Abandoning
Ab
d i
University
U i
it Supported
S
t d Proprietary
P
i t
d: Improving Instructor
Courseware Blackboard
Evaluations by Creatting a Community of
Inquiry (CoI) With Innov
vative Free Resources
for Educator Exc
cellence (FREE)
Robert Allen M
Moody PhD
Moody,
Overview
• Secretary of Education
Arne Duncan says:
o "The
The New Normal"
Normal
o "Do more with less."
o "Today
Today, our schools
must ...do more to
personalize instructio
on
and employ the smartt
use of technology."
technology.
The Challenge
• Commercial virtual learn
ning environments (VLE)
may not be be the value
e they once were
• Find innovative solution
ns that are easy to use,
maintain, edit, promote teaching and learning
and are similar to Blackboard or D2L
The Solution
• Trial and Error Methodology
o Method of reaching co
orrect solution or
satisfactory result by trying out various means
or theories until error is sufficiently reduced or
eliminated
o Most basic form of lea
arning
The Solution
Do
More
With
• Ning
Less
o World's largest platforrm for creating social
websites
o 22 million registered users,
u
6 million active
o Over one million netw
works
The Solution
Do
More
With
• Skype
Less
o 124 million registered users
o 23
million online at a ttime
The Solution
Do
More
With
• Google
G Less
l Docs
D
o 25 million registered users
u
o8
million
illi students,
t d t fac
f culty
lt and
d staff
t ff users
The Solution
Focus of Discussion
• How Skype,
yp a free videoconferencing
g tool, can
be utilized to improve distance learning
communication.
• How Skype reinforces the Community of Inquiry
model as it relates to
o social,
o cognitive,
cognitive and
o instructor presence as
s well as accomplish
various goals of teach
hing and learning
learning.
Rationale for Im
mproving
Online Instructio
on
• As technology is constantly evolving, so is the context in which
distance learning and real-time
e communication transpire
among a community of faculty and students.
students Community,
Community for
the purpose of this session is defined
d
according to John
Deweyy as a meaningful
g associiation based on common
interests and endeavors with th
he essence of community being
communication.
• According
A
di to
t the
th 2010 Babson
B b
S
Survey
Research
R
hG
Group’s
’
O
Education in the United
report, Learning on Demand, Online
States, 2009, over 4.6 million sstudents took at least one online
class during the fall 2008 seme
ester which is more than 25
percent of all higher education students. Growth rate for online
l
learning
i saw an iincrease off 1
17
7 percent as compared
d to jjust 1
1.2
2
percent growth for all higher ed
ducation students.
Rationale for Im
mproving
Online Instructio
on
• The Babson Group indicated th
hat less than 33 percent of chief
academic officers state their fa
aculty support or desire to
participate in online education
education.. As a result
result, another challenge
could be that faculty and stude
ents may not be familiar with the
varying
y g distance learning
g requi
q irements and use of additional
technology in order to have a successful
s
teaching and learning
experience.
• Faculty
F
lt has
h an opportunity
t it to
t im
improve overallll student
t d t
satisfaction using Skype.
Naisbitt’s
s 1982 concept o
of "high
high tech, high touch"
touch pointed
• John Naisbitt
out that even in a world of tech
hnology, people still long for
personal, human contact. While human contact is not yet a
possibility
ibili iin a virtual
i
l world,
ld pe
ersonall and
d social
i l contact iis.
Skype could be the vehicle tha
at spans the distance between
faculty and online students
Why the Study
• A simple phone call from the
t university president,
who had received a call frrom a student complaining
about the instructor
• During the summer of 200
09, began using Skype to
communicate with his fam
mily members in another
state.
• Collaborated with a collea
ague and wrote two papers
using
g Skype
yp as the p
primarry
y communication tool.
• Integrated Skype into all classes,
c
both on-campus as
well as online during
g the fa
all semester.
Two Months of Data Collection
More Data
a Collected
Skype Contacts
Early Study Indiicators
• Since fall 2009, teaching and
a advising evaluations
have improved dramatically
lly.
• Evaluations for 2009-2010
0 were higher than
department's
department
s averages an
nd university as a whole.
• Credits Skype and high le
evel of connectedness with
students and advisees.
The Solution
Advantages/Disadva
antges
• Disadvantages
o
o
o
Must have access to interrnet
Doesn't work well with low
w-speed
p
connections (dial-up)
(
p)
Fear of security and loss of data
• Advantages
o Cost:
C
ffree or almost ffre
ee
o Can access from any computer anywhere with
i t
internet
t access
o No software with immense storage requirements
o No downloads
o Automatically upgraded
d
o Works with Macs or PC
Cs
o Connectedness with Sttudents