Maushak
to Promote Online Interaction
TxDLA 7
March 2005
Nancy Maushak and Chaohua
Ou
Texas Tech
University
in courses have found that
students need to know about the asynchronous tools, what they are capable of,
and how they could be used in the
classroom
Today:
-
tools
-
advantages
-
disadvantages
-
Examples
Interaction is essential in
distance learning
- Berge 1999, Kearsely
1995, Moore 1993
- we often see courses
where instructors have just posted text to the web and then test
it..
Computer-mediated communication
(CMS)
research shows a predominant
preference for the asyncrhronoous mode for all types of instruction (bonk
1998)
Asychronous
-
anytime anyplace
- allows for reflection
time
- enables more critical thinking and
in-depth analysis
- “the few” can dominate
just as it can in a F2F classroom
– always
can have “the lurkers” in class
I
have found that with asychronous modalities, it seems that students who may have
been silent lurkers in F2F feel more
comfortable
Tools for
today
-
blogs
-
calendars
- discussion
boards
- document
library
-
email
-
listserve
-
newsgroups
-
wikis
Asked how many participants
have a blog: about 10 people in our audience of about 40-50 raised
hands!
Blog
-
personal journal, diary online
- intended
for general public consumption (if you are working with K-12, you would want to
implement some sort of password
control)
essential
characteristics
- journal
form
- new entry every
day?
- informal
style
Blog
advantages
- require little effort to
maintain
- authentic practice in writing
skills
- cost
effective
- easy to view
responses
- high availability (many
newspapers now have a blog section, Dallas paper now has
this)
- instant
access
- same info to all
(standardized)
- can provide links out to
other locations
Bog
disadvantages
- not always updated (can
lose some continuity)
- risk of students
reading inappropriate entries (be cautious of closed environment, what students
are posting)
- grammar may not be
correct
- audience is not always clear (who
are they talking to?)
– sometimes when we
blog ourselves, we may not have a clear vision of who our desired readership
is
- responses may not be accurage (valid
and reliable)
- responses may not always be
quick (may or may not happen)
One of
best known websites: weblogg-ed
- do a
Google search for “weblogg-ed”
- has a
weblog video, talks about how they can be used in
education
- geared toward
educators
Also
SchoolBlogs
- posting on Poetry Pizzeria,
example of K-12 use
thought:
elementary classroom could do posting about daily
activities
- can be used as tool for
creation and also for
information
Blog
websites
- Software breakdown:
www.asymptomatic.net/blogbreakdown.htm
-
K-12 blogs:
target="NewWindow">www.weblogg-ed.com
- select K-12 blogs:
target="NewWindow">http://ed-blogs.blogspot.com
- School blogs:
target="NewWindow">www.schoolblogs.com
-
target="NewWindow">www.mchron.net/edublog.php
-
target="NewWindow">http://academic-blog.blogspot.com
Can embed blogger into WebCT, a
protected environment
Discussion
board category
- used in higher ed
extensively, maybe overused
- requirements
like you must post at least 1 per week, need to respond to at least
5
- often there is not much thought going
into postings
- have to be careful to make
sure we are using this tool appropriately
-
leave a message and expect to see responses to
messages
- share and discuss information
and opinions
Discussion board
advantages
- easy to use, readily
accessible
- is an established
communication form now in addition to
email
- same info provided IF all students
read all posts
- posts generally organized
by topic
- provides a wealth of
information
- can read or access at any
time
- instructor can determine level of
participation
Discussion board
disads:
- moderation of discussion may be
required
- on mine, I respond to every
initial post
- storage space can be an
issue
- relies on students to search the
board
- not always up to
date
- don’t always get a reply as the
instructor
- students not always
prompt
- may not be able to go back and
edit something you posted that has an error, make a
change
Dave’s ESL Cafe is an example
for Teacher Forums, 1 discussion board that is
online
-
target="NewWindow">www.eslcafe.com/forums/teacher/index.php
- Voices of Youth:
-
Ecokids
- Collage Professors
chatboard
Nancy uses MSN Group as
discussion forum for her classes
- this is
a private discussion board, you can setup a group, in the process of setup you
can make it invitation only (private)
- use
MSN Groups and students post introductions about themselves, also post
pictures
- safe environment just for people
in our class
- no cost, this is
free
- Yahoo does the same thing, doesn’t
ask for much info beyond an email
address
Document
Libraries
- similar to a digital library,
can be private or public
- Nancy has
students submit their assignments via email, but then they are linked from the
assignment page
- collection of documents
for others to view
- setup to be subject or
task specific
- available in most course
management systems and groups home page
–
some limit the size of these, so that is a
disadvantage
Document library
advantages
- ease of use if well
indexed
- same info available to all
(example: could be course readings)
-
allows student to self-pace research
- easy
and convenient
- teacher can gain access to
student’s work easily as well
Now I
never print anything anymore, insert comments into original document for
students
- find that I provide better
feedback now than I did when I printed papers and wrote feedback on
them
Disads
-
maintenance of indices can be time
consuming
- can use library resources for
creation of electronic archives
- not all
materials are available in electronic
form
- storage can be an
issue
WWI Document
Archive
- if I could have done some
reasearch on sites like these that kids have access to, maybe I would have
enjoyed history as a student
-
target="NewWindow">www.llib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi
Art Gallery: not an archive of text,
it is an archive of images / student
drawings
Listervs:
Definition
- students can have extreme
views about listservs, really liking or
disliking
- were developed by Eric Thomas
for BITNET in 1986
- basically it is an
automatic mailing list
- similar to
newsgropu or forum, except messages are trnasmitted as
email
- usually requires a
subscription
Advantages
-
easy to subscribe
- large amount of
information and opinion (be careful of info
received)
- can join in discussions or
simply lurk
- many are
moderated
- can receive many diverse
answers
- useful venue for sharing ideas,
resources, getting feedback from other individuals who are the same or similar
fields
- info is pushed to you, it cames to
your inbox
Listserve
disads
- can be hard to
unsubscribe
- you are at the mercy of the
listserv, esp if they don’t offer a daily
digest
- can be time waster for
students
Newsgroups
-
similar to discussion boards, redisributed through
usenet
- organized into subject
categories
- basic usenet netiquette
(suggest you lurk first, see what is going
on)
- subscribe to postings on a particular
group
Advantages
-
build knowledge throug them
- provides
community
- wealth of
info
- lots of topics to choose
from
…
Disads
-
requires monitoring to keep student on
task
- easy to lose track of the multiple
threads being discussed
- public rather
than private, not censored,
K12
example: k12groups.org
-
target="NewWindow">www.k12groups.org/k12grouplist.html
Learn in Freedom (geared toward home
schooling)
-
target="NewWindow">learningfreedom.org
WIKIs
-
newest tool out there
- I learned about
this last fall
- have recently become more
popular in last few months
- is a server
program that allows users to collaborate in formating the content of a
website
- anyone can add content, change
layout, etc
“wikiwiki” means “fast” in the
Hawaiian language
- nancy’s students felt
like this was so dynamic and interactive, this represents the way we are
going
– not just a place for discourse, it
is
CAN USE WIKIS FOR GROUP
PROJECTS
- can create new content and
change the organization of the existing
content
Advantages
-
one of the first truly interactive
websites
- can change the information,
change the information, etc
- presents a
more realtime option for posting discussions, working on group assignments,
etc.
- still remains
asychronous
- provide wealth of
collaboration
opportunities
Disads
-
must have great deal of trust on part of
all
- on person has the ability to damage
an entire work with no one actually knowing who did
it
- does not record ip addresses or
names
- most have no encryption or
security
Wikipedia is the fundamental
wiki out there on the Internet today
-
different languages
- is an encyclopedia
online
Also is one called Weblogs in
Higher Education
- so clever to use one
technology to talk about another one
- Wiki
software:
target="NewWindow">http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiEngines
- Wikipedia (just google to find
it)
- Wiki on blogs:
www.mchron.net/site….
It is
important that are students realize all the different options that are
available
look on page 20 of program
for session tomorrow on Wiki stuff
On this day..
- Reflections on changing history, national identity, and cultural events in the American midwest - 2008
- Converting text to and from speech for accessibility and convenience - 2008
- Copyright questions and answers about iTunes, Podcasts, and Fair Use - 2008
- Alexander in the Boston Globe - 2007
- Avoiding shock and awe in Plato's cave - 2007
- First "digital dialog" podcast - 2007
- Podcasting in Higher Ed Roundtable - 2006
- WiFi Picture Frame - 2006
- SuprGlu feed river - 2006
- Share Bubbleshares on a Blog - 2006
