Title: Creating Online Collaborative Student Learning Networks in Graduate and Undergraduate Education: Lessons Learned from the Trenches
1Creating Online Collaborative Student Learning
Networks in Graduate and Undergraduate Education
Lessons Learned from the Trenches
- By Richard G. Fuller, Assistant Professor
- Drexel University
2Driving Questions
- How do we foster student-to-student interactions
through the facilitating of an online
collaborative learning network? - How involved should an instructor get in the
program?
3Driving Questions
- When is too much instructor input harmful to the
free flow student-to-student dialogue? - What is the appropriate number of students that
innately promote student dialogue in a weekly
discussion board? - What has research shown us?
4This research was precipitated from the online
teaching of an Issues and Problems in Health Care
that literally caught fire.
- The students were engaged, they bonded,
interacted and where highly productive - They had fun and enjoyed learning.
- They still talk about that class.
5The format of the class was
- innately a discussion class.
- We presented core material and looked at many
sides of an issue through an activity format. - Students would then be assigned a weekly
discussion board.
6- What I found was that students took off with the
discussion and posted some interesting and
thought provoking ideas with little prompting
from me the instructor? - I served as facilitator
7Need to understand why this class transcended
into a Collaborative learning network and why
others dont.
8Online Collaborative Network
- serves as a learning and teaching tool
- examine critical incidents that happen as
learning opportunities allow us to share - brings real world situations into the online
classroom for to analyze and synthesize. - It draws upon students own critical experience
- technique in the traditional physical classroom
9Transactional distance (Moore 1993, 1980, 1973)
- is the psychological and communications space
between learners and instructors. - is relative and different for each person.
- extent of transactional distance is a function of
structure and dialogue. - Structure is the amount of control exercised by
the instructor in a learning environment
10Transactional distance (Moore 1993, 1980, 1973)
- Additional structure tends to increase
psychological distance and decrease sense of
community. - Conversely, dialogue deals with learner controls.
- The more dialogue that is fostered, the greater
the sense of community is felt.
11Transactional distance (Moore 1993, 1980, 1973)
- To facilitate this dialogue, students should be
encouraged to participate through course
requirements - should take quantity, quality, and timeliness of
their contributions into consideration.
12As faculty roles change in online graduate and
undergraduate programs, we need to understand
- the best online environment practices
- changing dynamics of teaching online
- as there are different face-to-face classes that
require different techniques the same holds true
for the online programs
13Our goal becomes as faculty to foster and
facilitate the online collaborative learning
network
14We know from the literature that Interaction is
vitally important Moore (1996)
- Instructor to student
- Student to material and
- Student to student
15We know that people come with life experiences
(Knowles, 1999, 1990)
- Example the CEO taking course online can
intimidate the instructor and other participants
with their experience. - But it is the instructors job to harness this
experience and create this online collaborative
network through facilitation.
16Beaubien (2002) describes the personal factors
that contribute to quality facilitation.
- persona
- Presence
- Perturb the system
- Positive feedback
- playfulness
17persona
- A faculty member needs to let his values,
beliefs, and preferences show through in his/her
postings. - Students need to see that the instructor has a
real life and that he is revealing his real
character. - Accomplished through sharing of relevant
experiences
18presences
- Students need to feel that the instructor is
online regularly and participating fully in the
dialogue. - The instructor does not need to be intrusive to
the online dialogue but his presence needs to be
known and that he is there.
19presences
- Short postings are good for the most part
- Teachable moment should be capitalized upon to
provide sufficient information and clarification.
20presences
- the instructor can pose questions that will
stimulate or lead the discussion in a direction.
- Modeling a high level of presence sets a positive
norm for the class and encourages students to do
the same.
21Presence
- too much to bad, too little too bad
- Instructor restrain is key
- Moore (2001) supports this instructor-limited
intervention through establishing the culture of
independent learning and peer participation
22perturb the system
- Maintain a high volume of student work
- Requiring constant effort
- introducing diverse and contradictory readings to
challenge paradigms - Asking challenging questions that require complex
analysis and synthesis to answer
23Positive feedback
- tends to bring out the best in people and
motivate them to invest discretionary effort
(Braksick, 2000 Daniels, 2000). - Positive feedback can energize the system and
increase interaction frequency. - Conveying interest in the students work provides
a reinforcing environment for students.
24Positive feedback
- Simple responses like good job or great ideas
or thanks for sharing your insightful thoughts
with the group can have significant impact on
participation levels.
25Playfulness
- is a great energizer.
- Having fun is a self-reinforcing activity that
tends to increase levels of participation. - The brain is never learning more than when it is
having fun (McCorkel, 2002).
26Playfulness
- It strengthens relationships and helps people to
develop a sense of belonging and safety, which
are part of Glasers five compelling whys (1998).
- It lowers stress and fosters creativity as well
as increasing energy levels. It strengthens
identity and increases team cohesiveness.
27Three Stage Phenomenon in Community Building
Brown (2001)
- The first stage was making friends online
- the second was community conferment or acceptance
- threaded discussion on a topic which participants
felt both personal satisfaction and kinship.
28Three Stage Phenomenon in Community Building
Brown (2001)
- The third stage camaraderie
- Sense of community is an important issue student
satisfaction, retention and learning. - faculty role centered around not only the
facilitation and modeling, encouragement, and
participation
29Brandon and Hollingshead (1999) advise
computer-supported collaborative learning
instructors to use facilitating techniques such
as weaving to steer discussions and go around
the circle to ensure maximum participation.
30Vrasidas and McIsaac (1999)
- found that structure can effect interaction.
- activities can be structured to increase
interaction with instructor, other students and
content.
31- Increased interaction can occur with Instructor
designated interactions - discussing a paper outline with an instructor
- collaborating activities with peers
- participating in required online discussions
32 Vrasidas and McIsaac also found
- Increased workloads contributed to decreased
interaction. - Small class size inhibited the amounts and
caliber of discussion postings - Students reported less satisfaction in the
experience.
33- The actual number to reach optimal size is not
clear in the literature and requires more study.
Another factor was the level of feedback from
instructor and peers. Both were considered
paramount for influencing the level of
interaction.
34Research Methods
- This is based upon case study, action research
method - Sample was taken from courses in the online EMS
health education and management program through
Drexel University.
35Findings
- There are different types of graduate and
undergraduate courses that are offered - rote memorization courses such as anatomy
courses, - skills based courses such as Research or
Accounting and - discussion based courses such as Issues classes
or Management - and courses that represent a combination of types.
36We required everyone in all courses to post one
main idea to each weeks discussion board
- They then need to post at least one other posting
to everyone elses posted idea and respond to the
comments of each other. - This can generate upward of a couple hundred to
450 postings per week - Allows a deeper exploration of ideas
37Rote Memorization Courses
- Generally we found they dont innately lend
themselves to great online discussions. - Required more instructor interaction in a
discussion board - More definitive questions
- Interactive emailed assignments
- more instructor presence for Q A.
38Skills Based Courses
- Example Research
- Required more instructor facilitation and
presence to promote dialogue - Care needed to be taken not to become
authoritative but facilitative - Dont respond to every posting but generally to
the concepts
39Skills Based Courses
- We found that authoritative postings shut down
dialogue or they parroted instructor - Instructor role is to generate thinking
- Needs to post ideas like if we did this what
would happen or how could we do this if? - Great idea. Does anyone have any other
directions?
40Skills Based Courses
- Students need to flesh out ideas and application
of concepts. - We found that Intervening privately through email
or phone with students who need extra care works
best.
41Discussion Based Courses
- Requires the least intervention of all the
courses - These are courses where core info is presented
but there is not necessarily a right or wrong
view. - Issues in Health Care
- Ex compare the value of the Canadian versus the
USA health systems - Many opinions key is to flesh out all angles.
42Discussion Based Courses
- Key was not to intervene too much
- Needed to establish the culture of independent
collaborative learning - Didnt respond to the majority of postings
- Read them all
- Responded to key ideas and elements
- Through additional questions guide the learning
process.
43Discussion Based Courses
- Example If the discussion is getting one sided
or negative the instructor can through a posted
thought direct the dialogue to view all sides.
44- That is true but what would so and so say
regarding this and why? - One technique is to create an online Debate where
students dont get to pick but defend an assigned
point of view - This forces them to see all sides.
45Students generally reported greater satisfaction
when they felt the instructor present in the
classes and part of the learning.
- As before not only through discussion boards but
also through personal and group emails and
private phone conferencing as needed.
46Class Size
- What is too big?
- Classes of thirty or more stretch the limits of
what an instructor can monitor (depending upon
their other course load) - Generally 20/- is good to generate this
asynchronous learning network where students
learn from not only the instructor and material
but from each other as well.
47Class Size
- In smaller classes of say 5 and less we needed to
take special care. - Instructor presence and intervention takes on a
greater role. - Students can not interact as readily with each
other as the volume is not there. - The instructor needs to take on a greater role in
the dialogue posting more of his thoughts and
ideas and experiences to add to the discussion.
48- Instructor needs to also be more available for
email or phone consultation. - Students feel the instructor presence when emails
are responded to quickly. - Faster the better
- If going to be off line for any great time I told
them in an email or announcement.
49 Each of these courses is facilitated in
different ways.
- The successful online faculty needs to understand
the differing dynamics of the courses they teach
and facilitate. - For learning to occur in an asynchronous online
course it is essential that a collaborative
learning network be developed.
50Future Directions
- Should focus on expanding these to identify other
course structures and best practices.
51Any questions?