Dynamic Discussion Forums for Creating Learning Spaces

1. PRESENTATION TITLE Continuing the Conversation: Creating Learning Spaces via Dynamic Discussion Forums Melissa Soto mesoto@fullerton.edu August 2, 2019

2. Outline • Define VoiceThread • Explainwhy I began implementing VoiceThread in my classroom. • Share my results. • Future research

3. What is VoiceThread? VoiceThread is a interactivelearning space where users can hold asynchronousconversationsaround media.

4. Slide Title VoiceThread Conversation

5. Why did I start using VoiceThread? Always running out of time!!

6. Exam Reviews Sessions When I had time for an “in class” review • Some students were working and some weren’t • Some students finished all 20 problems and were bored and some only finished 5. • Overall, I felt class reviews were ineffective/discouraged • Creating community with commuters is challenging! When I did not have time for an ”in class” review • Offer a study session outside of class. Create a student availability poll on the course page, set a time, date, and request a classroom to meet. • Only 1-5 students attended. • Impossible to accommodate every student’s schedules.

7. Rethinking Reviews via VoiceThread So now students… • Receive the review sheet one week before the exam and try the problems individually. • Accountable for uploading and explaining a solution to a specific problem. • Comment on at least 2 peers’ presentation via voice.

8. Continuing the discussion via VoiceThread

9. What happened? • VT created time and space! • Every student had ACCESS to participate. • Peer Assisted, Collaborative, & Active Learning • Higher-Quality Conversations (because students had time to process) • No longer had to create solutions. • My female and underrepresented students had a voice! • Student writing and structure improved • Student were “talking math” and correcting each other • My exams were “readable” • VT created community with commuters (surprise!)

10. VoiceThread Literature • Other fields have benefited from incorporating VT in the classroom. • There is a whole community of people using VT (mainly online courses) ranging from the social science to humanities. But, there’s only a handful of math studies (2nd, 6th, 8th, 9th grade) • A benefit from VoiceThread is that it is specifically designed to promote collaborative development (Brunvand & Byrd, 2011) • VoiceThread encourages active learning by increasing student engagement and motivation (Chan & Pallapu, 2012) • (Ferriter,2007) suggests that "because the skills necessary to use VoiceThread are minimal, there is almost no tech-barrier to overcome by teachers or students

11. Future Research • Interested in using VT in a variety of math/stats courses at the university level to see if it increases student achievement and engagement. • A qualitative study evaluating math/stats faculty perceptions that use VoiceThread in university classrooms. • Exploring innovative ways of supplementing math/stats instruction using Web 2.0 technology; specifically, to promote active learning. • Analyzing different ways of providing access to education via nontraditional environments, such as online learning.

12. Thank you for listening! Any Questions? mesoto@fullerton.edu