November, 2008

Online Classroom - November, 2008 - Full Issue PDF
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Offering Multiple Test Trials: Educational Folly or Learning Opportunity?
By Aimee J. Luebben, EdD, OTR, FAOTA
Using multiple test trials was something I had never considered but found in a newly assigned course with an old syllabus. The previous course, which consisted of 310 total points, included 140 (45 percent) testing-based points. In addition to a 100-point final exam, there were four 10-point quizzes. I was intrigued by the quiz design format that involved availability for a week, unlimited time, and multiple attempts: up to three times with the average score added to the grade book. I wondered whether allowing multiple test attempts was an educational folly. But for 13 percent of the course points, I decided to investigate patterns of student usage and performance before dismissing a new idea.

Tips from the Pros: 8 Ways to Increase Social Presence in Online Teaching
By Hong Wang, PhD
Social presence is an important concept in distance education. It means being there, either physically or virtually. Gunawardena and Zittle (1997) found that social presence is a predictor of student satisfaction in a computer-mediated conferencing environment. Using Short, Williams, and Christie’s (1976) definition of social presence, Gunawardena and Zittle explained that social presence refers to the degree to which a person is perceived as a “real person” in mediated communication. The degree of social presence of a communication medium is affected by the capacity of the medium to transmit information about facial expression, posture, and other nonverbal cues. Two concepts, intimacy and immediacy, are associated with social presence.

Using Clickstream Recording to Make Learning Visible
By Kimberly J. Eke, PhD
The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus once observed that “many fail to grasp what’s right in the palm of their hand” (Von Oech 2003). For those of us straddling the fields of IT and education, we have new opportunities to measure learning—all around us! We only need to see them.

Online Teaching Fundamentals: You, Live: Pump Up Your Online Courses, Part 1
By Patti Shank, PhD, CPT
When teaching and designing courses, I find that it’s easy to slip into autopilot and use the same tools and strategies over and over. Autopilot can be comfortable and easy, but I know I don’t do my best work in that state. So I try to look at my courses and materials with fresh eyes as often as I can. Often, I’ll ask another faculty member or designer to look at what I’m designing with a critical eye, and I return the favor for their courses.

Teaching Online With Errol: Keeping Your Classes on Track During the Holidays!
By Errol Craig Sull
The Christmas song is titled “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” but it could easily be extended to include the months of November and December so as to encompass both Thanksgiving and Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa. And although this period has always been one of two times that finds students having difficulty focusing on their studies in a face-to-face classroom (the other: the few weeks prior to summer recess), in the online classroom this can be an especially difficult time to keep students engaged, serious, and committed to all assignments and all deadlines.