Today is the first proper day back, so the title isn't so much about thoughts about Christmas as thoughts over Christmas.
As part of the postgradute certificate in online teaching we learnt about networks and communities of practice. We were told that through our interactions online they were hoping to mould us into a community of practice of educators. I don't know how successful that was for my tutor group - I'm autistic. 'Struggles to make friends' is my elevator pitch - for all I know the rest of my group got along famously, formed a WhatsApp group and invited each other around for Christmas dinner. Or perhaps I'm just catastrophising (see my previous post).
There was one image that really stood out for me though in the learning networks diagram. It was about the connections that students build with each other, in and out of class through studying together, working together (through those much dreaded group projects). There were students with lots of connections who were tightly bundled into their classes and had many peers who could encourage, support and help them. Research tells us that those students do well.
Then there were the 'me's - the students who at best had only one connection in the class. Research suggests that, like me, they are likely to underperform in their studies. Without a support network or peers to turn to when tough situations arise they are more likely to fail modules, they are more like to become discouraged and give up hope, they are more likely to drop out.
Now I'm guessing the average NT educator would look at that and think, well of course we've got to get those mini-Kates into groups. Well groups are OK, but the best ones are supportive and encouraging and have an almost militaristic persepective of 'leave no man behind'. That is not a culture of academia, which strikes me as largely dog-eat-dog, survival of the fittest, you suck losers. (There's a reason PhDs suck for most students and then employed academics are on an endless treadmill of post-docing and then even when they get a permanent position must continue to bring in enormous grant funds or be fired - looking directly at my alma mater.)
The best groups I was ever in were in the workplace - a rather toxic one at that. Where we were desperate, underachieving graduates, wanting to prove that we weren't wastes of oxygen for crummy pay for 100+ hours a week. We hated the situation. But there was something about being forced into close proximity for such long stretches of time. My husband (who worked in a variety of places both before and after) says he has never known an esprit de corps like it. The business went bankrupt 20 years ago, but we still have it as a group. It's remarkable. There's something about that pressure cooker experience.
So, as far as I'm aware, merely putting people into groups doesn't particularly help - witness my group projects. They're not making lifelong friends in those groups.
Creating a toxic work culture of excessive workloads to force students into bonding is against the law. So that's a no go too.
The answer, according to the course notes, was that it is the role of the educator to step into the breach for the solitary online students. We need to step up and be their support networks. Where other students can crowdsource knowledge from their groups, we are their point of contact - we are the ones they crowdsource knowledge from. Of course it's one thing to know that that's where we are most needed, it's another thing to get the students to seek help from us. And since autistic students are by their very nature most likely to be the solitary students, and given that autistic students are known to have reduced help-seeking behaviour compared to NTs, how to get the solitary students that most need us to come to us is a thorny problem. I can reach out all I like, but I can't read their minds and know what they're struggling with unless they tell me.
Christmas Thoughts
Today is the first proper day back, so the title isn't so much about thoughts about Christmas as thoughts over Christmas.
As part of the postgradute certificate in online teaching we learnt about networks and communities of practice. We were told that through our interactions online they were hoping to mould us into a community of practice of educators. I don't know how successful that was for my tutor group - I'm autistic. 'Struggles to make friends' is my elevator pitch - for all I know the rest of my group got along famously, formed a WhatsApp group and invited each other around for Christmas dinner. Or perhaps I'm just catastrophising (see my previous post).
There was one image that really stood out for me though in the learning networks diagram. It was about the connections that students build with each other, in and out of class through studying together, working together (through those much dreaded group projects). There were students with lots of connections who were tightly bundled into their classes and had many peers who could encourage, support and help them. Research tells us that those students do well.
Then there were the 'me's - the students who at best had only one connection in the class. Research suggests that, like me, they are likely to underperform in their studies. Without a support network or peers to turn to when tough situations arise they are more likely to fail modules, they are more like to become discouraged and give up hope, they are more likely to drop out.
Now I'm guessing the average NT educator would look at that and think, well of course we've got to get those mini-Kates into groups. Well groups are OK, but the best ones are supportive and encouraging and have an almost militaristic persepective of 'leave no man behind'. That is not a culture of academia, which strikes me as largely dog-eat-dog, survival of the fittest, you suck losers. (There's a reason PhDs suck for most students and then employed academics are on an endless treadmill of post-docing and then even when they get a permanent position must continue to bring in enormous grant funds or be fired - looking directly at my alma mater.)
The best groups I was ever in were in the workplace - a rather toxic one at that. Where we were desperate, underachieving graduates, wanting to prove that we weren't wastes of oxygen for crummy pay for 100+ hours a week. We hated the situation. But there was something about being forced into close proximity for such long stretches of time. My husband (who worked in a variety of places both before and after) says he has never known an esprit de corps like it. The business went bankrupt 20 years ago, but we still have it as a group. It's remarkable. There's something about that pressure cooker experience.
So, as far as I'm aware, merely putting people into groups doesn't particularly help - witness my group projects. They're not making lifelong friends in those groups.
Creating a toxic work culture of excessive workloads to force students into bonding is against the law. So that's a no go too.
The answer, according to the course notes, was that it is the role of the educator to step into the breach for the solitary online students. We need to step up and be their support networks. Where other students can crowdsource knowledge from their groups, we are their point of contact - we are the ones they crowdsource knowledge from. Of course it's one thing to know that that's where we are most needed, it's another thing to get the students to seek help from us. And since autistic students are by their very nature most likely to be the solitary students, and given that autistic students are known to have reduced help-seeking behaviour compared to NTs, how to get the solitary students that most need us to come to us is a thorny problem. I can reach out all I like, but I can't read their minds and know what they're struggling with unless they tell me.