Reflective Blog #7: Process vs. Content vs. Face to Face v. Independence vs. Control vs. EVERYTHING

For this blog we were to read a chapter of Supporting Learning with Technology and reflect on whether it would benefit our project. 

To update briefly on my project, it has changed format after my initial proposal to Dr. Soper. The original parameters of the project, Dr. Soper pointed out, run like a full-blown reacting to the past. Such a format would exceed the parameters of HIST 2302 ad put an undue burden on the students. Thus, we have modified the project to still incorporate posts on ELC and a video to maintain the flipped format. Dr. Soper is also interested in using some of the documents I have assembled. Thus, students will enter the breakout with a considerable amount of knowledge ahead of time making discussion that much richer.

That being said, the project as it is does not lend itself to very much student autonomy. I still feel that my students will get much more material with this format, but the learning and tasks will be content heavy. Additionally, the students will have to interact with technology in a different way and change up the format of their breakout. In that regard I am very excited about this project.

I would like to give the students more autonomy in this project, but as the course is Dr. Soper's and not my own I will take a back seat. Someday, in a Nazism class I could envision doing the original project and having the students take on the role of a German citizen. In this way they would have to keep up with the information I provide and do research on their own. I would have slight control over how the project goes, but students would shape their own project according to their desire/interest. I envision also canceling a class session or two to set up personal meetings in my office so the students have face to face time to discuss their project with me. I think that in this way I can provide a great deal of content, while not hindering the process that students need in order to learn.

In a way I think the process will be more important to me than the content. In studying something as controversial as Nazism I want students to search through the complexities on their own, with occasional guidance and information from me. I think a student that comes across something on their own and forms their own interpretation of that item will internalize the information much better than something I tell them. In this way students can do their own research (with a content foundation I provide) that will hopefully stick with them long after my class. 

Those are my thoughts for now. Over the break I am going to work on my Cool Tools demos and prep all of the materials for the Flipped Breakout to show Dr. Soper the following week...who said Spring Break was about a break?

Until next time!

Derrick