The videos this week were extremely helpful as I move forward with teaching. I'll talk about two experiences I'm currently involved in: as Faculty Supervisor for cooperative education at Holy Family University, and as Instructor of the 'Intro to Educational Entrepreneurship Seminar Series' that started yesterday for Penn GSE students and alumni.
The Cooperative Education role is primarily online. I guide and advise several Communications majors as they complete their required internships. This role is actually what made me realize that I needed a program like VOLT. I am used to teaching within 4 walls and having an almost eerie command of every inch of the learning environment. It's really an incredible zone that I fall into. However, when the class is primarily online, that kind of command is not available or possible, and I have to gain in other ways.
In the Intro to Education Seminar Series, which is 99% face-to-face, I feel like the learning environment is a big ball of clay that I can mold into something awesome. This allows me to intentionally foster a participatory culture within the seminar. For example, there were several times where I split the participants into groups and had them share their thoughts and brainstorm with each other. This allowed plenty of space for the participants to learn from each other and even teach one another if applicable. We do have one online component, a Google Doc where participants can list resources that would be helpful for everyone regarding the topic. This is easy to manage since it's only one online component, and I can clearly see how successful it is (or isn't).
However for the Cooperative Education role I sometimes get a bit anxious because I am not sure of the most efficient and effective way to foster that participatory dynamic. The students have been (and are) great but I would like to do the best job possible setting them up for a high level of success. We use Blackboard, the students are indeed blogging, and I have them working on their Linkedin pages. Still, I'm not sure of how to facilitate and foster a high-level, organic participatory culture within this online dynamic like I've been able to do in my face-to-face teaching.
Which is why, again, I'm really glad I'm in this VOLT program!
Marcus- I think you should give yourself more credit on the second class you referenced. Blogging and LinkedIn work, while not requiring participation with classmates, requires very authentic participation in the world around them. In my opinion, you can continue to amp up that kind of participation and get amazing results, even if students aren't interacting with each other's work.
ReplyDeleteThanks Alli! It's really nice to see the students on Linkedin now and seeing them connecting with people. They're definitely getting some authentic participation in with it.
Delete"Still, I'm not sure of how to facilitate and foster a high-level, organic participatory culture within this online dynamic like I've been able to do in my face-to-face teaching."
ReplyDeleteFirstly, just being aware of this as an issue you want to work on sets you on the path to achieve it. Secondly, I think it might be helpful to interrogate what you do in class, personality-wise, and can that be transferred to you online class? Are there certain writing styles, interests or habits that you seen in your students that you might be utilize for greater participation online.
I've often wondered if students should be allowed to use text lingo in online discussions, not formal papers/assignments submitted online because you still need to have knowledge and control over grammar and "English." Yet, since people text and chat in a shorthand language usually anyway, I've wondered if allowing it would better online courses?
Thanks for the comment, and I will think on those questions you asked.
DeleteIn my experience using any online forum for teaching, I haven't had any students write shorthand. I think it's probably because I set the precedent by not writing in shorthand either.
Laronnda I've wondered the same. I wonder because we don't want people to be hesitant about what they type just because they want to say something quickly, or casually, or informally - the 70/20/10 theory tells us that people learn best informally. So let's learn informally. When there is a paper to write of course, it needs to be formal. That's just my opinion. Marcus you're doing great with the social networks. There are lots of tools you can incorporate for other collaboration - mind maps and video tools. Maybe as we move along you will get some ideas.
ReplyDeleteYes I'm looking forward to learning about these tools. There's so many out there, sometimes it's hard to know where to start.
DeleteMarcus, I wonder if we should even expect the same level of dynamic participation in an online course. In an asynchronous setting it's just awfully difficult to get the same feeling of excitement and engagement that comes from a face-to-face discussion. I guess I'm agreeing with Alli and saying that you should give yourself more credit - it might be an unfair comparison to expect an online experience to be equally engaging. Not to mention that I completely agree with you. I too have been unable to foster the same participatory culture in an online class.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Jesse. I wonder if it's more of an apples to oranges kind of thing - that the type of engagement fostered in online learning shouldn't be compared on a scale to the type of engagement fostered in f2f learning?
DeleteI will say it's hard - I like to see people with a blog because then you've created something you will keep at the end of the course - but then the conversations are happening outside of the course and looks like not much is happening. Also, adults have other lives, and it can be days before there's responses. So I have seen super engaged courses but have been for-credit in schools which I suppose makes it different. Thanks for great posting!
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