Telecommunications in Education: Examining Distributed Teaching and Learning Environments (EDER 677 L.91 ) Computer Mediated Communication Systems for the Asynchronous Class from Calgary, October 3

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Telecommunications in Education Examining
Distributed Teaching and Learning Environments
(EDER 677 L.91 )Computer Mediated
Communication Systemsfor the Asynchronous
Class from Calgary, October 3
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Housekeeping Items - Oct 03 Class - Online,
Asynchronous

1. Your group Web page with the two lists
   surveying/linking to Good Screen Design is due
   today (please email me the URL in WebCT email if
   you have not already done so).
2. The related discussion thread on Web Page Design
   is very interesting. Simplicity seems to be the
   main theme, and you have explained the value of
   simple, clean screen design (and linkages,
   navigation systems) in an education website very
   well. Please try to include URLs in your
   discussion as you find them, to support your
   findings and to lead us to your fountains of
   information. 677 students can compile an awesome
   distance ed bookmark list from our collective
   findings - this is very helpful to you in other
   courses.
3. Albert will summarize the thread and email the
   results to me, and they will appear as a hot link
   on his name in the Discussion Thread Student
   Leaders column on the Course Home Page.
4. As promised, tonights class is a reading class,
   to allow you to ponder your paper and to read
   about, on your time, the dimensions of CMC
   through literature. Keep asking each other
   questions, and asking me too. (I am caught up in
   my email!)

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Notice Please check out the lesson plan on
the Course Home Page for This weeksCore
readingsAssignmentextra resource linksat
http//www.ucalgary.ca/ekowch/677/Oct3class/oct
3lesson.html
Though Provoking Question Distributed Science
Education Could this be done with adult
(non-teacher) supervision in the room for
safety?
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Goals of this Session

• To Define the key terms associated with computer
  mediated communications (CMC)
• Understanding types of asynchronous CMC systems
• Electronic Mailing Lists (E-mail, distribution
  lists, listservs)
• Threaded Discussion Forums
• Understanding types of synchronous CMC systems
• Chat
• Multi-User Dimension (MUD) and Multi-Object
  Oriented (MOO)
• Virtual Classrooms
• CMC teaching/learning activities and issues
• Accreditition for parts of this evenings course
  content goes to Norm Vaughan, who just became a
  doctoral student in our EdTech specialty here at
  the U of C, and toDr. Bill Hunter, who designed
  the backbone of this presentation for the 677
  class in the past.

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CMC Terminology Two Classes of Online Discourse

• Computer Mediated Communication (CMC)
• Is communication facilitated or mediated via a
  computer
• I. Asynchronous Communication
• A delay in time between communicator Source and
  Receive (S-M-C-R) resulting in
• Communication sourcing and feedback happening out
  of sync.
• II. Synchronous Communication
• Occurs simultaneously between the learner and
  teacher or vice versa - the sender and the
  reciever.No time delay exists between Source and
  Reception and Feedback. (SMCR)
• Also called real time or live communication

For more resources on this topic - Click here
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The push and pull features within two kinds
of Asynchronous Communication Systems
Asynchronous

• Electronic mail systems push information to
  you without you directly requesting it.
• 1) Electronic Mail Systems push
• individual e-mail correspondence and links
• mailing lists (majordomo, listserv, listproc)
• moderated and un-moderated systems
• Threaded discussion forums - pull information
  to you without you directly requesting specific
  information (organic discourse can occur).

Rhetorical Question How do you manage
out-of-sync push and pull information that is a
necessary part of the teaching and learning
discourse? (Design and Delivery issues).
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1. Electronic Mail Systems
Asynchronous

• Push - a) Mailing Lists/List Servers
• uses email there is no public interface aside
  from a web page advertising its existence (this
  is your local information)
• can have open subscription or be a closed list
• can be moderated or un-moderated (as in
  discussion or chat systems)
• Examples and Resources
• Instructional Technology Forum Listserv Web Site
• http//itech1.coe.uga.edu/ITForum/home.html
• The Distance Education Online Symposium
• http//lists.psu.edu/archives/deos-l.html
• This article has a great definition of push
  technology - do you agree or disagree with the
  authors view of the future of push?
  (Learning Objects are a higher form of this
  thinking ask your classmates, we have a Learning
  Object expert among us!) http//www.darwinmag.com/
  learn/curve/column.html?ArticleID43

Rhetorical Question Do you know why so many
companies want to host email service?
For more resources on this topic - Click here
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1. Electronic Mail Systems (cont.)
Asynchronous

• Push - b) Mailing Lists/Listservs with a
  Hypermail web interface
• allows visual representation of threads in web
  space (like WebCT)
• (otherwise hidden) mailing list has a public
  face, either for reading or participation
• same issues as above as to openness and
  moderation
• Example
• World Wide Web Course Developers mailing
  list/listserv at the University of New Brunswick
• http//leahi.kcc.hawaii.edu/org/wwwdev/logs/
• http//www.unb.ca/web/wwwdev/

For more resources on this topic - Click here
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2. Threaded Discussion Forums
Asynchronous

• Pull - Type (a) Threaded conversation space
  without usernames and passwords
• threading helps keep conversations together over
  time
• lack of passwords and user accounts makes it more
  inviting to public / anyone can join in
• can be less focused and more difficult to hold
  long term users because content is not led
• Example
• AERA Leadership Thread
• http//www.cquest.utoronto.ca/env/aera/aera-lists/
  aera-a/99-04/
• Pull - Type (b) Threaded conversation space with
  usernames and passwords
• gives users sense of belonging and membership
• can discourage occasional posters, lurkers and
  one-time visitors
• can be more intensive to maintain
• Example EDER677 WebCT Discussion Forums
• http//webct-a.ucalgary.ca/SCRIPT/EDER_677/scripts
  /student/serve_bulletin?MMSG

Response To idea 1
Response To idea n
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Threaded Discussion Forums
Asynchronous

• Common CMC design Issues
• Public vs. private Design Issue Who gets to
  interact?
• Political Issue Whose voice is heard?
• Unstructured vs. Threaded/Structured? To lead
  or not to lead?
• Cost? (freeware/shareware/payware) To pay or not
  to pay?
• Searchable or Archiveable? To keep or not to
  keep?
• Can incorporate hypertext? To link outside
  (reference), or not?
• Can threads be moderated? Should they be
  moderated..?
• Sometimes education discussions need structure..
  Other times they do not.

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Asynchronous Communication Systems
Asynchronous

• Other Options - Proprietary Conferencing Software
• much more powerful software, fully featured and
  fairly easy to use
• often requires more than just a web browser to
  participate (e.g. client software) can be
  expensive
• quite plausible for an online course as run by
  U of C (SoftArcs First Class) and Athabasca (IBM
  Lotus Notes)
• Conferencing Sofware Vendor Examples
• SoftArcs First Class - http//www.softarc.com/
• IBM Lotus Notes - http//www.lotus.com/

For more resources on this topic - Click here
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Asynchronous
Asynchronous Communication Systems

• Teaching Activities using Async Comm (CMC)
• Electronic Penpals (interpersonal communication)
• http//www.epals.com/
• Individual and Cooperative Research Projects
  (gather and/or share information from and with
  on-line sources)
• Electronic Mentoring (on-line subject matter
  experts)
• Parallel Problem Solving
• (remote classes working on similar
  problem sets)
• Electronic Field Trips (e.g. Virtual Field Trips
  via the WWW)
• Group Development of Products
• (e.g. chain letters, stories, scripts, multimedia
  constructions)
• Social Action Projects (e.g. peace projects,
  social issues)

See if you can find examples of these online.
For more resources on this topic - Click here
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Asynchronous Communication Systems
Asynchronous

• Issues
• Motivation for student participation
• Extrinsic motivation (idenfity clear expectations
  and marking rubric for the online discussion)
• Intrinsic motivation (clear relevance and
  connection of the online discussions with the
  course content and expectations)
• Variety (online discussions are fun and not
  repetitive, and deep enough for the group to be
  interested, engaged)

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Synchronous Communication Systems
Synchronous

• 1) Online Chat
• 2) Multi-User Dimension (MUD) and Multi-Object
  Oriented (MOO)
• 3) Virtual Synchronous Classrooms

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Online Chat (CMC)
Synchronous

• 1) Options
• plain text chat(one to one)
• plain text chat (one or many to many)
• audio chat (one to one)
• audio chat (one to many)
• ability to moderate, lead discussions through
  technological methods
• shared whiteboards / multimedia capabilities

For more resources on this topic - Click here
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Synchronous
Online Chat

• 1) Options (cont.)
• file sharing capabilities
• sharing URLs, web touring
• ability to capture chat session to disk for
  archiving purposes
• ability to specify IP addresses allowed to join
  chat
• platform independence (through java or else
  multiple platform client versions)

For more resources on this topic - Click here
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Synchronous
Online Chat

• 1) Common Issues
• server based chat (one or many to many) vs.
  one-to-one chat
• realtime (usually java or special client) vs.
  slight lag (perl or other server-side scripting)
• low cost, low functionality vs. high cost, high
  functionality solutions
• ease of use vs. level of interaction
• Who is liable for inappropriate chat?
• Example
• EDER677 WebCT Chat Rooms
• http//webct-a.ucalgary.ca/SCRIPT/EDER_677/scripts
  /student/serve_chat.pl?START972581775

For more resources on this topic - Click here
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MUDs and MOOs
Synchronous

• 2) Multi-User Dimension (MUD) and Multi-Object
  Oriented (MOO)
• living verbal environments - you can become
  anything you want (or not)
• time consuming to up-keep (like mingling at a big
  wedding)
• text only (telnet) and graphical/sound
  environments
• band-width and technology constraints
• Examples
• MUDs and MOOs- http//www.ucalgary.ca/dabrent/380
  /webproj/taryn5.html
• Love online who says CMC has to be boring?
  (yikes)
• http//www.ucalgary.ca/dabrent/380proj/380web.htm
  
• http//joint.mccaig.ucalgary.ca/vc/definitions.htm
  
• Bibliography of Electronic Sources MOOs
• http//www.cas.usf.edu/english/walker/bibliog.html
  

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Online Synchronous Environs
Synchronous

• 3) Synchronous Web Based Virtual Classrooms
  (you know this well, gentle reader)
• Centra System
• http//www.centra.com
• Centra eMeeting Trial Service
• http//www.centranow.com
• Vclass
• http//www.elluminate.com/products.html
• LearnLink
• http//www.learnlink.com/products/live_elearning/l
  earnlinc/

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Online Synchronous Environs
Synchronous

• Teaching Activities
• flexible office hours
• flexible meeting hours
• Student group work possible
• Web tours (via features in the controller)
• Some application sharing (bandwidth problems
  will be solved soon).
• Student presentations (interactive, self
  directed, fun)
• Debates (live, requiring another layer of comm
  rules)
• Role Playing

For more resources on this topic - Click here
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Synchronous Teaching and Learning (CMC) Environs
Synchronous

• Teaching Issues
• Meeting in real-time in cyberspace
• Bandwidth, computer hardware and software issues
• Monitoring and coordinating the online
  interactions
• Home school implications
• Holiday implications
• Security implications
• Implications for students with socialising
  preferences

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More advanced CMC readings and resources for
EdTechnology Masters and Edtechnology Doctoral
Students(and budding Distributed Learning
Architects of all sorts).. This information is
collected as a response to interests you are
expressing in certain areas optional reading
Asyncrhonous and Synchronous

• Developing personal relationships using CMC Can
  you build community online?
• http//www.december.com/cmc/mag/1998/may/chenault.
  html
• A great collection of CMC focused articles Can
  you deconstruct media well?
• http//www.aber.ac.uk/media/Functions/mcs.html
• How humor works in CMC education one persons
  view - challenge it.
• http//www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol1/issue2/baym.html
• CMC portal - a wonderful, peer reviewed resource
• http//www.ascusc.org/jcmc/
• CMC portal for academics across disciplines
  teaching across the curriculum.
• http//www.december.com/cmc/info/
• Telecommuting and CMC Is the building still
  your idea of school?
• http//www.students.uiuc.edu/dbrandon/Telecommuti
  ng.html

Futher Resources - Click here
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To Do List Next Class ( Oct 10)

• Go to the Home Page, and see the Core Readings
  and Assignment for this week, along with a
  summary of deliverables.
• Keep an eye on the Home Page, - readings for the
  next topic, Telecommunication Modes, could be
  online slightly ahead of Thursday, Oct 10th.

For more resources on this topic - Click here