What is an Authentic Social Learning Model, and is it possible to use it in hybrid or online classrooms?
The Covid-19 pandemic had a significant impact on education worldwide. Teachers who were educated in face-to-face teaching suddenly had to learn how to work with students online. Asynchronous learning was, until then, a new concept for most K-12 teachers. However, there was nothing left but to adapt to the situation. To think that after this pandemic, education would return to the old dormitories would be pretty naive. After all, why throw away what we have learned from this?
However, one of the issues of online education during a pandemic was the negative impact on students’ social-emotional well-being who lacked social contact with their classmates. It is essential for students to interact with their peers. They also need access to their social networks to level up their learning, and asynchronous classes are no exception. Using the Authentic Social Learning Model (ASLM) can help teachers cultivate social connections despite the distance.
ASLM and connectivism
ASLM is based on social learning and anchored in the theory of connectivism, which is a learning theory for the digital age, first introduced by George Siemens. Siemens stated in his work that digital technology is rewiring our brains and creating new learning opportunities. Therefore, the main idea of connectivism is that learning is no longer an internal, individualistic activity. We reach in our external networks to get the necessary information using new technology. We learn by creating a connection between various “nodes” of information, and we continue to make and maintain connections to form the knowledge.
There are eight principles of connectivism:
- Learning and knowledge rest on the diversity of opinions.
- Learning is a process of connecting specialized nodes of information sources.
- Learning may reside in non-human appliances.
- The capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known
- Nurturing and maintaining connections are needed to facilitate continual learning.
- Ability to see connections between fields, ideas, and concepts is a core skill.
- Accurate, up-to-date knowledge is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.
- Decision-making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alternations in the information climate affecting the decision. (Siemens, 2005)
The social learning on which the ASLM is built uses these principles of connectivism to draw on students’ social nature for educational purposes, thus improving their achievement and creating an inclusive environment to meet the need of diverse learners. (Rice, 2021)
Strategies of ASLM
After refining the roots of ASLM, we can move to understand its strategies which were built based on the internet action analysis model (Gunawardena et al., 1998), the four stages of online learning (Downes, 2010), and the 5E Instructional Model (Bybee, 2006). ASLM consists of four strategies by which students can solve authentic problems or challenges: social exploration, social ideation, social experimentation, and social validation.
During social exploration, students master why they need to learn by working as a team to research a challenge and discover the background of the problem and already existing solutions. During social ideation, students learn to understand what they need to learn by working together on developing original ideas to solve their problems or challenges. Students ascertain how to learn during social experimentation by testing, rejecting, or refining the solutions they developed during social ideation to establish the final one. During social validation, students discover how to improve their learning by sharing their ideas with community members, local experts, or other outside individuals to obtain feedback. (Rice, 2021)
Applying ASLM in hybrid or online classrooms
The scientific research on the positive impact of social learning in K-12 classrooms is vast (Alzain 2019; Lin et al. 2015), but how to use it successfully in hybrid or online classes? The teacher can put ASLM strategies into practice by using pedagogical techniques of connectivism such as authentic learning, social learning, inclusive teaching, and formative assessment of the students.
Implementation of authentic learning, which means providing students with hands-on activities connected to the real world, can increase their engagement and motivation. Students can search for the solutions asynchronously, individually, and then discuss their discoveries with teammates. (Rice, 2021) They can do that through apps that enable real-time collaboration like Miro, Google Jamboard, or Padlet.
Using social learning, which is the basis of ASLM, in the class means, for example, that the teacher can divide the elaboration of tasks into small groups of students. Working in a small group can retain students’ attention, which is the issue with which they struggle during online or hybrid classes. (Rice, 2021) Breakout rooms in MS Teams or Google Meets can be used for this purpose.
Applying inclusive teaching means offering students lessons in multiple formats and providing them with more ways to demonstrate what they learned. (Rice, 2021) For example, they can choose if they want to write a final essay, record a podcast/video, give a presentation, etc.
And last but not least component of ASLM is a formative assessment that can help students achieve mastery by differentiating instruction and assignment to meet the individual needs of diverse students. Some students prefer a written feedback format, and some are more prone to meet with the teacher individually or in small groups to receive feedback. (Rice, 2021)
Conclusion
Yes, ASLM, which was primarily developed for face-to-face classes, can be used successfully in hybrid or online classrooms. It can have a similar positive impact on students learning achievements as well as on their well-being by cultivating social ties between peers despite the physical distance. Today, we have a wide range of applications that can help us build creative online lessons. Get inspired by Jane Hart’s list of Top 150 Tools for Education 2021.
Literature
Alzain, H. A. (2019). The Role of Social Networks in Supporting Collaborative e-Learning Based on Connectivism Theory among Students of PNU. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 20(2), 46–63. https://doi.org/10.17718/TOJDE.557736
Bybee, R. (2006). Enhancing science teaching and student learning: A BSCS perspective. Proceeding of Research Conference. https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&filename=2&article=1000&context=research_conference_2006&type=additional
Downes, S. (2010). What Is Democracy In Education. https://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2010/10/what-is-democracy-in-education.html
Gunawardena, C. N., Lowe, C. A., & Anderson, T. (1998). Analysis of a Global Online Debate and the Development of an Interaction Analysis Model for Examining Social Construction of Knowledge in Computer Conferencing: Http://Dx.Doi.Org/10.2190/7MQV-X9UJ-C7Q3-NRAG, 17(4), 397–431. https://doi.org/10.2190/7MQV-X9UJ-C7Q3-NRAG
Lin, J. W., Huang, H. H., & Chuang, Y. S. (2015). The impacts of network centrality and self-regulation on an e-learning environment with the support of social network awareness. British Journal of Educational Technology, 46(1), 32–44. https://doi.org/10.1111/BJET.12120
Rice, R. (2021). The Need for New Education Platforms that Support Inclusive Social Learning: A Case Study of Online and Hybrid K-12 Learning Experience During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (Including Subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), 12783 LNCS, 515–527. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77750-0_33/FIGURES/1
Siemens, G. (2005). Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age. International Journal of Instructional Technology & Distance Learning, 2(1). https://jotamac.typepad.com/jotamacs_weblog/files/Connectivism.pdf
