How to make and break online classes: Lessons learned

1
How to make and break online classes Lessons
learned

• Betül Özkan
• bozkan_at_westga.edu
• Barbara K. McKenzie
• bmckenzi_at_westga.edu
• Marty Bray
• mbray_at_westga.edu
• University of West Georgia

2
Purpose

• To discuss effective and ineffective online
  teaching and learning strategies
• To share some of the software we use to support
  our online classes

3
Online course planning Effective Strategies

• Make all course materials accessible to students
  at the beginning of the course.
• Documents in Word format are preferred
• If students need plug-ins or specific readers to
  open the documents, they should be provided in
  the course site

4
Online course planning

• Students should be informed about the differences
  of online environment from the traditional
  face-to-face environment at the beginning of the
  course.
• PowerPoint presentation with audio
• Handout explaining the differences
• Selected web sites
• Instructor presentation
• Class discussions

5
Online course planning

• Instructors should set up a protocol for
  student-instructor and student-student
  communication at beginning of course.
• Instructor sends a welcome message to the class,
• Instructor asks students to introduce themselves,
• Instructor checks-in with students on a regular
  basis to facilitate interaction and make sure
  students are keeping up with the course each
  week.

6
Online course planning

• Instructors should let students know about
• their availability,
• where and how they can be contacted,
• how quickly they can expect a response to their
  assignments and e-mail

7
Online course planning Ineffective Strategies

• Making big changes in the course content,
  assignments and evaluation strategies after the
  online course started.
• Not reflecting on the course and doing
  preplanning before the course goes up.
• Not pilot testing the distance course before it
  goes up and getting feedback for improvements.

8
Ineffective Planning

• Not providing a media rich learning environment
  for students.
• Using very large documents within the course
  where students with dial-up connection might have
  difficulties downloading.
• Having a unstructured, messy, and confusing
  interface.

9
Assessing student needs and subsequent system
requirements Effective Strategies

• Design and use a needs assessment instrument
• to understand students prior experiences with
  the course content.
• Design and use a distance/technology assessment
  instrument
• to collect information on students prior
  experience with distance courses and technology.

10
Student Needs

• Use of incentives, small awards, positive
  feedback and encouragement
• e.g., extra points, certificates, praise.
• Provide resources on how to study as an online
  learner.
• Create a safe environment for students
  communication, and treat questions and comment
  with respect.
• Send students information on what is
  netiquette if they are new to the distance
  environment.

11
Student Needs

• Track student access to the course environment at
  least once or twice a week to get an idea of how
  frequently they are online.
• If they are not going online a sufficient number
  of times send them an e-mail encouraging them to
  participate more in class to keep up with the
  course and the information that is being
  delivered.
• Create folders for students to submit their work
  with the title of the work assignment and the due
  date listed.

12
Assessing student needs and subsequent system
requirements Ineffective Strategies

• Using a rigid teaching strategy that assumes one
  way of teaching fits all students enrolled in the
  course.
• Having a disorganized course website where
  students have to search for information for a
  long time.

13
Student Needs

• Having conflicting information in the course that
  frustrates students such as different due dates
  on assignments.
• Not providing enough assistance in developing
  study skills and time management.

14
Building support systems Effective Strategies

• Give students options to select and register
  online courses without coming to the campus.
• Have easy electronic access to students grades
  and transcripts.
• Provide built-in technical and educational
  support for students in the course website.
• Provide an opportunity for students to retrieve
  books, journals, library collections and other
  course readings through online course website.

15
Building support systems

• Establishing an advising message board open at
  the beginning of each term and/or during
  registration periods.
• Provide the phone numbers of support services in
  the course syllabi where students can easily
  access this information
• (e.g., Distance Office, Library Support, Distance
  support on the weekends)

16
Building support systems

• Provide the web addresses of support services in
  the course syllabi where students can easily
  access this information
• (e.g., Distance Office, Library Support, ABCs of
  Online Learning Student tutorial, Advising)
• Use the grading tool in course management program
  for immediate feedback to students on their work.

17
Building support systems Ineffective Strategies

• Not having any type of support system in place
  for students causes students to feel isolated in
  an online course.
• Not having clear directions for student advising.
  
• Requiring the use of resources that are not
  easily accessible to the students.
• Not setting up a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
  for students within the course website.

18
Changed roles for online instructors Effective
Strategies

• Establish peer study groups and incorporate peer
  reviews to encourage students to discuss their
  work.
• Foster a sense of community in the online
  environment where instructor and students share
  their thoughts, experiences, and feelings.
• Provide a strong mentoring program for the new
  online instructors (Mentor/ mentee program)

19
Changed roles for online instructors

• Get familiar with the different ways online
  communication can take place in class
• (e.g., online chat, Skype -free Internet phone),
• Use some of the new and emerging types of
  technologies in class to make the online
  environment more interactive and interesting for
  students
• (e.g., Impatica, Camtasia, streaming video).

20
Changed roles for online instructors

• Share some of the decision making
  responsibilities with the students where and when
  applicable
• (e.g., when to have the final class
  presentations).
• Provide incentives for online instructors
• (e.g., reassigned time for designing online
  classes, professional development funding, Apollo
  Award, merit pay, technology such as a laptop,
  software and hardware).

21
Changed roles for online instructors Ineffective
Strategies

• The online instructor learns by doing and has no
  formal or informal training.
• Following a bottom-down, didactic teaching
  methodology in online courses.

22
Changed roles for online instructors

• Not giving students an opportunity to call the
  instructors attention to valuable information
  and resources.
• Not archiving interactions, solutions and
  exemplary student work for future reference.

23
Designing course and the curriculum Effective
strategies

• Let students know early in the course about the
  extent of online and face-to-face meetings.
• Use multimedia features while designing the
  online course site (background, selecting which
  tools to use in the course such as discussion
  boards, schedule, chat, private email, individual
  assessment tools, chat, so on).

24
Designing course and the curriculum

• Provide a variety of course materials that
  address the diverse learning styles and
  preferences of your students
• (e.g., reading materials, e-reading materials,
  materials that students need to hear audio from a
  PowerPoint, materials that students are required
  to problem solve, group work, individual work).

25
Designing course and the curriculum Effective
strategies

• Decide how interaction will occur in the online
  environment
• (learner-learner, learner-technology
  learner-instructor, learner-content).
• Decide on the online teaching strategies you will
  use to accomplish your course objectives.
• (e.g., presentations with and without audio, case
  studies, collective problem solving activities,
  e-readings, online tutorials).

26
Designing course and the curriculum Effective
strategies

• Assign students to virtual learning groups and
  have the group select, research, and prepare a
  presentation on a topic.
• This may take the form of a paper, webpage,
  PowerPoint presentation, brochure, and/or digital
  video.
• Create a cyber café where students can come
  online to communicate with others in the class at
  designated days and times.

27
Designing course and the curriculum Ineffective
strategies

• Not informing students the first class that the
  course is online and requires the students to
  have a computer and Internet access.
• Courses that do not incorporate some type of
  virtual learning groups or collaborative learning
  opportunities for students tend to be less
  successful that online classes with virtual
  learning groups
• The online learner feels isolated and all alone
  in the online class without interacting with
  anyone other than the instructor.

28
Designing course and the curriculum

• Not giving timely feedback
• (e.g., taking more than 48 hours to respond).
• Not moderating class discussions can cause
  communication accidents among students.

29
Selecting web-based tools Effective Strategies

• Get familiar with the available distance
  education tools for online course management
• Try them out to see what is most user friendly to
  you and your students.
• Attend professional development seminars
  available in ones institution.
• Network with the Distance Education office or
  support staff.

30
Selecting web-based tools

• Consider students technical skills when adopting
  new tools.
• Provide clear instructions for their use.
• Share ones experiences with other distance
  instructors.
• Talk to professionals about the pros and cons of
  the web-based tools you are considering using
• Then select the tools you feel you can
  incorporate into your course.

31
Selecting web-based tools Ineffective Strategies

• Trying to use a distance platform without the
  training is virtually impossible and in most
  institutions cannot take place.
• Taking on more technology than you can handle at
  one time.
• (e.g., streaming video takes a while to learn how
  to do so give yourself the training time you need
  before incorporating it into your course).

32
Selecting web-based tools Ineffective Strategies

• Start using a new feature of the course
  management tool before fully evaluating its
  capabilities.
• Not piloting a course management tool or
  technology before using it in actual online
  environment.
• Not backing up your course

33
Evaluating student mastery and program
effectiveness Effective Strategies

• Use peer evaluation and feedback when it is
  possible.
• Use formative, summative, online course and
  instructor evaluation instruments to maintain
  course quality.
• Use multiple assessment techniques
• (e.g., formative assessments, e-mail, informal
  discussions, summative).

34
Evaluating student mastery and program
effectiveness

• Match your course projects with the course
  objectives.
• Use project based authentic assessment techniques
  
• (e.g., electronic portfolios, PowerPoint
  presentations reflecting research that was
  conducted on a selected group topic, digital
  photographs, digital videotapes).
• Assign reflection papers.
• Use journaling during the course to demonstrate
  students reflections over time, class projects,
  assignments, and the overall impact of the
  course.

35
Evaluating student mastery and program
effectiveness Ineffective Strategies

• Using only the final summative course evaluation
  instrument provided by the university to evaluate
  student learning.
• Not providing alternative assessment strategies
  for diverse learners.
• Not creating a trusting environment within the
  distance course.
• Not stating course objectives, project goals, or
  assignment purposes explicitly.

36
MERLOT (Multimedia Educational Resource for
Learning and Online Teaching)

• MERLOT is free and open database of resources for
  faculty and students in higher education.
• Many high quality links of online resources are
  collected in this database. Faculty and students
  can also contribute to these resources by
  becoming a member of the MERLOT. However,
  membership is not required and everybody who is
  interested in online instruction can search the
  database and retrieve the resources free.
  http//www.merlot.org.

37
Skype (Free Internet telephone)

• Skype is a program for making free calls over
  the Internet to anyone else who also has Skype.
  Its free and easy to download and use, and works
  with most computers.
• It works on Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and PDAs
  using Pocket PC.
• It is also possible to share files via Skype as
  well as sending instant messages, or just using
  like a telephone service
• http//www.skype.com.

38
Online video cases

• A case is a descriptive research document based
  on a real-life situation or event (Merseth,
  1996, p.726).
• Cases provide important practical information for
  pre-service and in-service teachers and stimulate
  discussions, which may encourage reflective
  thinking about different frameworks, paradigms,
  and methods of teaching and learning.

39
Online video cases

• Over the past decade video cases have also
  become popular, and, recently, online cases have
  emerged as a way of sharing cases across the
  Internet.
• Two good examples of online video case databases
  can be located at the following websites
• InTime (http//www.intime.uni.edu)
• Authentic Classroom Practices at Teacher
  Resources Bank (http//www.teacherresourcebank.co
  m/MainPages/VisionVideoInd.htm).

40
Blogging

• Weblogs or blogs are chronological websites of
  personal thoughts and web links. There are
  several websites where you can create your own
  blog but most well known one is located at
  www.blogger.com address.
• Blogs are useful teaching and learning tools
  because they provide a space for students to
  reflect and publish their thoughts and
  understandings.
• Blogs provide opportunities for feedback and
  potential scaffolding of new ideas.

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Blogging

• Blogs also feature hyperlinks, which help
  students begin to understand the relational and
  contextual basis of knowledge, knowledge
  construction and meaning making (Ferdig and
  Trammel, 2004).
• Here is one example of an educational blog that
  has been used for one of our online courses
  http//drozkan.blogspot.com.

42

• Betül Özkan
• bozkan_at_westga.edu
• Barbara McKenzie
• bmckenzi_at_westga.edu
• Marty Bray
• mbray_at_westga.edu
• University of West Georgia