Teaching Online

BbWorld14 Session Blog: Beyond the Discussion Board – Implementing Blackboard Tools to Increase Engagement

Murano 3301
Cheryl Boncuore | Academic Director, Kendall College
Ken Sadowski | SLATE

Session explores student and faculty experiences form a variety of institutions using traditional discussion boards in online, hybrid and campus-based classes. It takes a deeper dive with an institution that implemented blogs, journals, wikis and video everywhere in order to increase engagement. Results and Reaction will be discussed.

What Engagement Means in Online Learning
Faculty Favorites
-examination of faculty responses positive and negative
-Status Quo Expected mandated
Beyond the Discussion Board
-Other Tools
-Tools beyond Bb

Assumptions

DB has been around for a long time
DB is static and students don’t like it
Faculty bear with it because they have to
Don’t know any other tools
Can’t use other tools
Forced Responses
No real social Interaction

What the Numbers told us?

Survey 400 people from 100 insitutions
Return rate of 20%
-84% Faculty
-12% admin
-3% staff
1% Instructional Designers

What LMS do you use? 74% Bb Learn

How do you Primarily Teach? 36% Online, 35% on Ground, 29% equally

Age Group – Nice Mix 25 – 65 and older
How long have you been teaching – 1 – over 20

What tools do your students prefer?

Discussion Board 52%
Other – 24%
Don’t know 15%
Blog 2%
Journal 1%
Facebook 6%

What has happened?

Surprised about positive comments for discussion board
perceived mediocre yet they use it
molded it to what they wanted it to do to fully engage students

Discussion Board got some “new” friends…

Defining Engagement –

Connecting all institutional constituents to the activities of teh learning, discovery and the academic topics of study
Great Engagement leads to Greater Retention
Every class must go beyond institution walls
Fits Mission of University

Tools of Engagement

DB – pre-developed online courses, traditional tool, what else is there?

BB Tools – Journals, blogs, wikis, surveys, video everywhere, rubrics

Web Tools – Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Skype, Big Marker(video conferencing tool – web based no java)

Don’t always look for right answer…look for group work, engagement and problem solving process.

What did we learn?

Tools that are available to us can be used in interesting ways
Faculty use tools that they are comfortable with
It’s not the tool, it’s the pedagogy!

What’s Next?

What direction are we headed?
What should the next generation “social board” look like?
Tell us what you think? – http://slategroup.org/discussion

July 16, 2014 0

BbWorld14 Session Blog: Desiging Equivalent Instructional Learning Activities for Fully Online Courses

Murano 3304
Michelle Simms | Director of Instructional Technology, Gwynedd Mercy University

Learn how to make online activities engaging, fun, collaborative, authentic and as close to actually “being there” as possible. Sessions looks at how Gwynedd Mercy University is building its fully online programs in Blackboard and designing EIAs (Equivalent Instructional Learning Activities) that really get the students motivational juices going.

Gwynedd Challenges:

Requires demonstration and documentation of 42 contact contact hour equivalent instructional activities and 14 hours of seat time per 3 credit hour course.
Gwynedd reputation is high-quality – how to transfer reputation to online programs.

Questions

How to design accelerated programs (7 weeks) to be just as effective.
How to best leverage learning technolgies to offer meaningful and rigorous content that takes full advantage of technology.

ERIC Online Activities

E – Engaging
R – Relevant
I – Interactive
C – Collaborative

*Use list of accompanying technology for instructional equivalent activites. A list of matching instructional activities and complementary technology.

Example Class – Tech Applications for Educators – Master Teacher Program

Seven Week Course week Weeks content area and each week has its own folder (module). Modules are outlined in each week folder and it is aligned to course objective. Each Module includes resources and activities, supplemental resources and activities and assignments.

Based on EIA list, this course emphasized three popular Conceptual Frameworks:

Bloom’s Revised Taonomies
TPACK – Technology, pedagogy and content knowledge.
SAMR – Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition

Activities

Web based learning resources include: Wordles, audacity, infographics, prezi, pedagogy wheel, glgosters, powtoon, goanimate, embedded twitter, feed, padlet etc..

IceBreakers – (Student Bios and Riddles) – Introduce yourself and solve a riddle. Twelve pears hanging high twelve men came riding by, Each took a pear, and left eleven hanging there. How did they do it?

Pre/Post Quizzes – Establish a baseline and provide a way to see how far they have come.

Extended Journals & Blogs – Students posted their personal teaching reflections blogs and turned their posts into wordles. (Search- 50 Interesting Ways to Use Wordle in the Classroom) – Go beyond

Weekly Animated lectures – Audacity, Powtoon, and Vimeo introduce each week’s topics.

Incorporate Bloom’s Revised Taxonomies – and an -ING. (Creating, Evaluating, Analyzing, Applying, Understanding, Remembering.

Students explore the differences between revised taxonomies and original and how it would impact 21st century teaching and learning.
Bitstrips for Schools (has subscription fee) – Comic Strip Generator (Activity)

Collaborate in Group Wiki Debates – In this activity, students use the Bb Wiki tool to debate which learning theory has had the most impact in the last 100 years. (Team Constructivism, Team Objectivism, Team Cognitivism etc..) (pre build areas in wiki to place team info and then comment on each team’s place for debate. Another – Should cursive writing still be taught in schools?

Design Collaborative Script Writing – Bloomin Apps (Goggle earth, Google Maps, Google Translate, Google Lit trips (marry google earth/google maps and story telling), You Tube, Google Calendar Assignment was to create a script writing project in teams using tools.

Use wiki or google docs on collaborative story telling.

Look at “Padagogy Wheel”.

Other Activities:

Building padlet walls (like pintrest
Creating WebQuests – (Students “interviewed” any historical figure asking three qeustions about their thoughts on the 21st century education by researching works, biography. Answer from figures point of view and cite.
PBL Case Studies
Live Twitter Feed embedded in course
Build own assessment tools using Bloom’s chart.

July 16, 2014 0

BbWorld14 Session Blog – Being Present & Engaging Students Online Using Video Everywhere

Murano 3304
Jason Rhode
Director, Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center
Northern Illinois University

One instructor’s use of YouTube’s free and easy-to-use features incorporated into Blackboard for recording, editing, captioning video in YouTube will be provided as well as examples of various approaches.

jasonrhode.com/bbvid – link to presentation and Jason’s Blog.

Outline – Steps(Recording, Editing, Captioning, Embedding) Examples (approaches for incorporation), Feedback(from students – lessons learned), Q&A

Considerations for using Video in Teaching –

Why not?

Want to keep course materials accessible
Don’t want videos public
Use alternative text & audio communications
Haven’t tried before

Online Instructor Roles – Pedagogical, Social, Managerial, Technical ( 4 key roles)

Community of Inquiry – Total Educational Experience (Social presence, Cognitive Presence, Teaching Presence) As a teacher you are always working in one or more of those areas. Video crosses all three.

Why Video?

Web Based (no special software)
Accessible
Embeddable
Quick
Shareable
Human
Easy

Why YouTube?

Free
Accessible
Embeddable in LMS

Where?

Blog Entries
Discussion Boards
Journals
Instructor Feedback
Wikis

Steps

1. Clarify Purpose

Why are you using Video in Your Course?
*What current communications are you augmenting or replacing
Are students allowed to incorporate video into their discussions and assignments
How ill you gauge effectiveness of using video? (mid-course survey)

2. Setup YouTube Account

Use personal account or setup academic account (up to you) If you use personal you can permission individual videos
Edit Your Profile (put links to other social media accounts, edit privacy settings

3. Verify Your Account youtube.com/verify

Gives you a few additional settings (Put in custom thumbnail image for videos)
Get longer videos

4. Record

Video everywhere is on every textbox so you can record in Bb
Doing video recording in YouTube you get larger screen and easier to deal with (then use video everywhere to browse for previously recorded video
Students can do the same

5. Preview & Upload

Don’t Fret over video, doesn’t have to be perfect
Put in custom title/description/tags
Privacy settings (choose Unlisted – others can’t find it)
Advanced Settings – Share video using Creative Commons licencse
Default Settings are as public as possible so PAY ATTENTION

6. Add Captions

Youtube captioning is not perfect (really)
You can transcribe and sync video yourself via captioning screen (hit play and type along video will pause as you type)**
When you are finished transcribing, click sync
CC button shows captions

7. Save Transcript as Text File

Stay accessible

8. Embed the video

Setup a Youtube Playlist for Your course – organize all videos for the course into one list that students can subscribe to outside of the LMS. Students received notification upon addition of new recordings.

Examples

Welcome Video(tour de course) in Start Here (served as course course homepage) [Put in player controls in settings for video everywhere gives users more ability to start/stop video.
Instructor Info page (another video about Professor) (keep player controls)
Video in Announcements – Quick Video just like talking to them class, no rehearsal (umms and ahhs are okay)
Welcome Video to Each unit – Things to look forward to, preemptive advice etc..
Video Resources (youtube videos) (Pirates of the Carribean for Bloom’s Taxonomy)
Video in Groups Home Page (in Description Area)
Videos in Discussion Instructions
Video Discussions – accessibility aide for learning disabilities
Video Journal – Reflect on Learning Journey option for text
Video Feedback in Grade Center

Feedback from Students

Unit Introduction Videos – most viewed in Unit
Students loved the videos
videos gave clear expectations

Lessons Learned

Students find the helpful
Videos don’t have to be polished to work
Transcription features are easy
Auto captioning has some issues

Keep your Videos Quick and Dirty, Under 10 Minutes, Record in Quite location, Use consistent Volume Level, Embed Videos in LMS!

July 15, 2014 0

BbWorld14 Session Blog – Be A Better Online Teacher

Paul Beaudoin PhD
Online Education Specialist
Murano 3304

Dr. Paul Beaudoin shares five key classroom tested strategies to help improve teaching efficacy and enhance the classroom experience for the learner.

“Upgrade your online experiences with zero financial cost”

“Where’s the Rubric?” – Quality Matters Rubric or Blackboard’s Exemplary Course Rubric

5 Strategies:

Maximize Your Digital Savvy –
Know your LMS – find out what tools are available to you (native & third party)
Know what your text editor can do! Format text and fonts, use hyperlinks, emoticons, webcam videos, tables attachments.
Find other tools to use as well – Timetoast (timelines), Jing, Voki, GO2Web2.0(.net) [list of tools]
Be an Active and Engaged Participant –
Participate – What you do will be emulated and modeled by your learners
Wiki class study guide. Play Devil’s advocate
Utilize User Activity inside content areas report tool.
Reinvent your Wheel!
What you do face to face isn’t always easy to do online (rethink)
Use Wordle to help focus vocabulary building in your class (have students create them) Transfer notes into wordle to emphasize what words are popping up over and over.
Role play online (ToonDoo cartoon) (what one word would you use to describe this class – scenario)
Use Twitter – Tweet the Crusades, Romeo & Juliet on Twitter
Include Your Learners in the Process
Make students feel like they are contributing to the process:
Google Docs (surveys, forms, group documents)
Make a commitment right at the beginning of glass on a DB as a public statement
Create study guides – Study Blue
Surveys (Formative, summative) to “Course Correct” along the way.
Reassess Assessment
Take the anxiety out of testing. Testing Strategies that are low-stakes, medium-stakes & high-stakes
Puzzles! Crossword and Jigsaw Puzzles – great for building learner confidence (Bonus Points)
Consider using questions that involve media (pictures, audio, video)
Consider mind mapping tools like mind-mup.
Have learners create infographics using tools like glogster.
Making a Movie/Podcast Digital Storytelling FTW! (Even use Vine)

Yup, It’s Okay to Fail! Failure will allow you to build on the next endeavor!

July 15, 2014 0

Fight Unit Fatigue – Chunk it Like a Boss

We have all experienced a first glance at what looks like an insurmountable obstacle in our learning endeavors. Maybe is was the practicum for your Masters degree, maybe it was your dissertation, maybe it was all the grading you had to catch up on after you returned from vacation.

Undoubtedly, there are strategies that we as instructors can employ to make the amount of material seem less ominous. Whether we distribute our course across, weeks, units, topics or lessons, chunking our content makes it more digestible for our students.

In this day and age many of our students are viewing courses through the lens of multiple devices, many of those with the display real estate of a tablet or smart phone. Why not take the extra step and chunk our units as well?

I like to take the extra step to organize my units across a content item and 2 content folders (depending upon the amount of coursework). Each of my units contains three things:

1. Unit Objectives
2. Unit Content
3. Unit Assignments

Objectives (Content Item)

The objectives are a great way-stone for my student in the course. They remind the student why they are learning what they are learning and what they should be getting out of each unit. The objectives are generally a content item that the students see immediately upon entering the unit, so they don’t have to dig any deeper to see what they will be learning about.

Unit Content (Content Container)

The Unit Content container contains all of the readings, videos, articles, links and lecture materials for the particular unit. Putting them in the same spot each time leaves no room for second guessing by my students as to where the content will reside. I also place a download link at the end of the container for students who don’t like to read content on a computer/device.

Unit Assignments (Content Container)

The Unit Assignments container contains all of the assignments for a particular unit. I do this to avoid having the assignments show up at the bottom of a long list inside a unit. It allows me the flexibility to order my assignments as I see fit and utilize more folders if the assignments include large projects that work through multiple submissions. By chunking the assignments, the students will see 2 or three assignments per unit rather than 3 assignments added to what may be up to 9 other content items from readings/lectures.

At the end of each of the Unit Content and Unit Assignment container, I provide a link back to the main unit page in case the students need it.

I know that multiple clicks can turn off some students, but have found via student feedback that they appreciate this layout and are secure in the fact that they always know where to look in my online courses for course materials. Hopefully after reading this you may want to start Chunking it – Like a Boss!

July 11, 2014 0

Want to take your Blackboard Course to Next Level? Be Graphic!

So, you’ve been at this Blackboard thing for a couple of semesters and you are starting to feel comfortable with the learning management system. You’ve mastered the art of uploading and attaching files to content. The discussion board is your boon companion and you are collecting assignments digitally from your students via the assignment tool. Navigating the grade center is like riding a bike and you feel good about it!

What now? Learn a new tool or technology? Live inside your course for the next 6 months? Well, you could do those things, but let me suggest a slightly different approach. Have you considered adding an important layer to your Blackboard course by inserting images?

Importance of Images

Convey course information in an alternate method.
Students pay more attention to articles/readings with graphic content.
Breaks up monotony of “text-only” Blackboard pages.
Increases student engagement by making them use a different part of their brain.
It just looks better!

Below are examples of a Blackboard content area without graphics and a content area with graphics. Which one looks better? Which one would you rather read?

In this example the graphics are more of the decorating variety, but they do add color and continuity to your course. Imagine having your course banner at the top of every major content area in your course. In this case there are examples of images in a content item, learning module and content folder descriptions. Almost anywhere you use the content editor in Blackboard, you can place an image.

Inserting an Image

Click the Insert/Edit Image button on your content editor.
Browse to where your image is saved and attach it.
Type an Image Description (for screen readers).
Click the Insert button.

Editing an Image (Alignment, Spacing and Size)

Click on the image you have placed in the Content Editor.
Click the Insert/Edit Image button.
Click the Appearance tab.
Adjust your Alignment, Spacing and Size.

With a few clicks of your mouse, your Blackboard course can go from black and white text to a colorful tapestry of text and images that convey meaning to students in a number of different ways!

Resources – Free Images For Your Courses

May 12, 2014 0

Teaching Online – The Middle Distance

When running a race, it is easy to think of it in three parts. First, there is the start, where you build slowly all the while being excited about the journey you are on. Then, there is the finish, where your goal is in sight and you race to the end of your journey. The bulk of the time of your race is spent in the middle distance, where you are trying to put one foot in front of the other and keep your eyes on the prize.

If you think about it, teaching an online course can be broken up into the same three categories. The start builds slowly as the students and instructor develop the routines they will follow as they move through the course. The finish is completed in a mad frenzy as students race to deliver classwork and submit end-of-course assessments. The majority of the course is handled in the middle distance, where students work to meet weekly objectives and make their way through the course.

For a runner, the middle distance can be the toughest part of the race. For an online instructor, the middle distance of a course can be just as challenging. However there are some strategies/practices you can put into place to make this part of the online course easier to handle.

Keep the Pace

pace In order to stay on track for a strong finish it is important to pace yourself when running any race. Going too slow can dramatically affect your finishing time and going too fast can burn you out so that you don’t finish strong or for that matter, finish at all.

Pacing yourself as you teach an online course is just as important. Going too slow for your students can disengage them from the course and from meeting learning objectives. Conversely, blowing through course materials is also detrimental for your students’ comprehension and retention. Establishing a pace that keeps all parties engaged and involved while not leaving folks behind is a great best practice when teaching an online course.

Stay Engaged

As you move through the long stretch of any race it is easy to lose focus, lose track of what your goal is and just disengage from what you are trying to do. Staying checked in while you run ensures that you know where you are, what you are doing and where you need to be to complete the race successfully.

Staying engaged is possibly the most important thing you can do as an online instructor. Though it may seem monotonous at times, checking in and interacting with your course can mean the difference between student success and failure. If you know how your students are doing (because you are engaged), then you know what course corrections to make, what affirmations to give, and how best to direct your students as they move through the course.

Be on the Lookout for Obstacles

As you move through any run, it is important to keep an eye on the road in front of you for any obstacles that may trip you up. Getting tripped up can reduce your pace and disengage you from your plans for the run. Listening to fellow runners and race officials can help you in this regard. Having a lay of the land can also be a tremendous asset.

Obstacles can be just as problematic in an online course. Keep an ear to the ground with your students through discussion forums and e-mails to help them work around any roadblocks that may occur. Keep in touch with “race officials” aka the support desk or LMS administrators so that you and your students are aware of what is on the road in front of you. Knowing what course activities might cause issues for your students (third-party tools, multimedia or new software) can help you be sure your students are prepared for any issues that arise.

Whether you are at the middle distance of running a race or teaching an online course, keeping pace, staying engaged and being on the lookout for obstacles can help you be successful and finish strong!

April 20, 2014 0

Help your Students be Reflective with Journals

Merriam Webster defines a journal as:

a book in which you write down your personal experiences and thoughts

Putting down those thoughts and experiences that impact us can be an important tool in personal growth and development. Journals don’t have to be limited to the “Dear diary” entries you make at your beside table. They can be used in courses you teach as well. In online courses journals can be used as a mechanism for communication between a faculty member and a student, or as a reflective tool for students as they work to absorb what they are learning.

Benefits of using a journal include but are not limited to:

Teaches students to communicate their thoughts on the subject matter
Forces students to be on the lookout for journal material (actually paying attention in the course)
Helps students to remember what they have learned
Keeps a record of ideas, concepts or structures that are important
Lets students create without fear of judgement from peers
Allows students to take first level thoughts to the next level – idea expansion

Creative writing teachers can benefit from using a journal. Students can post their entries and instructors can make comments as needed. Journals can also be used to drive home what the student has studied over the week. Think about the reinforcement that happens when a student submits an assignment, discusses with his or her peers, takes a quiz and then puts it all together in a journal entry for the week. Finally, journals are ideally suited for formative assessment. Get the student’s temperature by asking them to write about their highs and lows as it relates to the course during the week. If something comes across that is legitimate, feel free to make course corrections for the benefit of all of your students.

Here at SHSU we utilize the Blackboard Learn^TM learning management system, which has a journal tool as part of it’s feature set. Journal assignments can be placed anywhere in the course and are accessible with click of the mouse. Learn more about implementing journals in your Blackboard course.

While you are thinking of ways to ensure your students are getting what they need on their learning journey, consider reflecting on the added value of implementing journal activities to your courses.

April 7, 2014 0

Connect your Online Course – Give Students a GPS for Course Content

When you travel somewhere for the first time, doesn’t it seem to take a little bit longer to get there than it does to return home? Whether it is unfamiliar surroundings, difficulty reading the map or the GPS isn’t up to date, it can be frustratingly slow to travel to new places.

Think of your online course as that new destination for your students. How would they describe their navigation experience? Would they say that once they travel into your course that it is difficult to find their way back? Would they say that the course links were easy to find and use? Would they be frustrated trying to make it to their “destination”?

Even when we try to organize the course so it is organized into more digestible “chunks” for the students, we can make it hard to maneuver. Imagine a student lost in a Escher print of folders within folders within folders.

Connecting your course by organizing, clearly naming your navigation elements and providing an “escape route” will save your students and ultimately you time when putting together your online course.

Below are steps you can take to connect your course and save time for you and your students:

Use Dividers and Subheaders to visually organize your course’s navigation menu
Append the text (Click the title above to Open) on descriptions for folders, learning modules, lesson plans, web and course links.
Make the content item Blue if you want your students to click it
Chunk your course content as you would teach it in your face-to-face course. For example: Put all Chapter content in chapter folder with different sub-folders for each chapter.
Provide an Escape Route by placing a Course Link at the bottom of a unit of study so that the student can navigate back to where they were before easily.