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They’re Not All Nails!: Choosing the Right Tools for eLearning

They’re Not All Nails!: Choosing the Right Tools for eLearning. Blaine Victor Morrow Director, CCC Confer and CCCSAT Shufang Shi Assistant Professor, SUNY-Cortland. Agenda. Why Online Instruction? Webcasting Features E-Conferencing Features Which Tool for Which Job? Lessons from Research

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They’re Not All Nails!: Choosing the Right Tools for eLearning

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  1. They’re Not All Nails!:Choosing the Right Tools for eLearning Blaine Victor Morrow Director, CCC Confer and CCCSAT Shufang Shi Assistant Professor, SUNY-Cortland

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

  3. First, Why Go Online? • Cut Travel (and other) Costs • Increase Frequency of Communications / Access • Improve the Quality of Presentations • Standardize

  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. What Makes Webcasting Work? • Input: Video and Audio • Streaming Server – Output Stream • Audience PC – Receives & Buffers Stream • Audience Access: View, Stop, Rewind, Fast Forward

  9. What Makes e-Conferencing Work? • Browser-enabled programs (Popup Windows, Java, Flash, etc.) • Audio Bridge • Presenter Skills / Participant Perception & Interaction

  10. 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

  11. Choose to e-Conference When… • Data must or should be shared • Audience size is relatively small • Interaction is important • Synchronous communication is requisite

  12. Webcasting is a Tool for: • One-to-many broadcasts • Large audiences • Video-centric presentations

  13. e-Conferencing is a Tool for… • Interactive presentations/meetings • Smaller groups • Content that comes from the PC, not the camera • Discussions, more than presentations

  14. 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?

  15. Research About What Works • MEET Research • Modeling Effective Educational Technology • Research Began in 2004

  16. 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.

  17. 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!

  18. Theoretical Framework • Chickering and Gamson’s seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education

  19. 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

  20. 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 Confer’s 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

  21. Data • Three self reporting web-based questionnaires • First Q: collected preliminary ideas regarding strategies for addressing Chickering and Gamson’s 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.

  22. 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.

  23. 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

  24. 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.

  25. Discussion: which tool for what purpose? • Time on task & high expectation • Text Chat: heart & hustle • White board: art instructor

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

  27. Publication • Educause Quarterly, November 2006

  28. Questions?

  29. Contact Us: • Blaine Morrow • bmorrow@palomar.edu • Shufang Shi • Shis@cortland.edu

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