Sandy JohnsonRETA Instructor

NMSU

Communication is the most important element

Discussion Board Email Chat Rooms Conferencing Face to Face Intervention

Through communication we have the opportunity to know our students through their responses, opinions, questions, and

feedback.

Announcements and Discussions

Let students know that you are-

Present Interested Paying Attention Available

Expected time required by you and the student

Respond to all questions, emails, or postings within 24 hour

Grading of assignments and assessments within 48 hours

Participation works well when there is a variety of activities and assessments

Provide opportunities to work in small and large groups

Realize that some students learn best while working alone. Build in options!

Wimba is available for “real time” conferencing

Use Wimba to show students how to move within the Blackboard environment

Wimba provides chats, blogs, and wikis

Don’t forget-you have your students face to face-talk to them!

Find ways to engage your learners

Offer collaborative and more reflective activities

Offer time to think, plan, write and summarize

What can be done to increase participation?

What adjustments need to be made to facilitate learning?

What is working well for students?

Great way to provide students a voice in their own learning

Leaves time to make necessary adjustments to delivery of content

Helps to identify areas to modify to meet student needs

Provide an open question and answer forum Encourage critical or creative thinking Reinforce domain or procedural processes Achieve social interaction and community

building-- have the students get to know each other personally and intellectually

Validate experiences Support students in their own reflections

and inquiries

Focus on content resources and applications and links to current events and examples that are easily accessed from learner's computers

Tutorials, simulations and content specific material can be found online

Link material learned to current events and to student’s lives

Teacher identifies the core concepts to be learned in a course

Performance goals should be set and SHARED with the student

Build in options and choices to address the same performance goal reached in a different way (Differentiated Instruction)

Remember- concepts are not words

Concepts are organized, intricate knowledge clusters

Effectively learning concepts requires a focus on patterns and relationships - not individual facts or vocabulary

Students need to create, talk, write, explain, analyze, judge, report and inquire

Moves from concept awareness to concept acquisition

Discussion forums, blogging, journals and small group work are all excellent strategies for engaging learners in clarifying and enlarging their mental models or concepts

Helps to build links and identifies relationships.

Planning ahead can help reduce stress and provide a calming atmosphere

Provide a “To Do” or checklist for students during the last few weeks of class

Help students by reminding them of “What’s Next”

Well-designed ending of a course provides opportunities for reflection and integration of useful knowledge

Provides a time to wrap up positive social and cognitive experiences

End-of-course experiences often include student presentations, summaries and analyses

Reports and presentations provide insights into what useful knowledge students are taking away from a course

Provides opportunity for faculty to remind students of core concepts and fundamental principles

Focus on your learners

Communication tools are the heart and soul of the online course

Be available

Above all-model what you want your online students to do

Boettcher, J. V. (2006). "Ten core principles for designing learning -- The jungle brain meets the tundra brain." Expanded version of Boettcher, J. V. (2003). Course management systems and learning principles ---- Getting to know each other. Syllabus. 16: 33-36. campustechnology.com/articles/39412/. (Accessed August 27, 2007). Another version is at www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=54. (Accessed August 27, 2007).

Boettcher, J. V. and Conrad, R. M. (2004). Faculty guide for moving teaching and learning to the web. 2nd Edition. Phoenix, AZ, League for Innovation. Pp. 247.

Conrad, R. M. and Donaldson, J. A. (2004). Engaging the online learner: Activities and resources for creative instruction, Jossey-Bass <www.josseybass.com> Pp. 123.

Fischer, K. Reiss, D. and Young, A. (2005). Ten tips for generating engaged online discussion. Austin, TX, University of Texas. http://wordsworth2.net/activelearning/ecacdiscustips.htm (Accessed August 27, 2007) A helpful set of concise tips that offer ideas and suggestions for being effective at facilitating discussions in electronic environments. More tips on getting started in online active learning are at <wordsworth2.net/activelearning/ecacteachtips.htm>.

Goodyear, Peter. (2002) Psychological foundations for networked learning." Networked learning: perspectives and issues. Pp. 49-75 2002. Springer-Verlag. New York, Inc.

Grogan, G. (2005). The Design of Online Discussions to Achieve Good Learning Results