An Educational Community in the Classroom: Using Layers of Technology and an Integrated Team...

An Educational Community in the Classroom:

Using Layers of Technology and an Integrated Team Approach

to Engage Learners in and out of the Classroom

Tim Pychyl, Flavia Renon & Chris MotzCarleton University

Ontario Library Association SuperconferenceSaturday, February 4, 2006

Toronto, Ontario

Purpose and Process

Describe the evolution of the course to a rich community with “layers of people and technology”

Provide a framework for you to think about the implementation of this approach

Move from our experiences to your own implementation plans

About Us & our context

Course ContextSecond year survey course in Personality Psychology with 120 in-class students and approx 300 students registered to watch a cable broadcast of the lectures

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Student expectations

Student expectationsAnonymous Feedback: I feel more eager to participate in the class

knowing that a ton of effort has been put into the organization of this course even though I am only in the CUTV section. Seeing all the efforts of "team personality" makes me want to put in the effort.

Anonymous Feedback: The concern of your team for the class is

apparent always. Even though I have never attended a class lecture, I find myself saying "We talked about...in class today. Usually I would say "the instructor talked about..." It is very important to me to feel part of the class, and I do.

Where does the Library fit into the whole scheme of things?

VISION OF THE POSSIBLE(library component)

Some IL learning objectives:

Facilitate access to the needed information (the class assignment) effectively and efficiently

Assist students in understanding the value of different information sources (popular vs academic)

The assignment in PSYC2600

Worksheet break & Questions

It’s time to focus on what your vision of the possible might be and your overall learning objectives for the term ahead.

GOALS & PRACTICAL CHALLENGES(library component)

How can I reach as many students as possible?

How can I go beyond a simple search and retrieve exercise (BI vs IL)?

How can I cater to student’s different

learning styles? How can I provide just in time

learning support?

Solutions for the practical

Answer to these questions Provide various contact options Focus on process rather than

skills Use different media to enhance

learning for a variety of learning styles

Make learning support resources available 24/7 (i.e. make yourself virtually available 24/7)

Barriers and Facilitating factorsSome barriers… IL was a goal of the

assignment, but not a focus of the course content (Chris)

Time to learn about the technology beingused in the course (Flavia)

Where will we find the time to plan this and coordinate the assignment? (Tim)

Can I give up control enough to make this a real partnership? (Tim)

Some facilitating factors…

Existing web site & streaming capabilities, & a librarian who could take control of part of this learning (Chris)

The WebCt coursewebpage provided an infrastructure that facilitated access to various learning resources (Flavia)

Worksheet break & Questions

Identify barriers and facilitating factors on your own campus

SOLUTIONS FOR THE PRACTICAL(library component)

Professor/Instructor

LibrarianVideo technicianWeb technicianPrivate-sector

partnerPASS facilitatorPeer MentorsTeaching Assistant

“Layers” of People - a team approach

Technology

Video stream of in class presentation

outlining the Library research process

Video stream tutorial explaining how to do this assignment (simulated

discussion) Power Point tutorials on WebCT E-mails using screen captures (Snag

It)

Layers of Technology (some examples)

The WebCT web site for Introduction to the Study of

Personality

Psyc 2600

Worksheet break & Questions

Technical needs and possible solutions to your own barriers?

The Research Assignment

Our plan for the pedagogical

The goals of this assignment are to:

learn how to research the social-scientific literature related to atopic in personality as presented in the popular press,

link the research discussed in the popular literature to the topics and domains of knowledge in the text,

summarize the background and activities of the researchpsychologist who generated the knowledge claims that werepresented in the popular press, and

locate a published journal article (an academic article) by thisauthor that relates to the topic from the popular press.

1. Finding an article in the popular press

7. Conducting a web-based search for biographical information about the psychology researcher

8. Searching for a journal article

Note: copy of complete research assignment is available in handout

The bigger picture…

• taught students informationliteracy skills

• gave students insight into the academic culture

This assignment:

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Research Assignment on WebCT

Archived video streaming of lecture 3a

Lecture 3a – Library Presentation

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Insert slide screencapture of multiple streaming segments

Emphasis is on PROCESS rather than just on SKILLS

Worksheet break & Questions

Sketch out issues related to your own planning

Understanding the social

Some examples:Mature students: face to face

meetingsDistance students: reliant on

technology

Students had preferences when it cameto selecting learning support options:

Student questionsI would like to set up an appointment with you to discuss getting an article for the assignment. I am not an avid newspaper reader. I do recall you saying something during your presentation of being able to access newspaper articles on-line and actually being able to narrow down the search for those that are relevant to personality. Although I am taking in a lot of new information lately and I could have misunderstood. My computer skills are quite lacking, actually they quite suck...Thank you,  Sandra.

Understanding the socialother possible future scenarios

(library component)

Collecting statisticsWebCTMSN messaging

More active participation in discussion groups

Reviewing e-mail, course evaluation sheets,… for student feedback/comments

Getting to know your community of users

Insight into practical

unanticipated problems

Student responseHello Flavia,

I'm a student in psych 2600 and I need some help in regards to the research assignment. I have found an article from pop culture about a psychologist that I think will fit in nicely with this course, but I could not find anything written by him in PsycInfo. Could you help me.Thank you,Ashlee

Student questions…Hello FlaviaI am doing my research assignment for Dr. Pychyl's Psych 2600 class.  I have completed all of the steps, and right now I am trying to access the article from a peer reviewed journal.

  I have been trying to access the online article from home, but I cant seem to get it to come up over the internet, through the library website. 

It seems other articles are available to read online, so I am not sure if I am just doing something wrong!  If you could email me back and let me know how to go about finding this article.

Thanks a lot,Victoria

Possible future solutions to the practical(library component)

Podcasting msn messaging WebCT has a “chat room” – you can

prearrange times where you will be available (in order to control the amount of time you spend in a chat room)

Camtasia Studio Screen Recorder or other video streaming software with screen capture and voice over narration capability

Key issues for implementation(library component)

Embrace technology Seek out partnerships/become part of a

learning community Quite often we are already surrounded by

these partners Use IL standards as a framework Constantly seek feedback/refine your

approach

Strive to enhance student participation and engagement in the classroom through principles of good practices supported by the judicious use of technology and a team approach

In Other words…

This course design: Encouraged faculty-student contact Encouraged cooperation among students Encouraged active learning Gave prompt feedback Emphasized time on task Communicated high expectations Respected diverse talents and ways of learning

Seven Principles of Good Practice According to Chickering

and Gamson (1987)

Vision of the possibleA summary

Where can we learn more…(library component)

Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education

http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/informationliteracycompetency.htm

National Forum on Information Literacyhttp://www.infolit.org/related_sites/

Enhancing the classroom experience with learning technology teams

http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eqm0334.pdf

Where to find us…

Dr. Timothy A. Pychyltpychyl@ccs.carleton.ca

Chris Motzcpmotz@connect.carleton.ca

Flavia Renonflavia_renon@carleton.ca

One last word on…

Advice for those new to video media

Some tips/lessons learned from teaching an ITV course Get advice/sit in on a videoconference Carefully design your Power Point

presentation by factoring in: area for video (bottom right side of

screen) font size/color

Regularly look at the camera to engage home audience

Ensure proper positioning of microphone

Try not to pace/move around too much Give students time to ponder questions Summarize/paraphrase questions posed

by students before answering Pause, smile, relax and enjoy

More lessons learned…

• closely evaluate/revisit your teaching style

• share with colleagues samples ofyour teaching technique (the good/the bad/the ugly)

Use your video appearance to: