Using Collaborative Tools
in the ANGEL LMS
Dr. Sheryl Hartman
Dr. Risa Blair
Dr. Sheryl M. Hartman - Bio
 Dr. Sheryl M. Hartman
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Ph.D. University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida
M.A. State University of New York at Plattsburgh, New York
B.A., Stony Brook University, Long Island, New York
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Dr. Hartman is known for total commitment to her students. This
recognition has earned her the College's highest distinction: the
bestowal of an Endowed Teaching Chair, three times. She is currently
recognized with the Dr. Eduardo J. Padrón Teaching Chair. She has
been a recipient of the Dr. Peter J Masiko Teaching Chair and the Ruth
B. and Jack Kassewitz Teaching Chair. Dr. Hartman has twice received
the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development Teaching
and Leadership Excellence Award presented by the University of Texas
at Austin.
Dr. Hartman combines state of the art technology and time-tested
teaching traditions to insure student success. She brings creativity and
a love of teaching to both her virtual and face-to-face students. Dr.
Hartman teaches Student Success courses for the First Time in College
Student. She also teaches Psychology and facilitates an online faculty
development and training program, Successful Teaching and Learning
Online. She is co-author of four chapters in the text, Keys to Excellence.
Dr. Risa Blair - Bio
 Dr. Risa Blair
Ed.D., Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
B.A. and M.S., University of Hartford, West Hartford, Connecticut
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Dr. Blair has over 15 years of teaching and experience in higher
education, preparatory education, and online education. Working full
time for the Virtual College at Miami Dade College where she
coordinates and trains faculty in the course development process, she
additionally teaches for Kaplan University’s School of Information
Systems and Technology. She has a strong background in
technology and communications, business and management,
instructional design, and online and traditional teaching.
Dr. Blair is past president of Florida Distance Learning Association,
the Florida affiliate of the United States Distance Learning
Association, where she lead the organization in conducting technology
training, state-of-the-art workshops, seminars, and webinars. She
brings a wealth of knowledge in quality distance learning resources, as
well as in Web Development, Presentation Graphics, Web
Storyboarding, and Dreamweaver.
Dr. Blair spent a semester in Israel as an assistant professor using
state-of-the art telecommunication resources for her students to
interact around the globe and learn in engaging online environments.
Agenda
Pedagogy supported by research
Overview of ANGEL tools
Discussion Forums
Blogs
Wikis
Wimba Voice Tools
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Why Promote Collaboration in Online Classes?
 Gallini (2001); and Liaw & Huang (2000) began to
focus on the relationship between technology and
collaboration in online courses; use the technology
to support the pedagogy
 Desanctis, Fayard, Roach, and Jiang (2003) suggest
collaborative learning fosters technology as the
platform for collaboration, and aims for deep
discussion over time
 The use of discussion in online courses effectively
embraces The Distance Education Learning
Environments Survey (Walker & Fraser, 2005)
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Collaboration Break One
1. Form groups
2. Questions
a.
How do you promote collaboration online?
b.
What are some of the workforce skills students
gain from collaborating?
c.
How would you have multi-generational students
collaborate online?
d.
How would you collaborate online with people at
multiple sites?
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Building Online Learning Communities
There are 5 stages students experience in moving to a more
collaborative online environment (Salmon, 2001)
Access &
Motivation
Online
Socialization
Students learn how
to use the different
component of the
system, with
emphasis on the
communication tools
Students gain comfort
and begin to
participate in the
online environment;
that’s why the “Meet
Your Classmates” first
discussion is critical
Information
Exchange
As students become
more comfortable
with the tools, they
begin to focus on the
content and ask
questions
Knowledge
Construction
Students begin to
know peers and may
naturally collaborate
with others; students
start to delve into the
course content
Development
Students move
toward using critical
thinking skills,
challenging others’
ideas
Discussion Forums are an excellent tool to embrace each of these developmental levels
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Importance of Discussions
 In order to have a social presence in a virtual
environment, as well as to be viewed as a real
participant, students engage on a social and
emotional level (Wellman, 1999). Discussions
facilitate this contribution to the virtual classroom.
 The predominant learning style addressed in online
courses is visual. To this end, professors and
students, alike, need to be highly cognizant of every
written communiqué in the virtual classroom!
 This reality may change as higher level technologies
are integrated, such as video and voice. For now,
asynchronous discussions (in their various forms)
dominant the communication venue.
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Instructor Role in Facilitating Discussions
 It is the role of the professor to facilitate, moderate,
and promote a “safe” virtual classroom
environment, where students may share their
thoughts and ideas appropriately.
 Discussions serve as the classroom space for
students to exchange ideas, share learning, and
even share personal challenges.
 It is with careful and selective monitoring that
Discussions can become the great equalizer for
limited English proficiency students, reducing the
communication fear factor in the face-to-face
classroom environment.
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Distance Education Learning Environments
Survey – Descriptions and Discussion Support
DELES Scale
Instructor Support
Description - The extent to which
How Discussion Supports
... the instructor helps, gives
prompt responses to and is
accessible to students.
… allows instructor modeling,
facilitation, coaching, and
redirecting
Student Interaction
and Collaboration
... students have opportunities to
interact with each other, exchange
information and engage in
collaboration.
… facilitates opportunities for
students to share ideas and
comment on others’ ideas
Personal Relevance
... there is a link between students'
out of school experiences.
Authentic Learning
Active Learning
Student Autonomy
… may permits connection
between theory and life
situations (subject dependent)
... students have the chance to solve … promotes opportunity for
(authentic) real life problems.
students to tie theory to
personal issues
... students have opportunities to
... Students may contribute
initiate their own learning.
outside research
… the course is student oriented
and allows them to make their own
learning decisions.
… students control when,
where and if to participate
Walker, S. L., & Fraser, B. J. (2005)
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Collaboration Break Two
 Form groups
 Take two minutes and create a mind map
brainstorming about the values you see in having
discussions in your online classes
 Report
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Overview of ANGEL Tools
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LMS Support for Discussion Forums
Using our LMS (ANGEL), it’s easy to
work through a wizard to create
specialized discussions built in ANGEL
ANGEL handles access levels for users,
and depending on the type of
discussion, may move users from one
group to the next once they post
The LMS supports these options behind
the scenes and there is no special
programming required
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Discussion Forums
 What do Discussions look like in our LMS (ANGEL)?
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ANGEL Discussion Forum Types
 Required Post Discussions
 Fishbowl Discussions
 Hot Seat Discussions
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Required Post Discussions Explained
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Students must post first, before they can read
other postings
When discussions are set up as “Required
Posts,” this encourages original thought and
feedback, as students have to post first and then
can read others’ postings
Students may be directed to read textbook cases,
or current events articles from the New York
Times or other sources, provide thoughtful
feedback (without being influenced by others),
and then respond to their classmates
Required Post Discussions in Practice
 Use Required Post Discussion Forums when you
want students to answer questions first without
being influenced by others’ postings
 Professors use this type of discussion posting in
philosophy classes when they want students to
thoroughly and thoughtfully respond to
questions asked without being influenced by (or
copying) others’ responses
 This type of post reduces the “parroting effect”
in discussions
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Fishbowl Discussion Forums Explained
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This format allows the students who are
designated as being “inside the fishbowl” to
view, post, and reply to messages.
Students who are designated as being
“outside the fishbowl” can view the posted
messages and replies but cannot post or
respond.
Fishbowl Discussions In Practice
 Students may selectively be assigned “in the
fishbowl,” while others may be required to
write synopses or summaries of the
discussions for the week
 Students outside the fishbowl may only view the
discussion, and not comment
 Fishbowl Discussions would be especially
interesting to use to discuss different
psychological disorders
 This helps to vary the participation and add
interest to the class
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Hot Seat Discussions Explained
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This format is designed to simulate a
classroom situation where one or more
students are asked to research and defend a
particular topic.
Designated students can post top-level
questions to the Hot Seat member, however
only designated Hot Seat members can
respond.
Hot Seat Discussions in Practice
 With Hot Seat Discussions, some students are
placed in the “hot seat,” and are required to
answer questions; this works well for groups
 Those students outside of the hot seat are the
ones asking the questions
 This works very well for case studies and/or to
engage students in complex problem solving.
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Blogs
In lieu of participating in a Discussion for
the week, students may participate in a
blog
Again, this would add interest to the class
and connect with the digital natives
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Wikis
Wikis are an excellent tool for promoting
group activity in online courses
Students may use a wiki to brainstorm,
create an outline, or even develop a
group project
Wikis in ANGEL may be carefully tracked;
instructors are able to see who is doing
what, and when
Students may be assigned to do an
interesting final group project on a
chosen, approved topic
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Wimba Voice Tools Explained
 The Wimba Voice Tools component in ANGEL boasts
a very easy way to add podcasts to your course
 It’s simple to record a quick note to your
students and post it for them to listen to key
points of a lecture or study tips
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Wimba Voice Tools in Practice
 We are also using Wimba Voice Tools in Speech
classes for students to record and post their own
speeches
 Using this tool, students may
post their speeches, listen
to other students’ speeches,
provide peer evaluations and
feedback—just as what you’d
do in a f2f speech class!
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Collaboration Break Three
 Form Groups
 Choose a group leader to take notes
 Each group member offer at least one teaching
scenario applying one of these ANGEL tools
 Group leader will report
Summary
 Communication is critical to the success of online
students and instructors
 Discussion Forums, Blogs, Wikis, and Wimba Voice
Tools provide the opportunity for facilitating
communication and vibrant learning communities
 Knowing when and how to use these tools promotes
interest for the students in the class
 Having an LMS such as ANGEL that supports natively
supports these tools makes the tasks of the
practitioner that much easier
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References
DeSanctis, G., Fayard, A.L., Roach, M., & Jiang, L. (2003). Learning in
online forums. European Management Journal, 21(5), p. 565-577.
Gallini, J.K. (2001). A framework for the design of research in
technology-mediated learning environments: A sociocultural
perspective. Educational Technology, 41(2), 15-21.
Liaw, S., & Huang, H. (2000). Enhancing interactivity in Web-based
instruction: A review of the literature. Educational Technology, 39(1),
41.51.
Salmon, G. (2001). E-Moderating: The Key to Teaching and Learning
Online. London, UK: Kogan Page Publishing.
Walker, S. L., & Fraser, B. J. (2005). Development and validation of an
instrument for assessing distance education learning environments in
higher education: The Distance Education Learning Environments
Survey (DELES). Learning Environments Research, 8(2), 289-308.
Wellman, B. (1999). Networks in the Global Village. Boulder, CO:
Westview Press. 1-48.
Questions?
Quote to ponder…
Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where
individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated,
communication is open, and rules are flexible -- the kind of
atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family… [or in a
virtual classroom].
Virginia Satir (1916-1988)
author and psychotherapist