Designing and Implementing
Online Instruction:
Strategies that Work!
TED CONFERENCE
San Diego, CA
November 10, 2006
BENEFITS OF ONLINE INSTRUCTION
Increases educational opportunities for
individuals who reside in remote locations
Flexibility of time and place
Provides an interactive format that offers
opportunities for demonstration and
practice to reinforce instruction
Offers multiple opportunities for
communication and interaction with
individuals with diverse perspectives
GETTING STARTED
Consider the technology as
methodology
How does it support your teaching?
Debunk the myth that you simply will
translate your face to face course to
online
You won’t just take your lecture notes and put
them online.
You are crafting a learning experience with all
of the technology available to you
PRESENTERS
Sarah Cox
coxsar@aquinas.edu
Glenna Decker
deckerg@gvsu.edu
Pamela Garriott
PGarriot@vinu.edu
Diane Clark
clarkdi@gvsu.edu
RESEARCH BASE
Research Indicates:
An overall increase in student participation
Improved ability of students to apply
course content in new contexts
More student access to instruction
Increased ability of students to make
connections between diverse ideas and
information
Role Shifts
Instructor
Becomes facilitator, or coach.
It requires flexibility and a shift in instructional
strategies
Organize around concepts and include active
learning
Learner
Self-directed
Expected to communicate with each other as
well as the instructor
Active participation to develop higher order
thinking
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Important Question to Ask
“What is it that you want them to learn?”
Keep your objectives in front of you!
Sometimes we get concerned that an
online course may not “appear” as busy as
a face-to-face course so we may be
tempted to add assignments to work.
Beware of the temptation!
Blackboard
And then?
Begin to adapt the content!
You won’t “give up” your learning
objectives, but you may have to change
HOW you meet them.
It will look different, but you may find that
it’s even better!
ORGANIZING STRATEGIES
Chunking the Content
Course Objectives
Major concepts
Use Book chapters/Journal articles
This drives what becomes “Learning
Units”
Storyboard or concept map
ORGANIZING STRATEGIES
Do you use lectures? Notes? PowerPoint?
Posted online for students to read
Video Streaming
Podcasts or sound files
Supplement the material
Additional resources? Handouts?
Activities so they are “doing” something with
the material
Focus Questions
Group assignments
Online discussion
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THE LEARNING UNIT
May differ in terms of content and time
requirements
Example of Learning Unit Content:
Instructor’s comments or lecture notes
Assigned readings (text, supplemental
readings, and/or websites)
Activities and/or focus questions
Assigned individually or as small group projects
Discussion Board forums
New Learning Experiences
Take Advantage of the Online Format
Websites: an added dimension!
Purposefully direct students to web
resources to develop concepts and
thoughts
Timely news casts from anywhere in the
world
Online journal articles
Active Learning
Online Discussion
Group projects
The Discussion Board
Assists in creating a community of learners
the major vehicle for communicating and
learning from others
Value: Asynchronous communication
Time to reflect before responding
More participation
Every Learning Unit includes online
discussion
Student participation on the Discussion
Board is critical and should be weighted as
such
Faculty role on the discussion board is that
of a facilitator
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Considerations
Online discussions takes more time and
energy than in-class discussions
Planning
You may have to teach students how to
discuss on the discussion board
Respect the process and weight it
accordingly
Students will take it more seriously, put
more in and get more out of it
It can be comparable to writing a paper,
especially over the duration of a course
Suggestions
Ask open ended questions to create dialog
and requires higher order thinking
Resist the temptation to “butt in”!
Assign roles for the discussions
Facilitator
Summarizer
Clarifier
Questioner/Researcher
This means more than the mechanics of
how to use the discussion board, but may
include how to have a discussion and how
one learns through it
Model it for your students as well as teach
them how
Provide an opportunity to practice before a
“graded” dialog
Active Learning Strategies to
Engage Students
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Expert Panels
Case Studies
Debate
Guest Speakers
Online Tests and Surveys
Use of Internet Resources
Provide guidelines and a rubric for quality
participation
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Expert Panel
Assign topics to small groups of
students. Each topic must be
researched and the information
summarized and presented to the class
on the Discussion Board.
Students may pose questions about the
topic to the Expert Panel. The expert
panel must provide answers.
Debate
The activity can be carried out online
throughout a longer duration as a way
to keep students actively engaged with
the material and critically thinking.
Must be very organized and laid out
with assigned group roles.
Online Tests and Surveys
Require a short objective test on the
reading so class discussions can be
more active
Use Bb surveys to assess prior
knowledge to generate interest and
direct course content
Case Studies
Using group pages, students discuss a
case study that is then presented to the
class.
One further step is to assign roles to
students.
Students can use group pages to act
out their role and apply strategies, then
summarize their experiences on the
class discussion board.
Guest Speakers
Bring in an expert from anywhere in the
world to your class via the Blackboard
Students can then “chat” or use the
class discussion forum to engage
Use Internet Resources
Post a topic or problem and require
students to solve it using professional
online resources.
Consider developing a webquest to
direct them. This is a great group
activity.
Use sites with video streaming such as
news sites or United Streaming or
Annenberg Video
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When Ready To Go “Live”
Prepare Students for the Online
Experience
Send students a letter to introduce
yourself and detailing information about
the course
Post an introductory PowerPoint or
video streamed introduction
Prepare Students
Develop a Scavenger hunt through the
course site
Direct the students to an Online
Orientation
Construct an initial online Discussion
Board to give everyone an opportunity to
introduce themselves (and practice!) Have
fun with it!
Final Thoughts…
Questions?
Comments?
http://staff.gvsu.edu/deckerg/ted/
References
References
Chism, N. (n.d.). Handbook for instructors on the use of electronic
class discussion. Retrieved from Ohio State University Office of
Faculty and TA Development Web site:
http://ftad.osu.edu/Publications/elecdisc/pages/index.htm
Hara, N., Bonk, C. J., & Angeli, C. (2000, February/March). Content
analysis of online discussion in an applied educational psychology
course. Instructional Science, 28(2), 115-152. from
http://ipsapp007.kluweronline.com/IPS/content/ext/x/J/5213/I/16/A
/2/abstract.htm#
Council for Exceptional Children (1998). Integrating technology
into the standard curriculum. Research Connections in Special
Education, 1-12.
Meyer, K. A. (2003, September). Face-to-face versus threaded
discussions: The role of time and higher-order thinking. Journal of
Asynchronous Learning Networks, 7(3). from
http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/jaln/v7n3/pdf/v7n3_meyer.pdf
Decker, G., Cox, Sarah. (2006, September 15). What do students
say about online discussion. Presentation at the Lilly North
Conference, Traverse City, Michigan.
Novak, G. M., Patterson, E. T., Gavrin, A. D., & Christian, W. (1999).
Just-in-time teaching: Blending active learning with web
technology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Doyle, T. (2005, February 4). A real world model for classroom
discussion. Lecture presented at Pew Faculty Teaching &
Learning Center, Grand Valley State University.
Peters, K. M. (2000, April 25). Creative use of threaded discussion
areas. Retrieved from Penn State University Web site:
http://www.webct.com/service/ViewContent?contentID=898084
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References
Paulson, D. R., & Faust, J. L. (2002). Active learning for the college
classroom. Retrieved from California State University, Los Angeles
Web site: http://www.calstatela.edu/dept/chem/chem2/Active/index.htm
Rourke, L., & Anderson, T. (2002). Using peer teams to lead online
discussions. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, March, 2002(1),
4. Retrieved from The Open University, United Kingdom Web site:
http://www-jime.open.ac.uk/2002/1/rourke-anderson-02-1.pdf
Smith, S.B., Smith S.J., and Boone, R. (2000). Increasing access to
teacher preparation: The effectiveness of traditional instructional
methods in an online learning environment. Journal of Special
Education Technology, 15(2), 37-47.
TLT/Seven principles library. (2004). Retrieved from
http://www.tltgroup.org/Seven/3_Active.htm.
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