"Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time."
- Rabindranath Tagore
The virtual learning environment is a place where a community of learners interact with one another in a non-threatening, respectful and positive setting. Educators establish an atmosphere where learners are safe to contribute ideas, give and receive positive and constructive feedback, build knowledge, and celebrate successes.
In what ways are you setting the tone for a positive virtual learning environment within your own "classroom"? Please reflect on the following questions and share your comments below.
How do you prepare your learners to participate in your virtual learning environment so that they feel safe to contribute?
How has the virtual learning environment affected inquiry?
In what ways do you feel a virtual learning environment supports a constructive approach to learning?
"Every educator has a responsibility to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for all learners."
- CISD Learning Framework
Educators have the responsibility to provide a variety of spaces from which learners are able to collaborate, construct knowledge and meaning, and contribute to others. Through the design of the physical "classroom", educators either contribute to or take away from learners' abilities to reach their fullest potential.
How can we address these needs in our "classroom"? Please reflect on the following questions and share your comments below.
How does your physical classroom provide opportunities to reach different learners?
How can you rearrange your "classroom" with minimal expense to support both collaborative and independent spaces that are inviting and appealing?
How does the arrangement of your "classroom" physical spaces enhance digital learning?
“Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not. ”
“Every learner is an educator. Every educator is a learner.”
-CISD Learning Portrait
In a world of digital natives that can and do learn anytime and anywhere, from us and from each other, our learners’ environment is no longer limited to time spent in a classroom. So why should your learning environment be any different?
We, as your educators during this professional learning challenge, pledge to design this experience differently. Hours of sitting through technology training that may or may not relate to your role, learning style, or classroom are over. As you work through the different types of learning that you choose to participate in during this challenge, you’ll see that a classroom environment is no longer just about a physical, face-to-face environment or experiences. Our classroom for this challenge is this blog, our webinar time together, the Twitter chats you participate in, the implementation challenge activities you do, and more. Yes, there will be times you may take part in a physical, face-to-face experiences, but how we design your physical environment for those will also set the stage for digital learning success.
We’d like you to think of the format of this challenge as inspiration. While you are the learner for this challenge, we hope that you will take the experiences with you and be able to use what you have learned when in your educator role on campus. Learning is so much more than what happens in between those four walls of your classroom. We believe that learning environments should be varied and collaborative. They should allow for learner’s voice and choice. They should be global as well as local, digital as well as physical.
So why do digital learning environments matter so much for today’s learners?
Welcome to the Coppell iTeam - Unlock your Digital Genius blog.
We are excited that you have found us and hope that you will be able to participate and learn with us. There will be a new blog post here weekly for you to read and comment on. Then you can put the ideas into action in your own classroom or school! (Make sure to let us know how it goes.)
Check the links above to access the schedule for the first module - Digital Learning Environment and to visit our website to get all the details.
In the mean time, check our awesome trailer for this fun, new professional learning opportunity by CLICKING HERE.
