL, Ed.) Voices(232), p. 3.

New York State Education Department. (n.d.). Data Driven Instruction. Retrieved from Data Driven Instruction and Inquiry: https://www.engageny.org/data-driven-instruction

Sunday, May 06, 2018

Code of Ethics in Education: Why to Have one?

Code of Ethics, Culture Framework, Ethics 2 comments

Cloud Forest in the highlands of Malaysia - Photo by Dr. Md. Munir Hayet Khan

Code of Ethics in Education:

Why to Have one?

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed.

School of English

Faculty of Social Sciences

Universidad Latina de Costa Rica

Monday, April 30, 2018

Post 316

What does a code of ethics look like? If you have never come to ask this question yourself before, you are bound to find something very similar to the undergrowth that can be located in a cloud forest. Not knowing if you behave like me, I must confess that I delight my eye in seeing photographs intending to see what the one who froze this particular moment and scene in time wanted to capture. My friend Munir is that kind of person who always makes me wonder about his photography experiences and has me see other things in his pictures. I see the undergrowth in this picture of his, the undergrowth that can be present in one’s mind when we try to see how we are supposed to behave in our positions at work as faculty members or in any administrative position that can also be held. This position I am talking about should be governed by a code of ethics grounded in the culture framework a company has devised to be current in the market.

So, going back to our starting point, the code of ethics and the undergrowth in the cloud forest, what does the institution one works for look like in one of its best days? You may often think about this, or you can simply overlook mulling over your ethical position at work. However, when you are faced with the thought of this ethical undergrowth, it looks like the chaotic beauty Munir was able to spot in this Malay cloud forest, a random array of branches covered with moss, lichens growing on the humid soil, rotten leaves covering other patches of the same soil, roots populating the surface of the forest, foggy drizzling winds, and much more. The fact is, at least for me, that many of us do not really give much thought to this thing about ethics as if this were something beyond one’s understanding or concern. It looks like we educators (or any kind of a company’s employee) do not come to think about what makes us proud to work in learning or to work for an education institution. And we seldom consider why others might trust us or want to enroll in the places we have a job at. A corporate code of ethics is not meant to resemble the cloud forest in Malaysia, but a guide that helps us monitor and measure what we do ethically to serve others.

With this desire of serving others ethically, for the Laureate Ethics Center (2018), the “spirit” of a company is found in the organization’s code of ethics. It is among the lines of this document that we workers find the driving principle that governs our labor and that encourage teaching and administrative personnel to attain institutional goals. In the Laureate’s Code of Ethics, the Laureate Ethics Center (2018) emphasizes that these guiding principles encased in a code help us “do good” (in everything we have been commissioned to do) and “be good” (in all sort of corporate affairs that can be obstructed by my personal priorities and beliefs). The chaotic and entropic arrangement of the undergrowth in the Munir’s scene captured in the Malay cloud forest is no loger a feeling of confusion towards a company’s code of ethics; it simply becomes an alluring picture depicting the beauty in Malaysia, and the code of ethics is the moral arrangement of corporate affairs and movements in the market where it operates by guiding teachers and administrative personnel to “do good” and to “be good.”

What do “be good” and “do good” mean for the employer and the employee? To begin with, these two phrases encompass the reason why a code of ethics is needed and explained to all of us despite the business we work for. These two phrases impact the opportunities for growth one has as part of an educational organization and within the company. In the teaching world, this may mean the potential one has to become someone else within the organization, usually with a higher rank and more ethical responsibilities. These phrases also mark us with the accountability for the consequences of our actions within an institution. Why? This happens because a well-explained code of ethics “helps us define risks and how to deal with them” (Laureate Ethics Center, 2018). The code then prevents us from any wrongdoing or amoral behavior in our positions.

Is the code of ethics a practical guide to ensure one’s way of behaving at work, as an instructor or as an administrative employee? Sure! The code is a list of compliance responsibilities with the institution’s clients (being in this case students or members of the other institution’s departments), with the organization itself, and with the law. The code for any personnel is “an open, public declaration of who we are” (Laureate Ethics Center, 2018); it indicates that we are in search for the highest standards in education, that we act in accordance with integrity, and that we represent an education company being accountable for our private and public actions.

To sum up, a code of ethics in education is not a puzzling undergrowth of moral values, but a set of responsibilities we all have with our ethical beings. And what does this all entail? It all results in …

1) Acting in accordance to honesty,

2) Fair and respectful treatment to peers, co-workers, and customers,

3) Consistence of actions consonantly with the law,

4) Readiness for the scrutiny of one’s actions through Internet-based media or any other means,

5) Harmless actions to help company’s attainment of goals,

6) The thinking of others regarding one’s decisions, and

7) Firmness of one’s acting bearing in mind one’s personal and institutional values.

This is then by far a good account of what a code of ethics is and what it entails. As explained by the Laureate Ethics Center (2018), it also helps us focus our minds on what is ethically correct regarding our way of acting at work, whether that is in a classroom, in a hall, in the staff’s lounge, or elsewhere.

References

Laureate Ethics Center. (2018). Our Culture: The Laureate Movement. Retrieved May 29, 2018, from Laureate Ethics Center: https://laureate-console.lrn.com

Monday, April 30, 2018

Culture Framework: How Needed is it at Work?

Culture Framework, Ethics 0 comments

Tea Plantations in the highlands of Malaysia. Photo by Dr. Md. Munir Hayet Khan

Culture Framework:

How Needed is it at Work?

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed.

School of English

Faculty of Social Sciences

Universidad Latina de Costa Rica

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Post 315

Some time ago, a friend of mine from Malaysia, Munir, shared a beautiful picture of the arrays of tea bushes in a plantation with me. And by paying attention to its planting patterns, despite the differences in the terrain, I often wonder how Mother Nature provides us with such a beautiful landscape captured by Munir’s eye. And when I relate this to my current working situation and why things get to happen, these arrays can help us visualize what needs to be comprehended in detail to better function within an institution such as the private university I work for, or any other place where I may get to work in the near or far future.

I’ve been working for this private university at my home country for almost 20 years, and being there has given me the chance to experience the understanding of the search and need for a culture framework at work. And having been asked to participate in an online asynchronous training on what a culture framework is has also made me reconsider what I believe as an educator in a higher education institution and as an instructional designer at the binational center where I hold a position, too. A culture framework at any institution where one works helps us all to be aligned with what the institution envisions for its future and helps us all understand what our role in the organization is, like the purpose and meaning of the planting patterns in Munir’s photograph. Things in connection to a company’s culture framework are not random decisions or movements; a tea plantation is not done in a haphazard way.

So, what does a culture framework at work do for us employees within an organization? The Laureate Culture Framework training I participated in emphasizes that “the framework answers fundamental questions and ensures that everyone at Laureate is aligned with our movement and working together to achieve our long-term objectives” (Laureate Ethics Center, 2018). If all employees at an institution endorse the company’s culture framework, we are bound to comprehend and embody the goals that the institution attempts to attain. Employees have a clearer set of accomplishments to be achieved as an organization and not just as isolated departments rivaling one another when there is lack of understanding of corporate policies, if any. The organization’s “planting patterns” become a way towards the achievement of goals because they can be traced and tracked by all personnel. The array of planting patterns become clear in the workers’ mindset making them (or all of us) fully operational within an institution.

Based on the Laureate Ethics Center (2018), their Culture Framework pillars find their foundation in the Founder’s Mission, Purpose, Long-Range Plans, and Operating Principles. And having to come to think about these pillars in connection to the places where I have worked in my professional life as an educator, I wonder how clear these core ideas (planting patterns) are for all employees at those organizations I have been part of. A company is born because its founder(s) had (and continue(s) to have) a mission. Companies are not created just because; there is a reason for them to exist. This reasoning for its creation is then linked to the organization’s purpose that needs to be adapted to continue being current in the market and satisfy the need the founder(s) spotted in the market. And for this purpose, long-range plans are set to be achieved within a 12-month period or so. And in other to make these plans come true, the institution must have a set of operating principles that help employees understand how things must be done for the accomplishment of goals. And if we continue to admire Munir’s photograph, we then get to see why the tea plantation, despite the irregularities in the terrain, still looks well-organized.

For the sake of an education institution’s well-being, the existence of a Culture Framework must be present. Based on this, the answer to the question, “is it necessary to have a culture framework?” is a resounding YES! As highlighted by the Laureate Ethics Center (2018), they help workers answer “fundamental questions” regarding their role in the organization and what goals are in the company’s future that depend on the joint effort of all departments to be attained. Moreover, the interaction of the four pillars proposed by Laureate help everyone in an institution to get aligned with the its “movement” (their way of being, doing things, and planning). No random planting patterns will be around confusing workers who will probably see only an amorphous set of goals they hardly understand.

References

Laureate Ethics Center. (2018). Our Culture: The Laureate Movement. Retrieved May 17, 2018, from Laureate Ethics Center: https://laureate-console.lrn.com

Saturday, April 28, 2018

Teaching Presence vs. Teacher Presence in Online Teaching

Distance Education, Online Teaching Practices, Reflective Teaching, VLE, VLEs 0 comments

The Creation of Adam, Salt Cathedral, Zipaquirá, Colombia. Photo by Jonathan Acuña

Teaching Presence vs. Teacher Presence in Online Teaching

By Prof. Jonathan Acuña-Solano, M. Ed.

School of English

Faculty of Social Sciences

Universidad Latina de Costa Rica

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Post 314

“Teachers of online courses still need to maintain an environment conducive to learning and provide instruction that meets the needs of students from a wide range of backgrounds and levels of experience” (Pawan, Wiechart, Warren, & Park, 2016). But how is this “environment” leading to learning maintained in an online setting and also, how can one cater for all these “backgrounds and levels of experience” that are brought by all course participants to the a virtual learning environment (VLE)? No doubt, part of the answer to all this questioning can be found through one’s teaching and teacher presence when delivering a course.

Learning in a virtual environment or in a brick-and-mortar classroom, as it has always happened, continues to be acquired in social contexts where a teaching figure is present along with at least a learner, and this teaching character is meant to be present to signal the learner path to acquire knowledge. This teaching professional is present by means of an instructor’s teaching presence and by his/her teacher presence as well. Though a learner may be detached from society –somehow-, knowledge is created for social consumption; information is about and/or linked to human beings making their learning socially-bound and then consumed (by humans) and consequently taught by this teaching figure. All this leads to understand that teachers are needed for the imperative of social interactions “conducive to learning” that “provide instruction” regardless of the kind of expertise held by learners. And in an online environment, though an instructor is not synchronously available for students at all times, the transference of knowledge happens because an instructional design of tasks (readings, reflections, videos, slideshows, and so on) has been executed to help learners assimilate information in a VLE bearing in mind the importance of learning in social contexts designed by the instructor or instructional designer.

Teaching in an online context can be circumscribed to two educational constructs that can help us differentiate teachers’ roles in virtual learning environments: the former is teaching presence, and the latter is teacher presence. So let’s explore what these two constructs really mean in terms of their individual connotations and how they cannot be considered synonyms when dealing with online education.

What can be understood by teaching presence?

Based on Pawan, Wiechart, Warren, & Park (2016), teaching presence includes what Rodgers & Raider-Roth (2006) labed as a) connection to self, b) connection to students, and c) connection to subject matter and pedagogical knowledge. To have a better comprehension of what it is really meant by each of these presence elements, let’s review the following chart where each of these constructs is briefly explained.

Rodgers & Raider-Roth’s (2006) Teaching Construct	Pawan, Wiechart, Warren, & Park’s (2016) labels	Prof. Jonathan Acuña’s insight into the these constructs
Connection to Self	Authentic Self-Projection	Teaching as a projection of instructors themselves as both individual human beings detached from their career and as professionals within a given area of expertise they hold due to their jobs, which is part of their credentials for being course instructors
Connection to Students	Psychological Connection	Learning taking place as part of one’s relationship to others (learners) along with one’s ability to assume the viewpoint of these others (students) and see how the learning process takes place to provide guidance or assistance for knowledge construction in the minds of trainees
Pedagogical Knowledge	The Feedback Loop	Teachers’ understanding of the process of knowing the subject matter due to their expertise used to gain insight into students’ thinking and assimilation of new content to help them monitor and potentiate their own autonomous learning, develop skills to deal with course content and job responsibilities, and consolidate competences to be used in their daily professional (or even personal) life
**Teaching Presence, Designed by Prof. Jonathan Acuña based on Pawan, Wiechart, Warren, & Park (2016)**

On the other hand, after having reviewed the chart, teacher presence does not necessarily account for any of the above aspects but instruction alone. And as it has been seen, teaching presence is vital for an online virtual setting, as well for F2F classroom interactions, but teacher presence cannot be equated with teaching presence, and it cannot account for any deeper reflection on the content being studied. It is one’s teaching presence that helps us move learners into deeper reflective stages of assimilation and usage of content; our presence as teachers in terms of instructors is not going to help them move into deeper considerations of what they are learning and their ulterior application in their jobs.

Moving into Deeper Reflection

Do we want our learners to just be in an exploration mode while dealing with content in a VLE? Without proper teaching presence, students in an online environment do not necessarily feel motivated to go deeper into the exploration of the subject-matter being stated. Based on Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2001, also quoted by Pawan, Wiechart, Warren, & Park, 2016), “often students will be more comfortable remaining in a continuous exploration mode; therefore, teaching presence is essential in moving the process to more advanced stages of critical thinking and cognitive development.” If an instructor is just there exercising his/her teacher presence (instruction), it does not necessarily mean that learners will go deeper into topics, theories, and ideas after being introduced to them by an instructor; they need to be pushed by other means to take the quantum leap into the “real” integration and resolution associated with the subject-matter covered in class (or in a course). To conclude, teacher presence is not enough to activitate learners’ cognitive interaction with new content to do into deeper critical and proactive thinking of new content.

Teaching Presence	Practical Inquiry Model Stage Description
Triggering	Instructor’s design of activity introduces a new topic / concept / idea to be considered by participants for later application in course tasks. This usually comes with a supply of bibliography to be read, analyzed, and understood by course learners.
Explanation	Participants cognitively interact with content in a series of tasks such as forum discussions and debates where the sharing of ideas and collaboration to build their knowledge are implied. Learners are meant to participate in discussions seeing the pros and cons of using these new data.
Integration	Through the collaborative process, participants incorporate the new concepts along with ideas shared by peers in innovative ways to make meaningful use of new knowledge. The generation of new ideas can trigger new, positive, and proactive used of new information in their areas of expertise.
Resolution	Participants are asked to get proactive in the use of their new knowledge by incorporating it into their daily working life. As part of their deeper critical and cognitive reflections with content, learners see the potential uses of new data in their current working processes to improve them.
**Teaching Presence, Designed by Prof. Jonathan Acuña based on Pawan, Wiechart, Warren, & Park (2016)**

As conceived by Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2001, also quoted by Pawan, Wiechart, Warren, & Park, 2016), a way to deal with this surface exploration of topics is by means of their Practical Inquiry Model (PIM). PIM components, as shown in the table above, are a necessity in online education where, for instance, the instructional design includes parcipation in forums to move participants to deeper critical, and cognitive reflections on what is being studied. A mere teacher presence, which –as stated above- accounts only for instruction, does not push learners into a real reflection on course content to integrate it into their way of working and to proactively use it to (re)solve problems they can face at work or just to simply improve the existant processes.

Some Concluding Remarks

“The concept of presence in teaching has not often been taught in teacher education programs (Liston, 1995), largely because it is difficult to define and concretely demonstrate” (Pawan, Wiechart, Warren, & Park, 2016). Though elusive as it seems to be, teaching and teacher presence are constructs that must be clearly defined to help virtual instructors to better deal with students in online learning settings. What Rodgers & Raider-Roth (2006) defined as teaching presence, which includes connection to self, connection to students, and connection to subject matter and pedagogical knowledge, is an imperative in the search for more deeper and critical participation of students in online education. Its ulterior assocation with Garrsion, Anderson, & Archer’s (2001) PIM is an excellent element that can be used to spice up any instructional design model that can be used to create learning tasks for students in virtual learning environments. Finally, making room to find the difference between teaching and teacher presence is another must in the pedagogical implications of one’s presences in online education. Instruction, or teacher presence, is not enough to trigger student critical and cognitive reflections on the subject-matter but how those reflections can be used for proactive uses of content in their areas of expertise at work.

References

Garrsion, D., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2001). Critical Thinking, Cognitive Presence, and Computre Referencing in Distance Education. American Journal of Distance Education 15(1), 7-25.

Pawan, F., Wiechart, K., Warren, A., & Park, J. (2016). Pedagogy & Practice for Online English Language Teacher Education. Alexandria, VA: TESOL Press.

Rodgers, C., & Raider-Roth, M. (2006). Presence in Teaching. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 265-287.

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Teaching Presence vs. Teacher Presence in Online Teaching

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