Barriers and eLearning

I told my economics students that we were going to play an online stock market game which used real-time market quotes and they'd be competing against my other economics classes.  I told them that we would spend limited time in class on the game, but they could access the game online at home.

They were interested.

I told them that they could check their portfolios anytime during class on their phones.  "But Mr. Wilson, school rules forbid us to carry our phones."  Me - "You can have them during this class with my approval."

They were committed.

My classroom wouldn't be considered a blended learning environment by any stretch of the definition, but the students' affinity for technology use raises the odds for interest and participation. At a minimum, it engages most of the students, and many of those who are considered at-risk.  It gives the "quiet" student a chance to quietly achieve.  It removes one barrier to learning - initial engagement.  The challenge then becomes maintaining that interest. A self-paced program could help with students who disengage because the classroom pace is too slow. They would rather master the content and move on.  An asynchronous learning environment might help these students as well as those who would prefer to more deeply study topics which interest them.  eLearning facilitates those students nicely.

Another barrier I have seen broken with eLearning tools is one of access to materials.  Most of my students have accessed a website I use to post classroom materials.  These are often materials that have been used or distributed in class, so students are most often looking for additional review or retrieval of lost materials.  

I had three homebound students who would have benefited greatly from an online learning environment, but it wasn't available to them.  The homebound instructors typically delivered content and proctored tests. This would be another excellent opportunity to offer an online learning component.

I've also found that the notion of "the students know a lot more than the teachers" regarding technology is also misleading.  Certain students, certain teachers - sure.  But it's not consistently the case at my school.  Online learning often teaches students to use technology more effectively by necessity.  Students must use the technology to master the content.  Randy Pausch (The Last Lecture) called this the "head fake".  I'm currently exploring game-based learning.  Please share any experiences you've had with games.

Our school currently limits online access for students to computer labs, except for those of us who use smartphones in classroom projects.  We are slowly moving to a BYOD model, but don't currently have the infrastructure to handle additional access.  A few teachers have used grants to purchase an additional computer or two for the classroom, enabling some station-based blended learning, but it is currently limited to the classroom level.  These are barriers to blending our classrooms.  Other barriers include students' computer ownership, students' home access to the internet, and teacher knowledge. 

One thing I've learned since becoming a teacher - school isn't for everyone.  By this, I mean that the brick-and-mortar model works well for many, but it shouldn't be a barrier to achieving one's goals.  If we are truly going to offer differentiation, then we must recognize that eLearning has much to offer.   It may be a slow road to pave at my school, but I believe we're missing an effective way to engage students of we hold off much longer.