 Thank you for our next project. Are there any questions? I wasn't paying attention. What are we doing? Wait, what do we do when we're done? I'm still confused. I was gone yesterday. Do we do anything? I turned in that paper. Why are you saying I didn't? Did you lose it? My name is Janine Campel, and I teach visual arts at Byron Center Public Schools in Michigan. This presentation is on how you can remix your teaching through blended online learning. You can find more information on my website about this topic, as well as other educational tools, at www.janinecampel.weebly.com. When I came up with this concept for my presentation, I thought about how much my teaching has changed as a result of blended learning. And before we can really get into how to use blended learning, it is important to give an overview of what exactly blended learning is. Blended learning occurs when a teacher combines traditional and digital methods of instruction to reach students. In many cases, you are probably already doing this. Whether you are connected through Facebook, blogs, websites, or use YouTube, Google Docs, or really any online tool, you are using an online media to help deliver content, which is what blended learning is all about. In the type of blended learning environment I'm going to talk about, it takes those tools a step further by organizing them and engaging students in a learning management system. Blended learning is not a replacement of the teacher. It's an enhancement for the teacher so that you can reach all students. I still do modeling for my students. I do demonstrations of how to do projects, work with materials, as well as introduction of artists. Blending learning offers you that flexibility to go back and forth from traditional modes of teaching where the teacher is in charge and having it be a more student-centered experience where students take the lead. Before I did this for my own classroom, I did not understand why I would ever want to do something like this. I was afraid, skeptical, and really did not want to do something more than what I felt I was already doing. I was afraid because I did not want to lose what is at the heart of my curriculum, which is getting your hands dirty, working with a variety of materials. I was skeptical that I would not be able to show students how to do this without adding a bunch of different responsibilities on to myself. I also felt like I already was doing a good job and I didn't really see a reason to change. It wasn't until I started doing blended learning in my classroom that I realized that it was not a replacement of me or extra work for me. It was a way for me to get to kids while they became more engaged and responsible for their own learning. It was a way for me to differentiate instruction to really reach all of my students. I use Twitter and Facebook all the time to connect with other teachers and deepen my understanding on various aspects of education and technology. This use of social media to learn has changed the way I interact and view online tools. I understand that it's not just a place to post pictures of your latest lunch, but a place where ideas are exchanged and learning can happen. And the more I use online tools to enhance my own understanding, the more I realize how important it is to create learning environments for students that draws on the experience of learning through digital media. The most organized way to do this is through a learning management system. There are plenty to choose from as you begin to work towards creating a blended classroom. Edmodo is a tool that many use because it allows you to draw from what others are already doing, as well as add your own content to it. Schoology is another system whose interface mimics Facebook. I use Moodle. I use Moodle because it is what my school supports and what students also use in their other classes. In Moodle, I create classes for students to enroll in using their school user names and passwords. In my class pages, there are two components that are my focus. One, what I want to give students. And two, what students want to give to me. I create blocks of information that include examples of student work, PowerPoints, video tutorials, web links, worksheets, rubrics, and other information that I want to give to students. I then create activities and involve actions from the student that they need to complete. It mostly involves students uploading images of their artwork and writing accompanying learning statements. Because everything is tied to the student accounts, I can easily go through my classes and see who has turned in their work and who hasn't. I can download projects individually or as an entire class. And then when it comes time for me to upload the work online to our online gallery, I can do it with ease and even include the statement the student wrote about their work because everything is sorted alphabetically. In this process, the students are accountable for taking the pictures and uploading the work. And I no longer have a situation of no-name papers or lost work. Parents also get to see their child's work almost immediately after it is complete. The time saved as a result of this workflow is something that has made me a true believer in using a blended online system in my classroom. Once you have decided that blended learning is something you want to try, you have to sit down and figure out how you want your course to be. Like any good curriculum map, you need to design with the end in mind and realize that you do not need to start from scratch. You probably have a lot of resources stored in folders on your computer or web links in your browser that are perfect fits for your new blended online course. In any course online or not, you should always answer the question, what do I want students to learn? Then organize the information to reflect that answer. Analyze the results from tasks and projects to drive instructions toward the core of what you want students to learn. And then ask students and parents for feedback along the way to reflect on what you are doing and if it's being effective. So when I think about what I want students to learn, there really are three components. One, art, two, technology, and three, life skills. My first priority as an art teacher is to teach art. I want students to learn design concepts, how to manipulate media for desired effects, as well as how artists throughout history have used images to communicate ideas and experiences. I also want students to learn about technology, but not just use technology for technology's sake. I want to give them skills to take focused images of their work, be able to upload them online, and I want them to be able to type statements about their work, using it as evidence when writing about their own learning. I also want to focus through art and technology on essential life skills that students can use within my classroom and beyond. I want them to be critical thinkers that analyze the world in which they live and understand why design is important in their lives. I want to teach them about digital citizenship and how to interact with others in appropriate ways online. If you look at this clip of me working with students, you can see that I'm able to work individually with students while those who are ready move ahead and others who need more time continue to work. London Learning offers that flexibility for learning to occur without me always being in the lead. Instead, students get to be in the lead of their own learning. In order for this to be a successful experience, you need to organize your information in ways that work for you, but make the most sense to your students. When I design mine, I look through the progression of skills as I relate to the standards I need to cover throughout the course of time I see students. Once I was mapped out, which happened to already be done before I started using blended learning, I then organized that information students needed to get for me. Any videos, PowerPoints, worksheets, handouts, articles, or websites can go on my Moodle page for students to access once I've made the information visible. I can open or close the eyes to make it available for students as we go through the course. And then it allows me to plan ahead and have things ready well before I need them and well before students need them. I can also move units around to better suit the needs of the class. After deciding what I need students to have access, I then decide what type of information I need to get from students. I can get files, text, quiz answers, and many other things from students through Moodle. This helps me with grading work, uploading it to our gallery. And as I have said before, I no longer deal with no-name papers or lugging work around. Everything is organized online and time-stamped to see who has done what and when. The next thing while setting up your blended learning experience is analyzing the results so that you can adapt the instruction to meet the needs of your students. You can do this through pre and post testing, which happens to be something our state requires and ties to evaluations. In my district, they want us to create an objective testing tool, so this is how I first used Moodle. I was able to create a test using multiple choice, true and false, and matching that focused on testing the curriculum in a way that was both valid and helped me see if students understood content. I am able to use images from the artists we study and the materials we use in class to see what students know and what they have learned. After inputting the questions and organizing the quiz, I can see the results immediately after students take the test without having to go through and grade it manually. These results are from the pre-test, which was given at the start of the semester before instruction had taken place in the course. Because I gave this pre-test, and I can see what students got right and what they got wrong, I can then use this information to drive my instruction for the semester and then use the test again to show growth in student achievement as they completed the course. The final component to how I use blended learning is asking for feedback. I use Google Forms to create surveys for parents and students throughout the year and take those results to reflect on what I am teaching. In the student surveys, the focus is on what students want to learn and what they feel comfortable with and what they are not comfortable with learning. When I use that data, I can see where students are and they're thinking about art. I use parent surveys to see how they utilize the tools available through Artsonia, our blog, and other initiatives. If this is something that you want to do, then you have to have access to the following resources. The most obvious is computers and the internet. However, I have had a lot of students use their iPods or tablets or even phones to access our Moodle page and post online. You also need to make sure that you follow your district's acceptable use policy. One reason I use Moodle is because it is run through our district. It is something that other teachers use. And sometimes using one platform can make it easier for kids to stay organized. Training and administrative support is also an important part of developing a blended learning experience. I've had some formal training in this, but a lot of resources are available online and I essentially used a blended method for learning how to implement this in my classroom. Finally, it is all about being willing to learn. If you have made it this far into the video, you obviously have that. Just like anything else new, you have to give yourself some slack as you learn and realize that there will be moments where technology does not work and you have to decide to be the person who does not freak out about it. That frame of mind is one that I always keep handy as I work with technology in any capacity because there is always the chance it won't work. So you have to be flexible in the process. By moving towards this method of teaching, I have found that I am more productive. The expectations I have for student learning and learning outcomes are more clear. And the students have become more active in being accountable for their learning, which has allowed me to be more mobile in the classroom to differentiate instruction and reach all students. Here are a few thoughts from my students about it. Yeah, Moodle, it's really cool because you get to do so much new stuff. Like typing is so much easier instead of writing it down. I really like Moodle because I can use it at home. I think Moodle is better because it's easier to use and it's faster to see. And you can keep your artwork instead of having to go to a teacher and not getting a bet. It's faster for the teacher to grade. Remember, you are probably already doing this in some way. If you use a tutorial or a video or a website or a blog to help your instruction, then you are blending learning. The way to kick it up a notch is remixing your teaching through a learning management system like Moodle. If you decide to go in this direction, realize that it cannot all get done overnight. And even when you get it all done, there are still ways to improve how the information is organized for both you and your students. Learning, whether it happens in a traditional method or one with more technology involved, should always be reflective and evolving to best fit the needs of students. And as it is with most things in life, there are people out there to help you. Whether you Google it or connect with a teacher on Twitter or find someone in your building who is wanting to try this too, there are teachers out there that we can learn from and are willing to help you get started or troubleshoot through issues that arise along the way. If you have questions about this presentation or other ways to use technology in the classroom, please feel free to check out my blog or follow me on Twitter or email me. I'm happy to share my experience with you and help you get started on your path to creating a blended online learning system.