Instructional Designers: Creating Meaningful Online Discussion Activities

Draves (2002) describes collaborative interaction as the “heart and soul of an online course.”  Discussion among students in the online class has becomes one of the most widely used pedagogical strategies to facilitate such collaborative interaction.  As such, instructional designers are charged with the task of designing meaningful discussion activities and assessing them effectively.  Horton (2006) suggest that the success of effective online learning activities “depends on well-designed online discussions” (p. 464).  Likewise, assessment of online discussion can provide students with a clear indication of the expectations for participation/discussion and grading related to performance.  These issues suggest that the pivotal role instructional designer play and the need for their effectiveness.

Begin by reflecting on this week’s readings by Horton (2006) Chapter 9, “Design for the Virtual Classroom” (pp. 463–471), Oosterhof, Conrad, and Ely (2008) (Chapters 13-14), and your own experiences as a student in online courses.  Then, consider the following questions:

• What are the essential features of a well-designed online discussion activity?
• What are the challenges of designing online discussion activity?  

• What strategies can an instructional designer use to address the challenges of online discussion? 
• What assessment strategies increase meaningful participation and effective evaluation?

With these thoughts in mind, proceed to this week’s Discussion prompt.

By Wednesday:

Post your thoughts about the following questions:

• In your previous online courses, what aspects of the discussion activities facilitated and/or inhibited your meaningful participation?

• What are the pros and cons of using peer, self, and instructor assessment to facilitate meaningful online discussions?

• How might an instructor benefits from having the different pieces of evaluative information produced by incorporating peer, self, and instructor assessment of a discussion activity? What is the cost to the instructor to implement and manage all three forms or assessment?  How might these issues impact your decision as an instructional designer to include these three types of assessment into the online course?

Please review the rubric if you are unclear of the expectations for this assignment.

Discussion Rubric. Modified from Original Walden University Discussion Rubric. Retrieved August 9, 2011, from http://inside.waldenu.edu/c/Student_Faculty/StudentFaculty_15198.htm

Oosterhof, A., Conrad, R.-M., & Ely, D. P. (2008). Assessing learners online. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. 

Book Excerpt: E-Learning by Design
(Horton, W., Designing for the Virtual Classroom, E-Learning by Design). Copyright 2006 John Wiley & Sons Inc. Used with permission from John Wiley & Sons Inc. via the Copyright Clearance Center.

Teacher Preparation: Are basic training requirements being met for instructors in Teach for America.

Issues in teacher preparation, such as subject knowledge (i.e., minor, major in undergraduate, major in graduate school), pedagogical coursework, and a high-quality field experience have been researched and debated regarding their impact on various outcomes (i.e., retention in the profession) including student achievement.  Consider the following: If a teacher’s subject knowledge, pedagogical coursework, and field experience all contribute to student achievement, isn’t it important to maintain standards across these areas for the level of preparation required of all teachers entering the profession?  However, programs such as “Teach For America” provides a pathway into teaching that does not meet the standards for a pre-licensure teacher certification program in any state in the United States.  How then, is the issue of lower teacher preparation standards acceptable for teachers who are placed in schools with students who experience some of the greatest challenges to learning?  For this week’s discussion, you and your colleagues will debate the issue of teacher preparation for schools, students, and parents with teachers who are participating in the Teach For America program.

INSTRUCTIONS

Begin by reflecting on this week’s readings, videos and your own experiences with new teachers. Then, consider the following questions:

• Is the 5-week Teach For American training sufficient preparation for a new teacher in a classroom with students who come to school from challenging environments that negatively impact their learning.

• What are the most important challenges to improving the preparation received by Teach For America participants? 

• Discuss alternative training solutions that may supplement the gaps in teachers’ preparation for “Teach for America?”

With these thoughts in mind, proceed to this week’s Discussion prompt.

By Wednesday:

Post your thoughts about the following questions:

• Compare and contrast the training new teachers receive in Teach For America and the traditional pre-licensure program at a four-year College or University?

• Does there appear to be substantial differences in the levels of preparation for new teachers in the areas of content knowledge, pedagogical coursework, and field experience between Teach For America and traditional pre-licensure program?  Is there evidence that suggest that these differences influence student achievement?

• What can be done to improve new teacher preparation in Teach For America the traditional pre-licensure program?

Preventing Plagiarism

The issue of plagiarism in online courses has gotten the attention of instructors, administrator and students.  The assumption that students taking online courses have greater access to documents on the internet and will thereby be more likely to engage in plagiarism has not been confirmed.  Rena Palloff stated (n.d.) in an online interview that rates of plagiarism in online courses and traditional courses are about the same.  Jocoy and Dibiase’s review of three empirical studies investigating plagiarism reported a plagiarism rate that ranged from 3% to 21%.  Regardless of the total rate or the comparable level of plagiarism across online and traditional courses, the need for a system that facilitates ethical learning and performance is needed.  There appear to be two roads for which to achieve the goal: 1) plagiarism detection software, and 2) authentic assessment that encourages collaboration.

I have been able to identify three plagiarism detection software for online instructors: 1)  “turnitin”, 2) plagiarism-detector, and 3) academicplagiarism.  Turnitin is the self proclaimed global leader in plagiarism detection software.  All of the instructors I know who use such software, use turnitin.  While there appears to be some consensus in my academic community regarding which plagiarism detection software to use, other educators suggest that the need for such measures are minimal or unnecessary when course evaluation is designed effectively.  Educational consultant, Keith Pratt, suggest that  instructor’s have the opportunity to create collaboration in course performance activities to reduce the need for cheating.  Furthermore, the integration of authentic assessment, that reflects the requirements of the real-world, requires fewer limitations on access to information or peer support.  It appears to me that there is more value for the student and the instructor when performance is evaluated through authentic assessment.  Now we only have to train instructors on how to create effective authentic assessment.

Lastly, if plagiarism is as Rena Palloff suggest, mostly based on a student’s unawareness of appropriate rules governing plagiarism, then the most effective strategy is to educate the learner about copyright, fair use, and cheating.  One of the most helpful resources for such training and support resides with the institutional library support staff.  Instructional modules and typically located at the library.  Writing centers also contain may of these resources and often make them available via their website.  These resources and other are clearly available at the beginning of a course or as needed during the course.

Jocoy, C., & DiBiase, D. (2006). Plagiarism by adult learners online: A case study in detection and remediation. International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning, 7(1), 1–15.
Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database.

“Plagiarism and Cheating” (approximate length: 10 minutes).
Dr. Palloff and Pratt discuss effective methods for dealing with plagiarism in distance education.

Launching the Online Experience: The Role of Technology

Setting up the online experience in essential to the learning experience.  The integration of technology into the online learning environment is a crucial step in this process.  Choosing, organizing, presenting and supporting technology are four of the most important aspects of the set up process.  However, the instructor’s knowledge of the technology is the first and most important aspect of technology integration.  When instructors are knowledgeable and comfortable with technology, their decision-making, application, and anticipation and response to student needs are more effective than when they just have a working or limited knowledge of the technology.

Understanding technology’s role and anticipating student’s interaction with technology provide the instructor with an informed starting point for informing students of how technology will be used in the course.  In particular, instructors must provide students with clear expectations about the specific technologies that will be use and the expectations for their use across all of the specific activities and assignments in the course.  This appears to be a simple process, but there are subtle, but important aspects of this process that must be attended to by the instructor.  First, students learn what is expected and they can take inventory of their technology skills to determine if they are competent and comfortable with all of the technologies and in all of the applications. If they identify gaps in their technology skills, they can identify the resources needed to supplement their technology skills for successful completion of course requirements.  This is valuable because it reduces or eliminates anxiety that can be connected to perceived or real gaps between what is required in the course and the student’s technology skills.  Developing student confidence and self-efficacy contribute to perceived and real student persistence, especially during the first two-weeks of class.  For these reasons, clear communication not only informs students of technology issues, but actually empowers them to take an active role in their success.

Second, instructors must make the distinction between how technology is integrated into the course, how students are prepared to use technology before the course begins, and how students must be supported early in the course to maintain their connection to the course and community.  It is the latter point that can be minimized in the heat of course delivery.  The first two weeks are the busiest time for instructors and various demands can minimize a instructors focus on the role and impact of technology.  In particular, best practices indicate that instructors mush be diligent in their effort to develop community among students, so as instructor are checking in with students to ensure that they are well connected and that the instructor is making a “human” connection with all of the students, they must also check in with students who do not appear to be keeping up with assignments in the first two weeks.  To avoid a minimization of the role of technology, I suggest that a part of that checking in process should be to address any difficulties the student might be having.  Consider the following possibilities that may occur for students who anticipated minimal difficulty with the technology.  First, it is possible that student expectations of their technology skills could have been over-estimated.  Second, student may also have under-estimated the degree of difficulty the technology’s sophistication.  Third, students may not have accessed the available training resources that can build the necessary technology skills.  Considering all of these issues, it becomes understandable that students may begin a course felling very confident that they can be successful with the course technology and encounter significant problems in this area that put them at risk for success and completion of the course.  It is the instructor’s responsibility to anticipate and quickly respond to these possibilities.

The Evidence on Online Education

In an effort to ground ourselves in the empirical evidence that drives the best practices for online learning, I came across a meta-analysis conducted by the US Department of Education (2009) that provide additional insight.  "Insider Higher Ed" provides a summary of the report (www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/29/online) and the full report is available for download on the website. 


Here is an introduction to the scope of the report,
"The Education Department report said that it had identified more than 1,000 empirical studies of online learning that were published from 1996 through July 2008. For its conclusions, however, the Education Department considered only a small number (51) of independent studies that met strict criteria. They had to contrast an online teaching experience to a face-to-face situation, measure student learning outcomes, use a "rigorous research design," and provide adequate information to calculate the differences."



I hope this is helpful.

Reflections on Building Online Communities

Online learning communities achieve three important goals that work to increase student learning and satisfaction.  First, students are connected to each other through collaborative learning experiences.  Second, the instructor plays the role of facilitator, and not disseminator of knowledge and thereby empowers student to become responsible for their own learning.  Third, the online environment integrates a learning experience where the student constructs knowledge with classmates rather than receiving it passively.  Therefore, student connection and collaboration, student-directed learning, highlighted by reflective experiences, and a constructivist approach to knowledge creation are the essential elements of an online community. 

Building such a community requires the instructor and student to be aware of the differences in an online learning environment and what is required for success.  Second, the instructor has primary responsibility for creating a safe and nurturing environment where the student can feel safe and comfortable to take advantage of the new learning format.  Lastly, the instructor must work diligently in the first two-weeks to connect students to one another and the community.  Responding to those who appear to be less integrated and engaged requires the instructor to reach out to these students because early connection to the experience, much like in a college setting, is essential for their matriculation, learning, and success.

Sustaining an online community is first a result of a firmly developed community in the first two-weeks.  Second, instructional requirements that become familiar and routine increase the likelihood of student engagement.  Moreover, students develop and benefit when these familiar activities also engage them in critical dialogue, constructive feedback, and professional commentary.  Moving students into greater levels of collaboration and self-directed learning is critical.  Lastly, instructors must continue to engage the students and the learning community as a peer and partner in the learning process and contribute fully.

Community building is the work that facilitates the grown of relationships that build trust for which students exchange for taking intellectual risk with former strangers.  It is the role of community building that is the lesson that I will use when I design and deliver online courses.

Welcome Classmates - OIS 6510

Hi Everyone,

I just want to let you know that I am very interested in learning more about each of you and "Online Communities." I'm a big proponent of learning communities, but not yet sold on its utility for all learners in distance education.  I plan to create online classes for others and teach my own, so I want a solid understanding of what is possible and hwo to get the most out of online communities.

Looking forward to the nest 8 weeks.

Rudy