CDLInstructor News

An article  from  http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/tips-for-building-social-presence-in-your-online-class/

By Oliver Dreon, PhD

You’ve been assigned your first online class to teach and you feel like you are ready. You’ve done your homework and learned the ins and outs of the institution’s course management system. You’ve structured your content in purposeful ways and developed thoughtful guiding questions to situate student learning and motivate them. When the class starts, however, you realize that while everything is technically functioning correctly, many of the students are not engaged. While you were looking forward to teaching online and interacting with students, the students are approaching your course as if it’s an independent study. This wasn’t what you anticipated when you agreed to teach online!

In their framework outlining educational experiences for students, Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2000) identify and explain the critical elements of a Community of Inquiry that supports instruction and learning. The elements include: cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence. For online classes, many new online instructors tend to focus on the cognitive presence and teaching presence, and overlook the necessity of the social presence. They’ll build great online modules that help students enhance their understanding of course content but forget to attend to the critical social aspects that engage students and foster community building. While these aspects can happen naturally in face-to-face courses, they must be intentionally built into online classes.

Here are five ways you can build social presence in your online class:

1. Have your online students introduce themselves. This may sound simple but the first module of my online courses asks students to introduce themselves to their peers. I create a discussion board where students share short introductions with the group either through text or through a short multimedia production using Fotobabble, MyBrainShark, or some other Web 2.0 tool. I usually try to connect the introductions to course content in some informal way to assess the students’ prior knowledge and experience with the material. More than anything, the introductions are designed to foster open communication amongst students outside of course content.
2. Introduce yourself to your students. When I ask my students to create short introductions of themselves, I offer my own introduction as an example. I also create a short orientation video where I provide an overview of the course and share a little about myself. Presented in a short video where students hear my voice, students can connect with me outside of the written text that I provide for most of the class material.
3. Create a “commons area” for off-topic discussions. In a face-to-face class, it’s easy to engage in off-topic discussions. Students walking into the classroom will argue about last night’s football game, discuss the latest movies, or talk about their favorite music. This type of engagement is extracurricular but it can help students build relationships that are advantageous inside the classroom. Without purposeful inclusion of risk-free environments for sharing, online students’ affective needs will not be met and they may not fully engage with course content or with their classmates. In my online classes, I create a discussion board labeled “Commons Area” or “Water Cooler” and offer some guidance to the purpose of the area. While I’ll often peek in to add a question or respond to a post, I generally give the students some free rein over this forum.
4. Use synchronous tools for office hours. Most course management systems offer chat rooms or synchronous online classrooms as tools for teaching and communication. I schedule online office hours where students can meet with me to discuss course content and ask questions. While not every student takes advantage of the office hours, publishing their availability communicates to students that I am committed to their success in the course.
5. Don’t be the center of every discussion. Many new online instructors try to respond to every post in a discussion board. This habit can actually limit student-to-student interaction and discussion. In a face-to-face class, few instructors would break up lively classroom discussions by evaluating every remark from students. In online classes, however, instructors will do exactly that. Instead of excessively participating in discussion boards, provide some thought-provoking questions and allow the students to discuss course content openly on their own. Offer guidance when necessary and communicate that you’re present in the discussion through carefully chosen posts. Give the students some space to interact with one another and build their understanding through collaborating with their classmates.

References:
Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105.

Dr. Oliver Dreon is the director of the Center for Academic Excellence at Millersville University. Follow him on Twitter @ollied.

• Introduction toMoodlerooms. This very basic online tutorial focuses on: navigating in Moodlerooms, customizing the My Home page, and describing course layout. Estimated completion time: 15 minutes

• Becoming Familiar with Your Course in Moodlerooms. This longer online tutorial provides an introduction to the following topics and skills: organizing your course, delivering course content, communicating with students, using activities, evaluating students and using groups. Estimated completion time: 30-40 minutes

• Computer requirements for the Moodlerooms system
• Comparison chart of Angel and Moodlerooms features
• Links to manuals written by Moodlerooms (PDF form)
• Quick Start Guides and Videos (An initial set of downloadable handouts will be available in May 2013. New resources will be added each month)

Questions orcomments about the site and the two online courses can be directed to Moodlerooms.Feedback@esc.edu

Following is a brief summary of the Seven principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education as compiled in a study supported by the American Association of Higher Education, the Education Commission of the States, and The Johnson Foundation.   These seven principles are often referred to at Empire State College and are considered foundational to our educational practices in all modalities of learning, including online learning.

Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education
by Arthur W. Chickering and Zelda F. Gamson

1. Good Practice Encourages Student-Faculty Contact – Frequent student-faculty contact in and out of classes is the most important factor in student motivation and involvement.  Faculty concern helps students get through rough times and keep on working. Knowing a few faculty members well enhances students’ intellectual commitment and encourages them to think about their own values and future plans.

   What you can do:

   • Provide clear expectations
   • Demonstrate teaching presence
   • Provide weekly course homepage entries in bulletin board news
     
   • Regularly check-in with your students through course mail and/or phone calls about how they think they are doing
     
   • Monitor question areas and discussion forum activities
   • Occasionally seek feedback  from your students about how you can support them
   • Blackboard Collaborate
2. Good Practice Encourages Cooperation among Students – Learning is enhanced when it is more like a team effort than a solo race. Good learning, like good work, is collaborative and social, not competitive and isolated. Working with others often increases involvement in learning. Sharing one’s own ideas and responding to others’ reactions improves thinking and deepens understanding.

   What you can do:

   • facilitating cooperation among students
   • fostering student connections
   • encouraging collaboration
   • reinforcing the value of  engagement and responding to peers
3. Good Practice Encourages Active Learning – Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just sitting in classes listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, and apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves.

   What you can do:

   • Providing clear expectations 
   • Coaching students on learning to learn
   • Encourage students to explain their ideas in detail (why do they agree/disagree, describe their observations or experiences, give examples of applying a concept to their lives or hypothetically
   • Foster critical thinking and active learning
4. Good Practice Gives Prompt Feedback – Knowing what you know and don’t know focuses learning. Students need appropriate feedback on performance to benefit from courses.  In getting started, students need help in assessing existing knowledge and competence.  In classes, students need frequent opportunities to perform and receive suggestions for improvement.  At various points during college, and at the end, students need chances to reflect on what they have learned, what they still need to know, and how to assess themselves.

   What you can do:

   • Provide regular feedback to each student through course mail
   • Provide timely feedback to each student on completed activities (weekly discussion forums, assignments, other activities)
   • Explain to students what they are doing well (indicate their strengths, the ways in which they are meeting expectations on assignments, discussions, other activities)
   • Explain to students what areas of improvement still exist in their learning (indicate their gaps of learning, the ways they have not yet met expectations,specific items they should improve on for next learning activity/assignment)
   • Remind them you have provided feedback and where they can find it.
5. Good Practice Emphasizes Time on Task – Time plus energy equals learning. There is no substitute for time on task. Learning to use one’s time well is critical for students and professionals alike. Students need help in learning effective time management. Allocating realistic amounts of time means effective learning for students and effective teaching for faculty. How an institution defines time expectations for students, faculty, administrators, and other professional staff can establish the basis for high performance for all.

   What you can do:

   • Set clear expectations on learning activities and completing them.
   • Monitor course participation and attendance.
   • Reach out to students who have stopped engaging.
   • Include learning activity due dates on your course schedule.
   • Provide regular task reminders on the coruse home page of what is due, when.
   • Let students know what they should do if they run into difficulties on submitting assignments or falling behind.
   • Consider how and when you will be flexible with students who are falling behind and communicate expectations.
   • When appropriate, ask for, or negotiate with students to devise an action plan to complete outstanding work including a date when it will be completed.
6. Good Practice Communicates High Expectations – Expect more and you will get it. High Expectations are important for everyone – for the poorly prepared, for those unwilling to exert themselves, and for the bright and well motivated. Expecting students to perform well becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy when teachers and institutions hold high expectations of themselves and make extra efforts.

   What you can do:

   • Set and communicate clear expectations prior to the term start.
   • Notify students where they can find your expectations,  objectives of the course, and criteria to be successful.
     
   • Remind students, when needed, your expectations and the coursecriteria to be succesful.
   • Provide regular feedback to students about how they are meeting expectations (what they are doing well, what they need to improve on and any insights about how they might have applied previous feedback).
7. Good Practice Respects Diverse Talents and Ways of Learning – There are many roads to learning. People bring different talents and styles of learning to college.  Brilliant students in the seminar room may be all thumbs in the lab or art studio. Students rich in hands-on experience may not do so well with theory. Students need the opportunity to show their talents and learn in ways that work for them. Then they can be pushed to learning in new ways that do not come so easily.

   What you can do:

   • Personally connect with your students at the beginning of the term and learn about their interests and how they approach learning.
   • Touch base regularly with your students to find out if they are struggling with anything in particular and what type of support they might need.
   • If students are in need of academic support, recommend students contact CDL’s Academic Support Office:  CDLAdademic.Support@esc.edu

Happy New Year CDL Faculty!

There is a NEW extension available to you for non-technical questions you may have.    If you have a general question for the CDL administrative office, you can ask it at this extension.    Whether your question is how to handle plagiarism or payroll questions, you can call or e-mail us at using the following:   Call us at 1-800-847-3000 ext. 2270 or continue to e-mail us at CDLInstructor@esc.edu.

Same great people with a new method of support!

Additionally, this is another instance to contact us if you are in a crisis situation and/or  need to be out of your course for an extended period.

Thank you for your attention.   Best wishes for the New Year!

Get a first look at Moodlerooms here:
http://commons.esc.edu/moodleupdate/files/2012/12/A-First-Look1.pdf

Keep up-to-date on the progress to move to Moodle here:
http://commons.esc.edu/moodleupdate

Please join us on November 15, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. EST to help celebrate the annual International Education Week (November 12-16, 2012).

In celebration of International Education Week at Empire State College, CDL and IP have planned an international information- sharing event. Colleagues from Prague, Honduras, Tirana, Buffalo and from Saratoga Springs will offer brief presentations which will be followed by an international potluck lunch. Attached is the full program (PDF).

Location:

If you are in Saratoga, we urge you to come to 113 West Avenue (Room 143) to join the event in person. Please feel free to wear international or traditional clothes to celebrate with us, if you want to.

If you can’t join us in person tomorrow, you can still join us through college TV at www.esc.edu/esc-tv

If you plan to watch the presentations via ESC-TV, whether you are in Saratoga or at another Center or Unit, it is preferable, if you can, to gather with friends and colleagues in an office or conference room. This will help to preserve bandwidth.

Questions for presenters – tomorrow:

If you have any comments or questions during the presentation tomorrow, please send them to IntEd.Week@esc.edu

Final agenda – International Education Week Celebrations

Hello!

Happy October!   In just under a year, Empire State College will be changing the learning management systems for the online learning environment.   We will be moving to Moodlerooms, a partner host of the learning environment Moodle.

A preliminary schedule is as follows (subject to modification):

As you may have noticed, Empire State College has a new log-in page.  This is a secure web based login page which includes “single sign-on” technology.   This new login system is a major step forward in reducing  the number of times a person must enter their username and password to access multiple password protected websites and applications.  Ultimately, this change will make online life at the college a little easier for everyone.

Now that we are using this interface, there is one reminder about the new web college login we would like to emphasize –

Always close all web browser tabs/windows when you are finished!

Now that web single sign-on is live, it is VERY important to remember the sentence above!   While web single sign-on will make things simpler, there is NO web single sign-out!   To log out of the college system, close ALL web browser tabs/windows used for accessing college websites which require your college username and password.

Read more about web single sign-on and why closing all web browser tabs/windows is so important.

A recent eArticle by Elliott Masie provides some very valuable lessons about being digitally discreet in public places.   After reading his article, I thought that our CDL faculty might see value in the lessons learned as we may, at times be communicating with our students in public places, or at the very least, we may be using our electronic devices (i.e. laptop, mobile, tablet/iPad) in public places to engage in our courses and with our students.   Additionally, as a digital user, it is a reminder to me that I need to elevate my awareness of how I am using my digital devices and what type of information may be heard or viewed by those around me.    Here is a link to Elliott Masie’s complete article >>  “Digital Neighbors and Discretion:  A lesson on the train.”

LEARNING TRENDS AND ELLIOT MASIE:

About Elliott Masie

http://masie.com/

Learning Trends Blog

At the request of David O’Neill, vice president for integrated technologies, OIT project managers recently conducted an assessment of risks associated with the Moodle/Mahara project. Results of this assessment and a recommendation from O’Neill were outlined to the President’s Council during its recent meeting on May 17. He will present this information to the Moodle Project Advisory Committee at its next scheduled meeting on May 31.

Read the entire Article Here>> http://escnet.esc.edu/content/update-moodlemahara-project