Creating a Virtual Community of Writers Through Blended Learning

Blended learning has not only helped me create a vibrant learning community within my 8th grade Language Arts classroom but it has resulted in a student-directed learning community outside my classroom. My writing workshop procedures blend technology with face-to-face discussions to enhance students' understanding of the writing process. Students use GoogleDocs to share and comment on their assigned groups' submissions at home. Then, on Workshop Day, kids open their writing pieces on Chromebooks in class. They review and discuss comments in small groups while writers ask follow-up questions. Finally, everyone fills outs an online reflection survey about their next steps in improving the piece.

This excerpt from Debbie Garber's abstract, Growing Virtual Communities, echoes my own philosophy in the creation of a meaningful learning community:

"To be a learning community, participants must be committed to the learning process, and responsive to the contributions of other participants through “reciprocity” based on trust between the community members. Trust is based on credibility (i.e., another’s word can be relied on) and benevolence, the extent to which “learners are genuinely interested in the welfare of other members”

Trust is the key word. While the initial success in the workshop comes from the use of technology, I feel that students have succeeded in building a community of trust and camaraderie that is often more difficult to accomplish in traditional peer review scenarios. In my video, I share the impacts that I've observed in using blended learning within my writing workshop: