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More Berries and Less Ice in the Blender, Please

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Blended fruit drinks
This week I have been working the instructional blender at full tilt. I have been keeping it whirring throwing in different learning activities, quizzes, videos and polite conversations to make some potent, knock-you-out-of-your-socks learning concoctions. Everyone at the course counter, orders their own flavour and kick according to the dryness in their throat and the cravings on their tongue tips. "More math and less poetry with a twist of online, please."

As the cocktail mixer per jour, I have been pulling out all stops to make some solid recipes. The hope is that with the right recipe the students will leave happy and come back for more. In my GED Prep evening face-to-face class, I have made the bold move to deliver the course almost entirely on iPads in the classroom. This ingredient has met with alarming success. Students are completing the quizzes in class. As they do, I can come up and provide coaching or assistance as needed. Sitting in assigned pairs, they actively discuss each question and make decisions together about answers. Immediately, they receive feedback, and become intoxicated with this online delivery. One student came to see me at the desk to tell me unsolicited how he preferred the online option inside and outside of class. He appreciated knowing what he did wrong so he could fix it and focus his studies on those items. Hallelujah! A student with an active learning plan that works. You can tell people and even put the neon sign over the bar counter, and they may still not absorb it. However, like this student, when they come across it on their own, the principle sticks. Certainly, others share this enthusiasm. The evening GED Prep students complete more readily and regularly the same online activities and exercises than most of their online counterparts. As a group, they chug down any quizzes or videos posted. My suspicion is that they like the taste. They can feel it working, too.

Pouring educational draughts night after night for these folks, conversations start up about the tools themselves. Making an estimate, less than one tenth of the students accessed on their own their NorQuest myMail account despite the fact that it is the primary channel of communication with the instructor and the college. Even more so, the myMail is a Google Apps account which can be used in the course to complete and manage assignments. Of the remainder, over eighty percent of them could not figure out how to login with multiple user accounts or how to set up the myMail on their personal devices. Having observed this directly, I made the next class, happy hour, serving up deals on technical support a la carte. I walked to every student to make sure they could login to their Moodle and their myMail on the iPad. I prompted those successful to help their peer. I then assisted each of them with setup of myMail on their personal devices. With anyone who was successful, I politely demanded that they call the computer commons area to have their issue resolved, or to send the commons an email if after hours. The results came pouring in. Students, having received the daily specials menu, were eager to go ahead and preview the day's material in advance. Many expressed gratitude on knowing what they needed to complete to stay abreast of all the fun and excitement. Many were intrigued by access to Google Docs and the course YouTube channel and have considered using these apps in this course and other courses.

After the instructional taps run out and the learners depart, I am left polishing the glasses and ruminating about the day. If these students have so many obstacles to full engagement, what are my online GED students experiencing? I am certain they have the same issues if not even more so. In confirmation, I remember a conversation I had with one of those GED Online students. I had sent out a mass email to all my GED student's myMail accounts about real-time online workshops offered as a strong learning support. Only one online student responded. As irony rolls along, she did not have a Norquest myMail account due to some error. She had received the email about the workshops in her personal email on her phone. She was excited about the opportunity. We started an email conversation about the workshops and the course. This all happened because the message met her where she already was. Now that we have had this conversation, she has begun work on the online course.

As I open the bar the next day, I will know to bring that same strong mix of learning opportunities. However, I will make sure that I put glasses in hand, provide access to taxi service, and talk about the various sundry of each student leaving my assumptions behind the bar. Drinks on the house.
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