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Collaboration & Technology: Scaffolding for Online Student Success

Presented by Dr. Julia Parra

+ Hello

This is me - Julia aka Julia Wiggins (Second Life) aka @desertjul and more…LOL, I have so many identities, I'm not sure I remember them all. Could this be a problem? InterWeb Identity Crisis?

#ET4OParra

+WIIFY?

Do we really need group work in online courses?

Aren’t there lots of challenges?

What about collaboration tools?

Existing Models that ROCK!

An Emerging Process/Model to Support Group Work

The Research and Survey Says!

Conversations to Have with Students About Group Work…

Resources

+Do we really need group work?What are the benefits of group work, specifically in online courses?

+ Do we really need group work?

“Bruner, Vygotsky, and Piaget all embraced the philosophy that humans do not learn in a vacuum but rather through interaction.”

Conrad, R.M., & Donaldson, A. (2004). Engaging the online Learner: Activities and resources for creative instruction. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

+ Do we really need group work?

“A process that involves inquiry confronts the unknown and relies on personal or collective resources to resolve questions. The online environment in which inquiry can flourish is gradually built by collaborative and collective contributions. Such collaboration efforts are likely to result in better outcomes, designs, practices, or products” (p. 30).

Collison, G., Elbaum, B., Haavind, S. & Tinker, R. (2000). Facilitating Online Learning. Madison: Atwood Publishing.

+Do we really need group work?

“By learning together in a learning community, students have the opportunity to extend and deepen their learning experience, test out new ideas by sharing them with a supportive group, and receive critical and constructive feedback. The likelihood of successful achievement of learning objectives and achieving course competencies increases through collaborative engagement.”

Palloff, R., & Pratt, K. (2005). Learning together in community: collaboration online. Proceedings 20th Annual Conference on Distance and Teaching and Learning. University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, August, 2005. Retrieved April 20, 2011 from http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/Resource_library/proceedings/04_1127.pdf

+ Do we really need group work?

“Collaboration has often been defined as the ‘heart and soul’ of an online course or, for that matter a course that bases its theoretical foundation in constructivism.”

Palloff, R., & Pratt, K. (2005).Collaborating online: Learning together in community. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

+Aren’t there lots of challenges?What are the challenges of group work, specifically in online courses?

+Aren’t there lots of challenges? “Some of the literature related to online learning indicates that groupwork in online classes is beneficial (Conrad & Donaldson, 2004; Palloff & Pratt, 2005). However, others have indicated that online groupwork may be perceived as more challenging than groupwork in face-to-face settings (Kim, Liu, & Bonk, 2005; Koh & Hill, 2006).”

Barbour, M. (n.d.). Strategies for students and instructors how to improve online groupwork. Retrieved April 20, 2011 from http://www.michaelbarbour.com/research/pubs/el08-koh.pdf

+ What about collaboration tools?When considering tools that might be used

for collaboration, either online, blended, or face-to-face, what comes to mind?

+ What about collaboration tools? “Collaborative distance learning involves the use of online synchronous and asynchronous tools by classrooms, groups, and individuals for the purpose of creating, communicating, and organizing projects and information.  Students can now work online with other students on a classroom, local, national, and/or international level. This can be accomplished through the use of such tools as wikis, blogs, micro-blogs, social media websites, shared and editable documents, video-conferencing rooms, and online classroom discussion boards. Technology has afforded students the opportunity to collaborate not only in real time (synchronously), but on their own time (asynchronously) as well.”

Written by one of my awesome students, Sam Stichter!

+Existing Models that ROCK!

Gilly Salmon’s 5-Stage Model for supporting students in developing technical skillshttp://www.atimod.com/e-moderating/5stage.shtml

+Existing Models that ROCK!Conrad & Donaldson’s Phases of Engagement Modelhttp://phases.wetpaint.com/page/Phases+of+Engagement+Model

Phases include Co-Exist, Communicate, Cooperate, and Collaborate

Instructor roles noted as Social Negotiator, Structural Engineer, Collaborator, Initiator, Partner

+Existing Models that ROCK!Michael Barbour discusses online group work strategies for students and instructors:http://www.michaelbarbour.com/research/pubs/el08-koh.pdf

Instructor roles are noted by Barbour as Facilitator, Motivator, Guide, Coordinator

+ Un Milagro Pequeno in Support of Scaffolding

Two types of scaffolds – content and metacognitiveContent scaffolds – warm up sheet, note-taking sheet, project template

Metacognitive scaffolds – project planning sheet, information collection log, project reflection sheet.

Su, Y. & Klein, J.D. (2010). Using scaffolds in problem-based hypermedia. Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia, 19(3), 327-347.

+ An Emerging Process/Model to Support Group Work

Spring 2011 EDLT 528/628 Designing Educational Resources on the Internet

Fully online, 6 units of content

4 Phases for Scaffolding Groupwork – Getting Started with Groupwork, Practicing Groupwork, Conducting Groupwork, Celebrating Groupwork

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*Google+ Hangout is a great collaboration meeting tool.

+ The Master Plan aka Research Plan

Research Method

This qualitative inquiry is a case study and is designed to answer the overarching question - how does a process of phasing in groupwork and scaffolding both student use of technology and development of student skills for collaborative group work impact student satisfaction, learning effectiveness and student success. The population for this survey was a graduate-level college class.

+ The Master Plan aka Research Plan

Research Procedures

The data collection strategy for this study was a survey taken after the course was over.

+ Survey Says!

+ Survey Says!

+ Survey Says!

+ Survey Says!

+ Survey Says!

+ Survey Says!

+ Survey Says!

+Conversations to have with students about online group work…

Cooperation is not Collaboration.

There is no such thing as equal contribution/participation in group work.

What to do if group members are truly not participating…

What are your expectations? Process vs. Product?

+ Resources

The Model/Process Handout

Groupwork survey questions (done in Google Forms)

Course documentation with integrated group work Directions

+ So you want more?

Contact me at:julia.parra@gmail.com@desertjul on Twitter

Access materials from this presentation at my website in the Presentations & Workshops section - http://juliaparra.com