Using the 9-elements of authentic learning (see Herrington et al. 2010:44-45) to analyze blogging activity

(https://apps4lockdown.blogspot.com) and establish the extent to which it is an authentic learning activity.

Authenticity in learning design is described by (Herrington et al.2010), as central to creating learning opportunities for students from which they can benefit and upon which they can draw once they leave formal learning behind. Learning that allows conversation and interaction

Authentic Learning: Learning through applying knowledge in real-life contexts and situations. Learning that is authentic is real and learners have meaning. It allows conversation and interaction.

9 Elements of Authentic Learning                                                                           Authenticity

1.Provide authentic contexts that reflect the way the knowledge will be used in real life   Authentic Context: A physical or virtual environment that reflects the way the knowledge will be used in real life. A learning environment where the learning environment reflects the way knowledge will be useful in real life.    (Herrington, et al. 2010).	Yes: The Apps that are posted by students in the blog are meant for educators, parents, and learners, to be used to help with online teaching and learning during the lockdown in SA, which is the reality we are facing South Africa at the present moment as a society.
2.Provide authentic tasks and activities. The e-Learning course needs to provide ill-defined activities which have real-world relevance, and which present a single complex task to be completed over a sustained period of time, rather than a series of shorter disconnected examples. (Bransford, Vye, Kinzer, & Risko, 1990; Brown et al., 1989b; Reeves & Reeves, 1997; Lebow & Wager, 1994).    Teachers should provide such tasks to enable students to interact with the learning environment and to practice newly acquired skills.	Yes: The creation of the blog over a sustained period of time where we also acquired new skills of how to create a blog of our own and post on a blog.  The Apps posted on the blog for online teaching and learning during lockdown are an authentic task and are going to be used by parents over time. The lecturer gave us tasks, that are well designed, not straight forward tasks at all, tasks that made us think carefully.
3. Provide access to expert performance and modeling of the process. (Collin et al., 1989), assets that performance and the modeling of processes have its original apprenticeship system of learning, where students and craftspeople learned new skills under the guidance of an expert (Collins et, 1989).	Yes: We learned from our lecturer who is an expert, who showed us step by step of how to create a blog.  He guided us throughout the learning process. He also referred us to a variety of reading materials, he does not rely on a single expert view.
4.Provide multiple roles and perspectives:  A learning environment cannot be called authentic if it relies on a single point of view such as the teacher’s alone, or a textbook. (Herrington et al, 2007)	Yes: Roles played by the teacher/lecturer showing us how to create a blog and how it works, together with the role played by students to post Apps on the blog spot, parents and educators accessing the Apps from the blog sport and play the role of being teachers to their children at home, represent multiple roles.  Our lecturer allowed us to source knowledge from a variety of sources, e.g. reading material, videos, and the web and we also learned a lot from him and from each other.
5.Support collaborative construction of knowledge. Collaboration and the opportunity to collaboratively construct knowledge are seen as important elements of an authentic e-learning model. However, simply placing students in groups will not necessarily result in collaboration, but students must also work on a common task with an appropriate incentive structure, that is, rewards based on the performance of the group. (Hooper, 1992).	Yes: The students worked collaboratively when posting the Apps to the blog post. That means a collaborative creation of knowledge. Students worked together and they had one educational goal; online teaching and learning. The context of the blog is also set on lockdown, therefore together the students and the lecturer are trying to find a solution to the problem. This also allowed students to learn from each other, as there were some Apps, some of us were not familiar with and heard about them for the first time.
6.Promote reflection to enable abstractions to be formed. In order to provide opportunities for students to reflect on their learnings, the e-learning course needs to provide an authentic context and task. It also needs to provide non-linear organization to enable students to readily return to any element of the site if desired, and the opportunity for learners to compare themselves with experts and other learners in varying stages of accomplishment. (Herrington et al, pg. 28, 2010)	Yes: The context is authentic COVID-19 and lockdown. The task is authentic, access to Apps for parents and teachers for online teaching and learning during the lockdown. Students could go back to the blog post at any time. With access to each other’s blog URLs and having looked at the lecture’s blog, this allowed comparison of each other’s work, i.e. Each other’s blog posts and the lecture’s blog. Students were allowed to reflect on what they had learned during all the sessions.
7.Promote articulation to enable tacit knowledge to be explicit. In order to produce an e-learning course capable of providing opportunities for articulation, the tasks need to incorporate inherent, as opposed to constructed, opportunities to articulate, collaborative groups to enable articulation, and the public presentation of argument to enable defense of a position. (Herrington et al, pg. 30, 2010).	Yes: Students are allowed to present their work and share their presentation with the whole class so others can critic the presentations to explain unclear or vague information.
8.Provide coaching and scaffolding by the teacher at critical times. A scaffolding and coaching role for teachers means assisting, not by giving answers or information, but by helping them at the metacognitive level – such as by asking for further questions. (Herrington, 2010) The foundation for the notion of scaffolding, according to Herrington, (2010), lies in Vygotsky’s (1978), ‘zone of proximal of proximal development’ described as ‘the distance between the actual development level as determined through problem-solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem-solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers.	Yes: The lecturer always gives clear instructions when giving a task to students. The lecturer acts as a coach and also a facilitator. The lecturer does this very well at all times even provides notes to explain anything that is not clear e.g. notes on how to create a blog. The lecturer assisted us with constructing knowledge that was translated into creating individual blogs, taking us to proximal development, and making learning real. He gave us a lot of support in the form of reading materials, videos, and peer learning.
9.Provide an authentic assessment of learning within the tasks An authentic assessment examines the student’s ability to apply knowledge in performing a task that is exactly what is existing in real life e.g. planning a trip. (https://www.slideshare.net/pamelacamillebreton/assessment-techniques). In order to provide an integrated and authentic assessment of student learning, the e-learning course needs to provide the opportunity for students to be effective performers with acquired knowledge, and to craft polished, performances or products in collaboration with others. (Herrington et al.pg.35, 2010). It also requires the assessment to be seamlessly integrated with the activity and to provide appropriate criteria for scoring varied products. (Herrington et al.pg.35, 2010).	Yes: The tasks the lecturer gave us are real, set in a real setting, lockdown, and COVID -19. Assessment is practical, providing the Apps for online learning for parents and teachers. We also produced products like creating our own blogs and PowerPoint Presentations. The assessment was integrated smoothly from one part to the next without gaps.