Session 119: Pedagogy for the
Web: Motivating Adult Learners
and Instructors
Curt Bonk, Indiana University
President, CourseShare.com
cjbonk@indiana.edu
http://php.indiana.edu/~cjbonk
Vanessa Dennen, San Diego State University
Assistant Professor
vdennen@mail.sdsu.edu
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/vdennen
How to Improve Learning Outcomes
Cheryl Flagler, e-Learning, Sept 12, 2002
“Developers have the most influence on the
learners’ success through the learning
environment they provide them. This
environment must take into account selfdirective skills that are intrinsic to the
learner, including motivation, self reliance,
self confidence, and risk tolerance."
How to Improve Learning Outcomes
Cheryl Flagler, e-Learning, Sept 12, 2002
1. Allow the learner to monitor goals
2. Content engages multiple modalities
3. Clear purpose of content
4. Allow learners to make learning decisions
and learn from mistakes
5. Build in challenges and successes
6. Mix creative and analytic skill needs
7. Provide for diverse situations, reflection,
interaction, and feedback
Cohen & Payiatakis (2002, Feb). ELearning: Harnessing the hype.
Performance Improvement, 41(7), 7-15.
…both instructional and graphic
(design)…must be compelling and
engaging enough to keep the learner
involved, interested, and
stimulated…The ideal future is a
learning experience designed to be
memorable, motivational, and magical
if it is to make a lasting impact on the
capabilities of the learner.
From Learning Designers to
Experience Designers
(Reinhard Ziegler, March 2002, e-learning)
“How are we going to create
environments, simulations, and real
learning experiences unless
they’ve participated in them and
reflected on their importance for
themselves?”…the key is “how to
design the interaction so the user
lives the experience.”
Intrinsic Motivation
“…innate propensity to engage one’s
interests and exercise one’s capabilities,
and, in doing so, to seek out and master
optimal challenges
(i.e., it emerges from needs, inner strivings, and
personal curiosity for growth)
See: Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R.
M. (1985). Intrinsic
motivation and selfdetermination in human
behavior. NY: Plenum
Press.
Online
PowerPoint?
NEXT
More Online PowerPoint
(even terrorists would be
too bored to read)
How Bad Is It?
“Some frustrated Blackboard users who
say the company is too slow in
responding to technical problems with
its course-management software have
formed an independent users’ group to
help one another and to press the
company to improve.”
(Jeffrey Young, Nov. 2, 2001, Chronicle of
Higher Ed)
Motivational Terms?
See Johnmarshall Reeve (1996). Motivating Others: Nurturing inner
motivational resources. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. (UW-Milwaukee)
1. Curiosity: Fun, Fantasy, Control
2. Tone/Climate: Psych Safety, Comfort, Belonging
3. Tension: Challenge, Dissonance, Controversy
4. Feedback: Responsive, Supports, Encouragement
5. Engagement: Effort, Involvement, Excitement
6. Meaningfulness: Interesting, Relevant, Authentic
7. Choice: Flexibility, Opportunities, Autonomy
8. Variety: Novelty, Intrigue, Unknowns
9. Interactive: Collaborative, Team-Based, Community
10. Goal Driven: Product-Based, Success, Ownership
Part I. Best Practices:
Who are some of the key
scholars and players…???
News Flash: “Instant Messenger
(IM) is a huge corporate tool, yet
rarely mentioned in corporate
productivity or learning plans.”
TechLearn TRENDS, Feb. 6, 2002
• Jupiter Media Metrix:
– 8.8 million AOL IM users at work
– 4.8 million MSN users at work
– 3.4 million Yahoo! Messenger users at work
– Doubled from 2.3 billion minutes in Sept. 2000
to 4.9 billion minutes in Sept. 2002.
• It can connect learners to each other and provide
easier access to the instructor (the MASIE Center).
Synchronous Presentation Tools
Synchronous WBT Products
Jennifer Hoffman, ASTD, Learning Circuits, (2000, Jan)
• Deluxe (InterWise, LearnLinc, Centra)
– 2-way audio using VOIP, one-way or two-way video, course
scheduling, tracking, text chat, assessment (requires thick
client-side software)
• Standard (HorizonLive, PlaceWare)
– One-way VOIP or phone bridge for two-way audio, text chat,
application viewing, (requires thin client-side app or browser
plug-ini)
• Economy (Blackboard, WebCT)
– Browser-based, chat, some application viewing (Requires Javaenabled browsers, little cost, free)
Web Conferencing Features
• Audio (VOIP, bridge) and Videostreaming
• Application Sharing or Viewing (e.g., Word
and PowerPoint) Includes remote control
and emoticons
• Text (Q&A) Chat (private and public)
• Live Surveys, Polls, and Reports
• Synchronous Web Browsing
• File Transfer
1. Curiosity:
A. Webinar (with Sync Tools)
1. Curiosity:
B. Electronic Guests & Mentoring
1. Curiosity:
C. Moderated Online Team Meeting
1. Curiosity:
D. Threaded Discussion plus Expert Chat
(e.g., Starter-Wrapper + Sync Guest Chat)
1. Curiosity:
E. Synchronous Collaborative Writing
1. Curiosity:
F. Tutoring and Mentoring
2. Tone/Climate: Social Ice Breakers
A. Readiness Checklist
1. The amount of time I can devote
to this class is…
2. I am a self-motivated individual.
3. I am a good “time-manager.”
4. I complete whatever I start.
5. I am not a procrastinator--I like to
get things done today and not
put off for tomorrow.
2. Tone: Social Ice Breakers
B. Storytelling Cartoon Time:
Find a Web site that has
cartoons. Have
participants link their
introductions or stories to
a particular cartoon URL.
Storytelling is a great way
to communicate.
http://www.curtoons.com/cartooncoll.htm
2. Tone/Climate:
Social Ice Breakers
C. Eight Nouns Activity:
1. Introduce self using 8 nouns
2. Explain why choose each noun
3. Comment on 1-2 peer postings
D. Coffee House Expectations
1. Have everyone post 2-3 course expectations
2. Instructor summarizes and comments on how they
might be met
(or make public commitments of how they will fit into
busy schedules!)
3. Tension:
A. Role Play Scholar/Author
Assume Persona of Scholar
– Enroll famous people in your course
– Students assume voice of that person
for one or more sessions
– Enter debate topic or Respond to
debate topic
– Respond to rdg reflections of others
or react to own
3. Tension: B. Role Play Personalities
Role 1: Starter/Mediator/Reporter/ Commentator
• Summarizes the key terms, ideas, and issues in
the chapters, supplemental instructor notes,
journal articles, and other assigned readings and
asks thought provoking questions typically
before one’s peers read or discuss the concepts
and ideas. In effect, the starter is a reporter or
commentator or teacher of what to expect in the
upcoming readings or activities. Once the
“start” is posted, this student acts as a mediator
or facilitator of discussion for the week.
Role 2: Wrapper/Summarizer
Synthesizer/Connector/Reviewer
• Connects ideas, synthesizes discussion,
interrelates comments, and links both explicit
and implicit ideas posed in online discussion or
other activities. Here, the student looks for
patterns and themes in online coursework
while weaving information together. The
wrapping or summarizing is done at least at the
end of the week or unit, but preferably two or
more times depending on the length of the
activity.
Role 3: Conqueror or
Debater/Arguer/Bloodletter
• Takes ideas into action, debates with
others, persists in arguments and
never surrenders or compromises
nomatter what the casualties are
when addressing any problem or
issue.
Role 5: Idea
Squelcher/Biased/Preconceiver
• Squelches good and bad ideas of others
and submits your own prejudiced or
biased ideas during online discussions
and other situations. Forces others to
think. Is that person you really hate to
work with.
Role 7: Idea Generator Creative
Energy/Inventor
• Brings endless energy to online
conversations and generates lots
of fresh ideas and new
perspectives to the conference
when addressing issues and
problems.
Funny thing is that Al thinks he
invented the Internet AND elearning as well!!!
Role 12: Slacker/Slough/Slug/Surfer
Dude
• In this role, the student does little or
nothing to help him/herself or his/her
peers learn. Here, one can only sit back
quietly and listen, make others do all the
work for you, and generally have a laid
back attitude (i.e., go to the beach) when
addressing this problem.
4. Feedback:
A. Learner-Content Interactions: Self-Testing
4. Feedback: B. More Learner-Content
Interactions (economics) (Friday Sept 13th, 2002)
4. Feedback:
C. Learner-Content Interactions:
Double-Jeopardy Quizzing
Gordon McCray, Wake Forest University, Intro to
Management of Info Systems
1. Students take objective quiz (no time limit and not
graded)
2. Submit answer for evaluation
3. Instead of right or wrong response, the quiz returns a
compelling probing question, insight, or conflicting
perspective (i.e., a counterpoint) to force students to
reconsider original responses
4. Students must commit to a response but can use
reference materials
5. Correct answer and explanation are presented
4. Feedback: D. Students Play Online Jeopardy Game
www.km-solutions.biz/caa/quiz.zip
4. Feedback:
E. Anonymous Suggestion Box
George Watson, Univ of Delaware, Electricity
and Electronics for Engineers:
1. Students send anonymous course feedback (Web
forms or email)
2. Submission box is password protected
3. Instructor decides how to respond
4. Then provide response and most or all of suggestion
in online forum
5. It defuses difficult issues, airs instructor views, and
justified actions publicly.
6. Caution: If you are disturbed by criticism, perhaps do
not use.
4. Feedback:
F. Self-Testing and Self-Assessments
(Giving Exams in the Chat Room!, Janet Marta, NW
Missouri State Univ, Syllabus, January 2002)
1. Post times when will be available for 30
minute slots, first come, first serve.
2. Give 10-12 big theoretical questions to
study for.
3. Tell can skip one.
4. Assessment will be a dialogue.
5. Get them there 1-2 minutes early.
6. Have hit enter every 2-3 sentences.
7. Ask q’s, redirect, push for clarity, etc.
8. Covers about 3 questions in 30 minutes.
Feedback:
G. Poll Students for Formative Feedback
4. Feedback (Instructor)
H. Reflective Writing
Alternatives:
1. Minute Papers, Muddiest Pt Papers
2. PMI (Plus, Minus, Interesting), KWL
3. Summaries
4. Pros and Cons
1. Email instructor after class on what learned or
failed to learn…
5. Engagement: Survey Student Opinions
(e.g., InfoPoll, SurveySolutions, Zoomerang,
SurveyShare.com)
6. Meaningfulness:
A. Perspective Taking: Real Life
• 1. Perspective sharing
discussions: Have learners relate
the course material to a real-life
experience. Real situations or cases.
• Example: In a course on
leadership development, have
learners share experiences where
they were all-of-a-sudden been put in
charge of some project or activity
and describe what happened as well
as what they would do differently.
6. Meaningfulness
B. Perspective Taking: Foreign Languages
Katy Fraser, Germanic Studies at
IU and Jennifer Liu, East Asian
Languages and Cultures at IU:
1. Have students receive e-newsletters from a
foreign magazine as well as respond to related
questions.
2. Students assume roles of those in literature from
that culture and participate in real-time chats
using assumed identity.
6. Meaningfulness:
C. Case-Based Laboratories
Virginia Polytechnic Institute: Veterinary Medicine
• Instructors provide all materials for case-based labs: WP
files, patient photos & materials, color slides of specimens
• Create Web images through scanning photos, slides,
radiographs, and computed scans.
• Students view patient info (photo, lesion photos, history,
physical exam findings)
• Can click on active links of sounds (breath, cardiac, etc.)
• Students encouraged to discuss cases before class
6. Meaningfulness:
D. Authentic Data Analysis
Jeanne Sept, IU, Archaeology of Human Origins;
Components: From CD to Web
• A set of research questions and problems that
archaeologists have posed about the site (a set
of Web-based activities)
• A complete set of data from the site and
background info (multimedia data on sites from
all regions and prehistoric time periods in Africa)
• A set of methodologies and add’l background
info (TimeWeb tool to help students visualize,
analyze, interpret, and explore space/time
dimensions)
6. Meaningfulness:
E. Online Co-Laborative Psych Experiments
PsychExperiments
(University of Mississippi)
Contains 30 free psych
experiments
• Location independent
• Convenient to instructors
• Run experiments over
large number of subjects
• Can build on it over time
• Cross-institutional
Ken McGraw, Syllabus,
November, 2001
6. Meaningfulness:
F. Games and Simulations
“There’s something new on the horizon,
though: computer-based soft skills
simulations, which let learners
practice skills such as negotiation
and team building.”
Clark Aldrich, The State of Simulations,
Sept. 2001, Online Learning
Simulations: 1. SimTeacher
Simulations 2. eDrama
(Front Desk Hiring)
Simulations 3. Intermezzon
(MoneyMaker Sales Training)
Simulations: 4. Florio
(simulation to see connection between individuals
actions and overall corp performance)
Simulations: 5. SimuLearn
(Virtual Leader)
Simulations 6. Ninth House
(Management Scenarios)
Science & Technology
Experimentation with Games
• A highly realistic and innovative PC video game that puts
you inside an Army unit.
• You’ll face your first tour of duty along with your fellow
Soldiers.
• Free download at www.americasarmy.com
Screenshot From Obstacle Course
7. Choice:
A. Multiple Topics
• Generate multiple discussion prompts and
ask students to participate in 2 out of 3
• Provide different discussion “tracks”
(much like conference tracks) for students
with different interests to choose among
• List possible topics and have students
vote (students sign up for lead diff weeks)
• Have students list and vote.
8. Variety:
A. Virtual Classroom
Joachim Hammer, University of Florida, Data
Warehousing and Decision Support
1. Voice annotated slides on Web; 7 course modules with a number
of 15-30 minutes units
2. Biweekly Q&A chat sessions moderated by students
3. Bulletin Board class discussions
4. Posting to Web of best 2-3 assignments
5. Exam Q’s posted to BB; answers sent via email
6. Team projects posted in a team project space
7. Add’l Web resources are structured for students (e.g., white
papers, reports, project and product home pages)
8. Email is used to communicate with students
9. Interactive:
A. Just-In-Time-Teaching
Gregor Novak, IUPUI Physics
Professor (teaches teamwork,
collaboration, and effective
communication):
1. Lectures are built around student
answers to short quizzes that have an
electronic due date just hours before
class.
2. Instructor reads and summarizes
responses before class and weaves
them into discussion and changes the
lecture as appropriate.
9. Interactive: B. Just-In-Time Syllabus
(Raman, Shackelford, & Sosin) http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/jits.htm
Syllabus is created as a "shell" which is thematically organized
and contains print, video, and web references as well as
assignments.
Goal = critical thinking (analysis, evaluation), developing
student interests, collaboration, discussion
e.g., Economics instructors incorporate time-sensitive data, on-line
discussions as well as links to freshly-mounted websites.
Instructor reads and summarizes responses before class and
weaves them into discussion and changes the lecture.
e.g., To teach or expand the discussion of supply or elasticity, an
instructor would add new links in the Just-in-Time Syllabus to
breaking news about gasoline prices or the energy blackouts in
California
9. Interactive:
C. Secret Coaches and Proteges
1. Input learner names into a Web site.
2. When learners arrive it randomly assigns them a
secret protégé for a meeting.
3. Tell them to monitor the work of their protégé but
to avoid being obvious by giving feedback to
several different people.
4. Give examples of comments.
5. At end of mtg, have proteges guess coaches.
6. Discuss how behavior could be used in other
meetings.
10. Goal Driven
A. Thoughtful Reflections
10. Goal Driven Activities
B. Team Product or Jigsaw
• Team or Course White Paper,
Business Plan, Study Guide,
Glossary, Journal: Have students
work in teams to produce a
product and share with other
groups
1. Low Risk <-------> High Risk
Strategy Continuum
2. Low Time <-------> High Time
Strategy Continuum
3. Low Reality <-------> High Reality
Strategy Continuum
4. Low Cost <-------> High Cost
Strategy Continuum
Pick an Idea
• Definitely Will Use:
___________________________
• May Try to Use:
___________________________
• No Way:
___________________________
Questions?
Comments?
Concerns?