1. COMMUNITY & In the Online
Classroom
COLLABORATION
2. F-2-F
As Educators, we all know the importance of
community, a group of people who share
common emotions, values and beliefs, which
are actively engaged in learning together and
from each other; and collaboration, when
individuals work on a shared goal in the
classroom.
What do you do to foster both of these in your
f-2-f settings?
4. HANDBOOK OF ONLINE LEARNING
“Research over the last decade within a
community of inquiry model has found that
students’ sense of community in a learning
environment sustains productive discourse
and enhances learning. That sense of
community involves goal-directed
collaborative interaction, trust, and mutual
support.” (39-40)
5. HANDBOOK OF ONLINE LEARNING
“In the community of inquiry model, high
teaching presence is defined as student
perception that the teacher is providing
effective course design, facilitating productive
discourse, and providing direct instruction. In
a large study of f2f and online learners, Shea
et al. found that high teaching presence was
associated with a greater sense of classroom
community for both types of learner.” (40)
6. HANDBOOK OF ONLINE LEARNING
“…the most highly predicted pedagogical
techniques for the online future in higher
education were group problem solving,
collaborative tasks and problem-based
learning.” (18)
7. HANDBOOK OF ONLINE LEARNING
“In an online classroom, the most effective
means of achieving learning outcomes is the
use of active learning and collaborative
techniques that encourage students to
become empowered learners.” (383)
8. DISTANCE EDUCATION: A SYSTEMS VIEW
“Since, in distance learning settings, normal
communication is conveyed through an
artificial medium, we must find ways to
achieve “social presence.” (230)
“In an earlier study of computer mediated
instruction, Cheng et al. reported a higher
completion rate for those learners who
worked collaboratively (90 percent) than for
those who worked independently (22
percent).” (231)
9. ONLINE LEARNING: CONCEPTS,
STRATEGIES, AND APPLICATION
“In an online environment, a sense of community is
promoted through strong interpersonal ties that
provide support for learning and prevent feelings of
isolation. Viewing a community as what people do
together rather than as a geographic location where
tasks are accomplished is the focus for integration
of virtual online communities into the educational
process.” (84)
“…instructors need to place as much emphasis on
establishing the appropriate instructional climate as
on providing appropriate content, particularly when
they want to reap the meaningful educational
benefits of attempting to create an online learning
community.” (86)
10. GOING FROM F-2-F TO ONLINE
What translates well? What challenges are there?
11. CASE STUDY #1:
GETTING TO KNOW EACH OTHER
Read through the intro discussion board
postings in your handout.
Be prepared to discuss:
What type of information is typically given
voluntarily?
Is it enough to begin developing a sense of
community?
What else might you want to know?
How could you adapt the assignment to make it more
meaningful?
13. RESEARCH
“embedding the use of technology designed
for connecting, such as Facebook, twittering
and blogging, might increase the social
presence of all of the students as well as the
teaching presence of the instructor.” (Young &
Bruce, 2011)
“Connecting people’s names and faces is a
first big step to forming bonds.” (Misanchuk &
Anderson)
14. TOOLS TO USE
Glogster
http://www.glogster.com/ Create a multi-media poster to express
yourself.
Voice Thread
http://voicethread.com/ Transforming media into collaborative
spaces with video, voice, and text commenting.
Bb9 Wiki or Wikispaces
http://www.wikispaces.com/ Easy-edit web pages used for
collaborative writing/editing.
Bb9 Journal or Blogger
http://www.blogger.com Create a blog
Jing
http://www.techsmith.com/jing/ Screenshots and screencasting
Social Networks (FB, Social Go, Ning, Classroom 2.0,
Curriki, LinkedIn, Google+)
15. CASE STUDY #2:
MAKING LEARNING COLLABORATIVE
Read the assigned case study in your handout.
Discuss in your small group.
Brainstorm solutions
Present to whole group
16. STUDY A
In a traditional classroom, you typically lecture
on this particular topic (___________________).
However, research shows that lectures are not
the best methods for transmitting content in an
online setting. In fact, Educause recommends
limiting video/audio recorded “lectures” to 5
minutes – only to clarify key points.
How can you deliver your traditional content,
make sure students are “getting it”, and facilitate
collaboration in your new digital setting?
What tools will you use to do this?
17. STUDY A: RECOMMENDED TOOLS
H2O
http://h2o.law.harvard.edu/index.jsp
Discussion board that eliminates rushing to post
first, forces students to think on their own before
reading others’ posts, and increases critical
thinking because students cannot automatically
respond to anyone – especially taking the easy
way out by responding to only those they agree
with. Still allows for viewing all discussions at
the conclusion.
18. STUDY B
Students spend lots of time in your traditional
classroom developing lesson plans and units.
They work collaboratively to make them
interdisciplinary and learn to give constructive
feedback by doing peer to peer evaluations. You
also spend a great deal of your time meeting with
individual students and teams during class as
well as giving students written feedback on their
drafts.
You have been asked to teach a section of this
course online. How will you maintain this
collaborative approach in the new environment?
What tools will you use to facilitate your
approach?
19. STUDY B: RECOMMENDED TOOLS
CCDT: Collaborative Curriculum Design Tool
http://learnweb.harvard.edu/alps/tfu/design_
ccdt_about.cfm
This design tool allows students to create
lesson units using the Teaching for
Understanding model and provides
opportunities for collaboration from other
course participants, instructors, and outside
participants (such as classroom teachers). It
also allows completed works to be published
publically on the web.
20. STUDY C
Pre-service teachers need to practice teaching and
receive feedback on their performance. To facilitate
this in your course, you typically have students co -
teach the course with you. That is you have them
work in small groups to present information from
each chapter of your text to the class or have them
model what they have learned by teaching a mini -
lesson in their content area. You believe this is an
important component of the professional
development they undergo while in the college of
education.
You are now teaching the course online. How can
you embed this practice into your new course
structure?
Will you have them model traditional face -to-face
instruction, online instruction best -practices, or
both?
21. STUDY C: RECOMMENDED TOOLS
Zentation
http://www.zentation.com/about_free.php
Synchronize video of you teaching and
PowerPoint slides together in a single
presentation format. Zenation allows viewing
of body language & teacher presence in
addition to the content to better get an overall
view of student’s performance. Blogging
comments allow feedback from viewers, and
questions can be answered asynchronously.
22. STUDY D
Your students are working on a group project in
your online course. Traditionally, you ensured
that all students were participating by allowing
class time to meet, brainstorm and work. You
fear that students will not contribute to the group
process equally when they are not meeting face
to face, worry about students collaborating from
a distance, and have concerns about the entire
collaboration process being asynchronous.
How can you assess student participation and
provide opportunities for both asynchronous and
synchronous collaboration on the group project?
23. STUDY D: RECOMMENDED TOOLS
Yugma for Skype
https://www.yugma.com/
This version of Yugma works with your Skype
account to add desktop sharing, file transfer,
presenter switching and marking capabilities
to your video conference with up to three
people for free. It also allows you to record the
session so voice, text, and sharing interactions
can be reviewed.
24. CONSIDERATIONS IN CHOOSING A TOOL
Private or public
Course objectives and skills learned
Ease of use
Cost
25. RESEARCH
“Best practices to strengthen bonding include
simple tasks such as collaborative decision -
making related to communication protocols,
and required and ongoing student postings in
online discussions. In addition, use of
synchronous instant messaging to enhance
camaraderie, asynchronous communication
for deeper discussions, and instructor
modeling of thoughtful responsiveness with a
personal tone all can help build classroom
community connections.” (226)
26. RESEARCH
“With the elimination of time and place constraints,
instructors can create innovative assignments and
interactions in a global context. According to
Robinson and Hullinger (2008), small group
discussions and projects can provide an emphasis on
higher level thinking skills of synthesis and decision
making, which in turn create a more challenging
learning environment and deeper learning. Such
meaningful academic experiences provide students
with relevant accomplishments and satisfaction that
build learning communities, enhance the quality of
student engagement, and decrease dropout rates
(Park & Choi, 2009).” (226)
27. RESEARCH
“…in order to create a strong sense of community
and to help students engage with learning in
online courses, instructors need to find ways to
help students feel more strongly connected with
each other and with the instructor and to
facilitate activities that more actively involve
students in their own learning. Instructors who
purposefully design learning activities to create
opportunities for students to learn about each
other, thereby decreasing transactional distance
and increasing social presence (Robinson &
Hullinger, 2008; Rovai, 2002), are likely to
improve learners’ sense of classroom
community.” (227)
