Asynchronous Learning Strategies

C. Candace ChouUniversity of St. Thomas

Oct. 10, 2010

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Agenda

• Research and Framework• Ice breaking activities • Create Blackboard Discussion Board • Blackboard Wiki• Submit assignments via Blackboard• Grade Center

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Bransford, Brown, Cocking, Donova, and Pellegrino (1999) How people learn

• The learning environment should be learner-centered, knowledge-centered, assessment-centered, and community-centered.

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Anderson, T., Rourke, L., Garrison, D. R., & Archer, W. (2001). Assessing teaching presence in a computer conferencing context.

Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (1999) proposed the model of critical thinking and practical inquiry to demonstrate how learning takes place through the interaction of three core elements: social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence.

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Definitions

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Teaching Presence

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Technology-Facilitated Examples 1CMC tools Social presence Teaching

PresenceCognitive Presence

Adobe Connect videoconferencing

Student presentations

Small group discussion in breakout rooms

Instructor presentation on course-related topics

Instructor-facilitated class discussion

Trouble-shooting

Archived videos for review

Multimedia presentation with PowerPoint, polling, whiteboard, Q&A

Weblog Peer feedback Student-

generated knowledge base

Teacher comments on student works

Instructor organization of topic categories

Student reflection on trends, issues, and course topics

Student master skills through hands-on practice

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Technology-Facilitated Examples 2CMC tools Social presence Teaching Presence Cognitive

PresencePodcast/VoiceThread

Student-generated podcast

Peer feedback

Podcast/Webcast for social greetings and course lectures

Increased teacher-student contacts via voice and sound

Feedback on student projects

Instructional video tutorials for reviewing course materials or learning new topics

Asyn. Discussion Board

Student sharing of course projects

Peer feedback on course projects

Instructional organization

Facilitating discourse

In-depth reflection of course topics

Chou, C. C. (2010). Student Perceptions and Pedagogical Applications of E-Learning Tools in Online Course. 8

Constructivist Model and supporting BB tools

Jonassen 2007, Modified by C. Chou 9

• Driscoll (2002) observes, “When students become active participants in the knowledge construction process, the focus of learning shifts from covering the curriculum to working with ideas. And using technology tools ‘to think with’ facilitates working with ideas and learning from that process”

• (also see Scardamalia 2002).

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Activity for Discussion Board

• For a list of Blackboard video tutorials, please visit IRT training guidehttp://www.stthomas.edu/irt/support/blackboard/training.html

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Ice Breaking Activities 11. Please first provide a brief introduction about yourself, e.g., where

you teach, what you teach, years of teaching experience, hobbies, and where you are from.

2. Score yourself from 1 to 10 on the following items. A score of 1 indicates minimal knowledge or interest, and the top score of 10 signifies high knowledge or interest:a. I consider myself a sports expert.b. I enjoy watching movies.c. I am a music buff.d. I love outdoor activities.e. Cooking is one of my hobbies.f. I love to read.g. Add your own statement

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Ice Breaking Activities

• 3. Choose an animal that best represents you.

4. True or false: Provide a statement about yourself and ask your classmates to guess if it's true or false, e.g., I lost my first tooth at age 10.Return next week to provide the real answer after everyone has responded.

Conrad, R. M. & Donaldson, J. A. (2004)13

Asynchronous Tips

• Create a class email list (Blackboard or Google Groups)• Send weekly announcements at the beginning of the

week and reminders toward the end of the week• Let students know how soon you will respond emails

and other forms of inquiries• Assign students to take turns to moderate forums• Set clear deadlines for discussion board and all

assignments• Provide a rubric for online discussion

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Discussion Board Instruction Example

• Post your reflective statements, and/or responses on assigned reading materials to the bulletin board. Comment on at least two other postings in each forum. Feel free to make more comments and try to comment on projects that have not already had two comments first. The original posting should be at least 150 words and the comments should be at least 4 sentences. In your comment, discuss one point that you like/agree with, and one point you dislike/disagree with, and why. As a courtesy, you should respond to comments or questions posted by the fellow classmates in addition to the required 2 comments. Comments on projects should be provided within three days after each due date. For Example, if the due date for Google docs integration is October 10th, your comments should be posted no later than midnight October 13th. The due dates for each forum are specified in the Assignment Reminder. Each forum postings will be graded based on the following criteria:

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Discussion Board Rubric Example

1 point 2 points 3 points 5 points

Minimal response to the module question.

Posting responses to the question but does not stimulate further class discussion.

Posting fully addresses the module question and stimulates at least one substantial follow-up comment.

Completes two reflective comments and one posting that meets the criteria for 3 points.

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Creating Discussion Board: Preparations• Plan ahead on how students would

access the discussion board. • If you do not plan to use it

regularly, students can access it via the Communication link directly. You can skip the preparation and go to the slide on forum creation.

• If you use it frequently, the least confusing way adding a link in the learning module that is associated with the discussion board. Follow the steps in the next slide to create a few learning modules first.

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Preparations: Creating Learning Modules1. From the Control Panel, choose

“Manage Course Menu”2. Click Add “Content Area”3. Rename Assignment with Learning

modules4. Click Submit and then OK5. Back to the Control Panel and click

on the Learning Modules6. Click “Folder” to create “module

1” and then the submit button7. Repeat step 6 to create a few

folders and name them module 2, module 3 and so forth.

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Creating Forums 1• At the Blackboard control panel, select

Discussion Board• Click the course title• Click Forum to create a new forum• Provide a name• Provide a description if necessary

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Creating Forums 2

• Check the following boxes

1. Allow author to remove own posts

2. Allow authors to modify own posts

3. Allow members to subscribe to forum

4. Consider a grade book item if necessary

5. Click Submit

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Collaboration via Wiki• Building the framework

– Create a wiki page for each small group project collaboration

• Monitor the progress– Provide a rubric– Watch storage space

• Examples:– Annotated bibliography– A Frequently Asked Questions list– Story telling

James A. West & Margaret West (2009), Using Wikis for online collaboration

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Knowledge Construction via Wiki

• Collected Wisdom (resource bank)• Historical time line,

http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Colonial_America

• Online dialogue (role play or informal debate)• Group summary• Class encyclopedia

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Step-by-step Instructions

• In Blackboard, select a learning module for the wiki activities

• Switch to Edit Mode, choose Wiki from the Learning Unit pull-down menu

• Click “Go” • Provide a name and a description for this wiki

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• Assign group members if the wiki if it is for small groups. Otherwise, use the default for all class members

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• At the space for “Allow Member of the wiki to”, check “view comments” and “write comments” if you want to enable the features.

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• If there is a grade associate with this wiki, enter the information at the section for “Create Grade Book Entry.”

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• Click OK to complete the steps• Back to the learning module, click the wiki

name to enter the wiki• Click Edit to enter edit mode

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• Provide a page name. For the first page, you can use “home” as the default page name.

• Enter content in the text box• Click Save to exit edit mode.

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• Choose New to create a new wiki page• Be sure to provide a page name when in page

editing mode• The new page will be listed in the site

navigation

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Submit an Assignment 1

• From Control Panel, choose a learning module

• From Learning Unit on the right side, choose Assignment from the pull-down menu and then click GO

• Provide a name of the Assignment

• You can attach the instruction or rubric in Word document

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Submit an Assignment 2

Login to a different browser with a student account1. Students click “View/Complete Assignment” to

enter the submission mode2. Click “Choose File” to locate the assignment from

the local computer. Click Submit and then OK.

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2

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View Student Assignments 1• Switch to instructor view using a different browser (or

logout as a student and login as an instructor) and choose Grade Center from the control panel

1. You will see an exclamation mark on submitted the assignment

2. Click the double down arrow and then choose Grade Details

3. Click “View Attempt”

1 2 3

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View Student Assignments 2

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Students Viewing Feedback

• Students can go back to the same learning module where they submit the assignments to view the instructor feedback and grade.

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Grade Center

• You will learn how to:• Create a grade item• Re-arrange grade items• Tally Scores• Send comments to students• Enable student view of own grades

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Create a Grade Item

1. From the Control Panels, choose “Add Grade Column”

2. Enter a grade item name such as “participation” to column name

3. Determine if the primary display will be score or letter grade

4. Determine the points possible5. Leave the rest as default and

click Submit

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Re-arrange Grade Book• Click the action link next to the

Manage button to see the pull-down menu, choose “Organize Grade Center”

• Let’s first hide least-used items. Put a check mark next to Student ID, Last Access, and Availability.

• From the Show/Hide button, choose “Hide Selected Columns

• To rearrange a grade item, hold-down the mouse on the grey area next to the checkbox of a grade item and drag to a target location.

• Click Submit

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Enter a Grade or Modify a Column• If you would like to change

from letter grade to score or vice versa, click the action link (the double arrow) next to a grade item and choose “modify column”

• Click “OK” to complete the modification

• After entering a grade, be sure to hit the return or enter button on the keyboard to enable the grade entry

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Enter Comments for Students

• After a grade has been entered, you can press the active link next to a grade to choose “Add comment” to enter comments for the students.

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Enable Student View: My Grades

• From the Control Panel, click Manage Course Menu

• Add a Tool Link• Choose My Grade• Click Submit and then OK• When you return to the main BB

page, you will see “My Grades” at the left menu. You will not be able to see the grade when you login as an instructor.

• You need to apply for a student account to be able to have student view.

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A Few Words About Gradebook• If you use scores for all grade

items, the “total” column will tally the score for you automatically. If you use letter grade, the tally will not be accurate.

• You may want to consider adding a “Final Grade” column with letter grade in which the final grade in entered manually. This way you do not have to rely on the tally of BB grade center.

• Be sure to check “no” for the question on “include this column in Grade center calculations.

• Consider hiding the “total” column so students do not get confused with a tally score and a final letter grade.

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BooksCollaborating Online: Learning Together in CommunityRena M. Palloff, Keith Pratt

Engaging the Online Learner: Activities and Resources for Creative InstructionBy Rita-Marie Conrad, J. Ana Donaldson

Learning in Real Time: Synchronous Teaching and Learning Online Jonathan E. Finkelstein

Using Wikis for online collaborationJames A. West & Margaret West

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References• Anderson, T., Rourke, L., Garrison, D. R., & Archer, W. (2001). Assessing teaching

presence in a computer conferencing context. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 5(2), 1-17.

• Bekele, A. (2008). Impact of technology-supported learning environments in higher education: Issues in and for research. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Oslo, Norway.

• Bransford, J., Brown, A., Cocking, R., Donovan, M., & Pellegrino, J. W. (1999). How people learn. Retrieved December 16, 2008, from http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=6160.

• Chou, C. C. (2010). Student Perceptions and Pedagogical Applications of E-Learning Tools in Online Course. In H. Yang & S. Yuen (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Practices and Outcomes in E-Learning: Issues and Trends (pp. 440-454). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

• Driscoll, M. (2002). How people learn (and what technology might have to do with it). ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and Technology Syracuse, NY. Retrieved 5 January 2006 from http://www.ericdigests.org/2003-3/learn.htm

• Jonassen, D. H., Howland, J., Moore, J., & Marra, R. M. (2007). Meaningful learning with technology. Upper Saddle river, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.

• Scardamalia, M. (2002, April). Creative work with ideas: A luxury? Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, New Orleans, LA.

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