Course Reflection Blog

Creating the blended class throughout this course has been challenging but yet enjoyable. Developing the course for the in-person and online instruction provided multiple opportunities for students to access the science lessons inside and outside of the classroom. The use of technology allowed students to engage with the lessons at their own pace and it assisted to enhance engagement and make the learning fun. Each lesson ended with a formative assessment to test what the students learned in the lesson. One of the challenges that I encountered with completing the blended course was my lack of knowledge of various online applications. I used different platforms while teaching school but I was unfamiliar with many of the applications prior to completing the course.

I had difficulty connecting audio with my Google slides or power point presentations. While completing my doctoral program I realized there are many applications and software that I must be more familiar with to keep up with the ongoing changes in technology. If I could complete the course differently I would practice the online applications prior to their deliver dates. Also I would work on multiple modules that were similar at the same time to avoid double working. I designed the blended course for an upper elementary student group (4th grade) and would need to change several elements if the same lesson if it were presented to older students. I would need to need to identify other methods to keep older students engaged in the lessons. I would need to ask the older students prior to implementation of the lesson what they already knew about the topic so I would know how to cater the instruction.