Engaging distance learners: Dynamite Discussions and Mind-blowing Blogs

1. Engaging distance learners: Dynamite Discussions and Mind-blowing Blogs Lisa Sheldon, M.S., M. Ed. Adjunct Faculty: Biology DepartmentGreenfield Community College

2. What Engages Online Learners? • Best practices for engaging online learners: • Be present and visible! • Set clear expectations for students and yourself • Office hours • Communication • Assessment/Grading • Promote Community • Welcome students individually • Provide an introduction activity & orientation • Promote community & offer a “café” space for students • Provide feedback on all assignments & activities • Ask for feedback about course from students

3. Set the Stage for Engagement • Establish ground rules • Timing: avoiding last minute posts • Ask follow-up questions with time for students response • Netiquette • Design consistently & organize strategically • Use discussions to meet learning objectives • Scaffold & build in complexity • Assign student discussion facilitators • Provide a “wrapper” or summary for discussions

4. Stimulating Student Engagement Students want instructors to: • Make activities relevant to learning • Link content with students’ experiences • Encourage application of concepts • Integrate students’ personal perspectives • Carefully word questions and topics for clarity • Avoid repetition between assignments • Encourage non-trivial posts through clear expectations

5. Writing Discussion Questions • Avoid knowledge dumps & regurgitation • Application-level questions • Allow students to disclose what is unclear to them • Open-ended questions • Offer variety

6. Writing Strong Discussion Questions: Question Types University of Oregon: http://tep.uoregon.edu/technology/blackboard/docs/discussionboard.pdf

7. Maintaining momentum • Respond to individual postings, or periodically respond to main themes in the discussion. • Ask follow up questions. • Discuss emergent themes in other areas of the course. • Re-direct as necessary. • Encourage multiple perspectives. • Provide evaluative responses to student postings.

8. Blogs • Provide a “portfolio” of student work • Allow students to showcase their thinking & learning • Encourage collaboration and interaction • Supports learning through sharing of resources, problem-based and inquiry-based learning, reflective learning, and peer-to-peer learning (Minocha, 2009; O’Reilly, 2005). • Students gain transferable skills • team work, collaboration, negotiation, and communication, individual and group reflection.

9. Blogs can be used to… • Replace the standard class Web page. • Link to Internet items that relate to the theme of the course. • Organize class discussions. • Organize class seminars and provide summaries of readings. • Help students create a portfolio of their writing, or express their opinion on the topics they are studying.

10. Online Learning Journals • Private space for students to process information • Opportunity to question assumptions & perspectives • Space to discuss controversial & provoking topics • Students see their changing attitude & knowledge • Non-threatening activity with reduced social risk • Reduce conformity and encourages exploration

11. Resources: • Teaching with GoPost • (UW Learning & Scholarly Technologies) • Mastering Online Discussion Board Facilitation:   • Resource Guide (Edutopia) • Improving the Use of Discussion Boards • (Worcester Polytechnic Institute) • Generating and Facilitating Engaging and Effective Online Discussions • (University of Oregon)

12. Motivation for good practice… • Student who perceived high levels of instructor interaction rated course and personal learning satisfaction higher. • Students with strong participation in online discussions and activities reported higher levels of satisfaction and learning. (Swan, et al, 2000)

13. Example Journal: Sex, Drugs & AIDS (UMass, 2011) Personal Reflections Journal • For this class you will keep a reflections journal. The Reflection Journal will provide you with an interactive space to ponder, critique, and connect ideas. It is a place for you to draw on information presented in the text, class discussions, assignments or supplemental readings.This is not meant to be a “reporting” of your learning, but instead an opportunity for you to interact with the material in a deeper and more engaged manner. The goal is for you to challenge your assumptions and explore what the material presented in the course means to you.Each week you will be given a topic and some prompts to help you get started in your thinking about the issues presented. This journal allows you space to write about your feelings, relate the material to your experiences and also draw on your own opinions to engage with the class material.Entries should be written using the “I” pronoun. There are no “right” or “wrong” answers, but you need to create well-written journal entries with proper grammar and spelling. These will be graded on a pass fail basis and each week I will provide feedback to you on your comments and thoughts. The only person who will have access to the journal is the instructor, so you should feel comfortable talking about anything you would like to express.

14. Example Journal: Sex, Drugs & AIDS (UMass, 2011) Student comments: • It was very helpful. • I enjoyed writing my journal entries because they were like listening and answering to myself, my conscious self. • It helped to raise awareness in myself. I can re-read them and say "wow, did I really experience that". My view then would be like someone else reading my thoughts and experiences. • The great thing about journals is that they are not formal and people don't have to feel pressure to come up with information- it's already there in their mind. In my view, journals are a great tool.

15. Sample Discussion Schedule • Note dates for initial posts and follow-up posts. This ensures that not all activity will take place close to the end of the topic.

16. Sample Discussion Rubric Rubrics may be used to grade either individual student comments, or a series of comments from a student. A very simple four-point scale might look like this: 4 Points - The posting(s) integrates multiple viewpoints and weaves both class readings and other participants' postings into their discussion of the subject. 3 Points - The posting(s) builds upon the ideas of another participant or two, and digs deeper into the question(s) posed by the instructor. 2 Points - A single posting that does not interact with or incorporate the ideas of other participants' comments. 1 Point - A simple "me too" comment that neither expands the conversation nor demonstrates any degree of reflection by the student. 0 Points - No comment.