The Need for Blended Learning

The Coronavirus crisis has forced schools to shut down and to use online learning, and in doing so has forced into the forefront the need to utilize the internet as a major educational tool in formal education.  This development is very similar to the introduction of machinery a few centuries ago which caused many people to smash machines in protests. In adult education the use of online learning opens up the possibilities for  "self-study" which in many cases is necessary in order to learn a subject well in the shortest amount of time.  But unfortunately in adult education many people still are somewhat against the use of computers and the internet. One person told me that my program cost teachers their jobs because many students decided to drop out of the live classes in order to study my program and others online. It did not occur to this person that the smart thing to do was to incorporate various websites into his program.  And that is what should happen. Right now teachers should provide to their students a list of all the possible websites, Facebook and WhatsApp groups, etc. Sooner or later adult students will find websites that help them learn X, Y or Z whether the teachers recommend them or not. Blended learning models including Drop-In Centers will most likely become the norm sooner or later. It would be helpful if it were sooner.

Comments

All, 

I understand the power of technology -even in the best of times. Yet, we can not move so far toward interent and web based resources that we leave students with limited technology acess behind. I am familiar with many programs who are going "old school" with developing and distributing homework packets and setting up phone calls for tutoring. 

Certainly, this time is pushing innovation - but let's also think about how 'old school methods' may still fill a need. 

Kathy Tracey

Hi Kathy - I'm copying a post I made in another thread regarding "old school"

We were asked if we could go "old school" and make the Census issue of News For You and the related Teacher's Guide available in a printable PDF for those instructors/students who do not have access to a computer/phone and/or broadband. We have just finished the PDF files. If you follow this link, on the right side of the page you'll see "Free Resources to Print" and the links for the files that can be downloaded and printed out. 

If you and your students do have online access we are offering News For You online FREE. News For You is a weekly publication for adult learners that uses current event articles and human interest stories to engage learners’ interest while building skills in reading, comprehension, and vocabulary. Use the courtesy password 22667F through April 30, 2020, to access News for You Online at https://www.newreaderspress.com/news-for-you-onlineNews for You Online includes a Tips for Teachers section where instructors can find the video How to Use News for You Online and other helpful resources. There are several articles related to COVID-19 with more being added in the coming weeks.

What works about old school that works with Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education is that orality is the most crucial tool for communication, that interconnectedness among students and with teacher are necessary, and that scaffolding is needed when students are exposed to new language and content. How can we reach students for whom these criteria are essential to their language acquisition on a phone??? I know I'm not the only teacher with SLIFE who do not have access to computers, do not have literacy skills, never mind digital literacy skills, and can't text in real time while trying to process the content of a classroom task.  I'm combining old and new schools by creating original PowerPoints with student photos and sending them slide by slide on WhatsApp as content, while I follow with a looseleaf binder of the print copy. I'm making funny videos with my husband as model to tell photostories. But these are so limited with students unable to speak or listen.  In both multilevel classes some students are bored and some students are left behind. My school has provided no support since closing doors last Friday and I feel so isolated and frustrated. Even spending so many hours creating 6 two-hour lessons, I'm overwhelmed. These most vulnerable students are dealing with even worse circumstances regarding their jobs, food scarcity, isolation. I wish I could deliver packets of materials to students but in Connecticut we're supposed to stay home. I wish I knew the resources to send to students who only have phones and can't download or print.  I tried for instance, an online workbook by Cambridge but students can't use it on phones. I can't even use it on my phone. I appreciate all the resources that have been listed on this website in the last few days, but I am unable to figure out how to use phones with adult SLIFE who left my classroom seconds after we'd downloaded WhatsApp.

 

MY PROGRAM I teach English as a Foreign Language (EFL) to Spanish speaking adults between the ages of 25 and 60. Most are women who have children and often work at low-paying jobs.  Usually they do not attend classes at adult education centers for a variety of reasons. My course is very informal – or “non-formal” - with no tests or grades. The materials used are textbooks I have written and my two websites: pumarosa.com and inglesconprofepablo.com.  In 2013 I created several Facebook groups where I often post video and text lessons. The groups focus on pronuncation, readings, songs from YouTube with lyrics and a group for teachers who teach kids.  There are now WhatsApp groups for beginning, intermediate and advanced students. One group is local and two consist of students from the US and from Latin America, including English teachers and professionals. I started using WhatsApp about 5 years ago and still have five students from then.  I call my method of instruction ‘bilingual and phonetic, step by step”, with a focus on pronunciation as the basis of learning  English. The students study a variety of ways. They can watch videos that I have made or which are on YouTube for free, and they can also listen to audios I post on WhatsApp.  They also are able to access written lessons in my texts which are on inglesconprofepablo.com. They also can use Pumarosa which is an interactive website, with voice, that provides many lessons. WhatsApp is interactive and often studens will chat with each other and they can ask also questions on which I then answer by sending an appropriate video or text either from my own lessons or from a site on Google. Approximately 150 students participate in the WhatsApp groups and 5000 in the Facebook groups. Pumarosa gets 1000 visits per day. During the week there is a wide range of participation, from a quiet day of a few posts to a wide ranging discussion or lesson that can last all day. I do not evaluate the students’ progress but I can gauge their improvement over time in their writing and audio recordings – and also by their feedback and self-evaluation. My viewpoint is that using the internet, WhatsApp and Facebook is an important way to provide English language instruction to everyone who needs it, and especially to those who for one reason or another cannot attend classes. And those who attend classes can benefit even more if the teacher includes these tools as part of the class. Information: Email = paulwaynerogers@gmail.com Telephone or WhatsApp = 805-258-3310, USA code = 1 Websites- gratis: pumarosa.com Inglesconprofepablo.com Facebook groups: 1. ENGLISH FOR KIDS https://www.facebook.com/groups/611672245534627/ 2. PUMAROSA https://www.facebook.com/groups/611672245534627/ 3. PRONUNCIACIÓN https://www.facebook.com/groups/1435280100038703/ 4. LECTURAS https://www.facebook.com/groups/1435280100038703/ 5. SONGS https://www.facebook.com/groups/392217600909300/

Hi Paul,

I appreciate your sharing your extensive program and resources. However, I think my situation is a little different than what you imagine. Since the classes I teach are rooted in culturally responsive teaching for adult immigrants and refugees who are Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education, I suspect that they are differently situated than the vast groups with which you correspond. My students are not literate in their L1. They are used to oral communication. It has taken several weeks in class to develop relationships and be able to share knowledge, not just from the teacher, but from every adult who brings their knowledge, experience, as well as expectations and priorities, with them. We have established a cooperative method for learning out of respect for their cultures and American cultures. We do not learn by phonetics. We learn by listening to each other and painstakingly acquiring information from each other and sharing it with the class orally. We walk together and take photos. We make maps and draw family pictures. We figure out how to take the bus to a free health clinic. We figure out how to pay the rent when someone leaves you to pay the rent. I find it difficult to translate this type of teaching platform overnight into one with the sole tool of a smartphone. I don't know if my students are eating this week because all the restaurants are closed where they washed dishes and waited tables. But I can't ask them on WhatsApp and expect written responses. They do not have this ability. But we would talk about that in class.  I want to continue the class in a fashion that resembles the trajectory we have begun. So I appreciate your sharing your teaching tools but I am still at a loss as to how I might work in my situation. Gratefully, Nan

 

Hi Paul,

I appreciate your sharing your extensive program and resources. However, I think my situation is a little different than what you imagine. Since the classes I teach are rooted in culturally responsive teaching for adult immigrants and refugees who are Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education, I suspect that they are differently situated than the vast groups with which you correspond. My students are not literate in their L1. They are used to oral communication. It has taken several weeks in class to develop relationships and be able to share knowledge, not just from the teacher, but from every adult who brings their knowledge, experience, as well as expectations and priorities, with them. We have established a cooperative method for learning out of respect for their cultures and American cultures. We do not learn by phonetics. We learn by listening to each other and painstakingly acquiring information from each other and sharing it with the class orally. We walk together and take photos. We make maps and draw family pictures. We figure out how to take the bus to a free health clinic. We figure out how to pay the rent when someone leaves you to pay the rent. I find it difficult to translate this type of teaching platform overnight into one with the sole tool of a smartphone. I don't know if my students are eating this week because all the restaurants are closed where they washed dishes and waited tables. But I can't ask them on WhatsApp and expect written responses. They do not have this ability. But we would talk about that in class.  I want to continue the class in a fashion that resembles the trajectory we have begun. So I appreciate your sharing your teaching tools but I am still at a loss as to how I might work in my situation. Gratefully, Nan

 

Howdy,

First, just so you can have some faith in what I'm about to share, here's a little about me.  I have been teaching online for more than 15 years at all levels, beginning literacy ESL all the way through graduate adult learning classes and in all modalities: asynchronous only (where you never meet "live" with students), live by text (like on Facebook or Twitter), live by web conference, and mixed. I'm also certified by Texas A&M University as a Professional Online Instructor.  As far as ESL, I started teaching English to adults in 1987, have a master's in Applied Linguistics, and a doctorate in Foreign Language Education: Applied Linguistics.  

Now, as to your post...

You are starting in the right place by thinking about what your students have.

Most have mobile phones or have access to a mobile phone, so let's start there.  I have taught an entire lesson for ESL just on WhatsApp (from an airplane, by the way).  How does that work?  WhatsApp lets you use audio as well as text, and you can attach files of all kinds.   So, could you create an interactive lesson plan for beginners on WhatsApp using a mix of text, audio, and images?  I know you can!  It may be a little unpolished the first time, but the more you do it, the easier it will be.

For web conferencing, Zoom is an option that is both user friendly and mobile friendly.   I usually leave the cameras off to save bandwidth, but it's nice to see each other once in a while. What can you teach on Zoom?  Just about anything you can teach in class, especially if you invest in a USB document camera.  (I got a pretty good one from Amazon for $99.)   Zoom also has breakout rooms, which is great for pair or group work. This is one major advantage between the free versions of WebEx and Zoom.  The disadvantage is that the free version of Zoom usually has a 45-minute limit and the free WebEx does not.  The limit is being waived right now for educators. 

For beginning literacy ESL, you can show something, or show yourself, in a web conference to support their emerging listening skills just like you do in a face-to-face class.  I usually leave WhatsApp open on my desktop (yes, there is a desktop version) because my students are so used to using it.  That way, they have the choice of using the chat in Zoom or in WhatsApp for writing responses. Plus, it gives me a Plan B for communicating with students if something happens in the virtual room (like the computer freezing or a lag in the signal).

Again, Zoom is very mobile friendly.  I even had one attend poolside on vacation!  But the teacher should use a computer and, if at all possible, a wired, stable connection.  You can teach on WiFi, but it is less stable.  I actually had my service provider come in and add an ethernet jack just for teaching from my office when I bought my house five years ago.

Again, teaching in this new way may be bumpy the first few times, but you and the students will get better at it.  

Once you have mastered the basics (getting the room open, getting students in the room, different ways of communicating, camera settings, audio settings, sharing screens, annotating, and any other logistical challenges), you can start adding other tools like Padlet, Google Docs, MindMeister, PollEverywhere, WebQuests, etc. to have a higher degree of engagement.  Combining it with materials in a learning management system like Schoology or Google Classroom can also help the students be more connected (with projects and discussion boards). 

Because of COVID-19, my face-to-face classes (I coordinate around 20 of them for the county) have consolidated into 3 levels morning and evening. That actually helps with the multilevel issue.  All classes are multilevel, but at least the online levels are narrower (Beginning Literacy, low beginning; high beginning, low intermediate; high intermediate and advanced).  I have my teachers co-teaching right now so that they can support each other on the technology piece and in the planning - because planning for teaching online means you can't do your old lesson plans in the same way.  In the beginning, it takes more time to plan. 

You can also teach by conference call if the students have their own books and materials ahead of time.  This does not work as well with beginning literacy in my experience, but if it's the only option you have, speak very slowly and clearly and repeat often.  If all of your students speak the same language (which frequently happens here in Texas), having someone who can support their students in their first language will help at the lowest levels.  You can also support the phone call with texting or WhatsApp.  If beginners can literally see what you are saying, it will help them hear what you are saying.

If you have any questions or want to think through some of the issues, feel free to contact me.  

Glenda

Oh, thank goodness. This is what I was praying for, if I had been praying. Yes, I've been using WhatsApp to send  text,  little videos I made, and to share follow-up materials and conduct some back and forth based on our previous activities, using familiar language and content. But I don't know how to get any audio across and sometimes a student sends an audio message but only I can hear it.No one hears my audio messages. So I guess I need to address the setting the room with audio first---and visual. If I can switch between texting and being on camera that would be ideal. But with your post, I'm on my way after days of struggle. Also, my students do have books that we incorporate into a curriculum that we co-create and that's based on learning experiences, their funds of knowledge, the subjects they want to learn, etc  But I  used the QR code exercises from them just to get some listening activity in the mix (which my students had just learned how to use). I'd just learned how to use a smartboard last month after 15 years of teaching with paper...So we're taking steps into new ways of learning together. I'm very grateful for your post and will continue to ask you questions.

 

Thanks everyone writing here. As an experiential learner with students very much like those Nan describes, I would SO love to participate in a WhatsApp lesson or two so I could imagine how it’s done. I can’t picture it. Would it be possible for some of us to experience something like what’s been described here - using audio, video, (and texting for those who are literate) - with literacy and beginner refugee adults with limited or no formal education?

 

 

I can invite you to join my classes. But I will briefly describe what I do.  Tonight, the lesson was Daily Living. I made 10 videos of 10-60 seconds long. The videos show an action and some include the subject speaking and others are silent.  I created a PowerPoint with text and photo side by side and instructions at the top.   I ask students what they do at home.   They answer: listen to music, take a shower, eat dinner....    My videos include normal things  and they're authentic, so students relate to them: My home, my garbage, my mailbox....  So on the first slide:   Watch the video.  Listen and Repeat.     On one side is the text:   She is washing the dishes.  To the right, a snapshot of me washing the dishes.    I send a photo of this slide on WhatsApp.  Then I send the video.     So they have a photo, text, a video with audio.   No pressure to write.  Just watch and repeat.  When they're ready, speak into the mic and send it. This is consistent with schema theory. We don't want to overload students with language, content and form at the same time. Familiar language and content first, new literacy forms later. (We're already using technology, an unfamiliar layer.)

Students send a voice memo of "She is washing the dishes."  I text a comment:  Great work, Isabella!   I make corrections. I send a voice correction and/or text.

After the scaffolding of video and text and speaking (I also interject my own voice memos to emphasize the correct speech.  In the video, I say:  I am washing the dishes.   I am washing the dishes.  In real time, I say it again.)  The next step, after several of these and say, one hour of student/teacher interaction, there is a question for students to answer in text or voice, with the same picture.  We slowly move to sentence frames and to changing pronouns,  to open-ended sentences that ask students to think about their experience: Do you wash the dishes?  rather than a textbook answer.

The students are getting great pronunciation practice.  Also, they are used to my classroom where they bring their own funds of knowledge and start talking about something related from their own lives and then I respond to that.  Because we already have established relationships, they are more responsive than they otherwise would have been.

I also send a photo of myself and photos of the class or individuals. I make the videos using myself, my husband, students---people the students know and are comfortable with. I am modeling all of this off of the wonderful Canadian women who did the photo books, Eye on Literacy and Grassroots Press.    I'm doing the same thing with different media. The collection of videos today includes chores, working, and leisure activities because we do all those things at home. In the commercial text those are separated for no good reason.

(Last semester, students took 4 selfies and sent them to me. I printed them on a page, and they wrote text.  Their own photo stories on a page. What I do in the morning. My Thanksgiving. How to Make Nepalese Soup.  Then we put those together and copy for other classes to read.)

I actually follow along with my printout in a looseleaf binder.  I send the videos from my iPhoto library and I'm watching student responses on my laptop.

That's basically it.  We also go to the prescribed textbook that I personally loathe but am under contract to use and practice listening and writing exercises. But now, when they're looking at ridiculous cartoons and black and white drawings they barely understand, they are familiar with the words and content.  All of this is from Helaine Marshall's great work Meeting the Needs of SLIFE, Making the Transition to Classroom Success and Breaking New Ground.  Out of her teaching me the Mutually Adaptive Learning Paradigm(c) I developed a paper-based "scroll" curriculum that I have now modified as of March 12 in this format. 

You can see that this is Culturally Responsive Teaching, I hope.  At the end of a unit, I ask students to choose the next topic. I have them give input first before we open the textbook. If the chapter is on OurTown, we go out walking taking photos.  Now, the first lesson after March 12, I posted all the photos the students took of themselves and the buildings around our school and I asked questions that are immediately relevant to them, that are designed to develop our classroom connections, that use their oral traditions .... all part of the MALP(c) theory and practice, which reaches SLIFE better than anything I know.

Please forgive my rambling as I prepare for the morning class.

I would love to continue the conversation.

Nan, Thank you for describing how you have so quickly put into practice using WhatsApp to work with English learners who have had limited formal schooling. You are building on their oral foundation as well as the many "funds of knowledge" they bring to your classroom. You have been able to utilize video and still photos as well as simple sentences to support everyone's learning. Bravo! What an inspiration!

Cheers, Susan Finn Miller

Moderator, English Language Acquisition CoP

Here's something I just learned from this morning's class. Students who were at work peeped into the "classroom" and then texted me that they were watching the videos at home after work. FLIPPED LEARNING! I thank my students for teaching me every day with their creativity, problem-solving skills and determination to learn in adverse circumstances! Today's series of videos were based on things to do at home: cleaning activities, but also reading a book, listening to music, working at a computer. All the things we find ourselves doing at home now. After my videos and our speaking and listening practices, there was texting. Finally, I asked students to send photos of their homework and photos of what they were doing at home.  Tomorrow, their photos will be form the foundation of the lesson, just as their input would have formed the foundation of tomorrow's lesson had we been in a F2F classroom today.  Instead of using a smartboard flipchart or an old school scroll of paper the students dictated to, now I have their photos. I will put their photos in a  PowerPoint that someday they will have in a looseleaf binder since their 'textbook" is something we create every day normally except I was using Word before.  So now, OUR BOOK is a PPT.  Maybe someone can tell me how to embed my videos in the PPT.  So far, I paste the video but it looks like a photo, which is fine for the paper copy.

So, the idea of student-created texts which I have called OUR BOOK and each day I deliver pages of student language in keyboarded Word format, along with extensions of their language to teach more vocabulary and other parts of language, whole language, that is.... now that format is altered and the students are contributing every bit as much to the process and content as I am, which is the way it was and always should be.

Just to return to the idea: my students are watching WhatsApp classroom videos after class and answering the questions and sending answers at any time that's convenient. We have come a long way with our classroom in a week! Thanks for all the migrants who inspire me every day.

Nan, Thank you again for sharing all your successes with us here. Being teacher-centered is likely to be the default for many of us, especially when we are all venturing forth with our own learning challenges. You are showing us how we can still make our instruction learner-centered in powerful ways.

By the way, it is easy to insert videos into PowerPoint go to the Insert tab, and you'll see Video as one of the options. Let us know how it goes!

Cheers, Susan 

Just wanted you to know that in the last 48 hours I figured out WhatsApp on my own, the audio, the video, etc., and my classes are rocking today! We needed the orality, and by using personal video and voice memos, we are now doing that, so that all that texting is gone. Whew! It's very exciting now to be using this basic tool. We have delays because of connectivity issues, but that gives students processing time and the teacher can listen to several voice responses while students are on to watching the next video. I didn't think it would be possible. I don't know why there isn't more about this, given the lack of computers, digital literacy and other tools in the SLIFE community.

 

I knew you could do it, but you have rocked this challenge! Thank you so much for sharing these lessons. I am sure they will help a lot of people get creative about reaching students and keeping them learning while the physical schools are closed. And, just maybe, we can keep it going after we get to the new normal. Glenda

This discussion is important now more than ever. While there is nothing quite like in person instruction it's important that we do what we can to help reach as many learners as possible to help them accomplish their goals!

At ProLiteracy, we have compiled a list of resources that programs and instructors can use to help learners continue learning from a distance during a time of health crisis and uncertainty.

You can find the resources at the link below, along with a downloadable .pdf
https://www.proliteracy.org/health

Are there any other tools or resources that you would recommend?

 

I agree!  The time is now for blended learning to become the rule, not the exception. Utilizing all the tools available to us to promote and further learning is just smart.  Teaching, learning shouldn't stop because we don't have access to a classroom, as this current health crisis shows.  Blended learning offers flexibility and opens up possibilities that classroom learning can't match.  It's time to utilize this important aspect of adult learning more broadly.