Week 4 - Facilitating Discussion and Student Collaboration

The discussion this week focused on a couple of really important issues for online teachers. Issues of not only what type of technology are appropriate for asynchronous and synchronous communication, but also how those technologies can be used to foster student collaboration and what type of strategies and management policies might need to be developed so that they are used effectively by students. It seems to me that these tools, and subsequent management styles and policies, can be broken down into three categories: information delivery, student participation in social creation of knowledge, and collaborative group work. I think Anna's Weebly website did a nice job of outlining both a range of asynchronous and synchronous tools as well as some strategies for facilitating discussion and feedback. Discussion on the tools was OK, but after a year of similar type discussions I think some questions with specific scenarios to cause us to examine situations and defend a position might have been a little bit more stimulating. Personal experience and instructor preference and teaching style are certainly factors in choosing communication tools, but I think one always has to keep in mind the type of content being delivered and the end goal of the course. For example, more discussion is needed in a literature course vs. a math course. OR perhaps discussion with a different type of emphasis. Might have been interesting to see that discussion spin off in that direction.

I found the second thread on discussion boards very interesting, and also the toughest one for me personally. I'm not entirely sold on the whole concept. It just seems to take so much more time composing thoughts and typing out messages than speaking in a classroom discussion. Lots of added work for the instructor as well. At any rate, examining the purpose of the discussion board, how to encourage participation, and how to manage (including assess participation) is certainly a very important topic. Due to the lack of immediacy in the online environment, the discussion board is the pulse of the learning community. And I admit, it does afford the opportunity to research information and cite sources, etc. that would be difficult to do in fast paced f2f class discussion. So, there is the potential to examine issues in greater depth. Now that I think of it, I guess having a record of particularly good or "rich" threads that share lots of resources can be a real benefit as well.

Jury is still out on the role of the instructor in online discussions. I know that many subscribe to the "guide on the side" and research supports that role as well, but perhaps it's just my style of direct instruction that makes me want to be more in control and "direct traffic" so to speak. I'm sure that would be quickly tempered with a large class, however, as the little experience I've had in the last semester and this summer has proven how much effort goes into playing the role of the gardener planting, cultivating, and pruning discussion threads. Discussion boards can also be overwhelming for the student, so I think a very clear discussion policy is needed to outline how much participation is required and of what quality and how students will be assessed on their participation on the board. At first, I was really feeling overwhelmed with all the discussion questions plus activities in this class. Especially when groups decided to each do separate activities or discussions. However, I noticed the further the class went, either due to the fact everyone was starting to feel overwhelmed or through reading and researching how to facilitate discussions, more groups started to introduce choice and specific directions for how to participate in their activity. That was very helpful.

I'm glad that Chris brought up the issue of group work and collaboration. Group work is certainly a point of contention among all students. Like a disturbance in the force, you can almost hear the whole class emit a groan at reading a syllabus full of collaborative activities. Yes, I still groan. BUT in the last year I've learned some good strategies for dealing with group work assignments. I do think they are necessary for two reasons 1) good form of assessment to have students create a unique product, especially for courses that require mastery of conceptual knowledge 2) the real world requires group communication skills and the ability to find compromise and create group consensus to create real world product. I was fortunate to experience the team contract in one of my first courses in the ITEC program. Not only do I think it's a good tool, but it really brings to light the importance of structure and group decision making process for how the project will be handled. Now when I start a group project, I use the team agreement as a framework to help my group make some important decisions on communication and responsibility at the very beginning of the process. A little bit of contention in the beginning is much better than disfunction at the deadline.

I liked the spirit of Josh's collaborative activity, and I think that type of activity can be very useful for students. Not only for creating a list of resources, but also for creating a glossary of terms or any other type of resources that draw on strengths of either collective knowledge or group production. Unfortunately, doesn't look like many people posted resources. I found one or two new ones, but many were tried and true technologies.

Week 3 - Direct Instruction

I really liked Ashley and Sara's blog for direct instruction. It was refreshing to different approach than a wiki or Google site; I admit I've probably overused Google sites in my projects. I think for their project it worked out well, and I enjoyed interacting on the blog for a change of pace instead of responding in Vista. Although, I do see two minor issues with the blog format. 1) Long threads can be tough to follow 2) Not everyone has a gmail account some sometimes the post appears as anonymous, so you don't know who posted to whom you're responding.

I thought Ashley and Sara provided some good information on direct instruction. And I'm actually glad there was some disagreement and clarification on the definition of direct instruction, or at least meaning of direct instruction within the context of online courses. I felt that some of the information they provided was not specifically geared towards one shot small unit/lesson individualized online instruction. Seemed like it was more a model of group instruction. In either event, I've been practicing direct instruction in both contexts. In my fly casting school I've been using direct instruction techniques for many years without being aware of the concept. Direction instruction suits my logical mind. I like to break everything down into small steps that are clustered or chunked into small units that built one skill upon the next in a logical sequence until the end goal is reached. And I've designed and developed many job-aids to teach short specific skills to individual, independent learners.

I also really enjoyed this discussion because it allowed me to use some of the knowledge and skills I'm currently learning in my other summer course, instructional design. I think being more aware of the entire process - tuned into the learners needs, the context of learning environment, detailed break down of steps - definitely helped me in producing a quality direct instruction project on how to create a web site in Weebly.

Of course, being a "techie" I found Jacob's discussion on technology interesting. However, I didn't find too many technologies that were new to me. One I did like, and think might be good for instructor feedback or even an introductory activity is Eyejot, http://www.eyejot.com/about.html. Very similar to Tokbox in that user's create a free account, record a message, then send it to another user's mailbox - video email. Only limitation is both people must have an account, and there could be concerns about security or privacy. I like the idea of video introductions, especially for the instructor, but think it's probably best to record and delivery those using KSU tube via Vista.

I think the asynchronous technologies are by far the easier technologies to use, both for instructors and students. Easier in the sense that just like course materials, there is more time to learn how to use it, learn at your own pace, and time to deal with figuring out any technical difficulties. My experience has been both from an instructor's perspective, I developed and delivered a Wimba tutorial which was presented just like a regular class lesson, and a students, having used iLinc, that synchronous technologies are difficult to learn and use well. Lots of features, requires better technology skills and equipment, greater possibility for technical difficulty with duplex audio and video, take more practice to learn, etc. Not that I'm complaining, that's future job security for me ; )

Week 2 - Communication

Communication, all aboard! The lifeblood of the online community. So, it was a little bit strange I thought to spend so much time and effort on students with disabilities. Not that I'm insensitive, I certainly think that online learning can be a real benefit for some physicial disablilities that make it difficult to participate in f2f courses. Distance eduction, especially asynchronous courses are also beneficial for some cognitive disabilities as well. Asynchronous courses allow students to work at their own pace and without distraction from the physical environment. And I do think it's important to be aware of a school's ADA policy, section 508, and resources available to students in online courses.

That being said, my sense is those are a minority of students and there is little that an instructor can do for them in the online environment, lacking the immediacy of f2f, other than refer them to the proper resources and try to accomodate their particular disability in choice of course materials and delivery once - and this is the key part - the student themselves make known their disability to the teacher. I did appreciate becoming more aware of the assistive technologies, however.

Yes, I found the disability web sites very interesting. And I found the opposition or lack of enthusiasm for Dr. K's idea of a course to teach instructors how to make their Vista course accessible a little puzzling. Working in the Ed Tech dept, I've become aware of just how intensive the process is to get a course ready. And I'm not sure of the percentage of online instructors that actually develop their courses in Vista.  But I would think if any dept took on the challenge, the ITEC dept would be leading the way. So, interesting but I'm not so sure I would have chosen that topic for such a short course when there is so much more to discuss relating to communication.

Unfortunately, I got pulled into instructional design and didn't get back on the board to participate in the more interesting discussion on managing communication, communication technologies and a communication policy. I've had plenty of experience in the last year using communication technologies in my course works and could have contributed to the discussion.

One of the hard parts of the online discussion or me is knowing how much is enough and how much I can pick and choose. I feel obligated to read everything and participate in every discussion. Sometimes that leads to burn out, or I get pulled away to something else and don't have the chance to come back and  jump into the discussion I'm really interested in. Even after a year plus of discussion boards, I still have a hard time striking the right balance. I think a whole discussion itself could be spent on the best way to manage online participation using the built in tools in Vista. Kind of like a tips and tricks of the pros for efficient time management in online posting.

Week 1 - Social Presence

Well, week one was full steam ahead as we, Matt and I, tried to get our project together while at the same time participating in the other group's ice breaker activity. Fortunately, social presence is a topic I've encountered in other classes so I was already aware of the importance for engaging students in a online course, both theoretically and from personal experience. Since the basis of learner centered construction of knowledge in an online course stems directly from active participation and engagement in the online learning environment motivation to participate is critical to online success. As both research, and again personal experience, assert affect can strongly influence motivation. Creating social presence in the online environment is an effective tool instructors can use to create a sense of community and belonging in the absence of the immediacy and physical presence students experience in face-to face courses. I know from my personal experience the more connected I feel to the instructor and my peers, the more I want to engage and participate in course. And as a result, the more I'm likely to learn.

Although I feel our activity fell a little bit flat, I gained a greater appreciation for the difficulty in creating social presence among online students. I liked the other group's activity for creating an ice breaker activity, and would like to try out my idea using Tokbox to leave short introductory video messages, or a personal show and tell given the chance. I enjoyed the Google Earth introductory activity as well. I think the ice breaker is a good way ease everyone into the course while at the same time allowing for some creativity, which might not otherwise be possible depending on course content, and the opportunity to learn new communication technologies. Developing technological literacy is an important part of the online experience and the ice breaker is a fun way to do so.

I know this is a short course, but social presence is only one leg of a three legged stool. I would have liked to had a discussion on cognitive and teacher presence as well.  I posted a link to an interesting article on the  topic, but don't think anyone bit. http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/viewArticle/325/743.