Connections in Online Classes
“Teaching online is an exercise in continual
incremental improvements”
(Dykman & Davis, 2008, p. 162)
Presentation created for a faculty flex workshop at MiraCosta College
Friday, April 9
2:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Presenter: Laura Paciorek
Note: Some revisions were made after the presentation (in italics).
Please note: This presentation is being recorded.
Overview:
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Background information
Six types of connections
Timelines for fostering connections
Specific strategies for each type of
connection
• Sprinkling of research here and there
throughout the presentation
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First Things First: Background
Information about Connections
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Opening Thought:
• “Learning is a very human activity”
(Dunlap & Lowenthal, 2009, p. 129)
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Why think about connections?
• Even early in research, connections were noted
as important.
• Terry, 2001, stated, “an obvious positive aspect
associated with the online community is the potential
to improve course quality by making the virtual
classroom more than a technology based
correspondence course” (p. 9).
• However, Terry also noted that, “the most
significant problem with the online community is that
course time and efforts are used on a subject that is
not directly related to course content” (p. 9).
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• More about “time”:
• Dykman and Davis (2008): “[Instructors] also
need to learn to cultivate and sustain relationships
with their students online, which can be a time
consuming… process but which is also a critical
part of online teaching effectiveness” (p. 158).
– Online vs. face-to-face
– Misunderstandings and unclear expectations
Dykman, C., & Davis, C.. (2008). Online Education Forum: Part Two - Teaching Online Versus
Teaching Conventionally. Journal of Information Systems Education, 19(2), 157-164. Retrieved
April 3, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1550276871).
Please note: This presentation is being recorded.
• Dykman and Davis, continued: “When there
is a failure to communicate expectations and the
student is not doing what the teacher intends, the
situation can deteriorate without either party
realizing that there is a problem until it is too late”
(p. 158).
– Online and face-to-face
– Prevention is key = Connections
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Learning Benefits
Dunlap & Lowenthal, who cite Vygotsky (1978)
state:
– “We subscribe to the theory that learning, as a human activity,
occurs within a social context, with higher cognitive processes
originating from social interactions.”
– Furthermore, “[Dunlap and Lowenthal] also believe that
social interaction and connection has significant influence over
student engagement”
– (p. 130, Dunlap & Lowenthal, 2009)
– http://www.patricklowenthal.com/publications/Using_T
witter_to_Enhance_Social_Presence.pdf
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My Own Informal Survey
• Most enlightening results = Open-ended
– I interpreted results: same amount of people
wanted more connections as wanted no
additional connections.
– Some made suggestions for how to increase
connections in the course (which I will discuss
later).
– NOTE: I want to thank Linda Shaffer for giving me ideas about
how to use surveys!
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Summary of Research
• Connections are important.
• Some students want connections more
than others.
• The amount of time connections take can
be something to consider for faculty and
students.
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My Thoughts
• Creating connections is worth the time!
– Learning
– Community
• Finding what works well for each class is
probably the most effective (i.e., don’t
spend time on something that the class
does not want).
• Sometimes it’s something small that can
make a huge difference for students.
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Next: What I Do (Strategies)
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Initial Thoughts
• As I sat to prepare, I thought of three
types of connections:
– Content
– Fellow classmates
– Me (the instructor)
– NOTE: All three of these connections are noted in research cited by
Dunlap and Lowenthal (2009) including: Dunlap, Dobrovolny, & Young,
2008; Dulap, Furtak, & Tucker, 2009; and Dunlap, Sobel, & Sands,
2007.
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Expanding Thoughts
• My list quickly doubled:
– Content
– Fellow classmates
– Me (the instructor)
– *Course site (different from content)
– *Wider campus and community
– *Themselves as learners
• “Perfectly good students can ‘burn out’ and be
lost” (Dykman & Davis, p. 159).
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Please note: In reality, we are working on all of these all the time… the focus shifts.
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Course site (beginning)
• I make the course available 1 week early
– I email students to let them know, but do not require
login until the first day.
– Some colleges do not allow this due to when the
courses are populated (it depends!).
– This does require some upkeep in terms of seeing
who is new on the roster and making sure they get
the login information in a timely manner.
– It’s a personal preference (not required!)
– This serves as an extended “orientation” period.
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Course site
• Syllabus/Course Website Quiz
– Common method
– Allow multiple attempts
• Select Menu Items (again, orienting
students is the focus)
– Show all left menu items
– Some might say, “Coming Soon!”
– Supporting vs. overwhelming students
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Course site
• “No stakes” and “low-stakes” activities:
– Practice Turnitin.com assignment
– Syllabus/course website quiz
– Helps with students who have limited
technology skills
– I keep the technology simple at first
• Before video: Screenshots
• First lecture (more orientation)
– Explain course site, menu items, etc…
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Course site
(beginning… or beyond?)
• To sustain help in this area: Q&A Board
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Course site
(beginning… or beyond?)
• Selections from the “Help! (Resources)” area.
– Two main sections addressing the course site.
Inside “Help! (Resources)”
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Inside “Help! (Resources)”
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Inside “Help! (Resources)”
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Inside “Help! (Resources)”
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Inside “Help! (Resources)”
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Course site
(beginning… or beyond?)
• Consistency:
– “Following a regular module structure throughout an
online course helps to establish and sustain the pace of
the course and makes it easier for students to keep
track of what is due and when” (Dykman & Davis, p.
158).
– Same discussion board deadlines weekly
– Same assignment deadlines every other week
– Layout of weekly folders same week to week
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Classmates (beginning, middle,
end – whole course)
• Dykman & Davis:
– “Students sometimes feel that they are learning more from
interacting with fellow students than from other aspects of an
online course” (p. 160).
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Set up this environment for them
Maintain the environment for them
Facilitate interactions
Probe deeper thought and discussion
Discussion board guidelines help
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Classmates
• Typical ways to have classmate interaction:
– Content-Related Discussion board
• First week: get to know each other
– Photos
• Later on: How was your break? (November, Spring…)
• Options each week
– Types of topics
– Encourage respectful disagreement
• Required: initial post (word count)
• Required: two replies to two classmates
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Classmates
“Student
Lounge”
Discussion
Board Area
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Classmates
• Remember the survey I discussed in the
beginning?
– Students wanted to have the choice of NOT
sharing email addresses.
– Some students wanted to share email
addresses.
– Created an area where students could make
the choice.
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Classmates
• Surveys themselves create connections
between classmates:
– Post results about class
– See how they compare/contrast with classmates
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Classmates
• Online Review Sessions through
Elluminate Live!
– Exam study sessions
– Project descriptions
– Specific topics
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Classmates
• Meeting in person (Make a Difference Day):
YouTube Video URL:
http://www.youtub
e.com/watch?v=w
Qt5imErNq4
Service Learning
Program Contact:
Carol Wilkinson:
cwilkinson@mirac
osta.edu
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Me (beginning, middle, end – the
whole course)
• Dykman & Davis:
– “Structured, regular communication is a
basic principle behind teaching online.
Friendliness, diligence, and empathy all
play a role with students.”
– (p. 160)
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Me
• Some of the things that connect classmates
together, also connect students with me:
– Discussion boards
• Help boards, weekly boards, “getting to know you” boards (I
reply to all “getting to know you” posts through email)
– “Make a Difference Day” (or other in-person events)
– Online Review Sessions
• Possibly better for connecting with me than with fellow
classmates
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Me
• Emails I receive (direct email link in course)
• Google Talk Chatback Badge
– Not my idea! (Thank you: Pilar Hernandez, Lisa Lane, and Jim Sullivan)
– http://www.google.com/support/talk/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=86171
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Me
• Emails I send (copied in “Announcements”):
– Individual emails when a student submits
early work (e.g., “Congrats!”)
– Individual email when students miss an
assignment or discussion (e.g., “Hope all’s
well.”)
– Individual email about discussion board
content (e.g., “Here’s more detail for you.”)
– Group email about discussion boards, graded
items (feedback), reminders, etc…
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Me
• Office Hours
– I ask students what they want in a survey:
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Me
• “About the Professor” Area:
– Staff information
– Office hours
– Email
– Hobbies, experience, etc…
• For example:
– Teach preschool
– Photography in documentation of children’s work
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Me
• Written Feedback
– My most-used method
• Written comments for weekly discussions
• Written feedback on assignments
• Grademark (Turnitin.com) makes this easy
– This semester: Experimenting with Jing!
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Project descriptions
Feedback (individual)
Short explanations
http://www.jingproject.com/
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http://www.screencast.com/users/CDProfLaura/folders/Jing/media/b2306
75b-7818-48f6-9e97-c44b15e640e7
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Me
• Audio
– Wimba:
• Not my idea! (Thank you: Pilar Hernandez)
– MP3 Files - Audacity
– Content: Weekly Overviews
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Me
• Making sure I am approachable!
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Content (beginning, middle, end)
• Lectures – “Conversation Starters”
– Ask questions
– Prompt students to do an activity
– Encourage deeper thought
– Prepare for readings
– Highlight technical aspects of reading
– Give examples
– Provide more information
– Tie into discussion boards
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Content
• Videos
– Also tie into discussion boards/lectures
– Captioning
– Transcripts
– http://www.intelecomonline.net/
• MiraCosta has a login (can get from library)
• Embed videos into course
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Content
• Discussions
– Ask questions relevant to students’
experiences
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May have different opinions
May share examples from work/life
Require incorporation of course concepts
The way you do this depends on the discipline and
your students
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Content
• To know how to connect content to
students, I ask questions in a survey at the
beginning of the semester such as:
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Content
• Survey – Checking in about Student
Learning Outcomes
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Content
• Collaborative Study Guides
– Discussion board
– Google Documents
– Wikis (probably!)
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Wider campus/community
(beginning and middle)
• Demystifying the student help desk
– Talk to them about how I use it!
• Posting the website for the service learning
office
• Posting resources about the profession
– Community agencies
– Profession-specific (e.g., California Child
Development Permit information)
• Service events (e.g., “Make a Difference Day”)
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Inside “Help! (Resources)”
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Inside “Help! (Resources)”
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Wider campus/community
• Looking out into the community:
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Self as learner (beginning, middle,
and end)
• Self-assessments (self-reflections)
– Dialogue between the student and I
– Currently doing two:
• Three weeks into the course
• Just past the halfway point of the course
– Have student look at their own progress
– Encourage the student to make plans and come up
with strategies for success
– Invite open, honest questions
• I respond to all of these
– Students almost always earn full credit unless brief,
inaccurate, or late
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Self as learner
• Study help
– Discussion boards set up for students helping
students
• Originality reports
– I allow students to view originality reports on
Turnitin.com work
– Allow students to resubmit work until the
deadline
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Self as learner
• Discussion Board Guidelines (the short version):
– 1) Did I meet the deadlines?
– 2) Did I integrate course information in my initial post (actually mention
some detailed specifics from the reading and/or quote the book or
lecture)?
– 3) Did I write a reply that makes people want to reply back to me?
– 4) Did I add something new to the discussion board with my post?
– 5) Did I write a lot more than just “me, too” or “I agree?”
– 6) Did I include a detailed personal or professional example to help
illustrate the concepts more deeply?
– 7) Did I write well (appropriate grammar, spelling, and punctuation)?
– 8) Did I provide references when the idea was not mine?
– 9) Did I meet the posting minimum for number of words?
– 10) Was everything I wrote respectful of my classmates, instructor, and
others?
– 11) Was I 100% confidential in my post?
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In sum – Six areas for connections:
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Content
Fellow classmates
Me (the instructor)
Course site (different from content)
Wider campus and community
Themselves as learners
Please note: This presentation is being recorded.
Never forget the quote from the
beginning of the workshop:
“Teaching online is an exercise in
continual incremental
improvements” (Dykman & Davis,
2008, p. 162)
Please note: This presentation is being recorded.
Resources and Works Cited
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Dunlap, J. C., Dobrovolny, J. L, and Young, D. L. (2008). “Preparing eLearning Designers Using
Kolb’s Model of Experiential Learning.” Innovate, Vol. 4, No. 4. [Online journal –
http://innotateonline.info/?view=article&id=490]
Dunlap, J. C., Furtak, T. E., and Tucker, S. A. (2009). “Designing for Enhanced Conceptual
Understanding in an Online Physics Course.” TechTrends, Vol. 53, No. 1, pp. 67-73.
Dunlap, J., & Lowenthal, P.. (2009). Tweeting the Night Away: Using Twitter to Enhance Social
Presence. Journal of Information Systems Education, 20(2), 129-135. Retrieved April 3, 2010,
from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1755224721).
Dunlap, J. C., Sobel, D. M., and Sands, D. (2007). “Supporting Students’ Cognitive Processing in
Online Courses: Designing for Deep and Meaningful Student-to-Content Interactions.”
TechTrends, Vol. 51, No. 4, pp. 20-31.
Dykman, C., & Davis, C.. (2008). Online Education Forum: Part Two - Teaching Online Versus
Teaching Conventionally. Journal of Information Systems Education, 19(2), 157-164. Retrieved
April 3, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1550276871).
Terry, N.. (2001). ORGANIZING AN ONLINE COMMUNITY. Allied Academies International
Conference. Academy of Educational Leadership. Proceedings, 6(2), 8-10. Retrieved April 3,
2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1557131741).
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind In Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
W Randall Thomas, & S Kim MacGregor. (2005). Online Project-Based Learning: How
Collaborative Strategies and Problem Solving Processes Impact Performance. Journal of
Interactive Learning Research, 16(1), 83-107. Retrieved April 3, 2010, from ProQuest Education
Journals. (Document ID: 857277771).
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Also: Thank you to Lisa Lane, Jim Sullivan, and Pilar Hernandez for numerous
ideas shared at the Program for Online Teaching mini conference this Spring
2010 and last Fall 2009.
Thank you to all of my colleagues in the Pedagogy First! Blog and POT
certificate program. I get so many ideas from all of you!
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Technology Resources
• Elluminate live: http://www.elluminate.com/
• Jing: http://www.jingproject.com/
• Screen Hunter: http://wisdomsoft.com/products/screenhunter_free.htm
• Google Documents:
https://www.google.com/
• Intelecom: http://www.intelecomonline.net/
Please note: This presentation is being recorded.