This year has brought a lot of distributed learning into my life, which isn’t something I expected to happen before the times of COVID-19. When I first found out that my PDP would be happening online I was really upset. I felt that when learning in an online setting I wouldn’t be engaged in the content, I would miss out on forming personal connections, and I would lack the hands on teaching experiences I looked forward to most. Despite my initial complaints I was really amazed to see that I enjoy the online learning environment. As an educator I think it is important that I am learning this way now because it challenges my perceptions of classrooms and education in general, while also adding more tools to my teacher tool box.

 

Photo by Bermix Studio on Unsplash

I think online learning has the danger to be less valuable than in person learning, however, there are so many things that educators can do to ensure it is not. Some of the things my instructors have included so far that have made my learning experience valuable have been:

  • Blended asynchronous and synchronous learning – this encourages self discipline and personal inquiry while still allowing students to connect with teachers and students
  • Learning Pods – Specific groups set to work through content outside of class time and an excellent way for students to build meaningful connections with classmates.
  • Group work – Connecting students

There are many aspects of distributed learning and learning online. The BC Educators for Distributed Leaning is a great place to learn and explore distributed learning in BC. I believe that as educators we can use distributed learning not only in times of a pandemic, but also to make education more accessible to all kinds of learners.

 

Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash