Week 3 - Some discussion questions and links

[Debby]

Here are some things to think about for our week 3 discussion of
encapsulated synchronous online classes.

1) On pages 3-4 of Finkelstein, J. (2006). Learning in real time:
Synchronous teaching and learning online. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
he said the following:

"Collaboration is a key element to the success of an online learning
environment (Conrad and Donaldson, 2004). It is also, as I discuss
later, a skill that has become part of a global working environment.
Although the presence of a facilitator can guide collaborative
activities, these interactions tend to be more egalitarian in nature
and can happen at any time, in both structured and informal settings,
with two or more people present. Live online settings offer an
immediacy that not only
allows collaboration to begin instantaneously but also contracts the
actual time spent on task."

- Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
- Does this apply to encapsulated classes? Why or why not?

2) On page 5 of the same book, Finkelstein said:
"A prerequisite to the effective use of synchronous tools is that the
decision to use these tools was made to support a cause worthy of the
live medium. If the purpose can better be achieved through the
dissemination of a document, via a link to a recorded lecture, or by a
simple e-mail to students, it should. Synchronous learning should be
deployed when synchronous learning is uniquely suited. Not adhering to
this basic principle can damage learners’ trust in an instructor’s
instructional prerogatives and dampen learner motivation."

- Which manner of dissemination do you think would be the most
effective? Would you use (or have you used) websites, blogs, wikis,
Twitter, or another format? Why? What are the benefits you see to your
preferred method compared to the others?

3) Read the list on pages 12-13 of the Finkelstein article (posted in
the Files folder). Have you used synch online teaching for any of
these purposes? What was effective/ineffective? Have you taken any
online synch classes for any of these purposes? What was good, what
could have been improved?

4) The article Key elements of building online community: Comparing
faculty and student perceptions states that instructor modeling is the
most important element in building online community. What ideas do
you have about ways that instructors can accomplish this? What
special challenges to building community does the encapsulated
classroom present? How would you overcome these challenges?

5) Look through the various suggestions in 101 Tips to Motivate the
Online Learner (Insync_101.pdf in the FILES folder). Pick out a few
that resonate with you and discuss your reasons for choosing those
particular tips. Have you used any of these in an online class? How
does this tip apply to an encapsulated online class?

6) Some synchronous online classroom software does not have the
capability to provide a break-out room for pair or group work. How
would you work around this – look for additional sites, rework the
lesson plan, or some other method?

7) Look through some lesson plans provided online (sample sites given
below- use another site if you prefer). Is the lesson suitable for
synchronous online learning? If not, could it be adapted, and how?
How can you ensure that it is suitable for an encapsulated class?

http://www.esl-galaxy.com/adults.html
http://www.rong-chang.com/lsnplan.htm
http://www.csun.edu/~hcedu013/eslplans.html
http://www.palmbeach.k12.fl.us/adultesol/high.html

[Vanessa]

Could you describe "encapsuiated classes" and what you mean by the
designation? What are the underlying concepts and conditions? There is
next to no literature on the specific expression. My own familiarity
with encapsulation is in a very different context. The underlying
concepts, in my admittedly limited understanding, seem related to JITT
- just in time teaching. What does it share with mobile blended
learning?

On Jan 23, 7:03 pm, Debby <debbysengl...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Here are some things to think about for our week 3 discussion of
> encapsulated synchronous online classes.
>
> 1)   On pages 3-4 of Finkelstein, J. (2006). Learning in real time:
> Synchronous teaching and learning online. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
> he said the following:
>
> "Collaboration is a key element to the success of an online learning
> environment (Conrad and Donaldson, 2004). It is also, as I discuss
> later, a skill that has become part of a global working environment.
> Although the presence of a facilitator can guide collaborative
> activities, these interactions tend to be more egalitarian in nature
> and can happen at any time, in both structured and informal settings,
> with two or more people present. Live online settings offer an
> immediacy that not only
> allows collaboration to begin instantaneously but also contracts the
> actual time spent on task."
>

[Vanessa]

1. Collaboration is also the key to asynchronous classes. Online,
whether synch or asynch, is more networked, less hierarchical. Live
has immediacy but asynch (besides not having scheduling & time zone
hassles) is conducive to reflection. Having done both, I suspect that
blending synch and asynch would provide the optimum learning
conditions. If one had to choose, I'd say the choice also depends on
subject matter, learning goals and individual learning styles

6. That's where blending synch and asynch might come in - and easier
to coordinate if you don't have too many balls in the air at the same
time.

Vanessa

On Jan 23, 7:03 pm, Debby <debbysengl...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Here are some things to think about for our week 3 discussion of
> encapsulated synchronous online classes.
>
> 1)   On pages 3-4 of Finkelstein, J. (2006). Learning in real time:
> Synchronous teaching and learning online. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
> he said the following:
>
> "Collaboration is a key element to the success of an online learning
> environment (Conrad and Donaldson, 2004). It is also, as I discuss
> later, a skill that has become part of a global working environment.
> Although the presence of a facilitator can guide collaborative
> activities, these interactions tend to be more egalitarian in nature
> and can happen at any time, in both structured and informal settings,
> with two or more people present. Live online settings offer an
> immediacy that not only
> allows collaboration to begin instantaneously but also contracts the
> actual time spent on task."
>
>  - Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

<snip>

[Jorge Azamar]

I see your opinions on different aspects of use these tools. I've done
the web task and are new aspects I didn't know but that`s the reason
of this workshop, know new tools.

2009/1/25 Vanessa <vcr...@yahoo.com>:

--
Jorge Azamar

[Debby]

Vanessa -
The definition I'm using is the description I gave in my original
January 11th posting. I did not get this term from any literature,
it's strictly my own. I was looking for a way to describe the learning/
teaching environment in the synchronous classes in Study.com, and this
term seemed to be the one that best described the situation. Each
class has to stand on its own. For example, in my class last week I
had two students who have been "regulars" for about a year, one that I
hadn't heard from in about 10 months, two who were brand new to
study.com, and a few who have attended sporatically over the past two
months. Unlike my ongoing face-to-face classes in which we build on
previous material, assign homework. etc. in the study.com classes
there are too many students who weren't present during a previous
session to be able to build any continuity. I created a website where
I post each week's PPT presentations and information about the lessons
so students can get some idea of what has gone before, and I give them
the URL in each class session, but I can't presume that any of them
have gone to the website and reviewed the material. This is a very
different environment from a for-profit online class in which students
must register for the class and have permission to enter the
classroom, either via a password or an administrative list of
students. It is also different from JITT, because although the JITT
lessons are adjusted from week to week the student makeup of the class
is consistent and continuous, and the students are providing regular
input during the week that helps the teacher to adjust the lessons.
Although I have created a special email box for the study.com students
to use for questions and comments I get very few, and they are rarely
related to anything discussed in a specific class. As this is a free,
non-credit class there is no incentive for them to do any extra work
during the week.

I do use elements of mobile blended learning in my classes (although I
call them "multi-media" lessons when describing them to people who
haven't been involved in CALL just because they are usually more
familiar with that terminology). I often use combinations of PPT,
Internet programs, video, etc. during the lessons. I consider mobile
blended learning to be the means by which encapsulated or any other
computer-based learning modules can be developed. I am a bit cautious
about using some of the technology only because many of my students do
not have the newest model computers or high-speed Internet
connections, and I have had a number of situations in which one or
more students were unable to see a video or access a particular
website (some countries do censor web access).

The concept behind this week's discussion is to look at this
particular aspect of CALL and think about how it differs from
"regular" synchronous -- or even asynchronous-- computer-based
learned, as well as how it is similar, and to brainstorm ideas about
ways to maximize the effectiveness of learning modules in this
environment.

> > -  Does this apply to encapsulated classes? Why or why not?- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[David]

Some workshop participants may be asking themselves why they should be
concerned about encapsulated classes when their own classes have the
same students every week.

The answer is that online education is moving toward a 'take what you
need when you need it' structure , just on account of the ability of
the medium -- i.e, internet -- to allow that. All of this of course
goes directly against traditional class structure where there's a well-
defined beginning and end to any class, but the new format does have
its own advantages, not least of which is that students often prefer
it.

We've all been drilled in the idea of continuous education, life-long
education and so on. However, most of us imagine that to mean taking
night classes at the local community college or going back to school
on the company dime for an advanced degree or specialist certificate.
In fact, for the motivated learner, online learning is a goldmine that
trumps both of those avenues in many respects, the primary one being
that truly continuous updating or deepening of knowledge becomes
attainable. The key word here of course is 'motivated'.

Just my 2 yen....

[Vanessa]

Debby

Thanks for expanding and repeating the definition. It's always handy
to have it right before one when thinking about responses, especially
as when it is not a familiar one - and the more familiar frame of
reference for a term may have distracting connotations. It's
interesting though - taking on a problem solving challenge and coming
up with your own solutions.

Although not as many tools were available, let alone media options,
StudyCom's long gone live text chat sessions that Pat Harvey and I
used to work, shared characteristics, especially the drop in/ drive
through / surf by quality. I kept a frequent requests & mini-lessons
file. I carried the latter over to the Help / Question Board where I
post periodic mini-lessons.

There's a common (but not academic) "real world" analog to
encapsulated lessons: the clinic, aka workshop, short course,
depending on discipline, and often built around physical skill sets.
These are often longer sessions and sometimes running over a weekend,
but not necessarily. Instructors will always have new students that
they have never worked with and may not again - or at least not
regularly. Since there are also students who "follow" clinicians and
show up regularly at clinics, those students will have continuity with
their lessons. So a class will often be mixed - familiar and
unfamiliar students. Skill levels also vary more than in regular
classes. That adds to the challenge. Effective clinicians have to come
prepared with well structured stand alone lessons that can be adapted
to different conditions, suit a range of learners and address both
regulars and drop-ins. Everybody learns something to take home.
Motivated learners take that something and work with it on their own.

Clinics are often the best or even only option when regular
instruction is not available. It's a good way to try out an instructor
or trainer before committing to regular lessons. Interestingly, not
all gifted instructors are effective clinicians; sometime effective
clinicians can be disappointing as regular instructors. One of the
best I ever worked with was outstanding at both.

Vanessa

[Vanessa]

David

It's also good training for managing classes with mixed motivation and
skill levels. I'd add too that study groups, despite their often
running longer that scheduled classes, have a coming and going to
them, with members disappearing for long stretches and suddenly
reappearing. Not the same of course but enough similarity for
materials and strategy overlaps.

Vanessa

[Vanessa]

Thanks for the links - I do some community adult literacy volunteer
work and have been working on developing online self-study packages
(another example on demand learning). These will be perfect additions.

I've bookmarked them online @ delicious, mostly to protect against
computer misfortune, although it's also a sharing site. With all the
clarity of 20/20 hindsight, it dawns on me that we could tag workshop
specific resources with T&T, EVO-Tips or some such for easier group
tracking. I'd say, gee, I'll edit tags and mean it but, to be honest,
no telling when I'll get to it.

Anyway here are a few more - lesson plan information and more
http://www.cdlponline.org/
http://www.otan.dni.us/
http://www.usalearns.org/

Not lesson plans but a useful resource: Distance Education
Clearinghouse http://www.uwex.edu/disted/index.cfm

Vanessa

[Vanessa]

Jorge

Which tools do you think you will find the most useful? Not just new
tools but also new ways to use familiar tools...

Vanessa

[Jorge Azamar]

I think it depends on the task one is doing. Tools like whiteboards,
projection, computers, are some and must be decided when they must
used. My point of view is the teacher must do things simpler to
students, as a way to handle the teaching process. Not fed up the
student.

2009/1/31 Vanessa <vcr...@yahoo.com>:

--
Jorge Azamar

[Vanessa]

Jorge, I agree. When students get too frustrated they often just shut
down. And it takes time to learn new tools thoroughly - it's not just
a matter of quick training. We - students and teachers - need enough
familiarity to feel comfortable with tools and not be distracted by
trying to remember how to use them. Also, it's when we get really
adept with a feature that we can work out new ways to use it.

Vanessa

On Feb 2, 1:42 pm, Jorge Azamar <tanama...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I think it depends on the task one is doing. Tools like whiteboards,
> projection, computers, are some and must be decided when they must
> used. My point of view is the teacher must do things simpler to
> students, as a way to handle the teaching process. Not fed up the
> student.
>
> 2009/1/31 Vanessa <vcr...@yahoo.com>:
>
>
>
>
>
> > Jorge
>
> > Which tools do you think you will find the most useful? Not just new
> > tools but also new ways to use familiar tools...
>
> > Vanessa
>