April 23, 2010. In person-interview with Sean Conley at SIT Graduate Institute.
[Sean Conley recently became the Associate Dean of the Marlboro College Graduate School. Formerly he served as the chair of the department of English language studies at The New School University in New York City. He has designed computer labs for language teaching, integrated technology threads into language curricula and presented and consulted internationally on the integration of technology in language learning. His current interests are in the application of open source solutions to the educational problems presented by the digital divide, such as creating no-cost computer labs…]
Ning has just started to charge. About $10 per user.
In one class he’s had each S create his/her own blog.
Googlesites: simple and limited; good for K-12. Can set permissions.
He teaches an interactive course, not a prepackaged program, with assigned videos and modules that Ss react to.
Teacher-fronted classrooms are based on packaged video and assessment. Maybe activities. Students absorb. Then test.
Versus individualized, asynchronous. Ss control content. Their learning happens in the forums. He posts and students respond from around the globe.
They’re real discussions where they bring their world to bear. Not unlike SIT, but digital.
He may be studying a linguistics point, like the challenges of the past perfect. Students can post pix of their classrooms, answers…
Communication is the FOCUS
He uses a wiki as a homepage to the students’ googlesites.
He also has set up Moodle (open source) as a multimedia community, with assignments, fora, links, etc.
Global Classrooms is a browser based version of it. Set up account and try it for 30 day. It creates a moodle site on their server. NOTE TO SELF: email him with my site name and ask him to get his friend to extend my free period.
Facebook is another option. Create a group. Ss can post video, comments, etc. Use the tools they’re already using.
“I’m convinced that blended learning is the superior design and it has to do with — “ [oops]. Blended learning = part online, part classroom.
He tried an experiment where everyone was in the same room on computers and having an anonymous chat. Students felt freed to say stuff they otherwise might not. “Students who were quiet in the classroom were much more forthcoming in text.”
The ability in blended design to move back and forth is powerful.
The other piece of the success of blended design is the quality of the conversation. Responses are more thoughtful, slower.
He did a thing with googlemaps where Ss downloaded a street view of where they live, and gave other students a tour.
Blended environment is enormously time consuming for the teacher. You have to be checking and commenting all the time. “How much students participate relates to how much the teacher is involved.” You have to be there for the beginning and middle of the conversation, not just the end. You have to be “sprinkling your presence” with comments, questions, links.
Who is best suited to teaching in this world?
“Scott [Thornbury] is brilliant at it because he’s always online — updating twitter and his blog.”
About SIT’s type of learning online, “I thought, ‘You can’t do that online.’” But you can start from where they are and you can find out where they are by asking them.
You can ask them to describe and connect an experience with a reading or another person’s experience.
HE WILL BE AVAILABLE before class (5:30) on May 14. E-mail him for an appointment then.