Sarah Haavind

I'm interested in what Bruce observes, If you are going to utilize a forum as a part of the learning experience you have to have a means for determining efficacy. I'm finishing up a study on VHS classes (yes, Marsha and I are colleagues though we don't get to work together hardly enough!) where the instructors were effective at fostering collaborative dialogue.

I didn't count postings, as the teacher did in Bruce's example. Instead I counted what I called collaborative events that were linked replies-to-replies that reached a thread depth of four or more.

For those courses that were particularly successful at fostering collaborative dialogue, I used Harasim?s collaborative categories to analyze the discourse within the events; idea generating, idea linking and convergence. Of course, this was a research project, not a regular grading practice. However, one of my findings was that instructors who explicitly taught learners how to collaborate online to construct meaning/understanding/knowledge were successful. I think Scope offers an excellent example of this kind of explicit teaching in the ?Ask good questions? information box on the left-hand side of our reply fields.

I?ve attached a short paper I recently presented at E-Learn on my study. It has some additional examples from VHS. I would love to know what strategies other designers build into their courses. Has anyone used or experienced other ?explicit teaching? strategies that support the kind of shift Bruce is describing ? that I would call deepening the dialogue?
Sarah
 

I empathize with Barbara Berry when she laments, Despite many discussions with faculty regarding the importance of learner interactivity, active learning etc. the research seminars were essentially lectures of deep content with little opportunity for learner engagement.

I too am beginning to work with faculty at the Harvard Extension School who want to move their courses totally online. So far the emphasis has been on effectively videotaping their lectures. I?ve been reminded that Harvard professors take their ?performances? very seriously ? it?s at the heart of their teaching practice.

 I have found myself thinking like Diane, who says she trys to find out where the person is philosophically with respect to their teaching and students, and work from there...sometimes I do compromise my own instincts on what is possible because they are not there yet, and my job is not to send them running from the room. Indeed. I?ve been worried about how fast my clients will be running from my collaborative learning room as well.

Barbara, your description of your process is fascinating to me. I want to learn more! I wonder if I can be the sort of change agent at Harvard you describe?please everyone, bombard me with suggestions!

Thanks, Salvor for pointing us to Nielson?s ?Top 10 Design Mistakes? ? one in particular seems relevant to parts of our discussion thus far. He notes, ?Flash should not be used to jazz up a page. If your content is boring, rewrite text to make it more compelling and hire a professional photographer to shoot better photos. Don't make your pages move. It doesn't increase users' attention, it drives them away...?

So Berel, when you wonder,  ?where do I start? There are so many choices, and so many modalities and delivery systems (and so many salespeople!) that it's difficult to know where to start?? I?m thinking it?s just fine to keep it simple and basic.

I agreed when Bruce responded with questions, not about techno-tools but about your audience and your learning goals. They were so useful, I hope the group doesn?t mind if I cite them: ?What kind of content are you providing?  Who are your students? What kinds of technology DO you want to use? How will the format enhance content delivery? If you are the student taking the course what would you expect? If you, as the student, need the course and dislike technology but have to use it anyway what would you want??

In the "Media Mixes" chapter of "Learning Together Online: Research on Asynchronous Learning Networks" (Hiltz & Goldman, 2005), their synthesis of the research to date supports the idea that student satisfaction in online courses is more related to the quality of interaction than impressive technology.

I'd love to hear more about how others in the group attend to designing generative exchanges within the communities they construct. What are your strategies?
Sarah

Hi all,
I am geographically planted in New England (Hudson, Massachusetts) and I?m thoroughly enjoying meeting everyone as new voices join in each day...it's a pleasure to be part of an international conversation about my personal passion -- learning and teaching online.

I was drawn in when Robbie pointed out the importance of evaluating learning outcomes and Cindy built on Robbie?s comment, wondering out loud if Robbie meant, assessing of what students have learned and to what extent they have achieved the learning objectives of a course, or student's satisfaction of a course and the instruction they received?

I hope we can focus a bit on how to assess what students have learned and to what extent they have achieved the learning objectives. How do you/we as designers do that?
Sarah