I am beginning this post with evidence that I was in Washington DC last week! A few of us arrived early to finish planning the 2008 National Technology Leadership Summit and took a few hours off for a Segway tour of DC. the people with me are professors in instructional technology from Australia(long beard), Texas and Virginia.New Literacies and better connecting informal learning (outside of school) and formal learning were the major topics for the Summit. There seems to be general agreement (at least among this group!) that we need to do a better job of building connections to the technology-rich outside school lives of many students and what happens in school.
As I think about 505 thus far, I know that we have several lines for communication within the course: discussion sections, this blog, office hours, email, weekly videos, weekly agendas. I am wondering if we have too many channels for communication or if these channels are working for you. I am interested in your perceptions of which channels are most and least useful. I am also interested in your suggestions for additional methods of communication that you might find useful.
One thing that occurs to me is that we do not have much opportunity to communicate in an informal way. In a face to face class, there are always before and after (and sometimes during) class chats. I wonder if you miss that and if so, if you could suggest ways to make this happen.
12 comments:
I like the discussions. I think the focus that you give us on a weekly basis is good. It also helps me to understand the readings. The weekly chat is helpful if I am available to join in even if I don't have a specific question it helps me to hear what other people are questioning. I often don't think I have a question until someone brings up another perspective. I may not always post on the blog, but I do check it on a weekly basis.
I agree. The discussions have been good at prompting interactions between everyone in the class. I enjoy hearing real-life examples from my fellow classmates.
In think that having the multiple lines of communication is fine, but realize that not everyone uses all of them all of the time. I haven't been able to get to a computer on a Thursday night yet, but that is okay since I have other ways of communicating. The only time I think it is bad to have all of these possibilities is when you start REQUIRING people to use them all. Then it becomes a matter of keeping track where I've been, what ELSE do I have to do yet, etc.
Now, don't get me wrong, I have no problem with the assignment for the week to be participate in a discussion or visit a blog and comment, but I think it can seem burdensome once it is required ALL the time. So far I have been pleased with the communication lines.
As for informal chats, I have noticed many of those types of conversations showing up in our discussion groups, which is fine. I don't know about anyone else, but I have plenty on my plate right now without having a social outlet that I would feel obligated to visit.
I think that the best communication that I enjoy in these classes is when the leader does a good job of formulating questions and stimulating the conversation so people feel more motivated to participate. i know there are times where I read every comment in a discussion, but have nothing to add or comment on. Other times I can't stop rambling, and I think it stems from a good facilitator of the conversation or topic at hand.
I really like the discussions for the same reasons as everyone else. Even if I don't have questions, I may be able to help someone else out or learn something that I hadn't thought of yet.
I also think they help me stay more involved in the class. Without them I don't think I would be as on task in the course as I should be.
I don't use all the lines of communication, but definitely try.
I think I need to be clear that most of the lines of communication are voluntary. Voluntary activities include office hours, blog reading and commenting (other than the requirement the first week), software review discussions.
The required pieces include the weekly videos and the discussion topic for the week.
I think the discussions have been really nice. They help me connect to the readings because someone will mention a part from one of the books that I may have over looked. I think the place that I have yet to use is the chat for office hours. I don't know why, but every week it seems like I am busy on Thursday. Like this week we had Homecoming activities on Thursday night (powder puff football high school teachers vs middle/elementary school teachers) and I completely forgot about checking the chat room or that there were even office hours yesterday.
I think the only thing I would add might be a general discussion thread for anything we wanted to talk about. I guess this is more of a personal thing for me since I have been trying to find a place to tell everyone that my wife and I are expecting a new arrival in April! We started telling people a couple weeks ago that we were pregnant, but I wasn't sure where to tell everyone here so the blog it is!
I agree that we have numerous lines of communication going at the same time. I have found it difficult at times to get on-line, and am just old enough that I get concerned that I am missing something in our discussions. The volume of discussions have been difficult for me (getting time to read them and still do my own classwork), but I'm also assuming that is just me adjusting to this format.
On the flip side, I don't mind the semi-formal part of our discussions. According to Bransford, this contextual "chunking" is essential for true learning to occur. It was also very nice for everyone to offer their condolences at my recent loss; this may not have happened in a more formal discussion.
Congratulations Daniel on your new arrival! What wonderful news to have; thank you for sharing it with us.!
The discussions are really great. It's very useful to see other people thinking out loud as it helps me think about the readings in ways I hadn't before, often spurring me to change my view of a concept. We're cooperatively building each other's knowledge through discourse, and that's been pretty effective for me thus far.
Also, I'm jealous you did the Segway tour. When I went to DC for work a few years back my co-worker didn't want to rent the Segways. I'll be back there next summer and I'm definitely going to have to get one then.
As a researcher in online learning field I am learning a lot from 505 students this semester. Teaching online has been nightmare of many instructors and learning online has been the concern of many students because of the lack of face-to-face communication and other affordances of face-to-face interaction. However online environments do offer us new ways and platforms of communication which is actually different than face to face interaction. I think Dr. Thompson is trying to incorporate different means of communication not only to show us some examples of doing things online but also to provide different platforms of interaction...discussions, video, office hours, blogs etc...After reading Dan's post, I created a discussion thread, "Virtual Cafe" where we can share our interests, news, announcements or even celebrations. So please feel free to participate in Virtual Cafe.
CI505 has opened my eyes to the many forms of communication. It has been interesting moving beyond e-mail/texting. I too have felt the frustration of trying to answer everyone. Being assigned reading groups helps me focus on the task. So far, the software discussions are my favorite.
I like the discussions the best, which is kind of what everyone else was saying. I think being able to pick and choose what you do is better because if all of them are required then it becomes really overwhelming. I am trying to use them all but so far have not been able to make it into the live chats because of my schedule. So far so good.
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