Encourage Contact
Why did I have “Gato” write my introduction to you? Well, put yourself in the shoes of someone taking an on-line course. Most likely, they don't know much about the course material. They may never see their classmates although they will need to work with them on-line. They probably have never met you but you will be the one deciding on their grades. How will they perceive you? Developing strong feelings of community in an on-line course has positive impacts on the experience of on-line learners. Students comfortable with other students and the course facilitator are more likely to be available to cooperate and support other course participants, increase the flow of information, be more committed to course goals, and are more satisfied with group efforts (Bruffee, 1993; Dede, 1996; Wellman, 1999). I begin to build a community of learners as soon as a course begins.Rather than a standard introduction based on cutting and pasting from a vita with educational background, work experience and publications, I give them practice posting text and attachments with a non-graded introduction assignment that asks course participants to post an introduction of themselves through the eyes of a real or imaginary pet. Digital images of the pets are encouraged. I ask that they read everyone's introduction and respond to as many as they like, but at least three. Instead of dry prose listing “can you top this” achievements, on-line course participants and the facilitator become human beings, capable of trust and of being trusted in return as students and I comment on Rover the dog, Percival the cat, or Fluffy the snake. Introductions are the beginning of the process aimed at developing on-line learning communities but the community must be sustained and nurtured during the course. Strategies that course facilitators can use to sustain a learning community are: giving prompt and supportive feedback to students, and deepening on-line discussions between faculty and students. An excellent print resource devoted to on-line moderation is Facilitating Online Learning: Effective Strategies for Moderators (Collison et al, 2000). Other Resources
Valuation is defined by Lockee et al (2002) as focusing on “what works in an applied sense” and its purpose is to “discern whether a (Distance Education) system does what it was designed to do in an effective and efficient manner. Their choice of the word system is well chosen, as on-line courses are systems that include elements of design as well as implementation. To assess the effectiveness of facilitation strategies, course moderators might wish to look for changes in at least two aspects of their on-line courses:
This URL brings you to the Useful Links page of The American Center for the Study of Distance Education at Penn State University. There are links to journals, organizations, and resources appropriate to developers and moderators of on-line distance learning courses. The Concord Consortium is an organization that is devoted to improving on-line instruction and developing cutting edge educational technology models. The link above will bring you to their Online Learning page with additional links to books and newsletter articles. They also offer an on-line course for on-line moderators who wish to build learning communities and maximize participant interactions. Find out more about the course, called Moving Out of the Middle. The Ohio Learning Network would like to thank Content Specialist William Slattery for thoughtfully gathering and organizing the content about this Principle.  |
