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VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES IN WEBTYCHO Frank Schindler University of Maryland University College, European Division Heidelberg, Germany

VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES IN WEBTYCHO

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VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES IN WEBTYCHO. Frank Schindler University of Maryland University College , European Division Heidelberg, Germany. University of Maryland. Online Study since 1992 Leader in the field of E-Learning 2004 Award “ Price of Excellence ” from - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES IN WEBTYCHO

Frank SchindlerUniversity of Maryland

University College, European Division

Heidelberg, Germany

Page 2: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

University of Maryland Online Study since 1992

Leader in the field of E-Learning

2004 Award “Price of Excellence” from

International Council for Open and Distance Education of 142 Countries

Page 3: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

WebTycho Interactive LMS

Web-Based Technology

Fully Editable

Supports Problem-Based Learning

Page 4: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

Problems of Online Education

How to eliminate the feeling of isolation

How to help students to reach their learning goals

How to improve communication

Page 5: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

Special Study Support

Individual Activities

Group Activities

Page 6: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

Need for Group Activites

Some class activities must be performed in groups to avoid self-study

Certain balance between individual and group activities needed

Page 7: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

How to Implement Special Study Support

Need for

Virtual Communities

Their Creation, Management and Monitoring

Page 8: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

Means to Implement Special Study Support Electronic Study Materials

Discussion Forums

Video Conferences

E-Mail

Chat

Page 9: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

Individual Activities

Paper/Electronic Study Materials

Web-Based Conferences

Online assignments

Online Tests (Exams)

Page 10: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

Group Activities

Study Groups

Collaborative Projects/Documents

Online Exams

Page 11: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

Examples of Virtual Communities

Web-Based Conferences

Web-Based Study Groups

E-Mail

Chat

Page 12: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

Web-Based Conferencing

Created by teacher

A set of sample tasks posted online

Students are to discuss them online

Verbal Evaluation

Page 13: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

Web-Based Conferencing…

Should be mandatory

Necessity of Their Proper Scheduling

Participation counted toward the final grade

Page 14: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

Web-Based Conferencing…

Assumptions

Weekly schedule followed on time

Students do their independent readings

Policy on plagiarism needed

Page 15: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

Study Groups Created by teacher

Students can ask and answer questions

Can be marked if needed

Can be mandatory/optional

Page 16: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

E-Mail

Limited Number of Participants

Good for Online Teachers to Exchange Ideas

Some Limited Teacher/Student Communication desirable

Page 17: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

Chat

Good tool instead of conventional office-hours

Limited Number of Participants

Time-Zone sensitive

Page 18: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

Examples of Study Groups

Cybercafe Group Projects Online Assignments Online Exams Chat

Page 19: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

Management of Conferences

Teacher Monitors happening in the conference

Comments responses of students

Changes status of conference from read & write to read-only mode

Page 20: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

Managent of Study Groups

Teacher

Monitors actions in the study group

Answers some questions if needed

Changes status of study group

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Advantages of Virtual Communities Psychological support for students Creation of personal, social relations Feeling to be part of a community Avoiding communication bottleneck Speed and art of bi-directional

communication Reduction of grading work for

teacher

Page 22: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

Advantages of Virtual Communities…

Provide a way to steer and manage online course

Allow better course administration Allow to exchange ideas among

teachers Allow online testing

Page 23: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

Disadvantages of Virtual Communities

Limiting factor is number of participants

Mode (Synchronuous vs. Asynchronuous)

Hard to mark (grade)

Page 24: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

Conclusion

Lack of functioning virtual communities in virtual classroom means something is wrong

Better management and integration of virtual communities in online learning needed

Page 25: VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES  IN WEBTYCHO

Od jesene 2004

Frank SchindlerKatedra aplikovanej informatiky avýpočtovej techniky, FEI STUIľkovičová 3812 19 [email protected]