FedCon AllianceNPACI Meeting

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FedCon Alliance/NPACI Meeting

• Synchronous Distance Teaching on a Low Budget
• Ed Centers Experiences and Student Assessment
• Ilya Zaslavsky, Ph.D.
• zaslavsk_at_rohan.sdsu.edu
• http//www.edcenter.sdsu.edu
• http//www.edcenter.sdsu.edu/disted
• voice 619.594.0491
• fax [phone]

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Organization of the Distance Learning System
(SDSU - WMU, Geography 567 569, 1997-98)
Tools used - synchronous NetMeeting(sharing
applications,whiteboard,chat) -
asynchronous class web pagesformatted in
DocReview(web-baseddiscussions, comments,
QA)E-Mail
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A Typical Lecture Snapshot
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Student Assessment

• Standard
  assessment
• No significant difference in student performance
  compared to previous years.
• Student surveys
• 3 surveys at the beginning, middle, and end of
  each semester
• no previous distance learning experience for all,
  standard Web tools are fairly novel for many
• In the final survey (30 students, both factual
  and open-ended questions)
• all but three say that they are satisfied with
  what they have accomplished in this course
• all joined virtual meetings, used class web pages
• 83 used whiteboard, 60 collaborated in shared
  applications (most useful techniques) 30 used
  text chat
• lack of communication with instructor, missed eye
  contact, asked less questions, though interacted
  more with fellow students

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Lessons Learned and Useful Strategies

• Advanced preparation and careful lecture
  scenarios are important, though some ad hoc
  freedom in using visual tools is necessary. Have
  a pre-built set of images to share in whiteboard.
• Involve students in presenting themselves (once
  they see that they can do it, it works!)
• Re-create or maintain traditional channels of
  student-teacher interaction as much as possible.
• Maintain all possible interaction channels active
  (e-mail, chat, whiteboard, DocReview, etc.)
• Archive discussions, whiteboards, chats.
• Meet with students face to face, at least couple
  times.

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Lessons Learned and Useful Strategies (2)

• Encourage student interaction with peers.
• Have a set of back-up plans if network connection
  is bad, including speakerphone.
• Have a reliable support on the "receiving side"
  !!!!
• Survey students and keep a class log, this will
  help in detecting strategies that work.
• Use a second pair of computers to transmit
  different components of the conference.
• Turn off video in one or both directions, to keep
  audio clear.
• Accept that this approach is not necessarily good
  for every student, and some won't be happy.
• Re-think your teaching style and habits!

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The Team and Support Relevant URLs

• Team
• Ilya Zaslavsky, Instructor (in San Diego)
• Kathleen Baker, Teaching Assistant (in Kalamazoo)
• Support
• well, it was a low budget course
• Relevant URLs
• http//www.edcenter.sdsu.edu NPACIs Education
  Center on Computational Science and Engineering
• http//www.edcenter.sdsu.edu/training/disted/colla
  bpres.htmlCollaborative Web-based Technologies,
  a workshop for SDSU faculty, 4/98
• http//www.edcenter.sdsu.edu/disted Ed Centers
  distance education resources papers,
  presentations, surveys
• http//www.microsoft.com/education/hed/studies/cas
  eh55.htm Microsoft Case Study in Higher
  Education describing our experience, 12/98
• http//www.edcenter.sdsu.edu/staff/ilya/present/sc
  98/Scientific Visualization in the Classroom,
  slide presentation at SC98, 11/98