Technology and Higher Education - Recently Updated Pages

Wicked Problems for Online Learning

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:03:28 CST

Wicked problems are not easily solved and have more than one solution. We all recognize these persistently challenging problems. Consider the wicked problems posted below, or add one of your own, and then post a possible solution - graphics, links, as well as text answers are welcome.

1. Instructors who "want to do it themselves." They think what they have is already perfect when in reality, it is terribly deficient. This is made more detrimental for students when the departmental leader also has the same mindset - no knowledge of good instructional design, but they have been teaching in the face-to-face classroom for many years and think that anything they put online is exemplary.

2. Giving exams online without the need for proctors. How do I know who's taking the exam? Requiring students to report to exam centers defeats the 100% online nature of the course.

3. Building the team for on-line instructional design

4. I use Voicethread for collaborate, visual online discussions. I struggle with facilitating these discussions, that is, how to "train and coach" students to create a successful dialogue that builds off earlier comments and contributes unique ideas.

5. Want to use class for data collection but also need to have a "quiz" where criteria for only one (or more) question are graded while others are ignored. Confusing?

6. Having students work in groups for projects.

7. Interactive health content - functioning of a heart. Also how to include graphics in automatic testing facilities such as in Blackboard

8. Designing a program that requires students to actually read and learn assignments without seeming like programmed instruction.

9. How do you design a quality course online out of an existing course, when the f2f course model was essentially a "talking head"? The question constantly arises, when you mimic the f2f classroom, are you trying to put a square peg in a round hole? Is it ever wise to try to teach the same way online?

10. Annual, mandatory online form with open-ended questions that won't allow us to grade en masse (because the questions are open-ended).

11. Open-ended math problems where students are able to show their work/problem-solving processes

12. Making on-line courses interactive using hands-on types of application activities

13. Interactive approaches, online team building

14. Media Studies is highly hands-on, equipment-based learning. How could you make a student feel comfortable with the technology on-line?

15. Getting faculty to recognize that teaching online is more than repackaging on ground lecture material.

16. Balancing the faculty's interest in academic freedom with the University's interest in consistency across sections of online courses

17. Keeping the interest of game-oriented learners (who are now our youngest professionals) interested in course content that is constrained by a linear course design.

18. Discussion Board usage in quantitative courses.

Virtual Communities

drpmcgee — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 08:47:19 CDT

Virtual communities are becoming increasingly evident in higher education, be they focuses on learning, practice, or social networks. This area provides resources and a place to ask questions and find solutions.

VC Successful Practices

drpmcgee — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 08:44:27 CDT

Share your strategies, tools, or resources that contribute to the successful design, development, management, and engagement of virtual communities.

EDUCAUSE SWR-08 Blended Learning

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:36:33 CST

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Redesign Strategies

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:04:30 CST

NCAT Course Examples: http://www.thencat.org/PCR/model_replace.htm

Reduce class contact-time while increasing one-on-one time (works well for courses like writing at BYU). Can also do this by increasing time spent with tutors (non-faculty) which frees faculty time.

Teaching, Learning and Technology Resources tools

drpmcgee — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:52:58 CST

General HE Topics
Teaching, Learning, and Technology Support http://teachlearntech.googlepages.com/tlt-plan

Technology Integration and Applications
http://teachlearntech.googlepages.com/integration

Emerging Technologies
http://faculty.coehd.utsa.edu/pmcgee/emerging

Learning Styles
http://www.vark-learn.com/english/index.asp Go to “Helpsheets” to view a types of activities that go with each learning style.

Specific Technologies
Emerging Technologies: Definitions and Applications - A matrix the defines, illustrates and provides instructional applications of emerging technologies.

Hot Potatos - The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web.

Quandry - Quandary is an application for creating Web-based Action Mazes. An Action Maze is a kind of interactive case-study; the user is presented with a situation, and a number of choices as to a course of action to deal with it. On choosing one of the options, the resulting situation is then presented, again with a set of options. Working through this branching tree is like negotiating a maze, hence the name "Action Maze".

CmapTools - software allows users to construct, navigate, and share concept maps.

Audio Assessment -

1. Faculty dial toll-free
2. Faculty record oral exam questions
3. Students dial toll free
4. Students answer exam questions
5. Answers are emailed to faculty
6. Clickable rubric available for grading
7. Faculty manage tests online

Jing - The concept of Jing is the always-ready program that instantly captures and shares images and video…from your computer to anywhere. Mac and PC compatible.

Fabulsi - online role play simulation platform

Slideshare

Voicethreads - Put your presentation within a VoiceThread and start collaborating. Long after you've gone to bed your presentation is out there working for you, engaging viewers in a dialog and collecting feedback. Harness the wisdom of your audience then tweak your presentation on-the-fly, knowing that VoiceThreads are live and editable.

Visual asynchronous discussions with voice comment option. Easy interface, no downloads, free. This is a link that I created for educators with suggestions about how to incorporate Voicethread into student learning experiences.

Sketchcast - online whiteboard with audio. The tool captures the "drawing" in video with synched audio and allows the user to export the html code so the video can be embedded on a blog/website.

Second Life Presentations on Slideshare by Ken Hudsonhttp://www.slideshare.net/kenny.hubble/education-in-virtual-worlds-oct-2007/

OpenCast Community from Berkeley -- http://confluence.media.berkeley.edu/confluence/display/WCTREQ/OpenCast+Community-+Home

Podcasting Theory & Practice http://drcoop.pbwiki.com/PodcastingTheoryPractice

PoducateMe.Com - Easy to use, informative resources for integrating podcasts into instruction

Slidecast Examples http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/top100.html

Teamspot - cross-platform digital infrastructure that helps teams actively work together.TeamSpot creates walk-up collaboration zones where groups can explore information in real-time and interactively co-create digital work products, dramatically changing the group collaboration dynamic. TeamSpot lowers barriers to team interaction, increasing creative productivity while actively engaging the entire team to help build consensus around end results.

Twittervision - A real-time geographic visualization of posts to Twitter. Samuel Morse, meet Carl Jung.

Wikis in Higher Education http://del.icio.us/tag/WikiAcademicExamples

UTSA Streaming Video http://dlc.utsa.edu/services/servicesStreamingVideo.aspx

Pedagogy
100 tools for learning -- http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/top100.html

Ways to tell a story -- http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/StoryTools

Taking Sides, book used for Debating on-line.

Using Audio to Support Instruction- Jon Wagner, School of Education, University of California, Davis

WebQuests- originated at the San Diego State University Department of Educational Technology

Best WebQuests by Tom March

Salmon. G. (2004). E-moderating: The key to teaching and learning online. (2nd ed.). London: RoutledgeFalmer.

Prevent Printing During Tests...........................................................
One problem we're all familiar with is that students can print while they are taking a test. This means that they can share these test questions with other students who might take the class in the future. One option is a free bit of printer-disabling javascript which can disable printing. Some versions of Mozilla Firefox are able to access printing options even when this Javascript is used, but it is a free way to greatly reduce the ability to print.

A more fail-safe for profit option is Respondus Browser LockDown, which you may want to consider.

Faculty Development

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:48:24 CST

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Wicked Problems & Solutions

drpmcgee — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:15:01 CST

Logistical
WP- Faculty member member gets sick and there are no other faculty teaching this content.
S-Peer facilitation within the virtual classroom
S-Hire adjunct and provide and then support

WP-Too many students for course
S- create other sections facilitated when possible by another instructor

WP-Time consuming grading for online test with open ended questions that aren't able to be graded en masse
S- hire a TA - they work cheap

Technical
WP Students don't have access to high speed internet.
S-Hardware requirements are a pre-requisite -or-
S-Students find alternate solutions - to to library and upgrade.
S-Check to see if local cable company has or will offer a student rate.

WP- Server and/or LMS goes down first day of class.
S-Notify students via e-mail
S-Post notice on university website
S- Hold a face-to-face session
S- Email orientation or course overview activity
S- have files in packages (zip files) so they can be reposted on a different server

Support
WP-Support issues for students if your organization has limited tech support services (business hours only)
S- our own idea: contract out IT support for all studnets
- input: adjust due dates (always during business hours); use automated testing quizzes, etc.

WP -Faculty is without Instructional Design support.
S- create library of resrouces they can go to for examples of best practices
S- offer trainings and develop online help
S- ask qualified instructor to act as resource and provide release time

WP-Reaching target audience ( eg. has someone wandered in without prereqs)
S- Ask students to acknowledge in some form with the instructor that they qualify for the course
S- Be sure content, etc. is relevant to target audience

WP -Inequities in access to technology for students exist (computers, broadband, applications)
- provide access to lists of community resources that can assist the students with inferior tools (libraries, school-to-work programs, non-profit organizations)

WP-Students can't get on Blackboard?

A-Clearly identify computer requirements before registering on line.

Identify possible alternatives such as local community access points.

WP-Blackboard is down; IT issue?

A- Need institutional support to extend IT hours temporarily; flex hours for tech support; scalable support system.

WP-How do you handle the situation where a student just drops out & doesn't inform you?

A-What is the institution's policy regarding dropping a course?

WP: Professor starts class late, doesn't show up, or answer cell phone.
Solution: Contingency plan! An instructor and/or process in place to have some faculty member ready to take over. This could even be an existing instructor with expertise in similar subject matter.

WP: The students receive the syllabus at the beginning of the course. As is is set up, students order the textbook through the bookstore. The bookstore did not order enough and students will not receive the books for 2 weeks. The course is 8 weeks long. What do you do?
Solution: Electronic copy of the textbook from the publisher

WP: New edition of text comes out and students can no longer get the one the course was written to.
Solution: Maybe publisher can provide online copy of new one.

WP: Low or over enrollment impacts ability to perform activities, i.e., group work without enough students
Solution: For low enrollment, minimum enrollment specified at registration; for high enrollment, set up second section, hire additional faculty or do overlaod.

WP: IT down frequently enough to cause the student to lose confidence in the course.
Solution: IT must be accountable for what they contracted for; go to a higher level;contract IT support

WP-Support issues for students if your organization has limited tech support services (business hours only).
- our own idea: contract out IT support for all studnets
- input: adjust due dates (always during business hours); use automated testin quizzes, etc.

WP-Too many students for course
- create other sections facilitated when possible by another instructor

WP-Midway through the course, the administration receives numerous complaints from students about an online course.
A-Talk to instructor about complaints (anonymous)...evaluate course...develop remedial plan...develop consequences be a guest in thecourse and recommend.

WP-Difficulty when one instructor developed the course (in their style) and then other instructors are brought in to instruct? New instructors do not understand or agree with or like the course. There is little time or resources to change course.
A-Build in flexibility into template; project options within template; allow for personalizattion.

WP-The instructor has develpon an online course and in the middle of the semester he has a medical problem that won't allow him to finish teh semester. Dept. must come in a finish semester with instructor unfamiliar with course.
A-The only option: find another qualified instructor; transfer students to another secion; handle just like on-ground.

WP-How do you ensure that an on-ground course of 3 units (say 45 student hours) translates to an equal amount of student hours when presented online?
A-Track course statistics? - or - just be accountable for achieving the learning objectives.

1. Instructors who "want to do it themselves." They think what they have is already perfect when in reality, it is terribly deficient. This is made more detrimental for students when the departmental leader also has the same mindset - no knowledge of good instructional design, but they have been teaching in the face-to-face classroom for many years and think that anything they put online is exemplary.

2. Giving exams online without the need for proctors. How do I know who's taking the exam? Requiring students to report to exam centers defeats the 100% online nature of the course.

-decrease the value of exams; set fixed completion times to decrease opportunity for cheating; increase value of assignments

3. Building the team for on-line instructional design

-skills and experience inventory for consideration by manager or project manager
- provide institutional support, appropriate budget

4. I use Voicethread for collaborate, visual online discussions. I struggle with facilitating these discussions, that is, how to "train and coach" students to create a successful dialogue that builds off earlier comments and contributes unique ideas.
5. Want to use class for data collection but also need to have a "quiz" where criteria for only one (or more) question are graded while others are ignored. Confusing? - Yes

6. Having students work in groups for projects.
- and how do you asses participation

7. Interactive health content - functioning of a heart. Also how to include graphics in automatic testing facilities such as in Blackboard
8. Designing a program that requires students to actually read and learn assignments without seeming like programmed instruction.

- for part of the grade communicate to instructor/peer/or/discussion students understanding of assignment requirements or perhaps the resources they will use to complete assignment

9. How do you design a quality course online out of an existing course, when the f2f course model was essentially a "talking head"? The question constantly arises, when you mimic the f2f classroom, are you trying to put a square peg in a round hole? Is it ever wise to try to teach the same way online?

In F2F instructor may intuitively follow good Instructional design. May need to bring ID structure to the forefront to develop successful course

10. Annual, mandatory online form with open-ended questions that won't allow us to grade en masse (because the questions are open-ended).
11. Open-ended math problems where students are able to show their work/problem-solving processes
12. Making on-line courses interactive using hands-on types of application activities
13. Interactive approaches, online team building
14. Media Studies is highly hands-on, equipment-based learning. How could you make a student feel comfortable with the technology on-line?
15. Getting faculty to recognize that teaching online is more than repackaging on ground lecture material.

- Ask instructor to take a good online course before instructing. We ask new instructors to take an online course on course development

16. Balancing the faculty's interest in academic freedom with the University's interest in consistency across sections of online courses

- Create space & time in the course for creativity and emergent curriculum

17. Keeping the interest of game-oriented learners (who are now our youngest professionals) interested in course content that is constrained by a linear course design.

- I f you have an ID team - create games
- virtual interatction/environment - 2nd Life

18. Discussion Board usage in quantitative courses.
19. How do you deal with excuse-makers? Chronic procrastinators?
20. Managing classes that have a large number of students?
21. Faculty member who does not want to spend a satisfactory amount of time reading/contributing to the discussion threads?

Considering the Learner

drpmcgee — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:14:36 CST

(1) What are the characteristics of the learners?

(2) What more might we need to know about the learners?
(3) Can the learners be grouped into difference categories? If so, how can we label these?
(4) What are the top five instructional needs of these learners?

Considering the Learning Context

drpmcgee — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:13:06 CST

(1) Learning Environment
They will slow the process don. There will be more technical problems particularly at the beginning of of the term.

Don’t know where to begin.
Students don’t know what to expect.
Time management problems.
Technology skill levels.
Ability to access material; to navigate course material.

Students with no online learning experience have misconceptions on the time it will take, misunderstanding of technology requirements.Some students have inadequate bandwidth, older computers, etc.This makes providing a strong online environment difficult.

There may be a time delay of students entering the course and engaging in the learning.
Require READI assessment in an introductory course before entering the program because this modality may not be appropriate for some students because of their learning preferences.
feelings of inadequcies/lack of confidence/afraid to use technology

-Slow the learning process down
-Lots of technical difficulties in the beginning
-High numbers of drops...decreased retention & success
(2) Technology University access to higher speed internet may be important to some students who do not have this capability.In addition, software may be a problem from a home environment, but university software capability should be available with a site license.Students with dial-up access can usually find a satellite campus to obtain a higher speed.

Goals shouldn’t change, just method of presentation—limitations.

Provide text transcripts for varieties of media and consider alternative delivery via DVD to those students without a high speed connection.
(3) Support A university that is supportive of online initiatives needs to provide services during times when the students are potentially active.If this is not the case, students must be prepared to contact services when available, thus procrastination may be an issue for some students. ·Develop web based FAQs or tutorials. ·Identify a contact person for the program. -Basic/clear instructions about access to technical help and what to do when they need it Placement (time) of virtual office hours
-Other alternate support available
-Set of FAQ’s/knowledge base
-Online Guru Lounge
(4) Course Resources Post the materials on the online learning environment.Let the bookstore know early.Make some sources available through online bookstores.Basically, the instructor must be aware of this issue and be proactive in their approach. Ebooks, make lab kits available for purchase, develop DVDs -equitable access of technical requirements
-student success & retention
-innovative ways of providing the instructional materials
-physical access
-Labpaq
-use of financial aid with third party vendors
-Availability of simulations
-Time and space
(5) Course Delivery Mode Technology is about change.Any changes in online delivery methods must have training for instructors/students to help promote a successful transition.The training should incorporate similarities between the two programs as the new processes are introduced.
·Construct demo class that contains a tutorial or orientation to the new CMS.
·Provide proper training for faculty. -anger
-resistance to change
-inability to understand differences
-lack consistency
(6) Learning Objects Technology may provide interesting virtual simulations, but the bandwidth is a problem, even at university labs.Also, the peer learning that often occurs with labs is often lacking.
·Prepackaged online lab classes.
·Maybe reconsider putting simulations online. -equitable access of technical requirements
-proper training
-student success & retention
-innovative ways of providing the instructional materials
-physical access
-Labpaq,
(7) Instructors ·Keep it simple. ·Have them create a prototype that passes a quality review. -feelings of lack of competence/ lack of confidence/afraid to use technology
-lack of instructor contact
-high fail for students
-fear communicating online
-fear of the technology in general
-lack of online pedagogy
-student success & retention
-word of mouth quality of instructors/course/
-time management

NURS 246 Instructional Design Specification/Blueprint

drpmcgee — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:11:38 CST

Attached is an example of our conference case study blueprint which provides a course overview and subsequent details of the instructional design components.

The latter is organized according to

course intro,
learning outcomes
and finally enabling learning steps.

The team have included details related to the

introduction (bridging in),
learning activities,
review and assessments, and
media elements for the course.

Hope this helps in providing ideas on how you may develop meaningful blueprints. If you would like more current blueprint examples, let me know. Denise

Wikkans

drpmcgee — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:11:11 CST

Visual activities:
Power Point
Photo stories
Survey monkey
Videos
Graphic organizers
Mapping (see example of a mapping project. I asked one of my students to research bios of people whose names were used to name streets in one neighborhood in Seattle and then to map those bios in Google MyMaps.)

Auditory:
Podcasts
verbal lectures
music
songs
discussion boards
Skype
Conferences

Kinsesthetic:
Writing
Presenting
Role play
Virtual environments
Building models

V2

drpmcgee — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:10:52 CST

Wicked Problems & Proposed Solutions

1. Faculty is without Instructional Design support.
- create library of resrouces they can go to for examples of best practices
- offer trainings and develop online help
- ask qualified instructor to act as resource and provide release time

2. The course management system goes down the first week of the semester.
- have files in packages (zip files) so they can be reposted on a different server

3. Inequities in access to technology for students exist (computers, broadband, applications)
- provide access to lists of community resources that can assist the students with inferior tools (libraries, school-to-work programs, non-profit organizations)

Learning Activities for Learning Styles

Auditory
podcasts, voiceovers on Powerpoint/slides, interviews, audio announcements

Visual
Sketchcast, video, simulations, Slideshare, Voicethreads

Hands-On
flash, interactions

Visual/Audio
enhanced podcast
Voicethread

The Perfect 10

drpmcgee — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:10:26 CST

Visual Activity Example:

PowerPoint
Video
Picture Identification
Diagrams
Puzzles

Auditory Activity Example:

Pod Casts
Sound Clips
Dialogue
Music

Kinesthetic & Tactile Activity Example:

Journaling
Interactive Flash Movies/Activities
Chunked reading materials
Student led activities

Transformers

drpmcgee — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:10:08 CST

Q-Midway through the course, the administration receives numerous complaints from students about an online course.
A-Talk to instructor about complaints (anonymous)...evaluate course...develop remedial plan...develop consequences be a guest in thecourse and recommend.

Q-Difficulty when one instructor developed the course (in their style) and then other instructors are brought in to instruct? New instructors do not understand or agree with or like the course. There is little time or resources to change course.
A-Build in flexibility into template; project options within template; allow for personalizattion.

Q-The instructor has develpon an online course and in the middle of the semester he has a medical problem that won't allow him to finish teh semester. Dept. must come in a finish semester with instructor unfamiliar with course.
A-The only option: find another qualified instructor; transfer students to another secion; handle just like on-ground.

Q-How do you ensure that an on-ground course of 3 units (say 45 student hours) translates to an equal amount of student hours when presented online?
A-Track course statistics? - or - just be accountable for achieving the learning objectives.

Visual - Animated Flash flowchart
Auditory - Narration with a static image and bullet points
Kinesthetic - Drag and drop activity
Combo of all - interactive game with sounds

Front Row

drpmcgee — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:09:51 CST

VISUAL LEARNERS

*Flow chart of a process

*Photos or graphics

*Power Point

AUDITORY LEARNERS

*Videos

*Podcast

KINESTHETIC LEARNERS

*Simulations

*Drag & Drop

*Role plays

QUESTIONS ON IMPLEMENTATION

Students can't get on Blackboard?

Clearly identify computer requirements before registering on line.

Identify possible alternatives such as local community access points.

Blackboard is down; IT issue?

Need institutional support to extend IT hours temporarily; flex hours for tech support; scalable support system.

How do you handle the situation where a student just drops out & doesn't inform you?

What is the institution's policy regarding dropping a course?

Pritidetermined

drpmcgee — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:09:32 CST

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Desigining Women and 1

drpmcgee — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:09:09 CST

Our learning strategies are...

Visual:
Flash based interactive activities
Flashcards, hangman, Jeopardy, "thinking man", puzzles
Streaming Video or Camtasia clips

Kin/Tactile
Simulation
Powerpoint
Self-selected projects

C2J2B

drpmcgee — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:08:40 CST

Visual

Animations
Ineteractive graphs
Video with different outcomes
PPT w/audio

Audioooks

Podcasts
Talking books/readings
Sound scape

Kinesthetic & Tactile

Drag & drop in Flash
Student Camtashia projects

BisoCougaLancers

drpmcgee — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:08:14 CST

Visual
simulated demonstration
Pictures, videos, grapics,
visual matching activity, drag & drop
You tube

Auditory
podcast
differing speakers
use of headphones
music links
music background - mood music

Kinesthetic
hands-on interaction
create
action based narrative
short and focused - succinct
less explaining and more jumping in
virtual simulation, role play, interaction with others