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Articles Conference Reviews |
2008F6HochmanResearching Fully Online Instruction: Assessment, Pedagogy, and a New Theory of Hybrid Online Learning Environments on the Border of the “Real” and “Virtual” Worlds Randi Browning: Questions from a Not-so-tech-savvy Skeptic Browning wondered how an online course affects the role and identity of teachers and how community can be created. She recognized that different models of online courses raise different questions, and described a term of teaching the same research writing course (Writing 50) f2f and online. “After 25 years of teaching, I felt like I was starting over” she said. Her orientation in this new, teaching “territory” began with concerns about reading skills. In particular, she mentioned that online chats challenged some students in the first two weeks where the class met f2f in a computer class. The teacher, Browning explained, “is flying blind,” and without visual cues she realized that she had to find other ways of assessing effectiveness. She understood that students too are “flying blind” and felt that she got further with f2f work. She also noted that varying activities is limited in online classes. Even though she could shift to different activities, in the end her students were sitting in one place and reading while her f2f students could get up and move around. She feels she had more influence in movement and tones as a teacher in the f2f class. Browning had always thought of herself as a student-centered teacher and realized that online classes can blur the boundaries between teachers and students and “destabilize” the traditional role of the teacher. Browning claimed to have achieved a “wonderful sense of community” online with more humor, honesty, and less self-consciousness. She realized that individual negative influences are minimized and that students have to do more than just show up. Browning realized that her success was dependent on technology and worried that brevity “sometimes results in superficiality.” She said that students still want teacher interaction and that office hours and hybrid approaches are necessary. Finally, she claims that the online course took twice as much work, but the growth and faculty development are worth it if you want that kind of online growth and development. Peter Huk: Peer Critiques and Discussion Boards: Developing a Community Huk was concerned with applying Moodle—a course management system—in both f2f and online environments. He began by explaining that his online students didn’t know that the course was online when they registered. This is the ultimate techie teaching nightmare, but Huk focused on his using forums online. Some of the advantages he notes are that the discussion was 24/7, that forums are more effective than journaling because they provide a better sense of audience, and that threads grew nicely. The disadvantages Huk notes are that some students were “divorced from reality” and not always “there.” Some problems arose dependent on the speed of the server and that it got a bit chaotic. His f2f class also met in labs every other week, and he noticed that the f2f students were more competitive while the online students were more collaborative, supportive and able to deal with questions very freely. Ironically, his f2f students felt he was too obsessed with Moodle. This presentation seemed to be about some obvious observations, and yet Huk managed to bring some interesting insights to the session. Kathy Patterson: Moving Forward: How teaching online has shaped my approaches to teaching course design Patterson’s positives and negatives overlapped previous presenters in that she saw more collaborative work online, and that class and community were enhanced. However, she felt the tech class limited follow up at times. Like the other presenters, she noted how tech glitches were affecting class and that teaching online “increased time needed for prep and follow up (at least the first time out).” She went into detail her use of wikis and forums and virtual office hours. Class management was enhanced with online resources for this teacher. When considering “What next?”, she thinks a “truly hybrid class” is worthwhile and she is experimenting with a simulated hybrid class that meets entirely in a computer lab. She concluded that online learning gives her more tools, “shakes her up” and was a “really positive experience in her teaching.” James H. Donelan The Moving Target of Technological Competence: Lessons from a Decade of Hybrid Instruction Donelan started with taking exception to the phrase “tech savvy,” which Donelan sees as problematic and breaks down into five components: 1) Technological Adaptation, 2) Skill Development, 3) Real and Virtual Environments, 4) Cultural and Technological Critique, and 5) The Pedagogical Imperative. Donelan said that he believes that good teaching can overcome changing technological advances. Donelan talked about survey results from a l998 study of his first 22 students required to use some online resources. Even in l998, Donelan had problems at UCSB clearing his use of Connect.net. Despite many obstacles, his students were very positive about their learning experiences because they felt the online resources improved their organizational abilities in writing and with their texts. His final lessons include adaptation, listening to students, establishing an institutional context and stabilizing one’s goals. Chris Dean: No Significant Difference in Student and Faculty Perceptions of Learning Outcomes Three disclosures are necessary here: First, this is THE Chris Dean, this review’s editor. Second, I’m his friend. Third, anyone who works as hard as he does to review this conference deserves “a review of one’s own.” Dean explains that the course came out of a faculty development initiative and out of “turn away” numbers for the required class. Dean helped to write a grant to develop, pilot and assess the course. The pilot program built in comparisons where each of three teachers taught one online course and one f2f course. Dean explained how his research was situated in: Huot’s composition assessment values of being both local and contextualized, the idea that the tech and grading be coordinated, and that the research into the effectiveness of the class must go beyond “professorial satisfaction.” He triangulated assessment to understand the learning and tech effects on students. Next, Dean cited Thomas L. Russell who in 2001 found “no significant difference” between courses taught with the newest technology and those without computers. Dean explains that the outcomes for traditional and online classes are similar, but that online teaching creates many more multi-modal learning opportunities. He also noted that student approval for the courses taught by him over three quarters improved as he improved with technological experience. |