This was prepared for a graduate class I took online with San Diego State University-Masters in Educational Technology/Instructional Design:
Class:
EDTEC 544 - Instructional Design. This project was a Rapid Prototype of a Designed Instructional Sequence
13. Scenario #1: Dr. Smith teaches a course in ethnography. She has about eighteen students signed up for her course. Today she is facilitating a discussion with her students (in-world) about their latest results for their in-world ethnographic research. The communication is being done via in-world voice chat and they are all assembled together in one location. Although they usually have real life classes together in a classroom, today they are in various locations. A few students choose not to use voice who are in campus computer labs and campus wireless hotspots. They will only contribute to the discussion via text chat. Dr. Smith begins the discussion by asking one of the students to share their latest findings and answer any questions. At one point she notices her voice is echoing. The student presents his information using voice. The discussion continues with students mostly using voice; reacting to and providing comments towards his research. At one point several students make a comment at the same time and there is a brief silence. Then one of the students shares her opinion. Dr. Smith cuts in and says this brings up an important point about their research. She still hears a faint echo of her voice as well as other voices when someone is speaking. She asks the students to check their volume levels.âŠâŠâŠ Best practices using voice and text chat
14. Scenario # 2 Dr. Gupta is teaching a course in digital animation and game creation and uses Second Life often. Today all the students are in-world at the same location. In real life the students are at various locations. They all have voice enabled. He begins by using voice to explain the format for todayâs lesson in Second Life. As he is talking, the symbol above his avatar's head that shows he is speaking changes from green to red several times. Several students type that his voice is too loud. He goes to the application interface on his display and opens the volume levels control popup. He notices his microphone volume level is set too high and makes the proper adjustments. He continues, and while he is talking students ask questions and type comments into the text chat. He responds to them using voice; and then asks an open-ended question to guide students into a discussion. A few students respond with voice. As they respond, other students use text chat to contribute their comments or reactions. To keep the discussion going, Gupta types in a question into the text chat window. Students continue the discussion typing into text chat. At various points during the chat, a few students use voice to clarify a point, or to tell a story. At one point, a student responds with voice to a comment being made. The other students ask her to repeat her comments due to a constant gurgling noise in the speakers background. Gupta sends her an IM and asks her to activate the "push to talk" button and the problem is solved. Gupta types in some quotes from their readings and then asks for the student's reactions..... Best practices using voice and text chat
Slide for student [adjust bar to read further] Instruction : Introduce this activity saying that before we get into âbest practicesâ for using voice and text chat during facilitation, you want to make sure everyone knows how to enable voice, and the related control interfaces.
Slide for student [adjust bar to read further] Instruction: Introduce this activity saying that before we get into âbest practicesâ for using voice and text chat during facilitation, you want to make sure everyone knows how to enable voice, and configure the related control interfaces. Have everyone log into SL Send them the land mark and tell them to meet at that location Show your screen view via the projector- go through the steps in enabling voice and have them follow along and complete the steps on their computer Questions/Comments? Practice: Have everyone do a âmic checkâ to make sure their voice is enabled. Have them exchange a few words as well using voice. Check that everyone has followed through all the steps.
Slide for student [adjust bar to read further] Instruction: While using the projector, show the learners where to find the Active Speakers window. Make sure everyone has found the window. Explain that this window lets them see who is using voice in their area. It lets them control each personâs volume or you can mute people. Also in areas where there are larger groups of voice enabled people, this window letâs them keep track of who is talking by keeping the current speaker at the top of the list. Show them how to configure this Speak into your headset to show your name at the top of the avatar list Questions/Comments? Practice: Have some people chat and some people disable voice. Have the non-speaking people look for the others in the speakers window and adjust each personâs volume, and notice the names of the disabled voice people are not showing Check that everyone has followed through all the steps.
Slide for student [adjust bar to read further] Instruction: While using the projector, show the learners where to find the pop-up volume controls. Make sure everyone has found the window. Explain that this window lets them make adjustments to various kinds of sound like media, music, voice, etc. Questions/Comments? Practice: Ask everyone to experiment with the volume controls Have some people chat to create noise. Make sure they have âplay musicâ enabled and to listen and adjust the streaming musicâs volume. Make sure they have âplay videoâ enabled and to watch and adjust the streaming videoâs volume. Check that everyone has followed through all the steps
Slide for student [adjust bar to read further] Instruction: Explain that it is usually a good idea to record your text and voice chats for archival purposes, and to distribute to absent students. Tell them they are going to watch a video about how to record voice chat and you will show them in another activity how to record text chat Tell them they have to have some kind of streaming audio software; and that you will show them how to download, install, and use a free audio editing software While using the projector to share your screen, walk them through the steps of downloading, installing, and creating a new file with Audacity. Once everyone has a new file open in Audacity play the video Pause at times to let them follow through with the steps Questions/Comments? Practice: Ask everyone to login to Second Life. Have everyone practice recording voice chat, and saving and locating the file on their computers. Check that everyone has followed through all the steps
Slide for student [adjust bar to read further] Instruction: Using the projector, walk the learners through enabling text chat logs to be created and stored on their computers Make sure everyone has gone through the steps and can locate the folder for storing chat logs on their computers Questions/Comments? Practice: Have the students text chat for a while and then have them log out and then find their chat log that was just recorded. Check that everyone has followed through all the steps
Slide for student [adjust bar to read further] Instruction: Make sure everyone has gone through the steps and can locate the chat logs on their computers Questions/Comments? Practice: Have the students text chat for a while and then have them log out and find the chat log that was just recorded. Check that everyone has followed through all the steps
Slide for student [adjust bar to read further] Instruction: Tell the students we will now get into to âbest practicesâ in using voice and text chat Introduce the content and subject of the video Mention how instructors and especially students should behave when using voice Mention how the etiquette is similar to talking on the phone and that they will have similar issues that people experience with participating in online web conferencing Itâs better to always use âpush to talkâ mode Play the video Make sure everyone followed along with the video Ask if anyone has experienced these kinds of rude/ignorant ways of using voice either in Second Life, or with some other experience using voice chat on the computer, such as in web conferencing. Questions/Comments? Practice: After the video have all the learners experiment with the volume of their voice and the microphone controls, and notice when their volume level is too high with the red indicator above their avatarâs head Have some of them make various noises like in the video Check that everyone has followed through all the steps
Slide for student [adjust bar to read further] [Design Note: The design document calls for a worked example as an instructional method. It was later decided that the scenario would not be worked out, but would rather help elicit the learners to discover the guidelines on their own . ] Instruction: Introduce the activity to the learners This is an activity will help them to discover some issues and âbest practicesâ with using voice chat. Tell them they will break up into groups, and have 10 minutes to identify issues with using voice that came up, how these issues were addressed, possible causes, possible solutions, and possible draw backs in using voice chat in Second Life. Break them into groups After five minutes are up, give them a âheads upâ that only five more minutes remain After the 10 minutes are up, have a discussion with each group sharing their results.
Slide for student Instruction: repeat previous activityâs instruction
Slide for student [adjust bar to read further] Instruction: Tell them they now have some ideas of possible issues that might come up using voice and text chatting, as well as some idea of âbest practicesâ. Introduce this as a job aid that sums up the positives and negatives of using text and voice chat communications. It will help them in deciding if they wish to use voice and text chat, or a combination of both in the desired circumstances Tell them to keep this in mind as they are practicing and observing others facilitate a discussion Have a discussion about the contents of the job aid, how it relates to the two previous scenarios, and how it relates to their own experiences in Second Life using one or both of these forms of communication.
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Slide for student [adjust bar to read further] Instruction: Introduce the slide: Some tips for facilitating in text only or voice enabled chat Go over each point and pause for questions/comments Tell them a similar note card will be sent to them to âgradeâ their peers when they are in-world practicing facilitating a discussion
Slide for student [adjust bar to read further] Instruction: Introduce this slide saying that this is the checklist they will use to âgradeâ each of their peers in their assigned in-world groups Go over the directions and what to do for each speaker Questions/Comments?
Slide for student [adjust bar to read further] Instruction: Give general overview of the practice lesson: Going to meet in-world and practice leading a discussion Will break the discussion in to two minute âchunksâ to experience different forms of chatting during a discussion Will review each speaker based on the behavioral checklist to provide feedback After each speaker is finished, give them feedback based on your checklist and observations Learners log in to SL and meet at designated location. Assign learners to groups. Distribute in world note cards and behavioral checklist to all learners Ask them to begin and rotate visiting each location and observing them; and reminding them of the time. After the designated ending time is finished, send out an IM to everyone to meet at one location. Have an in-world discussion where everyone uses voice and text to share their experiences and thoughts.
Slide for student [adjust bar to read further] Instruction: Refer back to this job aid towards the end of the âexperienceâ sharing discussion Ask learners if they experienced the positive and/or negative points in this job aid for each type of chat communication Ask them if they have any new thoughts or ideas with any of these points and explain why.
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[adjust bar to read further] Use this Behavioral checklist to grade each learner. Scoring: 5= excellent 4= good 3= satisfactory 2= fair 1= inadequate
[adjust bar to read further] Use this Behavioral checklist to grade each learner. Scoring: 5= excellent 4= good 3= satisfactory 2= fair 1= inadequate