Education Podcast: Interview and Blended Learning

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(Grace) My name is Grace Nedza. I'm a freshman at Butler University and I'm in the class ED
245. Today we're gonna be discussing technology and education. The first part is gonna be an
interview, talking mostly about how COVID-19 has changed the usage of technology and
education and how it's become different for students and teachers.And the next part is going to
be about the educational topic of blended learning. But first, I have a special guest here who will
go ahead and introduce herself and then we'll get into talking about educational technology.

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(Nermeen) So I'm Nermeen Mouftah. I'm an assistant professor of religion at Butler. This is my
third year at Butler, and I teach courses in religion.

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(Grace) How has technology changed the learning process and environment for teachers and
students?

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(Nermeen) I've been doing all of my classes online since this all happened, and I've done it
personally. I've done it for health reasons because I had a lung infection just the fall before it
happened. And for me, it's generally been a really positive experience. A lot of my friends are
also professors, so just kind of generally like on Facebook, you know, reading the pieces that
people recommend, in terms of thinking seriously about good pedagogy in this time. So in terms
of technology I've used, it hasn’t been very technologically sophisticated. So I did in one
asynchronous course that I taught last semester.I did do many lectures, many Panopto lectures
every week, but this semester, I'm not doing any of that. As you know, I have kind of these
hybrid courses that have synchronous class time together. But just to kind of give students a bit
of a break from being in zoom all day, all the time. We just meet once a week so that, but in lieu
of that first class meeting, that Tuesday class meeting, I've opted to do asynchronous work. And
opted for students to have a chance to learn more from each other than they might in face to
face class opportunity. It's low gadget: it's zoom, it's making sure that I have a lot of visual
material to complement the content that I want to convey. And I would say kind of pedagogically
what I'm thinking in relationship with this technical aspect is I found that the pivot to online has
helped me really simplify the message of each of my classes. And by classes, I mean, class
time like seventy-five minutes. I think there's something about knowing that we're all running on
less gas. Where I'm just like, here is the point. You know, like this is the thing I want you to get
from today. Yeah. And so, you know, I hope it's still complex and I hope it's still challenging, but
I also hope that people feel like they have something to hold on to.

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(Grace) Awesome, thank you for that. So going off that, what do you think the best outcome has
been from like education, moving towards a more technological approach?

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(Nermeen) I think my colleagues and I have had to think about teaching in a really intentional
way for the last 12 months in ways that we wouldn't have, you know, had we not been forced to.
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(Grace) But that, too, like from my perspective, is like I feel like professors are definitely more
flexible and like willing to give you extra, like, zoom hours or anything like that. So I definitely
think that's like one of the best parts. So on the flip side, what do you think the worst thing has
been from depending on so much technology?

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(Nermeen) It's hard to know where people are at, like, it's really hard to read a room when
you're over zoom. At the bottom of it, It's like our physical disconnection is palpable. It's real,
like, it's really hard for me to know are we all just thinking right now or are we on Amazon, you
know!

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(Grace) I definitely agree with that. OK. And then the last question is kind of pretty general, but
like, how do you go about,like, trying to incorporate and, like, integrate technology?

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(Nermeen) For variety, so, In term of new things, I've gone for variety, so I know that it just, you
know, as a professor with very little technical training and computer stuff, netwar stuff, software
stuff, you know, with somebody who has like a super basic camera, I can't rival I can't produce
the same kind of exciting material that I know is available to us on YouTube. Right. So for me, I
see it like I'm a curator. I actually don't think that professors, for the most part, should be too
creative in our content creation. I mean, OK, we should be creative in our content creation. We
should be humble about what we can produce. Right. Because I am not a visual designer and
all that, but there are excellent visual designers. So I'm trying to curate. I'm trying to find the
stuff: So YouTube, I'm always looking at canopy, I'm always trying to find online content
creators. Sometimes specific to education, but sometimes more broadly that could be used in
education. It's about finding the good stuff rather than thinking I can create all the good stuff.

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(Grace) Thank you to professor for that awesome interview, and it was super interesting to hear
about your specific experiences at Butler and just dealing with Covid and how the new reliance
on technology has impacted your teaching style and the way you go about teaching your
students. It's great to hear that you had such a great and positive experience because it has
been a lot of change. And I think there has been some major things that everyone had to do to
overcome it. And one big drawback that you did mention that I definitely feel is prevalent is the
lack of connection among students.

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It's definitely harder to get to know each other just because we aren't there together. 

(Drums faded in the background)

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Next, we're going to be discussing the topic of blended learning. So, blended learning is the
rising strategy that mixes traditional classroom meetings with online asynchronous interactions.
I was first exposed to blended learning my junior year of high school and I got to experience it
for the next two years of high school in some of my classes. And I had a really great experience
with blended learning and know many of my peers who also had a great experience. I think it's
just something different that students don't see every day, so some variety that definitely makes
the school day seem more interesting and gets along faster.
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So in the article "Five Benefits of Blended Learning" by Sherry Walker, she points out the
biggest advantages in her opinion. So on her list, the five biggest benefits she mentions is the
flexibility, the effectiveness, teacher empowerment, engagement and differentiation. I totally
agree with everything she mentions, and I can kind of relate to each point. She picks out on a
personal level. So flexibility, I definitely think is present because you have the ability to kind of
do assignments on different days and just kind of move around your schedule. Teachers also
have flexibility in how they're going to give, like, what days they're gonna give assignments. And
also, I think it's just like, nice, because as a student, it can fit your needs. You can kind of switch
up your own schedule and do what you need to do that day. And then the next two points, I feel
like I can lump together. It's effectiveness and engagement and I feel like they go hand-in-hand.
I think blended learning definitely made me pay attention more and follow the class because I
had my own sense of responsibility that I may not have if it was just a normal go to the
classroom every kind of day class. I feel like it's also more effective because people who need
more help can definitely get that from the teachers and definitely can work more on a one on
one. And the kids who don't need that extra help yet can kind of go off and test their own
knowledge by doing things on their own. Also, I think it's just more of a personalized plan for
each student, which is definitely a great thing.

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So for me, it was like allow me to take away some stress because I could do those things by
myself and didn't have to worry about like anyone else besides me because I was alone doing
the work. And then the last point Sherry brings up is differentiation. And I think that's huge
because there is a variety, and especially in high school, you're going for eight hours a day
doing the same thing every day. So having a class that may say, oh, you have blended today,
like go and do work by yourself, I think it definitely is something that high schoolers look forward
to. And like I did when I was in high school, I feel like it definitely just gives you a little break and
kind of lets you have more freedom in your learning and your learning process.

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So in my opinion, I think schools should definitely try out this blended learning and try out this
approach, because it does. It does work. It doesn't work for everyone. But I think in my opinion
at my school, it and I think a lot of kids would also agree. I've always heard mostly positive
things about blended learning, so I definitely think it's worth giving a chance. And if it doesn't
work, you can always go back in. I think it's just a different thing that teachers and students can
try and give it a shot. Thanks for tuning in and listening to my thoughts on the educational topic
of blended learning.