edtech 523 - communication plan

8/2/2019 EDTECH 523 - Communication Plan

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EDTECH 523 - Communication Plan

Routine Tasks

Some routine tasks that online instructors normally do are: Use constructivist approach to establish content that shifts from a teacher-centered

mode of learning to a student-centered one.

Promote critical skills, coaching/gauging, scaffolding and facilitating rather than

dispensing information.

Manage facilitating tools such as Learning Management System (LMS), regulate the

quality control of course delivery.

Put maintenance plan in action:

1. Schedule maintenance

2. Preventive maintenance

Exercise online record keeping such as tracking students activities, update gradebook,monitor communication logs, and archiving important data.

Manage hardware and software which includes, but are not limited to; computers,

servers, hosting of websites, communication tools; example synchronous and

asynchronous tools, multimedia, etc.

Exercise control over flow of information in discussion forum and take evasive actionto steer it back on track if control is lost.

Manage group size by putting a cap on enrollment.

Contact students who have dropped program or those students who are not participating

in discussions or any other activities. Record data for evaluation purposes at the end of

the course.

Know precisely which students are in danger of giving up on their education and takeappropriate action to retain those students if reasons are within your scope.

Discussion Board Strategies

Discussion forum is a critical and dynamic component of social presence in building asuccessful online community. The goal of any discussion forum should be to encourageengagement and participation. As a result, instructors should outline clear rules andguidelines at the offset of the course and insist that students comply. I support the notion putforward by many writers that the first discussion forum for the semester should be anicebreaker to give students an opportunity to know each other early in the semester. Dr. Hincktried it at the beginning of the semester for the EDTECH 523 course, and I must confer, itworks effectively.Critical Thinking Prompts - They should be interesting, thought-provoking and engaging.

Ensure that questions post to the discussion forum are unambiguous and evoke

critical thinking skills.

Allow students to be engaged purposefully and develop the ability to achieve higher

levels of cognitive processing for the various topics. Physical, social, and emotional

aspect of learners should be collectively impacted in this instance.


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Encourage reflective response to the type of writing posted in the forum. Here

students can reflect on their own posts and give substantive feedback to peers.

The teacher is not the author and finisher of all knowledge; therefore, he should be

removed from the forefront of the learning arena and allow students to lead out.

Encourage students to do inquiry learning where conceptual knowledge is researched,

skills are practiced and developed, and learning is constructed based on priorknowledge.

Learners should take lead roles in discussion prompts by asking questions from an

item bank that are directly related to the topic being studied. They should ask

classmates to actively take part in the discussion forum.

Effective Facilitation Strategies

This entails the following:

Purposeful engagement - allowing students to establish connection between content

and peers. According to Rice, three factors are related to this idea:

1. Cognitive factors that influence the input and output and outcomes of the

discussions.

2. Social and emotional factors that influence learner engagement in the

discussions.

3. Physical factors that influence how conducive the environment is to encourage

open dialogue.

Relevance - the topics addressed in instructional discussion forums should have

instructional relevance. They should relate to, expand on or otherwise support the

content and objectives of the unit or chapter being studied (Rice, 2012).

Instructors are encouraged to tap into students reservoir of knowledge and by

allowing them to draw on the higher level order of Blooms Taxonomy of educational

objectives. They should promote thought provoking questions that will probe fordeeper analysis, seek clarification, and aid students to draw conclusion from making

value judgement based on the topic being studied.

Build a successful online community - this should foster intimate collaboration

between instructor and students, and students and students relationships. These

relationships can extend far beyond the content and context of the course and

promote lifelong networking amongst individuals for an indefinite period of time.

Shut down users who disrupt and harm the community because they will hinder deep

learning. Our aim in the online community is to promote and maximize students

learning potential rather than to prevent it.

Provide appropriate scaffolding, guidance and resources that will gauge learners

through the learning process, especially if they are new to online learning.

Feedback

Notify students of a clear response time to assignments and other email messages. Email

students when new grades are posted. Instructors can use formal and informal student

feedback in an ongoing basis. However, according to Rice, 2012, instead of trying to respond

to each student, post occasionally and thoughtfully. Instructors can also provide opportunities

for students to give feedback on course content, or students giving feedback to students after


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reviewing each other's post. Afterwards, instructor can wrap-up the forum by giving a general

feedback to students.

Assessment Strategies

Self-assessments are interactive lessons that provide students with immediate feedback while

allowing them to work at their own pace, without the pressure of punitive marking (Dyreson,1996).

If assessment warrants outside help, instructors may opt to consult edmin .com for

assessment tools; eg. the INFORM Learning System provides assessment you can trust to:

Accurately measure student progress. Improve reliability with high quality item banks. Save time with an automated delivery platform. Easily create, manage and evaluate test items. Optimize student achievement with targeted instruction.

Management StrategiesTime - Time management is very essential in ones everyday lifestyle because of itselusiveness. According to the article on time management tips, time can't be managed, time isuncontrollable we can only manage ourselves and our use of time. Time management isactually the ability to plan, delegate, organize, direct and control our actions.Time managementis also worth considering when facilitating or participating in an online discussion forum.Effective course management planning during design and implementation can help theinstructor to alleviate the potentially increased time spent in managing online discussion forums.There are other management strategies that the instructor needs to contend with:Managing TimelinesOverlap assignments with varying due dates so that more than one assignments can be doneconcurrently. Highlight and post assignment due dates where there are visible in the course sitefor students to see each time they logged in.Communication anxietyDominant participants - Consider contacting students individually who dominate discussionsforums to make them aware of the situation and ask them to reflect longer before responding.Instructor could also assign those students to be mentors for less vocal students. Giveadditional responsibilities not related to student interaction to channel their enthusiasm. Also,you can email the student and let them know that you appreciate their interest, but it is importantnot too spend too much time on the discussions once required posting is done (DeVan, J.,2012).Instructor interventionInstructor should be willing to develop and entrust roles such as process managers upon

students so that the course can run smoothly. This instructor can do by relinquishing their posts

and allow students to take control of the educational process.

Observe LMS login data, and contact learners who do not participate for two consecutiveweeks. Try to resolve issues if they are not related to registration and other policies of the

institution.

When side conversations are detracting from the learning, try creating a Student Lounge area

and redirect students (as a group and, if needs be, offline individually) to post their non-related

conversations there. This strategy works well for the current EDTECH 523 where I saw the

instructor emphatically told students that the Main discussion board is for grading purposes only

and that students should post those unrelated issues in the Students lounge instead.
http://edmin.com/content/assessmenthttp://edmin.com/content/assessmenthttp://edmin.com/content/assessmenthttp://edmin.com/content/assessment


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Group sizeAccording to Palloff and Pratt, group size is of major importance in an online classroom becauseit relates to the ability of the instructor to maintain some modicum of control over the processwithout subjecting participant to information overload.

Privacy policy/ Online SecurityStudents must feel confident that none of their personal information will be shared with the

public. While at the same time they should safeguard themselves against identity theft by not

sharing sensitive information online.

Quality of post

The post should be substantive enough so that it brings out the characteristics of the followingpoints put forward by Rice, (2012);

Set parameters to monitor minimum or maximum length requirements. The use of supporting resources, readings, and facts to support conclusions,

interferences, or opinions. The appropriateness of the response for the intended audience

The organization and flow of the argument.Quantity of Post

Monitor minimum requirements for post. Encourage consistent participation throughout the semester Establish and monitor number of visits (post) per week. For example, students could

make their first post on Monday, respond to classmates post on Wednesday and write a

reflection on Friday.

Responses to postRice, 2012, encourages instructor to set aside time for each communication activity byscheduling blogs of time specifically to respond to student discussions. Respond to individualpostings, or periodically respond to main themes in the discussion is highly recommended, butthe instructor should not be the dominant person in the forum. Students should be allowed to

take the lead.Student behavior/ Online disciplineIt is important for instructor to diligently moderate each post and remove comment considered tobe offensive. The netiquette for the discussion forum should be established early in the coursewhere instructor take a firm stance about offensive comments deliberately posed at targetedstudents. Online bullying should also brought to the forefront and deal with students privately. Ifsituations persist, then you may have to suspend that particular student from the discussionforum (Palloff, R., & Pratt, K., 2007).Students should be encouraged to practice good file management, and self- regulation skills sothat they may become successful online learners.Continuous enrollment

Instructor has to devise strategies to deal with the issue of rolling enrollment where students areallowed to enter a course of study anytime during the semester. As mentioned by Rice,although this provides learners with the ultimate flexibility, it can hamper instructors attempts toengage learners in meaningful discussions with classmates. Rice, K., 2012. (p. 154).Technical difficultiesIt is important to note that technological infrastructure plays a critical role in determining studentand instructor satisfaction and success. Technical support should be provided to studentsthrough help desks 24/7 in the various institutions so that they can learn the course content and


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complete assigned tasks, without having to grapple with navigational issues. Actions tominimize these issues are:

Manage broken links Learners, novice instructors, and mentors are encouraged to start a training process

prior to the commencement of classes. Navigate the LMS from time- to -time as part of a routine maintenance.

Rubric

A rubric is an assessment instrument that has a set criteria developed primarily to rate students

performance. An example of a four-criteria discussion board rubric that worths 40 points is

shown below:

Discussion Board Assessment - Rubric

Points10-8

Points7-4

Points3-0

Quality Post is thorough.Discussion focuses onall important aspects ofthe lesson.

Post is not thorough.Discussion focuseson some importantaspect of the lesson.

Post is not thorough.Discussion did notfocus on anyimportant aspect ofthe lesson.

Timeliness Substantive posts aredone prior to deadline.

Substantive posts aredone after deadline.

No posts arereceived during thediscussion period.

SupportingMaterials

Postings are significantlysupported by assignedtext and other resourcematerials.

Postings are merelysupported byassigned text andand other resource

materials.

Postings are poorlysupported byassigned text andother resource

materials.

QualityContribution

Post your work in thediscussion forums &respond to weeklydiscussion questions.Respond to 2 or moreclassmates posts.

Post your work in thediscussion forums &respond to weeklydiscussion questions.Respond to 1 or lessclassmates posts.

Post your work inthe discussionforums & respond toweekly discussionquestions.Did not respond toany classmatesposts.

Original Idea

RSS feed (Really Simple Syndication)Synchronize email address to the discussion forum using smartphones. This will allow studentsto aggregate and customize the content that they view in each discussion forum. A sneakpreview of a particular post at anytime gives learners the opportunity to adequately rehearseand prepare a more positive and objective response to the post prior to logging on to the coursesite. This can bring about prompts that can enhance and prolong the discussion thread.


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Social Network SitesSynchronizing the discussion forums to blog on social network sites such as Twitter andFacebook. Smart phone can then be used to track and keep up with posts in the discussionforum. Which will give a longer time to reflect before responding to a post, when it will becomeconvenient to log in the LMS to make your post or respond to other discussion threads going onconcurrently.

Podcasting Teachers could become innovative by recording their posts and send the link to a

podcast aggregator then post the podcast link in the discussion forum. Students couldlisten in with their mobile devices; for example, their Ipods while they are at the bus stop,train station, or when they are exercising.

Teachers could use VoiceThread to record and upload posts, then podcast these postsas series later on in the semester or archive them for future use.

Assessment Strategies

As mentioned earlier, if assessment warrants outside help, instructors may opt to consult

edmin .com for assessment tools; eg. the INFORM Learning System provides can provide

vital assessment tools aimed at checking students understanding and if they are

demonstrating mastery of the content, this will help instructor gauge learning activities that willmaximize students learning potential.

Reference

Palloff, R.,& Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities: Effective strategies for thevirtual classroom. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, CA.

Rice, K. (2010). Making the move to K-12 online teaching: Research-based strategies andpractice. Pearson Education, Inc: Upper Saddle River, NJ.

Assessment to measure progress. Retrieved: http ://edmin .com /content/assessment

Carnegie Mellon: Enhancing education . Retrieved:http ://www .cmu .edu /teaching /principles /index .html

Principle of design. Retrieved: http ://www .fgcu .edu /onlinedesign /managec .htm

Online Discussion: Tips for instructors. Retrieved:http ://cte .uwaterloo .ca /teaching _ resources /tips /online _ discussions _ tips _ for _ instructors .html
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edtech 523 - communication plan

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