Module One: An Overview of Online Tools Brown Bag #1-Feb.24, 2008 ©2008
Dec 27, 2015
Learn about the effective use of online tools for communication and collaborative learning
Learn the differences between asynchronous and synchronous communication tools
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Online tools make it possible for the ◦ Visual learner to learn by “seeing” online
discussions◦ Tactual learner to learn by actively participating
in online discussions◦ Auditory learner to learn by “listening” to online
discussions
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What are your educational objectives/strategies for your class?
Which of these objectives can be met by using online tools?
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More options for students with different learning styles
Create more meaningful interactions with students
Extend the classroom boundaries
Enable all students to participate (the shy student, the reflective thinker, the disabled student, etc).
Offer students more opportunities to use the language of your discipline
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ASYNCHRONOUS Communication
without regard to time or place◦ Email◦ Listservs◦ Bulletin Boards
SYNCHRONOUS Communication
without regard to place, but with designated meeting times◦ Chat◦ Instant Messaging◦ Virtual Reality
Environments
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Benefits◦ Opportunity to provide individual attention to
students◦ Students can conduct group projects via email◦ Shy students may be more apt to participate via
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A closer look at asynchronous tools
Group e-mail in Blackboard Benefits
◦ Students can continue class discussions after they leave the classroom
◦ Answer questions and post to the entire class at once
BLOG
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Module OneA closer look at asynchronous tools
What is a Bulletin Board?◦ Sample of a bulletin board –Bb Discussion Forum
Benefits◦ Post important information for your students
(schedule changes, grading information, reading lists, etc.)
◦ Stimulate student discussions by posting questions, which are threaded and make following discussions easier
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A closer look at asynchronous tools
What is chat?◦ Sample of a chat room ◦ Benefits◦ Introduce content experts from outside the class◦ Online office hours
Example◦ Online office hours
Activity◦ Chat area in Groups
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A closer look at synchronous tools
What is a Virtual Reality Environment?◦ Chat, Collaboration, virtual conferencing
Benefits◦ Similar to chat, with these added benefits
Ability to express non-verbal gestures (different from chat)
Users help build the virtual environment or community Example
◦ Classes work together across different universities Activity
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Preparing Yourself◦ Use your college schedule of classes, catalog, or
web site to inform your students that your course will use online tools—web-augmented, hybrid, 100%
◦ Make sure students have the facilities available to access the tools (campus labs, local library, home)
◦ Use a separate email account for communication with students—sometimes recommended
◦ Set up the bulletin board , listserv and chat room facilities you plan to use well before classes begin and test everything prior to first use
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Preparing Your Class◦ Privacy considerations◦ The class survey
Find out what your students already know about using online tools
Facility Considerations◦ Must make sure tools are accessible to students
before requiring them to use the tools for class
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Learn to enhance faculty-student communication using asynchronous tools
Learn to enhance student-student communication using asynchronous tools
Learn to manage class communication using asynchronous tools
Troubleshoot strategies and backup plans when using asynchronous tools
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Participation in group projects is easier Students can participate at any time Online resources can be easily shared Learning process can continue when class is
cancelled Student may be more comfortable writing
than speaking Personalized attention can be given to
students in need Any other examples? (page 26)
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One-to-One Communication◦ Email to an individual student
One-to-Many Communication◦ Communication to groups of students using email,
listservs, or bulletin boards
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Communication Styles ◦ Students and faculty must be aware of different
communication styles◦ Instructor must set the tone for email messages◦ Let students know at the beginning of class your
policies regarding response time◦ Use “clues” to help convey the meaning of your
messages Clues refer to emoticons and acronyms
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Emoticons :-) or : ) Smiley (most common);-) or ; ) Wink:-o or : o Gasp:-( or : ( Unhappiness
Any others?
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Acronyms
BTW:IMO:IMHO:FAQ: FYI: ROTFL:LOL:F2F:
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By the wayIn My Opinion
In My Humble OpinionFrequently Asked Question(s)
For Your InformationRolling on the Floor Laughing
Laughing out LoudFace to Face
Providing Feedback◦ Students like the instant feedback they are able
to receive when using online tools to communicate
◦ Instructors must set up their standards for responding to email Turn-around time Different response time for different types of
questions? What are the standards for students?
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Editing Student Writing (samples page 31 & 32)
◦ Comment within the reply so the original message is set off from the regular text with >.
◦ Comment in all CAPS◦ Use arrows, quotes, or brackets◦ Use * with detailed explanations at the bottom of
the message. Be sure to let your students know your
strategy at the beginning of the class and let them know what strategy they should use.
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Additional Suggestions◦ Copy and paste from a word processor if the
email program doesn’t have a spell checker◦ Realize material may lose formatting◦ Use attachments when formatting is necessary,
but warn students about viruses and make sure students save their attachments in rich-text format
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Which do you think would be the most appropriate used tool for Activity One? email listserv bulletin board
Which is best for Activity Two? email listserv bulletin board
Which is best for Activity Three? email listserv bulletin board
Can you think of any more uses in your classes?
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Setting up student email accounts:◦ Encourage students to use a free account so they
are not giving out their personal accounts to the class
◦ Have your students send you an email as their first assignment; that way you’ll be sure to have their address
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Let your students know your response policy Use folders and filters to help organize your
messages Have your students put keywords in their
subject line to make filtering easier Use signature files Set up auto-responses to your emails so your
students immediately know you received it Offer students alternatives to email to turn in
papers in case of problems
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If your campus has local bulletin board software, use it◦ Tech support should be easier◦ Students may be using the
system in other classes Free web-based bulletin
boards are listed in the appendix
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Expand the boundaries of your classroom◦ Schedule guest speakers, have your students
participate in existing chat sessions regarding current events, join two class together for discussion periods
Schedule online office hours In-class tutors can set up chat sessions to
help students Facilitate group work and collaborative
learning
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Communication Styles◦ Require your students to be prepared with
questions and comments before participating in online discussions
◦ Provide focused tasks/assignments so students don’t get “lost”
◦ Act as the moderator and keep students on track
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Providing Feedback◦ Reserve feedback for a more private venue
Chat rooms will often allow you to send private messages to individuals
Make sure students understand how they will be graded when participating in synchronous activities
Students should know what you expect regarding behavior
Inform students if you will be keeping a printed log of chat and MOO sessions.
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Netiquette & Best Practices◦ Confine remarks to one or two lines◦ Avoid extremely personal comments◦ Do not use all uppercase letters (this is
SHOUTING)◦ Use only common emoticons or acronyms
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What positive outcomes can you see in using Chats or MOOs to communicate with students?
In what ways would a MOO be more effective than a Chat session?
What are some other uses of synchronous tools that you could use with your classes?
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Chat◦ Make sure there is a clear objective of the chat
session and keep people on track◦ Learn the features of the chat software you are
using before introducing it to students. Is Instant Messaging a built-in capability? Do you
need it to be? Can people easily find your chat room?
◦ You may need to divide your class into groups before using a chat session, rather than having the entire class log in at once.
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MOO◦ Make sure your are completely comfortable with
MOOs before introducing them to your students. See story page 50
◦ Take small groups to MOOs for their first visit.◦ MOO assignments should be designed as
individual or small group efforts.. ◦ Provide a handout of the basic MOO commands
that gives examples of their uses.◦ More guidelines on page 51.
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Identify learning objectives for students Select tools that will help students achieve
learning objectives Learn how to design online groups and
activities Develop a short lesson/activity to take back
to the classroom
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Tool One toOne
One toMany
Synchronous Asynchronous Threaded
Listservs
BulletinBoardsChat
InstantMessaging
Virtual RealityEnvironments
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X X X X X
X
X
X
X X X
X
X
X
X
X
Setting the Tone◦ The tone you take (formal or informal) will likely
be the one most students will assume◦ Remind students of your response-time policy◦ Provide guidelines for online behavior--“lurk” to
make sure the guidelines are being followed
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Modeling/Coaching◦ “Lurk” in order to provide feedback to students
who are having difficulty collaborating online. (page 58 & 59) Suggestion: make copying you on messages a
requirement when communicating with email◦ If there are few interactions online; send a
message to the students asking for feedback◦ Watch small group discussions for comments
about members who are not participating
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Designing Effective Groups◦ Survey the class◦ 3-5 students per group◦ Place one technologically-savvy person in each
group◦ Decide what to do about “flakes”◦ Group students with similar schedules◦ If you don’t want to set guidelines, you could ask
each group to set its own standards for participation
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Valuing Student Contributions◦ Quality of contribution. For example, point will be
given when: The source of the idea is clearly stated The comment clearly communicates the topic or issue
◦ Level of participation. For example: Participation is required at least ___ times per week Posts will be counted and points will be awarded for them Points will be given if you start a relevant thread of
discussion Points will be awarded to the first person to contribute to
each topic◦ Your own ideas for grading (Page 65)
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Quality of Assignments◦ If a documents is received and you notice lots of
problems in the first paragraph, send it back◦ Use peer editing to refine assignments before you
see them◦ Post successful papers from previous classes to
motivate students◦ Post sample papers with corrections for modeling
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Managing Assignments◦ You don’t have to be so reactive, you needn’t
read every message◦ As you become more comfortable with groups,
read only the top-level report, not all the lower-level chat
◦ Collect group reports instead of individual ones Have students collaborate on assignments and only
send you one message
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Offer a variety of options to students with different learning styles
Create more meaningful interactions with students
Extend classroom boundaries Improve communication with your students Offer students the opportunity to use the
language of your discipline Encourage the development and growth of
the learning community
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You will be paired with a person in the class. Read the scenarios on page 71 and discuss the best tool for each scenario:◦ Email◦ Listserv◦ Bulletin Board◦ Chat◦ MOO◦ Instant Messaging
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Use the worksheet on page 74 to design a lesson plan that incorporates the use of an online tool with your class. ◦ Be sure to address the objectives you wrote down
in activity one (page 71).
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Module Four
@Empowering
faculty & staffto enhance their workthrough technology
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