When the Ministry of Education brought in a collection of Social Studies 12 courses (Comparative Cultures, Comparative Religions, Social Justice and Genocide Studies-to name a few) in the Spring of 2017, I jumped at the opportunity to try my hand at course creation.  The goal was to create courses that could be taught by any teacher with all of the assignments and materials placed on a WordPress site.  The chosen teacher would still need to guide, but for the most part students would be expected to work independently.  I had never designed courses that I would not be teaching myself, that I may never teach.  I had also never created a course with such a strong online component, I was flying blind.

In regards to Bates’ checklist of a quality course, Social Justice 12 is in dire need of some upgrades.  The needs of students were considered in regards to its clear structure and assignment expectations, but in order to succeed, students needed to be independent, motivated and responsible.  While this functions well enough for students with those qualities, those without them would struggle.

As the majority of course work happened in a classroom supervised by a teacher, there were opportunities for communication, but it depended on the teacher’s knowledge of the course and the subject matter.  This could result in an inconsistency of support.  This could be alleviated with the course being relegated to a specific teacher.

A ‘blended’ approach was the right path for this course, which is often taught alongside other Humanities courses, as it did away with class size concerns and gave student’s more choice in regards to their courses.  A truer blended method would be the best way forward, especially with access to TEAMS and other programs.  A blended program also opens the course up to more students, allowing it to be completed even if the student is not physically in the class.

My philosophy of being a guide to students when advise or feedback is needed, but that allows students to find their own passions within the course material works well with a blended method.  Students do not all have to be in the same place at the same time within their learning and are able to display more independence and responsibility.  It is my hope, that with the addition of TEAMS and other Office 365 programs adopted by my district, this course cna be improved and grow.

Social Justice 12