Increasing interaction

INCREASING INTERACTION IN

ONLINE COURSESReva Narasimhan

Kean University, NJ

Overview

Context Overview of online course setup Challenges of teaching math online Meeting spaces Tools for interaction Questions

Context Institution : Kean University – regional

university; students have modest math preparation

Online courses : Math for Liberal Arts and Introductory Statistics

Students are used to doing problems from text; articulating math concepts is not easy for students

Screening students

Students are told before registration about the nature of the course

They must be approved by me before registration

Most students who are self acknowledged “math-phobes” email me back to say they do not wish to register for online sections

The Evolving Online Course Early stages: static online textbook;

formulaic homework problems; a CMS that was essentially a bulletin board

Each week :Read textDo online homework problem setEmail prof with any questions

And then…

Add video clips Interactive Applets Discussion forums

Hurdles in the past

In the distant technological past (about 5 years ago):Real time video technology not so readily

availableStudents had limited broadband access

Asynchronous delivery

Difficult to see students’ progress except with online homework and emails from students

Many students tend not to make use of all resources available; only work on items that are graded

Screenshots

Screenshot – Videos

Challenges

Facilitating conceptual understanding online

Lack of facial cues in online learning Math problem solving and online

homework tend to be isolating

Tools for interaction: Facebook group page

Online Meeting Spaces

Elluminate, vyew.com, WizIQ Real time discussion Can become “death by PowerPoint” Interaction is key

Tools for Interaction: Backchannelling

Use the text window in an online meeting space to participate

Very successful – simultaneous participation; peer help

Tools for interaction: Polls Allow you to quickly ascertain whether

students are following along Also successful – kept students focused

on material and they liked the participation

Tools for Interaction: explore applets

During online meetings, post link and ask students to explore online applets and demos; then ask them to post their observations

Or have a poll reviewing the concepts/ideas you expected them to become aware of

Be a participant

Attend webinars of different typesSit through a prerecorded webinarParticipate in a real time webinar with some

interaction

Even a modest amount of interaction seems to make a difference in how one interacts with the material

WizIQ Advantages

free allows for many participants without

upgradingrecordings can be made;has screen shareNo downloads required

Disadvantagessometimes the audio gets dropped interface could be a bit smoother

Vyew.com

Advantages: fast and user friendly; useful for online meeting with seminar students or thesis students

Disadvantages : no recording; limits the number of participants; screen share is iffy

CourseSites by Blackboard Complete CMS Live Classroom by blackboard Content currently available only from

McGraw Hill

Questions

Effective use of social media such as Facebook and Google Plus for online courses?

Incorporating active learning strategies within the homework

Limitations of Online Delivery Classroom collaboration lacking In class activities difficult to incorporate Talking in to a headset is not nearly as

much fun as an in-person lecture!

Thank you!

Reva NarasimhanKean University

www.mymathspace.netrnarasim@kean.edu