Module 4 Post 1 JSherman

Engaging Learners with New Strategies and Tools

I teach 5-6 students a semester in a truly online distance education classroom as well as a class of 30 students in a blended e-learning model (3 days online, 2 days fact-to-face). I find that communication tools are very effectively incorporated into these classes. To add an element of synchronous communication, students are encouraged to use either Skype or ooVoo to collaborate with a partner or small group throughout the course on various projects. This also correlates with Wimba Live classroom, which is a synchronous online classroom with features on an online “whiteboard” and chat feature. These chatting and video conferencing tools are excellent for synchronous communication as students are familiar with them prior to entering my class. Online communication tools work really well with constructivist teaching strategies such as Siemens (2008) curatorial teaching model. In this model the teacher serves as an expert whom sets the stage (environment) for learning complete with all necessary materials and then allows students to explore and discover relatively unassisted (Siemens, 2008).

References

Siemens, G. (2008, January). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators and designers. ITForum.

Module 3 Blog Post - Assessing Collaborative Efforts

Assessing Collaborative Efforts

“Collaboration has been defined as the “heart and soul” of an online course or for that matter, any course that bases its theoretical foundation in constructivism” (Palloff & Pratt, 2005, p. 6). Collaborative learning activities cannot be graded in the same manner that traditional learning activities are assessed. Collaborative activities need to utilize a rubric that will provide students with “a road map not only to guide the activity, but also to know how the activity will be assessed and evaluated” (Palloff & Pratt, 2005, p. 43). Participation is a collaborative activity that cannot be assessed with traditional means. Participation should be clearly defined in terms of class expectations to avoid confusion. Students and the instructor should assess participation. For example, students within a collaborative group can assess one another’s participation via peer evaluation. Assessment should be “fair and equitable” whether the assessments are delivered online or face-to-face. One way to ensure that assessments are “fair and equitable” is to provide authentic assessments such as projects and collaborative activities rather than traditional quizzes. Authentic assessments will allow the instructor to measure a student’s growth from the beginning of the course until culmination of the course (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008).

Students should be made aware of class/instructor expectations for participation in the class and collaborative activities from the start of class. Collaborative groups should be encouraged to develop group norms for intervening when a group member is not meeting expectations. The instructor should give an honest effort to generate participation from an unresponsive student. One manner in which this could be done is to provide the student with an opportunity to be successful in front of the group in order to build confidence. If participation is a key component of online assessment then an unresponsive student should have his/her grade negatively impacted as a result of nonparticipation.

References

Education, Inc. (2008). Principles of Distance Education. Baltimore: Author.

Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online: Learning together in community. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Video Presentation Storyboard - Joshua Sherman

Here is the workings of my storyboard to date. I am fleshing the storyboard out in PowerPoint, however, I will be using either iMovie or Windows Movie Maker for the finished project. This is a work in progress with room to grow, so please comment freely. I intend to shoot the interview with a high school librarian next week. The topic of the presentation will be Research and Information Fluency. This is in accordance with ISTE's NETS for Students standard 3. This is a topic of interest for the 2012 NECC conference. If you click on the first picture you can view all the pics in a larger form in order.