Professional Development Institution January 7 th, 2009 Presented by: Shaun Beaty Director of Course Design and Instructional Technology The Institute.

Promoting Student Interactivity in Online and

Face-to-Face CoursesProfessional Development InstitutionJanuary 7th, 2009

Presented by: Shaun BeatyDirector of Course Design and Instructional TechnologyThe Institute for Learning and Teaching

The Institute for Teaching and Learning

Overview of Presentation

Student to Instructor▪ Best Practices▪ Technology examples

Student to Student▪ Best Practices▪ Technology examples

Student to Content▪ Best Practices▪ Technology examples

Q and A

Consistent and frequent student to instructor interaction is one of the most important factors in motivating students

Best Practices for Student to Instructor interaction:

1. Provide frequent and thorough feedback

2. Identify and follow up with students who are not participating

Student to Instructor Interaction

Student to Instructor InteractionTraditional contact has been through classroom interactions, office hours and the

telephone. Other modes of contact/interaction include:

Email Used for individual communication General class announcements Group email notifications Email system set up within RamCT

Instant Messenger (IM): A communication tool that can be used to synchronously chat with other users.

“Who’s Online” within RamCT▪ Used to chat in real time with users who are enrolled in courses and logged in to

RamCT the same time current user is logged in. ▪ Is similar to the Chat tool except that it can be used without first entering a

course. Additional IM software:

▪ MSN Messenger (Windows Live), Yahoo, Google Talk, AOL Messenger, MySpace IM, Miranda

Student to Instructor Interaction Chat: Is a web service that provides users an environment

to communicate in “real time” and engage in conversations with all users or selected users RamCT: Chat tool serves as a two way text based communication

feature.▪ The Chat tool can only be used to chat with users in a particular course.

Can be used as a way to conduct virtual office hours.  Course Announcements: Used for addressing key points,

topic review/overview, administration issues Traditionally through whiteboard/chalkboard, word of mouth, or

email. RamCT: Messages can be sent to members of the course, based

upon role in classroom environment▪ Can set date/time for announcement to appear/disappear▪ Create as a pop up message

Student to Instructor Interaction Discussions

Participate and facilitate class discussions through available forums▪ RamCT▪ asynchronous communication between all members of classroom▪ create topics relevant to the course and generate class discussion

through open-ended questions

▪ http://learning.colostate.edu: Create additional class forums

When creating a class discussion, it’s important to:▪ model appropriate participation in discussions▪ encourage student questions, and support the expression of

multiple points of view▪ allow expression of different perspectives, backgrounds and

experiences

Student to Student Interaction

Cooperative learning can engage students more deeply in the process of learning and provide scaffolding that allows them to deepen their understanding of course content. Best Practices for Student to Student Interaction: Design activities that promote collaboration, cooperation and networking.

Student to Student Interaction

Study Groups These may be formal or informal, graded or non-graded, short-

term or long-term. Example:

▪ Assign students to groups of 3-6 students. Group is given a task to work on together and produces a group answer, paper or project.

RamCT:▪ Create Custom Group: Instructor assigns group▪ Create Multiple Group: Instructor assigns group or students

randomly distributed▪ Sign-up sheets: Students sign up for groups, can be limited

number of group participants▪ Assign groups to discussions, assignments and chats▪ Email “lists” created by group

Student to Student Interaction

Discussion Forums RamCT: ▪ create discussions for students to discuss and

reflect upon class content▪ create topics to facilitate communication

within groups of students that are working collaboratively on a project▪ encourage peer review of assignments

Student to Student Interaction Blogs

Students have the ability to read and reflect upon a posting and spend time to gather and express their reactions to each posting

Act as a journaling tool or central discussion topic Sequential postings RamCT:▪ Blogs built into structure, through discussion tool

Learning@CSU▪ Create additional blogs through site

Other third party blogging tools can easily integrate and customize into own web site/page▪ Wordpress (http://wordpress.com)▪ Blogger (http://blogger.com)

Student to Student Interaction Social Networking Services

Sites designed to offer interactive, user submitted, network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, music and video▪ MySpace-- http://myspace.com▪ Facebook-- http://facebook.com▪ LinkedIn-- http://linkedin.com▪ Flickr-- Photo/video management and sharing tool http://flickr.com▪ Twitter-- A service to communicate and stay connected http://

twitter.com▪ Second Life – peer to peer interaction within virtual world

http://secondlife.com ▪ YouTube -- upload, share and view videos http://youtube.com▪ Google Docs – web based word processor and spreadsheet allowing

users to share and collaborate online http://docs.google.com

Student to Content Interaction

Students should engage with course content, they should discuss and write about it, relating it to their experiences and, when possible, outside the institution.

Student to Content InteractionBest Practices with Student to Content Interaction

Create an Active Learning Environment Active Learning: Takes place when students are provided a chance

to form an interactive relationship with the subject matter, encouraging them to discover, process and apply rather than simply receiving knowledge (passive learning)

Students learn in the classroom with the help of the instructor, other students, rather than on their own

Instructors facilitate and coach rather than dictate the students’ learning

Activities should build off previous knowledge and be structured in a sequence such that earlier classes lay the foundation for complex and higher level learning tasks in later classes

Student to Content InteractionExamples that encourage Active Learning

PowerPoint: Short PowerPoint presentations with follow up activities Example: Present concept, idea(s), topics, etc. through slides. Follow

up with related activity—discussion, group project, quiz etc.

Adobe Presenter: Create informational, self paced and on-demand presentations with streaming video, audio and Adobe Flash movies directly from MS PowerPoint. Publish content as a flash file (.swf) or PDF document, preserving all

animations Windows only production Example

Student to Content Interaction Adobe Captivate or Camtasia Studio: “Show

How” and “Do Now” Software creates demonstrations, interactive

simulations and branched scenario, problem solving activities (Soft Skills)

Create interactive quizzing features (immediate feedback), mastery learning

Example: http://learning.colostate.edu/courses/twt/

Student to Content Interaction Video

Introduce concepts, units/modules Wrap up of unit/module, overview of exercise Can be created with a basic web cam and software

(Windows Movie Maker) Suggestion: “chunk” videos into 5-15 minute

segments. Video supported by CSU:▪ MediaSite: streaming video and presentation

features. Can be asynchronous and synchronous▪ Example: http://tilt.colostate.edu/twt/

Student to Content Interaction Podcasts: A podcast is a series of digital-media files

which is distributed over the Internet by syndicated download or through web feeds to portable media players and personal computers. Audio recording of lectures, feedback to projects,

announcements, intro’s, or wrap up/conclusion to modules▪ iTunesU▪ http://itunes.colostate.edu/▪ Terry Gray’s presentation Teaching with

Technology—Spring 2007 (located on the Tilt website)

Student to Content Interaction Whiteboards

Can be used like the “chalkboard” in the classroom▪ Use text, color, shapes, equations▪ Can record and create on demand recordings▪ Incorporate Audio and video into some Whiteboards▪ Serve as virtual office hour setting

RamCT▪ Whiteboard and chat tool

  Other whiteboard software’s include:▪ Elluminate: http://www.elluminate.com/▪ Adobe Connect:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnectpro/

Student to Content Interaction StudyMate by Respondus

Create intellectual and interactive activities and games through simple templates▪ Can serve as an assessment piece or way to

gage understanding for concepts or topics▪ Web based (flash file)▪ Include audio, graphics, mathematic and

scientific symbols, randomize questions▪ Create mobile files (iPod or PSP)

Example: http://www.respondus.com/studymate/samples.shtml  

Student to Content Interaction Wiki’s

“Multilingual, web based, free content encyclopedia project” (Wikipedia.org)

Is an avenue for sharing ideas and producing a result that was created collaboratively▪ Wiki’s can be used to create:▪ A central topic or theme is presented. Students work throughout term to

define the topic▪ Define procedures/guidelines, create checklists▪ FAQ’s, error resolutions, course manuals▪ Class glossaries or other key resources

▪ Other wiki providers▪ Learning @ Colostate -- http://learning.colostate.edu▪ Wikimatrix -- http://wikimatrix.org▪ MediaWiki -- http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki

Student to Content Interaction Many of the other features previously

discussed could serve as a way for presenting content that encourages student and content interaction Discussions Blogs Social Networking Chats Instant Messenger Email Course Announcement

Q and A Time

Questions?

Review of Presentation

Student to Instructor▪ Best Practices▪ Technology Examples

Student to Student▪ Best Practices▪ Technology Examples

Student to Content▪ Best Practices▪ Technology Examples

Q and A

Closing Thought: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoID=1529637984 ▪ PowerPoint suggestions by Don McMillan

Resources

Blogs: Wordpress (http://wordpress.com) Blogger (http://blogger.com)

 Social Networking:

MySpace-- http://myspace.com Facebook-- http://facebook.com LinkedIn-- http://linkedin.com Flickr-- http://flickr.com Twitter-- http://twitter.com YouTube -- http://youtube.com Google Docs –- http://docs.google.com Second life– http://secondlife.com

Presentation Software: Adobe Captivate -- http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate/ Adobe Presenter -- http://www.adobe.com/products/presenter/ Camtasia Studio (TechSmith) --

http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp?CMP=KgoogleCStmhome&gclid=CJuxgYaiwJYCFRIcawodZmGIyA

 Video:

MediaSite (SonicFoundry) -- http://www.sonicfoundry.com/ Adobe Connect -- http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnectpro/?promoid=DJDVR

Resources

Podcasting: iTunes U at CSU -- http://itunes.colostate.edu/ Beyond Borrowed Lecture Notes: The Upsides and Downsides of Podcasting (Spring

2007)-- http://tilt.colostate.edu/twt/

WhiteBoards: RamCT --

https://wsprod.colostate.edu/cwis5/ramct/training/CE6__846pageReference_Design_Instruct.pdf

Elluminate -- http://www.elluminate.com/ Adobe Connect -- http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnectpro/

Flash Based Presentations: StudyMate by Respondus -- http://www.respondus.com/studymate/samples.shtml SwishZone -- http://www.swishzone.com/index.php?area=products&product=max Flash -- http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/?promoid=DJDTE

 Wiki's:

Wikipedia – http://wikipedia.org wikimatrix -- http://wikimatrix.org MediaWiki -- http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki