Blendkit 2015 Week 2 Reaction - My Role as a Concierge and Curator Educator

This week’s reading detailed student engagement and interactions within the blended learning environment.  Of specific interest was the research findings of undergraduate students reported by the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR), “More students (36 percent) prefer a blended learning environment of seminars and other smaller classes with some online components to any other configuration of face-to-face and online options” (p. 27).  I would be curious to know if findings are similar with students in the K-12 setting, or if the preference is even greater.

The reading material incited a reflective discourse in which I found myself asking what type of environment I envisioned for my students in the blended learning course I am creating, and what types of interactions best suit my students needs.   According to the readings, “high impact activities increase learner engagement and result in greater success in learning” (Siemens & Tittenberger, 2009, para 1), and “minimal guidance is not as effective as guided instruction” (para 4).  The chapter introduced four models of learning to help in my quest to create the environment that blends both engagement and appropriate guidance – John Brown’s Atelier learning model, Clarence Fischer’s Network Administrator model, Curtis Bonk’s concierge model, and George Siemens’ Curator model.  As I create the middle school math course, I feel that following the concierge or curator model would fit best.  I want my course to be one where the instructor “shows” rather that “tells” students.