Instuctional Design in 21st Century Learning

Creating and implementing online learning is a time consuming process, but the benefits for educators who create such learning environments find benefits beyond what can be achieved in the traditional classroom. Educators who take the time to learn how to design and implement online curriculum know what the expectations of learning are and do not have to rely on an outside source to set the guidelines for learning. The courses created by educators can be tailored to meet the needs of current students of specific populations. For example, a teacher might create an online course to re-teach or review a concept not fully grasped in class, where the contents of the online course are more personalized to the learning styles of the students in the course. Another benefit is the increasing use of distance learning. Students in different schools can participate in the same online course and the teacher can use the course to learn about students from many different locations. This can benefit both educators and students in large and small school districts and universities.
The online course I created during this class is one I plan to bring back in the next school year. Math is an area where many young students don't always feel their strength lies, especially when it comes to problem solving. This being said, I do plan to go back and make revisions to the original design of the course. My goal is to get more resources available to help students better understand the process of problem solving and number sense - to "take the mystery out of numbers." I would like to find or create active models showing students the importance of taking what they already know about math and making it work with the problem they are trying to solve. For example, if a fourth grader can read a story problem and know that the problem they have to solve is 25x23, but they aren't strong with their multiplication skills and they don't want to add, I want them to see that they can break 23 down to 20+3,then multiply 25x20 and 20x3, and finally add the two products. This kind of thinking pushes students to really think about what they know about numbers and verbalize it, a concept not always emphasized in math.
I would definitely like to integrate online learning in my role as a teacher. If I am able to provide my students with more opportunity to be engaged in what they are learning in and out of the classroom, I feel it is my responsibility to ensure the opportunity is made available. I can see multiple uses for online learning as a teacher. For example, if I have students who are working further ahead than the rest of the class, creating an online course to allow them the opportunity to be challenged and work at their level would be advantageous in order to prevent this group from "checking out" or becoming discipline problems because they are bored. On the opposite end of that, if I have struggling students able to work in an online environment to re-teach skills, this too helps prevent problems before they can start and offers students an opportunity to catch up to the rest of the class.
After having the opportunity to create and implement my own online course, I still have a few questions about the use of online learning. My most recurring question is in regards to knowing if my students are actually understanding what they are practicing online. As a teacher, you can tell in a variety of ways if your students understand - the look on their faces, if they are wasting time not completing the assignment, etc. In an online course, you don't have these cues to guide your next moves as a teacher. Going along with this same question of the students "getting it," I am curious to know the actual retention of this kind of learning, especially with the elementary grades since this is the population I work with. I want to know if they will remember what they are learning in an online environment better than what they remember in a regular classroom environment.
Throughout this course, I have really enjoyed learning about backward design. I plan to incorporate this design in my planning for the next school year. In creating my online course, I found planning a challenge using backward design, because I wanted to plan the activities first. However, once I got my end goal set up using the district guidelines and TEKS, I was able to plan more meaningful activities for my students to use. I have a new appreciation for planning curriculum that encompasses the objectives necessary and appropriate for each grade. The activities created through backward design planning are more meaningful to the students because they are engaging and they relate to what the students are expected to know. I am going to take this understanding of backward design and use it to create meaningful curriculum for me to use in the classroom and beyond.