Valerie Irvine – Personal Response
Valerie presented to the EDUC 431 class on the benefits of having and using multiple access modes for student learning. As a student I can appreciate that having voice and choice in terms of how course content will be presented and taught can be beneficial. However, as an educator having so many different ways to interact with students and their learning could be overwhelming if not approached correctly.
I appreciate how Valerie presented a number of different methods and approaches for teaching and learning. Gone (or perhaps I should say, going) are the days of a teacher simply standing at the front of a room with the students coming to them, education is shifting and so too are the ways in which information is shared. Flexibility is now the expectation in order to meet our students and their needs where they are at. Valerie made the point that not all face-to-face learning is rich and this is very valid. If as an educator I am simply reading from a textbook and spouting facts, then the students in the room would be just as well served by a computer with a web browser or their phones. That is not teaching and that is not engagement and while there is a need for stand and deliver content lessons, they cannot be the only thing educators are sharing with their students.
As a student I have accessed different teaching methods, taking courses face-to-face, distance, online, and blended; for me face-to-face works best, I am able to bounce ideas off of my peers and take part is discussions that I do not find flow the same using another method. However, I know I am only one learner and one type of learner and what works for me might not work for someone else and it is the same for the students that we teach. Having a one size fits all style of teaching or assessing does a disservice to the variety of learners presented in the classroom.
So why is this important? Well in a world where nearly 20% of students and learners have some form of anxiety, as educators, we need to be prepared to meet our students where they are in their learning journey, regardless of if it fits with our idea of what a ‘classroom’ and ‘learning’ should look like.