The Conference Proceedings
Why This Artefact
This experience is presented as the last one, as, except for its being the most recent one, so explicitly verifies my initial decision and justification on choosing the specific artefacts, that is, the fact that there is no course in this program that does not complement each other as to boost learners' meaningful acquisition of knowledge and its transfer to their own unique context (1.7). More specifically, this artefact explains how I have informed my prior knowledge and practices as a practitioner with my new knowledge, based on the theoretical framework and the insights I lacked on an academic level. If I am to justify and elaborate on this, I would say that:
MDDE 601 helped me inform the theoretical background lying behind the scenes of this otherwise spontaneous and enthusiastic humanistic effort to support underprivileged populations. I realized that core principles such as transactional distance, the ARCS model, and the Community of Inquiry, just to name a few, were applied despite the informal educational setting (2.3);
MDDE 602 informed my presentation of a case study, as I had to take into consideration social studies research principles, where and how they apply in my case and consider its limitations (5.7);
MDDE 603 informed my theory of practice in a specific learning context, quite diverse and challenging, within an organizational setting that had limited resources to offer (6.3);
MDDE 604 informed my conduct of a needs assessment and how this allowed me to develop the specific instructional design;
MDDE 623, the course that this artefact is closer related to given its perspective analysis, was the basic source of literature review conducted as to prepare for the presentation;
MDDE 621 was the course that informed my theoretical background on blended learning principles and how they apply in my case study;
MDDE 622 informed how and why my leveraging open educational resources had such an important influence on my inclusive educational practices in the specific context, based on the Education for All goals as supported by UNESCO SDG4 (2015), and last but not least,
MDDE 631, the course that was the inspirational force and the leading theory that has so far supported all my presentations and practices.
My "A-ha" Moments and My Takeaways
Our decision to participate in this conference had a meaningful influence on my decision making as it helped me realize how delving into theory led me to reflect on my teaching and learning practices where I previousy found no strong relations with. Apart from Dr Aga's reassurance, Anna, who had participated in the IABL 2018 Conference, forwarded me the definition of blended learning as put forth by IABL (n. d.): "the educational approach which integrates face-to-face classroom practices with online and mobile delivery methods" (para. 3), which was exactly what I was trying to implement in my particularly diverse context as to facilitate the learning process and enhance learning opportunities. In addition, referencing Dr Palalas (2013) "mobile learning enables learners to make good use of ‘dead or idle’ time regardless of temporal or spatial factors as far as there is connectivity. This can involve formal, non-formal, or informal context, providing “brief ad-hoc learnable moments and more substantial stretches of learning”, within or behind schedules ( p. 88). It was exactly what I was trying to do in a personalized, non-formal context, albeit quite purposefully. The content I was trying to deliver could be a video relevant to a piece of information, that is ‘chunked up’ knowledge the learner was acquainted with during a session, satisfying the desire to enhance knowledge according to needs and interests. Having tried to make good use of any means available for these people in my instructional design was already supported by literature!
Another important take away from this artefact was that volunteerism may be more rewarding than regular paid work. Apart from recognition, I feel that it never stops filling my mind and heart with peace and pleasure. After presenting my work I had the absolute pleasure to receive emails and requests by renowned people from all sectors that are willing to support my efforts providing the means that will facilitate my work. My young Pakistani artist, Suleman--who lives in the LTAC and is a student of ours in mainstream education at the moment and whose work we supported and helped to exhibit--has already received invitations to further exhibit his work and make a living. Dr Gitsaki, the research coordinator for Educational Innovation from Zayed University was pleased to share with me that the Head of Apple Education in the UAE expressed her interest in supporting the education of migrant and refugee children in Greek camps.
Last but not least, no matter the hard work, commitment, and endless hours of trying to smoothly fit everything in my everyday routine, I had the pleasure to enjoy fruitful outcomes. More specifically, I had the pleasure to:
- help people meet basic needs and try to achieve self-realization
- make good use of my leadership in the association as to recruit colleagues, bring them closer to the value of volunteerism in my local community, and offer them the opportunity to get trained to the new reality in our classrooms.
- allow for social and cultural integration opportunities for these dislocated people in a quite hesitant and reserved community
- collaborate with my beloved peers and present the case from a totally new perspective
- virtually come closer and interact with so many people from the academic and educational field
- become a member of the wonderful IABL team and offer my services in the MOOC, Membership, and Digital Communications Committees.
Competencies Acquired
- Problem Solving, Analysis, and Decision Making
- 1.1 Recognize problems
- 1.3 Formulate questions
- 1.4 Find and access information
- 1.5 Critically evaluate the relevance of information for a given situation
- 1.8 Justify these solutions
- 1.9 Present them to others
- 1.11 Adapt solutions to suit varied situations
- Instructional Design and Development
- 2.3 Describe and appropriately apply a range of learning and motivational theories to instructional design situations in distance education
- 2.5 Develop instructional products or learning objects in distance education
- 2.7 Apply instructional design principles and models in distance education, in your workplace, or in other instructional contexts
- Communication Technologies and Networking
- 3.1 Use a variety of communication and document-sharing tools to create, reflect, and communicate with others
- 3.2 Analyze and evaluate the various applications and implications of these technologies
- 3.3 Justify the applications of these technologies in real-life contexts on the basis of theory and research
- 3.4 Compare and evaluate the relative advantages and disadvantages of these technologies in various distance education contexts
- 3.5 Apply these technologies in distance education and in real-life instructional contexts
- Communication and Interpersonal Skills
- 4.2 Construct coherent arguments and articulate ideas clearly to a range of audiences, formally and informally, through a variety of techniques and media
- 4.3 Justify and defend your ideas orally and in writing in meetings, forums, seminars, exams and other contexts
- 4.6 Demonstrate effective design, delivery and critical evaluation of presentations, computer conferences, or seminars
- 4.7 Work cooperatively with diverse groups and individuals both within the university and/or in the workplace
- 4.8 Organize, and convey your ideas effectively through a range of communication skills and work collaboratively and in teams
- Research
- 5.1 Frame effective and meaningful research questions
- 5.2 Identify, discuss and apply theoretical considerations to proposed research
- 5.7 Effectively communicate information, arguments, and analyses in the discipline of Distance Education, in a variety of forms, to suit different contexts and audiences
- 5.8 Critically analyze the issues and discuss the wider implications affecting the use of information
- 5.9 Conduct effective interviews for research purposes
- 5.11 Describe and adhere to ethical practices and institutional policies throughout the research process
- Management, Organization and Leadership
- 6.3 Make considered recommendations regarding the selection of appropriate learning technologies and assure that these selections meet organizational needs
- 6.5 Manage workload, other commitments, and information need within time and structural constraints (in both personal and team management situations)
Introduction
This artefact, the fifth and last of my ePortfolio collection, constitutes the most informed evidence of surpassing my initial learning goals when applying in the AU MEd program. It presents my participation in the 4th World Conference on Blended Learning, along with my subsequent active participation in the IABL team as a volunteer, and my reflection on it through this online communication podium as one of my most recent learning experiences before completing my studies. More specifically, Dr Aga Palalas, having shown interest in my inclusive practices and projects in my local community and after my presentation in the AUGS Conference 2018, encouraged my participation in WCBL 2019 as to present my case study from a new perspective, that of the use of mobile devices as a facilitator in a challenging educational context, informing its blended learning nature. I invited Maria and Anna to work with me once again, as we had successfully done so in the past, and I encouraged them to offer their valuable contributions. The Conference took place in Dubai, and our presentation was on April 26th with the title "BL Using Mobile Devices for Inclusive Educational Practices: Facilitator Perspective".
The Case Study
The presentation focused on the incorporation of mobile devices, as part of a blended learning context, in an effort to facilitate inclusive educational practices in a longterm accommodation center (LTAC) in Kavala, Northern Greece. More specifcally, the unexpected influx of migrants and refugees in Greece in 2015-2016 raised a crisis situation and much consideration as to how to integrate the newly-arrived, quite diverse population. To this end, the Ministry of Education appointed a Scientifc Committee in Support of Refugee Children, and in support to this, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Embassy in Athens organized a program (IVLP, 2017) with the participation of five delegates. I was one of the delegates with the unique chance to visit 16 international schools. The observations of authentic educational practices on site were quite inspirational and led me to organize a number of voluntary, follow up projects in my local community with the aim to provide educational and social inclusion opportunities. More specifically, on my arrival back to Greece, I asked the official permit of the Ministry of Migration and the International Association for Migration to co-ordinate and offer voluntary English lessons to 80 refugee children and adolescents living in the accommodation center, along with other members of the association that I managed to recruit for this gentle but challenging purpose. Our project, named "Every1 Smiles in the Same Language" was initiated with a welcome celebration and an introductory lesson as to help me conduct a needs assessment. On site individual, friendly discussions with the IOM team and some of the new residents provided us with valuable information as to what to expect and what the needs are (5.1, 5.9). The Farsi and Arabic teachers, refugees themselves, helped us with this process, indicating people that would be willing to participate in the process without breaking their ethical or emotional state balance (5.11).
Technologies were helpful tools as to facilitate the whole endeavor leveraging Google Drive to share materials and keep record of what had been taught, the learners’ progress, and any unexpected behavior observed. Upon observation that most of the learners had mobile devices, often the only portable personal possession these dislocated people had brought with them from their homeland, we decided to creatively utilize them as to optimize learning opportunities (3.1, 3.2), encouraging--though not imposing--a BYOD trend. During and after sessions, digital dictionaries and translators facilitated the teaching and learning process, heavily relying on the visual cues they offered (1.11). Given their need to accelerate language learning for communicative purposes in the host country, they were encouraged to make purposeful use of mobile technologies as to enhance exposure to real-life learning opportunities. Due to cognitive level disparities, a personalized, learner-centered instruction in a non-formal learning environment was adopted, based on the Universal Design for Learning principles (CAST, 2011). Mobile devices facilitated this process allowing us to expose learners to educational videos, language games on digital school repositories, and songs to learn and practice the language (3.3, 3.5).
Though mobile devices are to blame for students' distraction and have raised much consideration to their effectiveness in educational contexts, we tried to support that mobile devices can hold powerful knowledge, facilitate barriers in communication, and how proper use of new technologies may help them integrate in the new environment, socially and culturally, boosting learners' self-esteem and allowing them to make dreams for a better future (3.4). Last but not least, it was an excellent experiential training for the volunteer teachers of how to make good use of any means available in order to achieve their learning outcomes (2.7). They brought this knowledge back to their schools, providing their colleagues with useful tips for the new reality in mainstream classrooms, which was further supported by training workshops in a two day event in Kavala (Lazou, 2017).
Issues to Resolve
From the very first moment, Dr Palalas, much believing in my enthusiasm and commitment in applying inclusive educational practices and community projects, tried to encourage my participation in the conference. Though I had kept records of the learners' progress and a journal of what, how, and why, I had my reservations on whether this was of any academic interest as I felt that my case study with regards to the blended learning concept might not align with typical research standards. It was at that time that I was impressed by her devotion of valuable time to conference preparations--as the president of IABL--to ask me for a Skype meeting as to make me believe in the importance of sharing this case with the rest of the academic community. She communicated with me that my leveraging mobile technologies in an educational setting that was trying to satisfy the Maslow staff before learners can Bloom--a favorite quote of mine that I shared in the presentation--was beyond any doubt of primary academic interest, importance and relevance (1.5, 5.2). What is more, she invited me to feel free to offer the association whatever voluntary help I felt would be beneficial. My acceptance filled us both with joy for the new collaboration!
Another important issue was the fact that the presentation coincided with Greek Orthodox Easter, and having already made arrangements, I could not be present (1.1). I logged into the IABL website to see what alternatives there might be and if I could find a solution (1.4). The conference afforded the option of a virtual presentation, which was a relief, though I would have really loved to meet in person all these wonderful people who attended and presented, some of whom were my professors along with other renowned researchers and blended learning experts (1.8).
During preparation, what I found quite challenging to resolve was the choice of information and authentic pictures that would best support my presentation. Firstly, though I had plenty of authentic pictures of the classroom and outdoor inclusive practices, I did not have very many displaying the use of the mobile devices. This process led me to step back and revive memories from this lifetime experience that so much changed my attitudes and worldview as a teacher, a mother, and a human being. How could I transfer the feeling of my endeavors and need to be flexible and apply all means available in order to help make Heba's dream come true? How could I describe Suleman's desperate need to learn the language so as to exhibit his artistic work? What about my feelings when an 18-year-old lad asked if there was any ice-cream left after my giving it out to my little friends that were waiting for me at the entrance of the LTAC every day? Or the unattended children in the safe zone? (1.3) Owing to the limited time set by the conference instructions for the virtual presentations, I thought that in order to be effective, I should make sure that I offered my attendees what I would possibly want to learn if I were in their shoes, so as to understand the setting, the activities and theory lying behind each, the success and limitations of this endeavor, and the conclusions (1.8, 1.9), I wrote down the text I wanted to present as to help me with the process (4.6). Once again, after long but fruitful discussions with my peers, we evaluated all alternatives, made rational choices, and came up with our final version (4.7, 4.8)!
This is the image we chose for the cover slide of our presentation
The last issue I had to resolve was that, according to the conference instructions, as a virtual presenter I had to make good use of technologies affordances as to facilitate and ensure the successful completion of my task. I had to prepare a back-up video sharing the slides and a video-recording of my presentation simultaneously. This was one of the most challenging issues I had to deal with and resolve. Although I had many times in the past recorded my presentations and uploaded them in the form of a video in my channel, I had never before had to video-record and embed them in my slides. Additionally, I had to download a new presentation software, Vidyo, which was the one used by the Zayed University, the conference venue. Anna helped a lot with the process, and so did Maria. Being quite anxious but proactive at the same time, I asked for a testing some days before the presentation (6.5). The response was prompt and finally I knew what exactly I had to do. My peers kept supporting my efforts, enriched the presentation, and provided me with feedback when necessary.
Reflection on the Presentation
The presentation of the case study was met with enthusiasm by the attendees. Though I would like to share as much as I could, the time was limited, so I tried to be concise, yet explicit, supporting and reflecting on literature (4.2, 4.3). I had the absolute pleasure to respond to the questions of a warm and very interactive audience, that though virtually present, I felt like being in the same place, sharing feelings and thoughts on what blended learning may mean, far beyond the technological implications. The questions raised were very thought provoking, ranging from the process of the lessons and the use of their devices to how this instillation of a personalized lifelong learning attitude towards mobile devices can further facilitate their efforts to proceed to higher education.
While responding to the questions, I realized how all my AU learning journey and all courses I had taken informed my responses, based on literature review and a solid theoretical framework (5.7, 5.8). That was a pleasant insight gained from this experience, justifying and even bringing my learning far beyond my initial aspirations when enrolling in this program.
These are two of the screenshots that my peers, Anna and Maria, took during the presentation--I share the first one, when Dr Gitsaki--the host organizer--introduced me to the attendees, and the last one, that I was overwhelmed that all attendees, virtual and in-person, shared with us that they loved our presentation!
Some days after the presentation, and while posting photos and comments of the conference in the social media -- which is part of my new "duties" serving the association--I received the evaluation of our presentation conducted by the person who technically facilitated and chaired it. Though he had already congratulated me while still synchronously online, I was very pleased with the evaluation comments and further suggestions. When the time came to have our post-conference synchronous meeting with the rest of the sub-committee members, I shared with them my comments and reflection on this experience from a number of perspectives, as a virtual presenter, a virtual conference attendee, and a volunteer member of the IABL sub-committee. I hope next time I am given the opportunity to present, I will be able to do so in person.
Last but not least, one attendee's comment on how I keep contact with my students from the LTAC now that they have entered mainstream education led me to think that maybe sharing resources in our group account in social media might not be enough. So, my reflections on my present practices and help led me to start building my own blog where I can have my compilation of resources, available for anyone interested (2.5).
Our Presentation
References
CAST (2011). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.0. Wakefield, MA: Author
IABL (n.d.). About IABL. Retrieved from http://iabl.teiemt.gr/aboutus
IOM Greece (2017). Celebration of the European Day of Languages. Retrieved from https://greece.iom.int/el/celebration-european-day-languages
Lazou, C. (2015). Does a teacher possess the power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous?. In E. Gkantidou, ELT Teachers' Personal Philosophy Statements on Classroom Discipline (pp. 58-66). Kavala: Directorate of Secondary Education of Regional Unity of Kavala Office of Secondary Education School Advisor. Retrieved from http://uploads.worldlibrary.net/uploads/pdf/20150427085032elt_teachers__personal_philosophy_statements_on_classroom_discipline.pdf
Lazou, C. (2017). Multicultural classroom: From the English Language Teacher's perspective - Tutorial tips. In Two-day Event Multiculturalism in Education with Emphasis on the Education of Refugee Children, 20-21 October 2017. Kavala.
Maslow, A. H. (1987). Motivation and personality (3rd ed.). Delhi, India: Pearson Education.
Palalas, A. (2013). Blended mobile learning: Expanding learning spaces with mobile technologies. In A. Tsinakos & M. Ally (Eds.), Global mobile learning implementations and trends (pp. 86-104).
UNESCO (2015). UNESCO Sustainable Development Goal 4. Retrieved from: (https://en.unesco.org/education2030-sdg4/targets).
