Online Teaching: What the Experts Say

The Online Teaching Conference is days away, and there will be lots of exciting and informative presentations in Long Beach June 19-21. But why wait? Some of the presenters have already pre-recorded their presentations. Take a look - and make sure you register for the conference so you don't miss more!
You're Teaching a Course Online! Did You Do It Right? In this session Mauricio Cadavid discusses strategies for student success, engagement, and a positive learning experience. The audience will learn about developing rapport with their online students, as well as acquire a list of web-tools that can be used as effective design of class activities and participation.



The Importance of the Application of Critical Thinking in the Online Classroom.
Michael Eskey addresses teaching critical thinking skills to our online students. Research indicates that academics and students have differing perceptions of what happens in university classrooms, particularly in regard to higher order thinking, in particular, critical thinking. Higher education is challenged with encouraging students to pursue higher-order thinking and often fall short according to industry standards. The current research that will be discussed is directed at responses from full-time and adjunct faculty teaching either face-to-face or online mainly in the disciplines of criminal justice and political science to assess their views and application of teaching critical skills. The findings are applicable to all disciplines and emphasize the importance of specific instructor training to apply to the classroom in this area.



Yo Ho Blackboard Inline Grading For Me!
Eric Wilson explains that Blackboard recently updated the way you can grade Assignments and Discussions! With the new Inline Grading System, this recorded workshop will show you how to create Assignment and Discussions and how to grade both with the new inline system and paperless. Eric reviews the built in rubric system as well. It is so easy and can literally make grading painless.




Recruiting, Training, Maintaining, and Retaining Online Adjunct Instructors
Dr. Henry Roehrich with Dr. Michael Eskey explain that the development of online adjunct instructors requires a professional adult learning approach that incorporates a facilitation training program, mentoring process and instructor informational resources. The presentation outlines and discusses how this process can be effective and tailored to the needs of institutions in higher education. This will include the required online adjunct recruiting process, required training, online resources, professional development opportunities, the formal / informal mentoring process, required and optional refresher training. Additionally, there is a discussion of online adjunct and online student perceptions of instructional needs and requirements.



Does a Face Make a Difference? Comparing Synchronous Online Education with Other Instructional Methods at California Community Colleges and the Impact on Student Retention Rates
Claudia Tornsaufer
The main focus of this study was to investigate whether there is a difference in mean institutional retention rates among California community college students by the following institutional characteristics: 1) instructional method (on-campus, asynchronous and synchronous online courses); 2) ethnicity; gender; and age groups. The study’s findings on student outcomes will shed light on the impact of increased online student-teacher, student-student and student-content interaction in synchronous online courses and how it compares to the interaction on on-campus and asynchronous courses.

Frequent Contact with Online Students: Priority One

Chickering-Gamson contend: "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. "

So we need to keep and maintain contact with our students. In the Confer environment, one of the key reinforcers of this contact comes from the audio tool, which allows real-time conversation. Jennifer Hoffman says that “The trainer’s voice is perhaps the most important content delivery method available in a synchronous classroom.” Similarly, Clark and Kwinn assert that "audio participation increases social presence and is the best option" for synchronous online communication. We seem to have built-in responders to audio cues, and students who can hear the instructor's voice - to say nothing of being heard by the instructor - are reassured that there is a human being teaching and guiding them in their learning.

Confer also provides a chat tool that gives an ongoing log or transcript of typed conversation during the session. Messages can be sent to a selected audience or a private individual. The text can be resized, and the chat can be saved (copied and pasted) to a text file. This tool provides another interaction option, and its proper use will empower students in the online classroom. Joe Tansey observes that the fact that all students can see the responses in the chat window instantly is a valuable way for participants to share a wealth of ideas and information... Text chat makes it easy for all involved to match responses with contributors, and no responses are overwritten or erased – which can be a risk with some white board tools.” Joe also feels that "a useful feature of text chat is that it can provide learners with a non-threatening way to pose questions or communicate other needs with the instructor. Questions on the mind of one learner are often on the minds of others. If instructors aren’t able to answer all questions during the allotted class time, they can usually save the text chat and respond to questions after class.” Jennifer Hoffman adds that “participants who are more reserved are often more likely to interact when text chat options are available.” In a study called "The Social Arena of the Online Synchronous Environment," Zeina Nehme writes that “a learner might be comfortable chatting only rather than talking on the microphone.” There are limitations to this tool, however: as Schwier and Balbar discovered, one is "the lack of nonverbal cues, and the difficulty interpreting the intentions of each other. Chatting is spontaneous by nature, and this spontaneity doesn't allow participants to craft clear prose, so subtleties were sometimes lost or misinterpreted."

The polling tools are also aimed at interaction, albeit in a more structured way than either voice or chat. Jonathan Finkelstein notes that "polling is a low-threshold way of involving even the more reticent participants, as it allows for a simple means to take part in and affect the flow of a live online session. Integrated polling tools not only help a facilitator quickly gauge interest, comprehension, and opinions of the subject matter at hand, but they can also be used to appraise more subtle measures of student engagement and understanding: those more akin to the hesitant raising of a hand in a physical classroom.” Diana Perney at the Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School says, "I use this tool throughout a session. I create on the white board a multiple-choice question to start the session and ask the learners to respond, choosing A, B, or C. The polling results give me a sense of the class and activates prior knowledge for the learner. I will repeat this process throughout the session to engage the learners and to keep my finger on the pulse of the class. It often catches the participants off guard – they don’t know when I will ask the next question. The polling tool also meets the needs of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. I ask the question, they see the question, and a button needs to be clicked to indicate a response.”

Do You Chat When You Teach? Some Pluses and Minuses

In the Confer tool set, the chat tool provides text-based chat, a log or transcript of which can be saved and reviewed after the session. Private and public text messages can be supported, and the text itself can be re-sized or reformatted to personalize the messages.

Some observations about the chat tool:

• "Text chat is useful when the instructor would like all participants to respond, in contrast to using audio for a single response.”- Clark, R. C., and Kwinn, A. The New Virtual Classroom: Evidence-Based Guidelines for Synchronous e-Learning. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, 2007, p.53.


• “Depending on your familiarity with the virtual classroom features and your ability as a presenter to multitask, using the chat facility may or may not be a good option for you. Audience size should be a consideration when planning this type of feedback method. We’ve discovered that having another facilitator or production assistant available to help support direct messaging (chat) is a valuable asset when managing the event’s conversation flow.” - Sandra Johnsen Sahleen. “Creative Interactions in the Virtual Classroom.” In Clark, R. C., and Kwinn, A. The New Virtual Classroom: Evidence-Based Guidelines for Synchronous e-Learning. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, 2007, p. 124-25.


• “… a useful feature of text chat is that it can provide learners with a non-threatening way to pose questions or communicate other needs with the instructor. Questions on the mind of one learner are often on the minds of others. If instructors aren’t able to answer all questions during
  
  the allotted class time, they can usually save the text chat and respond to questions after class.” - Tansey, Joe. “Learning to Effectively Use the Virtual Classroom.” In Clark, R. C., and Kwinn, A. The New Virtual Classroom: Evidence-Based Guidelines for Synchronous e-Learning. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, 2007, p. 65.


• “Because chat offers a seductive opportunity for participants to communicate with one another privately at any time during a session, we recommend setting some ground rules regarding its use. For example, we ask participants to use chat for on-task communication only during instructional activities – no passing notes in class.!” - Clark, R. C., and Kwinn, A. The New Virtual Classroom: Evidence-Based Guidelines for Synchronous e-Learning. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, 2007, p. 112.


• “One way to use private messaging is to pair participants up to discuss an exercise or question by sending messages back and forth to each other. “ - Clark, R. C., and Kwinn, A. The New Virtual Classroom: Evidence-Based Guidelines for Synchronous e-Learning. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, 2007, p. 111.


• “Instructors can also use text chat to allow all learners to respond to a question or exercise. Participants can view all responses instantly. This is a valuable way for participants to share a wealth of ideas and information. Text chat can be more efficient for some exercises than using the virtual classroom white board tool. Text chat makes it easy for all involved to match responses with contributors, and no responses are overwritten or erased – which can be a risk with some white board tools.” - Tansey, Joe. “Learning to Effectively Use the Virtual Classroom.” In Clark, R. C., and Kwinn, A. The New Virtual Classroom: Evidence-Based Guidelines for Synchronous e-Learning. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, 2007, pp. 65-66.


• “A disadvantage of chat is the limited amount of screen real estate dedicated to text messages in most virtual classroom interfaces. When the response box fills, new text messages cause older responses to scroll up. If you have a larger class, you may want to use some crowd control mechanisms to limit who sends messages. For example, you might ask everyone to type in an answer but only the women or only a certain division to actually send their answers. Alternatively, you may provide a workbook in which everyone responds and, then, after a pause, call on only some participants to type in their answers.” - Clark, R. C., and Kwinn, A. The New Virtual Classroom: Evidence-Based Guidelines for Synchronous e-Learning. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, 2007, p. 110-11.

The Blended Classroom

The virtual classroom is popular because it works and fits well with today's students and faculty. Delivery methods have improved as the tools have been tweaked and instructors have learned best practices in using them. Faculty and students have warmed to the flexibility of meeting online and/or receiving instruction and content on demand, and the convenience of learning from home, hotel, or favorite login spot is undeniable. The quality and effectiveness of online instruction has improved in both perception and reality. A 2010 study by the U.S. Department of Education actually reported that students in online courses performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction.

There are downsides to virtual-only instruction, however. Online learners drop out more than face-to-face students. The Handbook of Blended Learning cites lack of support and problems with the technology as principal contributors to the lack of retention of online learners. A recent study of community college students showed that students avoided online courses "due to the weaker instructor presence (and, to a lesser extent, the weaker student-student interaction)." Student perceptions of online courses are that more independence and accountability are required in them and that students who take them are isolated and often inundated by questions and confusion.

Enter the blended (sometimes called "hybrid") classroom, which combines face-to-face with online instruction. It need not be "half bricks and half clicks": there are many examples that do not require or even recommend an even split between online and on-site time. Lower dropout rates are reported for virtually every blended classroom scenario imaginable when compared to online-only classes. Some researchers report that greater community is established when there is at least some face-to-face time with the instructor. Others indicate that students who have at even one in-person contact with their instructor and/or other students manage their time better and and have a better understanding of how to prepare for assignments and study in appropriate ways.

It may not always be possible to provide a blended classroom, since institutional and student requirements may prohibit offering a physical setting. But the evidence is strong that retention and achievement are improved when virtual is combined with physical.

 

What DOESN'T Work in the Virtual Classroom?

I've written a lot about the benefits of the virtual classroom and included many examples of what works well in this environment. In the 10+ years of CCC Confer, we've seen exponential growth in popularity among faculty and students, and we've watched Web conferencing technology become more and more reliable and stable for our thousands of users.

But it wouldn't be accurate or fair to pretend that Web conferencing is always  the best option or that it is always the best way to reach students and deliver online instruction. In fact, there's evidence to suggest that Web conferencing provides some barriers for students and instructors, which must be recognized and overcome for a successful experience and for effective instruction to take place. For example, I just previewed an article in the June 2013 Journal of Computing Sciences in College entitled, "Under What Conditions Does Web Conferencing Inhibit Learning in a Computer Science Classroom?" The authors - Jami Cotler of Siena College and Dima Kassab and Xiaojun Yuan of SUNY-Albany - drew conclusions from two lectures (one delivered face-to-face and one delivered online via Web conferencing) and students' reactions to the experience of these lectures. I'll reserve comment on the methodology or validity of this study, but I'm interested in the students' perceptions.

Distractions. In the Cotler study, 31% of the students reported problems with distractions during the virtual lecture. The nature of these distractions were not disclosed, but we can guess that they may have involved the typical distractions online students encounter: e-mail messages, tweets, Facebook posts, instant messages, and other Web excursions. It may also be that these students found the Web conferencing interface itself distracting, with its chat window, video, whiteboard, etc. The face-to-face classroom also has distractions, of course, but eye contact with the instructor is often inhibition enough for students to block them off and pay attention to the lecturer.

To help students overcome these distractions, the experienced Confer instructor gives guidelines to students before their first online class session and even at the beginning of the session. Disable notifications from your online applications (noises, signals, pop-ups): they will interfere with your concentration. Some instructors even provide specific instructions for turning off, say, Facebook notifications. And, while the class is meeting online, it's good practice to keep the students alert by mixing up the delivery.

Engagement. Cotler's students reported that they were 38% less engaged in the virtual classroom than in the face-to-face environment. Oddly, though, 88% "felt they were able to participate during the [Web conferencing] lecture" and 56% "felt highly engaged in the course materials and the course activities" in the online classroom. So the perception of less engagement may have been related to distractions or some other subjective factor. Many (69%) of the students reported "less connection to the instructor" when using the virtual classroom. However, they reported using the whiteboard and chat features, and most of the students claimed to have reached out to either another student or the instructor during the online session.

We know from long experience that keeping students engaged in the virtual classroom is more challenging than in the traditional environment. You can't see all of your students, and you're not going to be able to validate all of their behavior all of the time. Your sense of control online is compromised because of the distance between you and the "desks" in front of you. But you can keep students engaged by doing some extra work: preparing breaks in which students provide examples, express opinions, or vote on issues. Work in assessments or chat activities, and use breakout rooms to divide a large class into manageable small groups where it's harder for students to hide or let others do all the work. Several of my blog posts provide examples of these strategies.

Unfamiliarity with Technology. I was surprised to read in Cotler's study that unfamiliarity with technology accounted for only 13% of the reported problems with the virtual classroom. Half of all the students "stated that it was convenient and that they like that they could remain in the comfort of their home," and an amazing 81% reported "feeling less stressed about tasks accomplished during the [Web conferencing] session in comparison to the face-to-face session." So technophobia (or at least fear of synchronous online interaction), while not dead, is on the wane with today's students.

It's a good idea to orient students to the virtual classroom before you make them do something in it. This can happen during a "practice" session, in a "sandbox" (we offer several on the CCC Confer Web site), or via training materials (videos, slides, documents) you provide for them. Given these results and the increasing popularity of synchronous online rooms (Skype, Google Hangouts, etc.), it may be just as important that you orient yourself to the virtual classroom and feel comfortable showing its features to your students.

What doesn't work in the virtual classroom? Mainly, not having a plan to use it!

Live Online Events: Keys to Successful Management

It sounds easy: let's all get together at noon and have a presentation from one of our speakers. We'll look at a few slides, maybe watch a video, take questions, and discuss the whole thing together. Maybe we can even poll the members to see what they think about the key issues. Let's plan to be through in an hour, but I'd like some way to record the proceedings so anyone who can't make it can review later. I'd like you to facilitate, okay?

Oh, did I mention we'd be online?

Sooner or later, if it hasn't happened yet, you'll be asked to do something like this. Live online is a fact of modern collaboration, and it's a great maximizer of time and resources, especially when managed properly. My advice to get the maximum return for these events is to invest in preparation time so that everything goes as you'd like it to go.

Protocols. If you plan to archive (record) the event, it's standard practice to inform live participants of the fact. You can do this verbally or you can prepare a slide in advance that "warns" them that the event is being recorded. This gives them the opportunity to participate accordingly. Similarly, if the event is being captioned, it's a good idea to show participants how to open and close the captioning window, along with some instructions about how to make adjustments to font, size, etc. Letting participants know how and when - or if - their questions can be asked is also important. These standard protocols are generally called "housecleaning" tasks and should occur prior to the presentation and before the "record" button is pressed.

Publicity. At CCC Confer, we send e-mails to constituents announcing Webinars well in advance. We also use our Facebook page, the TechEdge newsletter, and listservs to publicize these events. (An example of an e-mail Webinar announcement is included.) If it's possible to include a calendar link that will automatically populate an online (e.g. Outlook) calendar and include the sign-in details, you'll be better assured that your audience will remember to attend and know how to log in when they need to.

Prompts. I've noticed that the best facilitators always seem to ask the right questions of our Webinar presenters and are able to solicit audience participation precisely when it's appropriate. After discussing their techniques with them, I learned that their "spontaneity" is planned: they spend time before the event thinking up the questions they will ask and planning how to stimulate audience participation. They keep a text document handy with chat "prompts" which they copy and paste into the dialogue at appropriate times so that there is always something to interest the online participants. They call this "seeding the chat box."

Pre-Loads. If the presenter wants to show a video, the file has to be pre-loaded into the multimedia library to avoid delays during the online presentation. Similarly, large files, if they are to be shared with the audience, should be pre-loaded so that no time is lost waiting for them to be delivered. In the synchronous online environment, even the slightest delay - a few seconds - can seem to last much longer.

Practice Run. Although it's not always possible to get a guest speaker to practice with you before an event, it's very helpful. Even if they can't make it, though, you'll benefit from pre-loading and testing the software, slides, content, and timing. This allows you and/or the presenter to make adjustments beforehand and to anticipate audience reactions to the screens as they appear.

Every event has a beginning and an end, and generally there are other sequential points in the event where you want things to happen. You won't be able to determine these accurately if you can't tell when the slides will be finished, how long the video will last, or how fast (or slow) the presenter will be talking. Practicing with him or her makes it possible for you to plan the question-answer period properly and determine when breaks or interludes can be inserted. It avoids the irritating sense that you've had to speed up the presentation or cut off feedback because of the clock.

How to Encourage Active Learning Online

According to the research findings summarized by Chickering and Gamson (1987), good practice in undergraduate education encourages active learning. R.R. Hake studied the role of active learning in 1997 by comparing traditional courses to courses using active learning techniques and concluded: "the mean gain was more than twice as large for active learning classes, so you could say that courses implementing active learning are more than twice as effective as traditional courses in building basic concepts." Allison Carr-Chellman and Phillip Duchastel (2002) observed that synchronous online activities "yield a more direct sense of interaction, increased collegiality, immediate resolution of problems, and better team building." Duncan, Kenworthy, and McNamara (2012) noted that synchronous online activities had a positive effect for students on both final exam performance and overall class achievement. Oztok, Zingaro, Brett, and Hewitt (2013) recently concluded that students who interact with their instructors in synchronous online sessions also read the discussion forums more closely, respond more thoughtfully to forum prompts, and spend more time reading course materials.

 Even with evidence of its effectiveness, it's sometimes difficult to incorporate active learning into online courses because the temptation to isolate as in instructor is strong.  You feel alone and it's awkward not to lecture, to wait on the "invisible" class to respond and learn for themselves. Here are some tips from active learning advocates.

Breakout Room Collaboration. Heidi Beezley, instructional technologist at Georgia Perimeter College, advocates having students talk to each other as they collaborate in breakout rooms. "I think the trick is to try to pull them back to the main room before they get to the point where the discussion has died down... [You] need to establish a culture of accountability, making sure that they use the time wisely, or they will run out of time and won't be able to complete the task." She assigns each student to a base group of students who work together in groups of five throughout the course.

Ready, Set, Go (or One, Two, Three): Put it in the Chat Box! Peyri Herrera and Larry Green arrived at this method independently, as far as I know. They both use a spot check with a countdown to have students answer a question in chat, simultaneously. The important point is to have everyone answer at once, so that the instructor can guage how well they're understanding the concept, but also to encourage students to think in real time, to pay attention, and to be present.

Communicative Activities. Planning to involve students in the Confer session has the greatest potential for creating an active learning environment. Chat is effective, especially if you seed it,  but so is using the whiteboard for brainstorming. Allowing students to role play or debate can be effective, and a spot poll makes sure everyone is paying attention.

Think, Pair, Share. This method from North Carolina State University has gather ideas about a topic (Think), choose partners with similar interests (Pair) and work together on a presentation they will deliver to the class (Share). 

Be Quiet. Waiting for students to respond is hard, perhaps especially so online. But if you don't wait on them, you may not get them to respond. Learn the value of silence online.

Greet Your Students. Believe it or not, simply calling your students by name and acknowledging their presence has an effect on their participation. It's too easy to hide online: greeting them makes them feel less invisible and encourages them to get involved.

Give Them Control. My favorite technique is to reverse roles with a student. I like to explain a technique, demonstrate it, and then invite a student to try it out by giving desktop control to that student or inviting them to use the whiteboard to illustrate the concept. The student chosen is, of course, an active learner, but the rest of the class tends to become engaged because there is always the possibility (probability in my case) that one of them will be asked to reverse roles next.