The value of online discussion boards

I am a big fan of online discussion boards. I think they are a great way for students to interact in an asynchronous online environment, and when carefully defined, a valuable way for student learning to be assessed. Discussions allow for students to see what their peers are thinking as well as to carefully formulate their own thoughts on whatever the discussion topics are. I especially favor the advantage a discussion board offers over a classroom discussion: the ability to think through one’s response before presenting it to the class.

http://www.ncolr.org/jiol/issues/showissue.cfm?volID=2&IssueID=8 has a pdf link for an article called "Increasing Students' Interactivity in an Online Course" which focuses on online discussions. Smith and Winking-Diaz studied how to get students to interact more in online courses and how to increase students’ understanding of the course material, surely two worthwhile goals of discussion boards. The course these authors were studying was Adult Educational Psychology which met face-to-face three times, at the beginning and the middle and the end of the course, but otherwise was conducted completely online. Online discussions were facilitated by the instructors and several instructional strategies were utilized in the study, all of which merit consideration. The strategy I would like to focus on, though, is “Response labeling.” Students were required to label their discussion postings with one of five labels—“Response,” “Comment,” “Query,” “Clarify,” or “FYI.”

“The purpose of response labeling was to assist the students and the instructor in sifting through the sometimes lengthy lists of postings.” This labeling method intrigues me, because one of the most common complaints made about discussion boards is that they are so hard to maneuver through, with so many comments about so many topics. It seems to me that labeling types of postings could help to keep discussion topics and reasoning clearer.

In general, in my personal experience the only way to keep up with an active discussion board is to check the board daily, making contributions when appropriate. Otherwise, one is left with an almost indecipherable hodge-podge of postings. Perhaps some sort of labeling system would allow a less frequent discussion board visitation schedule.

Musings on video conferencing

I can’t let last night’s video conference pass without blogging a little bit about the experience. It was the second time I’ve ever web conferenced at all and the first time I’ve ever used a web cam. Therefore, the fact that I was to moderate the group was somewhat disconcerting ahead of time—A quiet reminder to me when I get impatient with teachers who are reluctant to integrate technology, because they don’t know the hardware or software well enough. That said, though, look where I was last night—Participating in an assignment for my online course, taking charge of my own learning, not letting my reluctance stop me. Reality is that a certain amount of curiosity and personal initiative to learn is required of teachers that are unfamiliar with technology in education.

Two things strike me as the most significant from the video conferencing experience. First, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I enjoyed seeing some of my classmates and my instructor, all in very separate areas of the country. I enjoyed hearing the voices and the thoughts of others studying the same things I am. It’s the part of online learning that I miss—The direct contact with other people. The fact that we have technical difficulties and pets and jobs and laughter was very uplifting to me. My first thought is, “Let’s do this again soon!”

On the other hand, one of the biggest advantages to online courses is the flexibility to work when it fits best into one’s schedule, and although I was happy to compromise for group consensus, last night was not what would have been my personal choice for a work time. My kids were home alone, because their father was at work. In addition, I didn’t get much coursework done last weekend, so I had to dedicate a great deal of time I wouldn’t have, without the impending video conference, the past couple of days to be prepared, putting other job responsibilities on hold. Were these issues a major problem this week? Absolutely not. However, as an online teacher it would seem to me to be extremely important to schedule such conferences sparingly as too many would negate the advantage of scheduling one’s own time for working on an online course.

All that said, I truly would not trade my experience video-conferencing last night for the world. It sounds sappy, but this is the first time since I started my online degree over a year ago that I really felt like we were all in this together. Thank you, Kate, Maggie, Tracia, and Lisa for the opportunity to get to know you a little better. And, yes, I’m on-board if we get to do it again!!!

Writing skills and online teaching

A question posed to me from an earlier blog inquired as to what special characteristics an online teacher needs, as opposed to an on ground teacher. I’ve been thinking about that a great deal, and while it’s obvious that an online teacher needs to be an expert in the subject matter, to be well-versed in technology, to exhibit well thought out teaching methods, and to care about students, what jumps out at me as one of the very most important qualities of an online teacher is extremely high quality writing skills. An on ground teacher doesn’t necessarily have to possess good writing skills. Students may never know. However, an online teacher communicates almost exclusively through writing which makes that skill of huge importance.

According to Min Shi, Curtis J. Bonk, and Richard J. Magjuka in their article about time management skills of online teachers (http://itdl.org/Journal/Feb_06/article01.htm), one of the best ways to cut down on not only confusion in the classroom but also to ultimately save instructional time is to write well. “Because writing is a major, and sometime the only, channel of communication in an online class, the importance of clear and concise writing of the course materials cannot be over-emphasized.”

Going a step further than writing the course materials well and clearly defining course expectations through writing, though, the skill of writing becomes extremely important in the personal correspondence with students, including e-mail, assignment assessments, discussion board responses, and so on. Not only must the writing be clear in a content way, but the writing must also be carefully analyzed for the nuances implied by the writing. In my experience e-mail and short written comments can sound cold, ostentatious, and accusatory, even when that wasn’t the implication. It’s the nature of the communication medium. An instructor needs to be in tune with these nonverbal characteristics of the writing and seek to communicate the appropriate emotions along with the appropriate content.

Respond to online students' e-mails

After being an online student in a very interactive environment for over a year now, I have often contemplated the work load of an online teacher. I think of the hours spent creating the coursework to post online, the hours gathering the appropriate online supplemental materials, the hours reading all the things students create whether assignments, discussion board posts, or . . . e-mail.

As a student I’ve tried very hard to keep my e-mailing to my instructors to a minimum. As a classroom teacher, though, and with my experiences with various students, my suspicion is that there are students that e-mail instructors frequently. Ko and Rossen recommend that certain e-mail guidelines be spelled out ahead of time, so students know what you as a teacher will respond to (p. 253). While I understand that recommendation, my gut reaction is that as a teacher, one must be very careful not to come across as defensive or out-of-reach or too authoritarian.

According to Kearsley and Blomeyer at http://home.sprynet.com/~gkearsley/TeachingOnline.htm, effective online teachers must enjoy "one-on-one interaction," be prepared to write a lot, and "provide timely and meaningful feedback." All of these criteria would certainly apply to responding to student e-mail. Perhaps I’ve just been in small online courses, but I’m extremely grateful that my online instructors always responded to me.

A case for online students keeping the same deadlines as their classmates rather than independently working ahead

I read with some interest the short section at the end of chapter 5 in Ko and Rossen’s Teaching Online that broached the subject of “Timing of Access.” The authors discuss the decision an online instructor must make about how much of the course materials should be revealed at one time (p. 100). The specific topic that intrigues me is the student who wants to work ahead.

Ko and Rossen present advantages and disadvantages to having course lessons posted all at once; however, I am very much in favor of posting lessons one at a time at appropriate intervals. Expecting to work ahead in a course pre-supposes that an instructor has the whole course planned and has no expectation of modifying the content no matter what actually occurs in the classroom, real or online, or irrespective of what new information the instructor might discover during the course that could be incorporated in some way. Furthermore, the supposition appears to be that there is nothing to be gained by having a whole classroom, real or online, of students working on the same things at the same time, collaborating or discussing together, and therefore, learning from each other.

A study conducted by Smith and Winking-Diaz examines the ways to increase “student interactivity” (http://www.ncolr.org/jiol/issues/PDF/2.3.3.pdf) citing research that has shown the value of students applying what they are learning in the course to their own experiences and knowledge bases. This type of analysis takes more time than what it takes to just read the material presented by an online course, and this analysis can be improved by the act of collaboration and interaction with classmates.

Taking this a step further than Ko and Rossen, my perspective is that a student who insists on working ahead is often focused on the final products due in a course rather than on the learning that takes place while reading, discussing, researching, writing, listening, practicing, and so on. This student also appears to me to be neglecting the importance of time as a necessary ingredient to the learning process: Time to integrate new concepts into what one already knows, time to contemplate what one believes about controversial topics, and time to further revise what may very well start out as a mediocre paper or project.

While I understand the advantages of getting lots of coursework done when one’s schedule is the most open, and I understand wanting to finish one project to move onto the next (trust me, no one is more of an independent learner than I am, and no one has a busier schedule than I do), I am firmly convinced that the price I pay in time pays off immeasurably with the increase in learning that takes place when a complete class of students all stick to the well thought out, weekly (or whatever interval) revealed lesson plans of an excellent teacher.

The importance of technology skills to effective online teaching

While I agree that "An interest in pedagogy should come first, technology second" (Ko & Rossen, p. 16), I do not agree that a "very basic familiarity with computers and the Internet will more than suffice" when it comes to online teaching. I have watched too many classroom teachers, afraid to integrate technology into their classrooms or to utilize the features of grading software, all of whom have a "very basic familiarity with computers and the Internet." I can't imagine putting these same teachers into a situation where they had to teach online. Most of them would have no idea where to begin and no confidence in their ability to teach under such circumstances.

My theory is that a basic familiarity with computers combined with an interest in learning more about technology and a confidence in one's ability to learn more is more descriptive of what is needed, along with expertise in the subject area of course, to become a decent online teacher. Ko and Rossen would seem to contradict themselves in their second chapter when they write that "No one knows everything, not even your computer support personnel. Even in a high-tech world, you have to do a little homework of your own to stay on top of new developments" (p. 33). This would imply personal responsibility for an online teacher to learn what's needed when it comes to technology.

The frustrations of working with computer tools one isn't familiar with or feeling helpless when the technology isn't behaving as you expected will surely impact the effectiveness of the teaching of the subject matter. Ignorance of the variety of resources available both online and within an institution when it comes to technology would also be stumbling blocks to successful online teaching.

An interesting document located at www.sreb.org/programs/EdTech/pubs/PDF/Essential_Principles.pdf discusses important qualities for online teaching, one of which includes being able to troubleshoot student technical problems. Surely, this is yet another reason more than basic tech skills are necessary to be a successful online teacher. Read this article. It's full of interesting thoughts.

Teaching standards for online teachers

It would stand to reason for me that the standards for online teachers would be the same as the National Technology Standards for Teachers, in general, located at:
http://cnets.iste.org/teachers/t_stands.html. These six standards are important for any teacher in this information age and include, among other things, requirements that teachers: learn to use technology, continuously hone their technology skills, integrate technology into their classrooms, use technology to make their jobs easier, and model appropriate technology use.

Surely these standards apply as much to online teachers as to teachers in physical classrooms. I just don’t understand any teacher who doesn’t see the value of technology in the classroom and who doesn’t feel personally responsible to learn how to best use technology in education.

Percentage of online students that drop out

There is some controversy as to the level of student attrition from online courses. References in this article are made to researchers who have placed the online attrition rates anywhere from 80% on down to just 10-20% higher than traditional course drop out rates.

Reasons for online course attrition according to this researcher include:
Learner’s background variables—Such as “maturity, personal circumstances and previous experience”
Environmental variables—Such as “family, social and work commitments”
Academic variables—Such as previous academic success and “fit between the learner and the subject being studied”

I LOVE my online courses, so it’s hard to relate to those who don’t follow through with their own courses.

Tyler-Smith, K. (2005). Early attrition among first time eLearners: A review of factors that contribute to drop-out, withdrawal and n-completion rates of adult learners undertaking eLearning programmes. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching. Retrieved Sept. 3, 2006, from http://jolt.merlot.org/Vol2_No2_TylerSmith.htm

Qualities of a successful online teacher

I’m sure there are many important qualities of successful online environments, but surely one of the most important considerations, from my own personal experience, is the instructor. According to the article I just read, online teachers must BE VOCAL, which does not mean that they should “talk” a lot. The qualities of the successful online teacher and the words the acronym VOCAL stands for are:

(Qualities followed by examples)
1. Visible--Instructor’s web site, timely instructor discussion comments, frequent e-mails, video/audio clips
2. Organized--Clear course organization, assignments, and due dates
3. Compassionate--Get to know students, case-by-case reaction to late work
4. Analytical--Timely feedback and grading, clear assessment guidelines, student participation tracking, student course assessment
5. Leader-by-example--“Model best practices in teaching”

Savery, John R. (2005). BE VOCAL: Characteristics of successful online instructors. Journal of Interactive Online Learning, 4(2), 141-154. Retrieved Sept. 3, 2006 from http://www.ncolr.org/jiol/issues/showissue.cfm?volID=4&IssueID=15 (pdf link here).