Engaging Learners with New Strategies and Tools

Distant education has grown immensely in the past years.  According to our article it can be as effective as traditional instruction when the technologies are appropriate for the instructional tasks (Durrington, Berryhill, & Swafford).  Online instruction can provide opportunities for students to build interactive relationships.  Communication tools such as email, Skype, and the discussion board provide a place for students to interact and provide feedback.  The article states that the instructor should provide an open, supportive, and respectful online environment (Druuington, Berryhill, & Swafford).  In an Asynchronous discussion board guidelines must be established.  A timeline for when the postings are due and how many postings are expected are needed guidelines.  Skype may not be available to all students, and the time zone may be an issue.  Email is a tool that can be used to communicate privately to students.  Collaboration tools are used for small groups to work on projects together, instead of the whole class.  Blogs, Wikis, and virtual classrooms are places where students can post projects and comment on them.  Virtual classrooms such as second life allow students to interact in a 3D environment through avatars.  Students can socialize and participate in individual and group activities.  Wikis are used collaboratively among a small group to post and edit information.  Students can have their own page and choose who can edit the pages.  Blogs are a part of a website that is individually maintained.  Videos and other media can be uploaded to the site.  Others can follow or comment on the postings.

Durrington, V., Berryhill, A., & Swafford, J. (2006). Stategies for enhancing student interactivity in an online environment. College Teaching.  vol 54/No. 1.

Tracy

Module 3: Assessing Collaborative Efforts

In a learning management system, an educator can assess students based on:

How many times they log on,

How many hours they spend online,

How many hours they spend in group related activities,

How many posts they contribute (Siemens, 2008)

Participation in a collaborative learning community should be assessed equitable and fair.  I personally like the rubric.  A rubric is a scoring tool that lists the criteria for what is expected on a project, performance, or task.  The rubric lists the expectations of the students with a score or rating for what is expected.  A rubric will help a student self reflect as well as self assess.  It is a great communication tool between the professor and student.  It is a very fair tool because students know what to expect before working on a project or task.  They know the criteria for getting a perfect score verses getting a moderate score.  I looked up an online rubric for discussion board.

http://www2.uwstout.edu/content/profdev/rubrics/discussionrubric.html

If a student does not want to network or collaborate in a learning community, they should not take the course.  Collaborative communities can be challenging for many students (Siemens, 2008).  I remember the last class that I took online.  There were several students in that class that are not in this class.  I talked with a student, and he said that online classes were not for him.  He stated that he needed face to face interaction with the professor.  There are things other members of the community can do to get students to participate.  They can have them role play, participating in a high functioning learning community (Seimens, 2008).  The instructor must create a mix of individual and community based environments (Seimens, 2008).  Collaboration and cooperation are the keys to successful online communities.

Siemens, G. (2008). Assessment of collaborative learning. [podcast]. Laureate Education, Inc.  Baltimore: Author.

Siemens, G. (2008) Learning communities. [podcast]. Laureate Education, Inc.  Baltimore: Author.

Tracy

Story Board video presentation - Collaboration

Story Board