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It has taken me quite a long time to finally get this latest blog post together, and to muster enough courage to publish it live. For the sake of my own mental health I needed to get this one out. I also need to preface, before everyone gets upset about the title, that I do NOT support mandatory eLearning. I believe this is quite possibly the most ill-informed decision for education, by any Ontario government, ever. I despise the decisions, actions, and extreme cuts made by Doug Ford and Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce. The decision to mandate any number of eLearning credits in order to earn the Ontario Secondary School Diploma is simply a wolf wrapped in sheep's clothing. The PR man attempts to sell this to us as a progressive, innovative embrace of technology that will equip students with the skills needed in the twenty-first century workplace. The reality is that it is simply a double edged cost slashing sword (eLearning class size averages of 35 and fewer teachers, along with the privatization of education).
It’s quite challenging to stay positive and motivated, and happy, and feeling appreciated, when my livelihood is bashed on a daily basis. eLearning is currently stoking the fight in education. Parents, students, educators, the media, unions, and opposition parties are all sharing their thoughts that eLearning is a substandard form of learning. Just do a quick Twitter search with the hashtags #Onted, #eLearning, #OSSTF and you will quickly see the vitriol being thrown around towards eLearning in general. Any post, any article, any study that shines a negative light on eLearning in any way, is shared and re-shared. I have walked the picket line for four days, but have had to bite my tongue and keep my head down. I hear the comments about eLearning and I see the signs. One picket sign on the line I walked on said “Meet your new Art teacher,” beside the image of a laptop computer - clearly a dig at the perceived effectiveness of eLearning. Even though there likely wasn’t any attempt to offend me, or any other eLearning teacher, it is hard to not feel disheartened - I’m human. I continually feel as though I am being indirectly told that how I teach, and the work that I do, just isn’t as good as the “real” classroom teachers. The sign made me think about the two Art teachers at my eLearning school (The Virtual Learning Centre - TLDSB), and how amazing they are at what they do. I thought about how they both have full timetables of Media Arts and Music (vocal and instrumental) because they make kids excited to take those courses online, and keep them coming back for more. I think about all the ways they engage their learners in their live synchronous classes multiple times a week. I think about how hard they work to make the learning and experiences of their students as good, as effective, and as meaningful as any students sitting in a brick and mortar classroom. I think about how our Music teacher has been invited to share his best practices with other educators at various conferences and with other school boards in the province. I think about how our Media Arts teacher has been selected as a subject matter expert over and over, and how she has written oodles of curriculum for the province. I’m glad they were walking on a different picket line that day. Even though it is disheartening and tough to take, I get it. Your personal impression regarding the effectiveness of eLearning is formed based on your own experiences with eLearning, or from what someone else tells you, or writes about. The problem is that most eLearning really isn’t that great. There I said it, and yes, I believe it to be true. This is the eLearning that produces awful learning experiences. This is the eLearning that has very poor retention rates and very high drop-out rates. This is the eLearning with limited opportunity for synchronous engagement and collaboration. This is the eLearning with limited student-to-student and student-to-teacher interaction. This is the eLearning where a large number of adolescent learners fall through the cracks. This is the eLearning model that I tend to refer to as not much more than an online correspondence course. This is what many models of eLearning look like in the province, I believe:
This typical model of eLearning does indeed create a wealth of challenges. It creates a learning environment that is not motivating and there really should be no surprise that it produces high dropout rates, poor retention, and poor student success rates. This isn’t because there isn’t a highly qualified teacher in place, but rather because a number of conditions, and processes, and pedagogical fundamentals are simply missing. This isn’t the model of eLearning that I know, the model of eLearning that I love, that I wake up everyday excited to be a part of. Well, most days, anyway. :) Teaching is very challenging, and messy, and tumultuous, and there will always be tough days. I have taught online since 2001, and have been a 100% full time eLearning teacher since 2003 - that’s 17 years of perfecting the most successful eLearning program in the province, and likely the country. Our model of eLearning, one that has been massively successful, looks like this:
This model of eLearning is successful because it emulates the learning experience in a typical brick and mortar classroom. The eLearning model that most people are currently hating on, clearly does not. I do not want to regurgitate a previous blog post, but you can learn more about our very successful eLearning model here: https://www.busedu.org/blog/for-those-of-you-that-think-elearning-is-not-engaging-and-supportive-that-is-not-my-experience Some insight into the success of my learners for the recently completed semester 1:
Every single teacher at my school will have similar numbers and experiences to share - every single one! The typical reasons why students are not successful in our program are exactly the same reasons why a student typically isn’t successful in a brick and mortar setting - poor attendance, not completing work, lack of motivation, etc. It isn’t because they are not actively engaged, are not collaborating, are not working on rich and authentic learning tasks, are not interacting with each other, or are not experiencing learning in the same way that brick and mortar students are. The problem here and now is that the Ford Government will not replicate this model of eLearning. It is too expensive and it won't save them any money. It takes the same number of qualified and experienced teachers, and the same level of learner supports, as a regular brick and mortar, face-to-face classroom, in order to work, and work well. Mr. Ford and Mr. Lecce are not interested in this model. They would prefer to pump students through correspondence courses with as minimal teacher interaction and learner supports as possible. They want a cheap eLearning model that creates economies of scale - increases class size, reduces teachers, and saves them money. This is an attempt to simply grant credits as efficiently as possible, and has nothing to do with improving learning. I hate this feeling that I need to write this blog post in an attempt to defend what I do for a living. I also hate the feeling that if I do not get on the eLearning bashfest that I am going to be viewed as pro Ford and anti-union. I hate walking this fine line between just keeping my mouth shut, ignoring the eLearning hate, and making the effort to really prop successful eLearning up. It’s definitely very challenging to do when so many eLearning models are mediocre at best, and this is all that the general public knows. At the end of the day, I can keep my head high and be proud knowing that I have been a part of helping thousands of students earn their OSSD in TLDSB. I am proud to be a part of something truly amazing that has been built by the most talented and hardest working educators I know. I appreciate the dedication and the day-to-day grind of each and every one of them. I am proud to be a part of delivering an eLearning model that doesn’t suck.
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For those of you that think eLearning is not engaging and supportive, that is not my experience.3/17/2019 As the Ontario March Break comes to an end, I should be refreshed and rejuvenated. I should be ready to get back to my students with excitement as the final two-thirds of the semester approaches and the final push of learning in the year is planned for. I am not. Instead, I am stressed, I am anxious, I am tired, I am terribly worried. Our Government’s well timed announcements this week regarding the future of education in this province have my head swirling. I can’t turn it off. In addition, some of the social media discussions and comments by the public are making my blood boil. You see, I am an eLearning secondary school teacher. My small school board (Trillium Lakelands District School Board) has a fully operational online secondary school. It is called the Virtual Learning Centre. I have taught for this school since 2001, and have worked tirelessly to help make it one of the most admired eLearning programs in the province, the country, and quite frankly, the world. It is admired so much, that we not only serve students locally, but also from across the province. Our school grows year over year, and our full time staff gets larger and larger. I do not believe eLearning should be mandated, and no student should be forced to learn this way. I do not agree with a provincial centralization of eLearning delivery, and I do not support 4 eLearning credits as a mandatory requirement in earning an Ontario Secondary School Diploma. I also do not agree with the public perception of eLearning in general - that eLearning teachers are simply markers, that “eLearning teachers are the laziest teachers,” that eLearning is disengaging and unsupportive. This might be your experience or perception, but it is most definitely not mine. I want to share my eLearning and teaching perspective, so here goes... My school delivers live, synchronous classes. I teach live, just like any other teacher Monday through Friday. My live classes are timetabled, just like in a brick and mortar school. My students meet me in a safe and secure online classroom at a specific time, for a full 75 minute class period at a time. My lessons are carefully and strategically planned. I activate and ready my students for learning through engaging and interactive Minds-On activities and discussions, I plan small group collaborations and sharing opportunities, I build in tasks that allow students to drive their learning through inquiry, I provide opportunity for consolidating and reflecting on learning, and I do so while continually using ICT applications to facilitate all of this in real time. For those of you that think eLearning is not engaging and supportive, that is not my experience. Every live class is recorded. Any student who has a time conflict still has full access to every live class recording. Even students who attend all classes, can go back and review them at any time they need to - 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Every single word I say, every lesson activity, every classroom discussion, every answer to every question, is recorded. I am under a microscope, I am accountable for everything I say and do. Any parent or guardian can hear every word I say, and can experience any learning activity from any of my live classes. They can also see how their son or daughter behaves in class, how they treat others, and if they are actively participating in their learning, or not. Any administrator in my school board can also do the same. For those of you that think eLearning is not engaging and supportive, that is not my experience. My live classes incorporate real and authentic experiences. As a Business Studies Teacher, it is very easy for me to incorporate real business practices, processes, and current events into daily learning. I frequently have community business leaders attend my classes as guest speakers. My neighbour, University roommate, and lifelong friend, Dap Thach, has been a regular guest speaker in my grade 11 Accounting class. What better way for students to learn about the day-to-day workplace responsibilities of a CPA, then directly from the mouth of a professional Accountant. My students research to learn about what a CPA does, develop lists of common misconceptions, and generate truly rich and engaging questions for Dap, prior to his visit. They interact with him in real time, and ask additional questions as they arise. They also extend their learning by hearing about what life was like for Canadian newcomers, and what it really means to work hard to get ahead in life. My students also have live class time to reflect and consolidate this learning in meaningful ways. For those of you that think eLearning is not engaging and supportive, that is not my experience. In addition to all my timetabled live classes, I hold regular live office hours. All of my students have access to me in real time to ask questions, to get formative feedback on learning tasks they are working on, to review key concepts, and sometimes just to share something exciting that they are proud of. In addition, all students and parents have direct email access to me at anytime. I respond to hundreds of emails in any given school week. I typically respond to emails received during the regular school day, in the same school day - in between teaching live classes all day, holding office hours, assessing and evaluating student work, and preparing engaging live class lesson plans. By the way, these emails do not stop when the regular school day ends. I currently have 8 emails in my inbox that have accumulated over the March Break. I am responding to those today, Sunday, because I do not want to get behind on Monday. For those of you that think eLearning is not engaging and supportive, that is not my experience. A quick snapshot of the kind of learning that happens at our school (Video created by S. Mckenzie - VLC Math Teacher): My school has a full student council that meet every week. The council members are elected by their peers just like in any other school. We have special interest, extracurricular clubs, just like any other school - music club, healthy living club, coding club, etc. Our students run a school newspaper and publish several amazing editions each year. For several years I ran a real, live streaming radio station with a motivated group of students https://www.muskokaregion.com/news-story/3571476-virtual-learning-students-produce-online-radio/ Our students are well-rounded, motivated, actively engaged, and committed. They take action for their own learning, and help drive the success of our school. For those of you that think eLearning is not engaging and supportive, that is not my experience. While teaching for The Virtual Learning Centre, I have received several Character Education Awards, I have been invited to share eLearning best practices and expertise with faculties of education, the Ministry of Education, various professional development events, and countless teaching and learning conferences, including as far away as New Orleans, Louisiana. Every other teacher at my school, can share similar personal accolades. We have the hardest working and most dedicated teaching staff who are all committed to the same goal - making sure our eLearning students have the same, or even more, supports and opportunities for success, as any other secondary school student. For those of you that think eLearning is not engaging and supportive, that is not my experience. Our students do not drop out because they are disengaged. In semester one I had 110 students, and zero failures. That’s a 100% success rate. I can’t remember how many students I started with in September, but I do know my retention rate was extremely high - very few students who started, and didn’t finish. Research suggests that eLearning attrition rates can be improved and retention rates increased by implementing four practices: (a) increasing student motivation and satisfaction, (b) reducing technical roadblocks,(c) creating substantial opportunity for learner interaction, and (d) ensuring e-learning instructors are capable in terms of e-learning competencies and that they possess e-learning expertise. All of our educators have worked tirelessly to implement all of these practices. This was the content of my final literature review paper, as the final requirement for my Masters of Education degree. For those of you that think eLearning is not engaging and supportive, that is not my experience. By the way, you can read that full review below: My school has provided learning opportunities for some students who may have never received them without eLearning. I often have various students in some of my senior level Business Studies courses that come to me from the brick and mortar high schools in my district. I quite often have those students in grade 11 Accounting, grade 12 Business Management, and grade 12 International Business because their homeschools do not, and likely cannot offer these courses (small enrollment, staffing limitations, etc.). Without our school, and without these eLearning alternatives, those students may have never had the opportunity to explore this learning. How many students don’t further their education in Business at College or University because they did not have these learning opportunities? I regularly get emails from former students who share updates regarding their Business learning experiences at College and University, and aspects of their working lives after graduation. Some have even returned as guest speakers at times. I have taught many students who just cannot attend a regular brick and mortar classroom. I have a picture of a student, sent to me by her Mother, attending one of my live classes via her laptop at Sick Kids hospital in Toronto. I have countless stories of elite student athletes travelling and competing all over the world. I have had students attend my live classes at all hours of the day and night from China, Kazakhstan, Germany, Italy, and many other countries because these Ontario families are currently oversees for work. For those of you that think eLearning is not engaging and supportive, that is not my experience. Due to the geographic location of my school board, we always have the potential for severe winters (especially on the Muskoka side of the board). Typically, my school board experiences anywhere between 5 and 10 snow days each winter. These are days when all school busses are cancelled. Brick and mortar high schools are open, but classes are cancelled. Most secondary students stay home. My classes do not stop - they keep on rolling. I continue to teach, and my students continue to learn - there is no interruption to that learning. We have experienced instances of two, and even three snow days back to back to back. This extended interruption of learning does not happen at my school. For those of you that think eLearning is not engaging and supportive, that is not my experience. My school holds a real, in-person graduation every year in June. Yes, we have students who start with us in grade 9 and graduate with us after grade 12. They obtain their entire OSSD with us. Families travel from across Ontario to attend in person. We celebrate four amazing years of learning with all grads, and recognize academic excellence with various academic awards, just like any other school. The day is organized collaboratively with our students, teachers, administrators, and support staff. Senior Administration and Board Trustees attend to share in the celebration and applaud our extremely successful eLearning program. For those of you that think eLearning is not engaging and supportive, that is not my experience. As I stated earlier I do not believe eLearning should be mandated, and no student should be forced to learn this way. I do not agree with a provincial centralization of eLearning delivery, and I do not support 4 eLearning credits as a mandatory requirement in earning an Ontario Secondary School Diploma. I am worried that the centralized delivery of eLearning will mean that my school no longer exists. I am worried that all of our blood, sweat, and tears of making eLearning supportive, engaging, and fantastic, will be all for naught. I am worried that the students and families, who need and want access to this model of learning, won’t. I am worried that our Government’s model of eLearning will become teachers in cubicles marking work and responding to questions, or even more dangerous, a private enterprise performing that “work.” Tomorrow morning, Monday after March Break, I will be in my 8:00 a.m. grade 10 Information Technology in Business live class for another engaging lesson. Even though it is an 8:00 a.m. class, I regularly have 22 of the 31 students in active, real time attendance. I will have a brave face, and voice, and teach as I always do - these learners deserve that. By the way, the focus of this lesson is on word processing, and the professional communication and formatting of a formal business letter. By the end of this week, these students will have written a real and authentic business complaint, or praise letter, and will have sent it off to the corresponding business. The goal is to receive a written response from each and every one of these businesses. They are performing a real life skill. For those of you that think eLearning is not engaging and supportive, that is not my experience. November is Financial Literacy month in Canada and this seems to be the perfect time for me to reflect on my Province's approach to financial literacy education. With a simple, one-word response, I believe Ontario's approach to teaching kids about money sense is weak, at best. The Ontario Ministry of Education does not believe financial literacy should be taught in a specific and clearly defined manner - i.e. a dedicated financial course that all secondary school students should take prior to graduation, for example. These folks believe that an integrated approach across the curriculum works best. Well, my belief is that it doesn't, and I am going to tell you why. Here is the Ministry's directive regarding the teaching of financial literacy in Ontario schools:  Source: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/surveyLiteracy.html Please note that I am a secondary teacher and my point of view, and overall arguments here are from a 9-12 teaching perspective. Although I appreciate the Ministry's sentiment that financial literacy is important, the process of attempting to incorporate these learning opportunities across the 9-12 curriculum does not make much sense to me, and frankly, it just doesn't happen. The Ministry has published a document called Financial Literacy: Scope and Sequence of expectations.  The full document can be accessed here: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/policy/FinLitGr9to12.pdf The document suggests that teachers can use the identified course expectations to incorporate elements of financial literacy into their courses and lesson plans. I don't believe this ever happens. Let me illustrate with an example: The document indicates, for example, that a Dance teacher can incorporate financial literacy into their courses. In the ATC2O (Grade 10 Dance) course specifically, the document suggests the teacher could successfully incorporate some element of financial literacy here:  I struggle to sort in my mind how and what element of financial literacy the Dance teacher is going to be teaching here? Can someone help me out? The document also does not identify what element of financial literacy might be incorporate here. Is this for the Dance teacher to randomly decide? Do they have the education, experience, and knowledge of financial literacy to effectively do this? I would bet a large sum of money on the notion that there are very few Dance teachers incorporating RRSP or RESP discussions into their Dance lessons. So, if the Dance teacher isn't doing this, what teachers are? Is it the Music teacher? The Physical Education teacher? The Science teacher? The Canadian History teacher? The subject discipline with the highest level of learning goals/course expectations that are specific to financial literacy is Business Studies. By the simple nature of Business Studies course content, financial literacy is already taught in many grade 9-12 Business Studies courses. One course with a very high number of expectations already directly related to financial literacy is BBI1O/2O - Introduction to Business. Just look at all the financial literacy related learning opportunities that exist in this course:   The only problem...wait for it...here it is....Business Studies IS NOT A MANDATORY SUBJECT in order to achieve the Ontario Secondary School Diploma! That is right, an Ontario student can graduate secondary school without ever taking a business studies credit...it makes me weep! So, only students who have elected to take business studies credits, and BBI1O/2O specifically, will have this deeper exposure to real financial literacy learning.
I have one simple solution - make business studies mandatory. If every student in Ontario was required to take BBI1O/2O, they would be better equipped to go on and become financially literate adults. I hear that the Ministry has decided to review the 1/2 credit Careers course, add elements of financial literacy, and make it a full credit mandatory course. My concerns/suggestions:
We owe it to the next generation to teach them about business. Will I see a Business Studies credit a mandatory graduation requirement before I retire from this great profession (that's 2030 by the way)? I really hope so. I am not a writer, and I am definitely not a blogger. As a student I despised English class and hated to read. I find writing a chore if I am not into it, or do not have a personal reason for doing so. With that said, I think I need to start blogging, not because I want to showcase my mediocre writing to the world, but because I have things to say, and more importantly I have things to learn. I need to reflect on my teaching in order to become better at what I do. I also think I need to make observations about this crazy and complex world of teaching and learning - a way for me to internalize and organize my thoughts.
As an eLearning teacher I try to offer my students opportunities for reflection - to put their learning into perspective for them. I often do this through module consolidations and most of my students participate. The reflections are not for marks and I do not force anyone to complete them, but amazingly, most do. They seem to find real value in completing those consolidations, and so do I. This is me taking a step back and putting my professional practice and learning into perspective. I wanted to focus my first blog post on two simple words - Thank you. As an eLearning teacher I work in physical isolation. I do not see my peers daily, I do not have regular face-to-face interactions with my Principal, and I don't walk down to the staff room on my prep to chat and vent with other teachers. I work on my own and grind in out day in and day out. I am motivated, all my live classes are well prepared for, feedback to my students is rich, authentic, and timely. I am always making changes to my courses, always thinking about how I can engage my online students more, and always willing to try new tools and applications to support my daily pedagogy. I do have instant electronic access to any other teacher in my school - via email, discussion threads, phone calls, or synchronous meeting spaces. What I don't get though, are thank-yous. I'm not talking about thank-yous from my students, not from parents either, because I do get those - when I make calls home, emails out of the blue, at the end and start of semesters - some students and parents will go out of their way to let me know I am appreciated. Unfortunately, I can go weeks without any sort of interaction with my Principal, and I can't tell you the last time I had any sort of interaction with a Superintendent, let alone the last time I saw one in person. I am an employee after all, and even though I am intrinsically motivated to do my job, and do it well, I still need positive feedback. I need to know that those who oversee me, those that make the overriding and guiding decisions in my board value and appreciate what I do. All I ask for is a quick thanks, thank you, we appreciate what you do, you are doing a really great job, you are appreciated. |
John GrahamA Secondary School eLearning Business Studies Teacher in Muskoka, Ontario, Canada. 
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