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A good strategy for developing a supportive online course community is to design a course with a balanced set of dialogues. This means designing a course so that the three dialogues of faculty to student, student to student and student to resource are about equal. In most online courses, the dialogue of faculty to student is provided with (1) mini-lectures in text or video or audio podcasts, (2) weekly coaching and reminder announcements and (3) explanations/interactions with the students.

Online learning is just as intensive as learning face-to-face, and time to do the work needs to be scheduled and planned for, just as if one were attending face-to-face classes. Being clear as to how much effort and time will be required on a weekly basis keeps surprises to a minimum.

Early feedback surveys or just informal discussions ask students to provide feedback on what is working well in a course and what might help them have a better course experience. This early feedback is done early in the course so corrections and modifications can be made. It is an easy opening for students who might have comments or suggestions or questions.

Quick One-Liner Hints Create open-ended questions that learners can explore and apply the concepts that they are learning Model good Socratic-type probing and follow-up questions. Why do you think that? What is your reasoning? Is there an alternative strategy? Ask clarifying questions that encourage students to think about what they know and don't know. Stagger due dates of the responses and consider mid-point summary and /or encouraging comments Provide guidelines and instruction on responding to other students. For example, suggest a two-part response: (1) what you liked or agreed with or what resonated with you, and (2) a follow-up question such as what you are wondering about or curious about, etc.

As courses come to a close, it is easy to forget the value of a good closing experience. In the final weeks of a course, students are likely to be stressed and not take the time to do the lists and the planning that can help reduce stress and provide a calming atmosphere. A favorite image of mine is from David Allen of Getting Things Done. Allen notes that making a list helps us to clear the "psychic ram" of our brains and we feel more relaxed and more in control. Once we have made our list and schedule, we don't have to continually remind ourselves of what needs to be done and when. Here are a few hints for closing out a course experience with style and panache. Take time to remind students of what's next and when assignments and readings are due. Announcements of this type provide a "To Do" list and schedule for the learners. And by implication this list provides a helpful "To Do" list and schedule for you. As always, it is good to post reminders and make references to the planning list in your comments. And update as you go. Plan the ending of the course experience. A well-designed ending of a course provides opportunities for reflection and integration of useful knowledge. It is also a time to wrap up positive social and cognitive experiences.

How is the learner supporting the community of learners and contributing to the overall growth of the group? We have much to learn about teaching and learning and specifically about teaching online. The good news is that in 2011 we now know much more than what we did in 1990 or even 2000. The list of references that follow are starting points for both general teaching and for teaching online.

Virtual Teas:

Audio/Text Introductions:

Group Assignments & Presentations:

Student Support Services:

Links to Online Campus Events:

Learning Simulation

Reflective Journals and Papers

Student Support Services

traditional and non-traditional students i

If undergrads enroll in online courses and do not actively participate, this will impact the development of critical thinking skills and meaningful learning outcomes for all students

Jun 12th, 2014

Satisfied. I am thrilled that I persevered and was able to complete the course. My Moodle course is far from stellar but I am pretty happy with the results of my maiden voyage.

Morrison, D. (2014, February 28). Best methods and tools for online educators to give students helpful and meaningful feedback. Online Learning Insights. Retrieved from http://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2014/02/28/best-methods-and-tools-for-online-educators-to-give-students-helpful-and-meaningful-feedback/

So what have I learned? I have learned who I am as a learner, and what I appreciate in a professor. I have learned that I need to let my voice and personality be known to my students because that is how we will connect and become emotionally connected to our course. I reflect on Professor Pickett’s introduction by her daughter. I immediately connected and realized that there was a human being behind the words, and she was relatable. This course is challenging and pushes my abilities, but the interaction with students and the professor helps me know that I am not a lone, and gives me space to evaluate my goals and reflect on what my presence is in our class and in developing the course.

What I have realized in this course, is that teaching presence and social presence and cognitive presence come together to create meaningful learning environments for students and teachers. We want to facilitate this in our classrooms but also in our schools, buildings and districts. We want to create shared spaces where teachers are working together connecting, asking questions, working together to find solutions. When we look at the Seven Principles of Effective teaching, all of these principles are centered around communication and interaction. It is about forming relationships and understanding each other. It is about connecting, creating and understanding.

This course held a mirror up to the learner in me. Inside I want to connect with others. The social element in learning is vital. I want to connect, I want to be validated and I want to feel safe in my learning spaces. I want to learn from someone who is passionate about their subject and teaching. I want to be inspired and I want to feel like I am making a contribution. All of these elements have been present in our discussion forum. We have exchanged ideas, thoughts and we have been able to thoughtfully disagree.

April 2019 February 2017 July 2015 June 2015 January 2015 August 2014 February 2014 December 2013 November 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013

Sue Thomas, professor of new media at De Montfort University, attended the Transliteracies conference held by this group in 2005 and has since built upon their research to develop the key concepts and working definition of transliteracy.

transliteracy is concerned with what it means to be literate in the 21st century.

In its original iteration, transliteracy is more about understanding the ways various means of communication interact and understanding, not necessarily teaching, the skills necessary to move effortlessly from one medium to another.

Theory of mind refers to the ability to understand another person’s mental state, including their beliefs, intents and desires, as separate from one’s own thoughts, experiences and behaviors

Research has demonstrated a relationship between joint attention and language development in children with autism.

Besides poor joint attention, the communication deficits in autism may be related to imitation difficulties. Imitation involves translating another person’s action into one’s own, and is also considered to be a precursor of language developmen

We argue that this engagement could be achieved through forms of music making. Music making with others (e.g., playing instruments or singing) is a multi-modal activity that has been shown to engage brain regions that largely overlap with the human MNS. Furthermore, many children with autism thoroughly enjoy participating in musical activities. Such activities may enhance their ability to focus and interact with others, thereby fostering the development of communication and social skills. Thus, interventions incorporating methods of music making may offer a promising approach for facilitating expressive language in otherwise nonverbal children with autism.

Given that the mirror neuron system is believed to involve both sensorimotor integration and speech representation, it is likely to underlie some of the communication deficits in individuals with autism spectrum disorder

Music is a unique, multi-modal stimulus that involves the processing of simultaneous visual, auditory, somatosensory, and motoric information; in music making, this information is used to execute and control motor actions

It has long been noted that children with autism thoroughly enjoy the process of making and learning music

112. Trevarthen C, Aitken K, Paoudi D, Robarts J. Children with Autism. Jessica Kingsley Publishers; London: 1996.

112. Trevarthen C, Aitken K, Paoudi D, Robarts J. Children with Autism. Jessica Kingsley Publishers; London: 1996.

Three Dimensions

social presence, cognitive presence and teaching presence. By

Teaching Presence

guiding and structuring and communicating

Sources: http://www.slideshare.net/alexandrapickett/teaching-presence

Set clear standards for instructors' timelines for responding to messages.

Discussions should be focused on a task.

Discussion groups should remain small.

Only at the end of all presentations did the instructor provide an overall reaction to the cases and specifically comment about issues the class identified or failed to identify. In this way, students learned from one another as well as from the instructor.

Tasks should always result in a product.

Tasks should engage learners in the content.

Learners should receive feedback on their discussions.

earners should be required to participate

Instructors should post expectations for discussions.

"information feedback" and "acknowledgement feedback."

Information feedback provides information or evaluation, such as an answer to a question, or an assignment grade and comments.

Acknowledgement feedback confirms that some event has occurred.

We found that instructors gave prompt information feedback at the beginning of the semester, but as the semester progressed and instructors became busier, the frequency of responses decreased, and the response time increased.

nstructors can still give prompt feedback on discussion assignments by responding to the class as a whole instead of to each individual student. In this way, instructors can address patterns and trends in the discussion without being overwhelmed by the amount of feedback to be given.

egularly-distributed deadlines encourage students to spend time on tasks and help students with busy schedules avoid procrastination. They also provide a context for regular contact with the instructor and peers.

Communicating high expectations for student performance is essential. One way for instructors to do this is to give challenging assignments.

Another way to communicate high expectations is to provide examples or models for students to follow, along with comments explaining why the examples are goo

Allowing students to choose project topics incorporates diverse views into online courses.

Twitter

~I continue to be astonished every week with how much I am growing and learning in this course.  Not only am I learning how to be an effective online instructor and everything that it entails, but I am also learning a lot about myself.~

I lose track of time and hours have gone by without me even realizing it. 

“What young children perceive that their teachers do plays a more significant role in their socio-emotional outcomes than what teachers report they do” (p. 30).  We have an EVEN bigger impact than we thought!

“Am I providing a bridge for my students from their prior knowledge to where I want them to be and where THEY want to be?” “What am I doing to facilitate their growth not only in building a positive self-image, but also as learners in general?” “Am I REALLY taking into consideration their interests, passions and motivations?” And finally, “What Would Alex Do?”

“I really like how you tell them you are there for them.  A lot of my teachers give us confusing assignments and I never feel like I can ask them questions.” 

When she was done going through everything she said, “Are you actually going to teach this class? Can I take it when you do?” 

  I was spending so much time figuring out the tools that I felt like I wasn’t spending time on content.  I realize now that I needed to spend that time and those tools were part of the content of this course. 

I LOVE learning in general!  I liked learning before…well I never disliked it anyway…well unless it was math…or science…I had no idea what it was like to truly LOVE learning.  Its sad to me that it took me 30 years to experience this.  Did I work A LOT in this course?  Did I give up much of my social life?  Did I stay up too late?  YES, YES and YES.  Was it worth it? Absolutely!  Did I mind? NOT ONE BIT…Reflecting on the fact that I worked so hard and so much on something and not only wasn’t bothered by it, but enjoyed every moment was a HUGE wake up call to me. 

You just have to have passion and a belief in yourself.

This was the only course I have EVER taken in which I will walk away having truly internalized knowledge.  I know that I internalized what I have learned because when I was reviewing my classmate’s courses I didn’t have to refer to a book or a checklist, it was all in my head.  When I look back at my undergrad education, I have always said that I didn’t feel like I actually “learned” anything until I student taught and learned by DOING.  That’s exactly what happened in this course, I learned by doing.  This is only course that has ever provided me with this type of experience and it has shown me what quality education should be, not only online but in a face-to-face situation as well.

We(myself, my classmates AND Alex) worked together in this course to contribute to the construction of our knowledge. 

It wasn’t until this summer when I turned 31 that I finally experienced being a student in a student-centered, constructivist environment that actually got me to THINK.  Not just think, but think critically…It took 31 years for me to experience a true community of learners!  I don’t want other students to have to wait 31 years to experience what its like to REALLY LEARN!

I want to CHANGE someone the way that Alex, ETAP 640 and all of you have CHANGED me.

I realized that the online environment is actually a type of classroom; is that why course language includes such terms as “area”, and “room”?

The resulting ah ha moments became the core of my entry …

One activity that I am especially excited to observe is the students tweeting from their placements when they make a course- to- practice connection.

How am I simultaneously learning how to be an online student and instructor?

Something that has been proven to work is frequent, immediate instructor feedback.

Aug 04 2012

Reflecting on the online course design process, I realize I have made a tremendous transition from first-time student to instructor in the space of one semester. What I have learned about myself is that I have an affinity for designing in the online environment. 

I am technology-proficient.

While I am not yet a full technophile, I am surely no longer a technophobe!

  I so deeply enjoyed the reading and studying portion of this course … it opened a new world of theory to me, made more exciting by the historic proximity of the leading researchers in the field. 

I kept telling myself, “You need the experience if you want to be an instructional designer!”

So, reflection has proven its worth yet again:  reflecting on my work in designing EED406 thus far is proof that research-based best practice works.

discussion is the heart of online learning. 

students’ learning is demonstrated through the vehicle of discussion.  

blog posts are personalized records of learning, thinking, and being. 

It is not about what the instructor wants to hear, it is about hearing the student’s articulation of what is being learned that is essential to evaluating the content of a blog post.

Through trying to be “fearless” about using technology, as Alex advises, I have come to learn that confidence is something that one must exercise in all spheres of the online environment.

we can not help but to teach when we learn and to learn when we teach.

“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” This is certainly true of discussion forum.  We learn with and for each other: as  you learn, I learn. 

(Think Twitter, Irene!) 

It causes me to reflect on the similarities between online and physical communities, something I had not thought of before.  Could it be that we really are, slowly and steadily, growing into a genuine community?

Teaching presence also involves anticipating students’ needs based on monitoring progress and being ready to find that perfect something to support the student’s learning.

I have spent my academic life I believing that I have to ‘go it alone’, since I walked home from school alone the first day of first grade.  Strangely, this course, in which I spend so much time alone, is teaching me that I don’t.