May 2007

Online Classroom May 2007 full issue PDF
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A Plan for Effective Discussion Boards
Meaningful online discussions that promote learning and build community usually do not happen spontaneously. They require planning, good use of questioning techniques, and incentives for student participation.

Tips from the Pros: Four Tips for Better Instruction
In course evaluations, 90 percent of the students in John Thompson’s graduate-level education courses at the University of San Diego indicated that the online learning experience was as good as or better than the traditional classroom and 91 percent would take another online course.

Three Key Student Satisfaction Factors
Students’ satisfaction with the online learning environment is an important part of their success. In a survey of students at Westmoreland County Community College (WCCC), Vickie Fry, division secretary in technologies/culinary art/mathematics/sciences, found that students want clear communication policies, a regular schedule, and updated grades.

Online Teaching Fundamentals: (Not) Making it Hard(er) to Learn, Part 3
By Patti Shank, PhD, CPT
The tools that online learners need to use, such as discussion forums or integrated course management systems, have a learning curve and don’t always behave in intuitive ways. Waiting for communication (responses to a question, work from another learner on a collaborative project, feedback on an assignment, etc.) can be terribly frustrating. Some frustrations seem “built in,” but they actually result from less-than-optimal design. Because the online learning experience is, by its nature, frustrating, anyone who can take unnecessary frustration out should do so, because frustration leads to anxiety and frustration, reduced ability to learn, and attrition.

Study: Social Presence Perceived Differently By Different Ethnic Groups
Social presence, “the degree to which a medium is perceived as representing the presence of communication participants,” is an important factor in students’ learning and satisfaction. With online learning reaching across cultures, Judy Teng, educational technologist at the College of Saint Rose, studied how ethnicity affects student perceptions of social presence.

Teaching Online With Errol: Be Careful, Be Cautious ... of Yourself!
By Errol Craig Sull
We who have as our passion online teaching and innocently correspond with and “talk” with those who learn from us can be at great risk of falling prey to the unsuspecting minefield of Internet “uh-ohs” and “gotchas” that are just waiting for us. Once “stepped on,” the damage has been done, and it often is too late for mending.

Resource
UNC at Chapel Hill’s Blackboard Course Extractor

Use Participation Policies to Improve Interaction
One instructor’s study of student participation in online discussions in two of his asynchronous online courses over a five-year period has yielded some interesting results that have influenced how he conducts his courses.