Theyre Not All Nails: Choosing the Right Tools for eLearning

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Theyre Not All Nails!Choosing the Right Tools
for eLearning

• Blaine Victor Morrow
• Director, CCC Confer and CCCSAT
• Shufang Shi
• Assistant Professor, SUNY-Cortland

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Agenda

• Why Online Instruction?
• Webcasting Features
• E-Conferencing Features
• Which Tool for Which Job?
• Lessons from Research
• Q A

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First, Why Go Online?

• Cut Travel (and other) Costs
• Increase Frequency of Communications / Access
• Improve the Quality of Presentations
• Standardize

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The Webcast Option

• Web-based (not television, not satellite-delivered
  )
• Easy set-up is critical
• Management must be simple
• Uses streaming media
• Registration and security may be an issue

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The e-Conferencing Option

• Collaborative Web-based tool
• Designed for small groups
• Extremely interactive, when used correctly
• Can be catered for large groups where
  registration is important

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Webcasting Features

• Streaming media (video and audio)
• Archiving capability (for future viewing)
• Ability to upload PowerPoint and image content
  and share it along with video content
• Ability to notify participants (audience) by
  e-mail and URLs

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e-Conferencing Features

• Desktop and document sharing
• Application sharing
• Annotation and drawing tools
• PowerPoint / image Uploading
• Telephone Audio Bridging
• Polls and Surveys
• Text Chat
• Archiving

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What Makes Webcasting Work?

• Input Video and Audio
• Streaming Server Output Stream
• Audience PC Receives Buffers Stream
• Audience Access View, Stop, Rewind, Fast Forward

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What Makes e-Conferencing Work?

• Browser-enabled programs (Popup Windows, Java,
  Flash, etc.)
• Audio Bridge
• Presenter Skills / Participant Perception
  Interaction

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Choose to Webcast When

• You want to broadcast an event
• Your audience is large
• Video (full-motion) is important
• Interaction is not critical
• Time-delay (seconds) can be endured

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Choose to e-Conference When

• Data must or should be shared
• Audience size is relatively small
• Interaction is important
• Synchronous communication is requisite

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Webcasting is a Tool for

• One-to-many broadcasts
• Large audiences
• Video-centric presentations

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e-Conferencing is a Tool for

• Interactive presentations/meetings
• Smaller groups
• Content that comes from the PC, not the camera
• Discussions, more than presentations

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Decisions, Decisions

• Think of Each Tool as a Communications Tool
• Visualize the Subtle Effects
• Picture the User(s)
• What Problem(s) Does This Solve?
• What Problem(s) Does This Create?

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Research About What Works

• MEET Research
• Modeling Effective Educational Technology
• Research Began in 2004

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Purpose

• To gather and evaluate strategies for Seven
  Principles of Good Practice in Undergraduate
  Education (using e-conferencing).
• The resulting strategies will serve as guidelines
  for future instructors when teaching in the
  synchronous online environment.
• This will lead to the development of good models
  of teaching and learning through CCCConfer and
  similar teaching and learning environments.

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Research Questions

• Are e-conferencing tools perceptibly valuable in
  supporting good instructional principles? Which
  tool for what instructional principle?

• Whiteboard
• Chat
• Application Sharing
• Polling Tools
• Powerpoint Slide Pusher
• Web Tool
• Archiving and more!

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Theoretical Framework

• Chickering and Gamsons seven principles for good
  practice in undergraduate education

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7 Principles

• 1. Encouraging contact between students and
  faculty
• 2. Developing reciprocity and cooperation among
  students
• 3. Encouraging active learning
• 4. Giving prompt feedback
• 5. Emphasizing time on task
• 6. Communicating high expectations, and
• 7. Respecting diverse talents and ways of
  learning

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The MEET Project

• Modeling Effective Educational Technology (MEET)
• CCCConfer 23 grant recipients (now 37)
• MEET Project aimed to
• Develop reusable educational content for use with
  CCC Confers e-conferencing technology
• Field-test e-conferencing with faculty and
  students
• Reward innovative approaches to online
  instruction and
• Foster and nourish a community of instructors who
  use e-conferencing technology

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Data

• Three self reporting web-based questionnaires
• First Q collected preliminary ideas regarding
  strategies for addressing Chickering and Gamsons
  seven principles
• Final Q rating dominant ideas for each of the
  seven principles and asked participants to assess
  the merit of each idea by rating them on a scale
  of 1 to 7 based on their effectiveness in
  addressing the corresponding principle.

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Results (1)

• Responses demonstrated shared characteristics
  centered around common practices in the use of
  e-conferencing tools.
• The subjects consistently and independently
  identified specific practices or techniques
  related to synchronous online learning tools
• Conversely some of the Chickering-Gamson
  principles of good undergraduate education were
  not associated with tool-specific practices.

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Results (cont.)

• Principle 1 Contact between students and
  faculty.
• Polling flexible scheduling (pedagogical)
• Principle 2 Cooperation among students
• Text chat or messaging
• Principle 3 Active learning
• Application sharing Polling
• Principle 4 Prompt feedback
• Chat and Polling
• Principle 5 time on task
• Not associated with any tool (universally
  pedagotical)
• Principle 6 Communicating high expectations
• Not associated with any tool (universally
  pedagotical)
• Principle 7 Respect for learner diversity
• Voice, text, graphics
• Application sharing

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Conclusion

• The Responses (the teaching practices identified)
  were closely related and followed remarkably
  similar trends.
• They also independently came to similar
  conclusions about the use of specific
  e-conferencing tools to accomplish distinct
  educational goals.
• The results show an association between the use
  of discrete e-conferencing tools to reinforce
  particular principles of instructional practice.
• Some of the Chickering and Gamson principles of
  good undergraduate education can be linked to
  effective practices using e-conferencing tools.
  Not all of the tools are associated with
  effective teaching practices, however, and no
  single tool can be associated with all of the
  principles.

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Discussion which tool for what purpose?

• Time on task high expectation
• Text Chat heart hustle
• White board art instructor

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Limitations

• Small Group of Subjects
• Short-term (but ongoing)
• Other framework (besides Chickering-Gamson)
• Need for more research

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Publication

• Educause Quarterly, November 2006

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Questions?
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Contact Us

• Blaine Morrow
• bmorrow_at_palomar.edu
• Shufang Shi
• Shis_at_cortland.edu