Engaging Learners with New Strategies and Tools

Distance education is growing with many post secondary learning institutions. The growth of distance education has cause educators to retrain and learn how to communicate effectively with online learners. I use distance education because I am allowed to continue my education even though I have a mobile lifestyle with my employer. Distance education is not an easy accomplishment for the student or the instructor because communication is essential.

Instructors online must be able to communicate with learners from a distance with effective communication. One easy way to establish standards and objectives is with a detailed syllabus. I look at the syllabus to find references required for the course along with course requirements for each week. Durrington, Berryhill, & Swafford (2008) believe the syllabus is critical for online courses (p. 191). The syllabus tells you what to expect, but distance education has many tools available to assist in achieving the desired outcome. The wiki is a tool that allows learners to work on group projects from a distance and make changes without sending several e-mails that may cause confusion (Dewet, 2008). The blog is another collaboration tools that engages learners. The instructor can ensure learners stay engaged by setting timeframes to post discussions and respond to other students. Walden University and several other learning institutions use the technique frequently. Calberg (2007) discusses 11 advantages of using blog in education which includes “Using a blog makes education demand oriented, participant-centered”. The blog is easy to access on the internet. Collaboration and communication continues to improve with the capabilities of the iPad and iPhone for the learning environment. The iPhone 4 has Facetime capabilities which can give face-to-face collaboration at a distance. The iPad serves as a digital book reader along with note taking and internet capabilities. Both devices give a huge advantage to mobility in education. The iPhone give students and teachers the capability to access dictionaries online and teachers encourage students to download podcast (Peachey, 2010, para. 9-10). I use my iPhone to listen to the weekly learning videos from Walden University. I can look at the video during downtime or listen to the audio version while driving.

Technology is excellent and many tools exist to aid the strategies for keeping learners engaged. Instructors in an online environment can use self assessment and peer assessment as part of keeping students engaged. Instructors must ensure learners have the rubric for assignments, and students are giving respectful thoughts in the asynchronous discussion process. I like the “ask the instructor” sections that Walden uses because the concept follows the idea of using a frequently ask questions section to create a comfort learning environment for the students (Durrington, Berryhill, & Swafford, 2008, p. 191). Distance education focuses on learner centered education. Siemens (2008) speaks of learner centered education as part of a “curatorial teaching” model. Siemens also believe some learners will not care to use new technology. A good learning environment will allow reflection as part of scaffolding (Wiley, 2007, 63). Instructors that use the new strategies tools will keep learners engaged.

References

Calberg, F. (2007). 11advantage of using a blog for teaching. [Web video]. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/frankcalberg/11-advantages-of-using-a-blog-for-teaching

Dewet, S. (2009, October 28). Wikis in education. [Web video]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdq83SWTnOM

Durrington, V. A., Berryhill, A., & Swafford, J. (2006). Strategies for enhancing student interactivity in an online environment. College Teaching, 54(1), 190−193.

Peachey, N. (2010, September 14). English language teachers connect to mobile learning. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/14/teachers-mobile-learning

Siemens, G. (2008, January). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators and designers. ITForum.

Wiley, D. (2007). Online self-organizing social systems. In Luppicini, R. Online learning communities: Communities in distance education (pp. 289–291). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Assessing Collaborative Efforts

The education learning environment is continually changing as technological advancements are made in today’s society. Distance education has become the primary method of learning for many learners. The manner that educators assess learners is also changing. Distance education involves a large portion of collaborative learning. Various learning tools are available for learners to use for collaboration in an online environment. Some available collaboration learning tools are wikis, blogs, and chats, to include various learning management systems (LMS). A study by Judd, Kennedy& Cropper (2010) speaks about using wikis in a collaborative environment (p. 352). The study points out those tasks using the wiki should have been given more weight in the assessment process.

Participation in collaborative learning environments is essential to the success of collaboration. Professors have various ways using LMS to evaluate participation. Siemens (2008) speaks about using LMS logs to assist in assessment by reviewing the number of times a learner logs into the class and posts to a discussion. The professor must analyze the improvement a student has made during the course of instruction. All students will not enter courses at the same knowledge level. Many students are custom to working individually, but understand their contributions are essential to the team’s success. Instructor plays a key role in assuring group participation is taking place. The instructor can assign each member of the group tasks. Malburg (2009) suggests using time games to assist in assessment (para. 4).

Palloff & Pratt (2005) states, “a simple rule to remember when assessing collaborative work is that collaborative activities are best assessed collaboratively (p.44). Most students give good assessment to peers when responding to discussion posts. Students can realize by the response posting if they have missed key points in the discussion. Siemens (2008) spoke of students assess their own performance which is directly in line with the words of (Palloff & Pratt, 2007, p. 212). Traditional assessment of students will no longer work in today’s learning environment and educators must look for ways to assess students fairly. The research study prepared by WestEd & Edvance Research (2008) reminds evaluators to consider technology challenges when assessing new students in an online collaborative environment(p. 42). The students will need time to adjust to new technology in an uncomfortable and new learning environment. Instructors should serve as facilitators as they assess learners in a student centered collaborative online learning environment.

References

Judd, T., Kennedy, G., & Cropper, S. (2010). Using wikis for collaborative learning: Assessing collaboration through contribution. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2010, 26(3) Retrieved from http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/judd.pdf

Malburg, S. (2009, December 7). Online assessment tools for the online teacher: Group games and activities. [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.brighthub.com/education/online-learning/articles/27392.aspx

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

Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities: Effective strategies for the virtual classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Siemens, G. (2008). Assessment of collaborative learning. [Vodcast]. Principles of Distance Education DVD produced by Laureate Education, Inc. Baltimore.

WestEd & Edvance Research, Inc. (2008) Evaluating online learning and challenges and strategies for success. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/academic/evalonline/evalonline.pdf

Learning Communities