3. Trends in Online Learning
Over 6.7 million students were taking at least one
online course during the Fall 2011 term, an increase
of 57,000 students over the previous year.
32% of higher education students now take at least
one course online.
*2012 Survey of Online Learning in the U.S.
Allen & Seaman, 2013
6. Social Presence
Kehrwald (2008) defines social presence as “an
individual’s ability to demonstrate his/her state
of being in a virtual environment and so signals
his/her availability for interpersonal transactions.”
7. Role of faculty changes online
Become the facilitator of learning rather than
the “sage on the stage”
Must continually monitor and engage learners
in order to help them be successful
Interactions with students should be as
frequent as possible with the goal being to
engage learners, give encouragement, and
provide them specific feedback to help them
improve their performance.
8. Ways to be “present in an
online course
Welcome email before course begins
Weekly messages/videos
Office Hours Online
Wimba
KSOL Chat
Skype
Google+ Hangouts
Timely grades and helpful, personal
feedback
9. Online Course Meetings
Hold weekly meetings with your course via
internet
Wimba
Google+ Hangouts
Adobe Connect
11. Activity
Develop an email welcoming learners to your
course. After composing your email, describe
the strategies you used to make the message
personable, convey understanding, provide
motivation, demonstrate approachability, and
establish the leaner-faculty relationship.
13. Build a Community of Learning
Ice Breaker Discussion Board
Possible Questions
Something Interesting/Unique about yourself
What did you WANT to be when you grew up
Good things come in threes (list 3 favorite
websites, three favorite activities and three
favorite people)
Assign points in order to get more
involvement
“Class Lounge”
14. General Course Information
and Navigation
File can include
Frequently asked questions
Tips for success in your course
Your expectations
Any information that is not in the standard
syllabus but is still important to the course
15. Student Tools and Resources
Folder
Links to important university resources
IT Help Desk
DCE Course Tools
Office of Disability Support
Links to web tools or software they may
be using
Helpful tutorials
17. Benefits to Using Online Discussion Boards
Builds class community by promoting discussion on
course topics
Allows time for in-depth reflection
Facilitates learning by allowing students to view &
to respond to the work of others
Develops thinking & writing skills
Allows guest experts to participate in the course by
posting information & responding to questions
*Edutopia, 2009
18. Discussion Boards with a Purpose
Demonstration of Knowledge of Key Concepts
Community Building
Reflection
Consensus Building
Critical Thinking
Student Leadership
20. Strategies to Facilitate Online Discussion
Boards
Give Students Clear Expectation
Assess the quality as well as the quantity of the
students’ online posts.
Provide a schedule for students
Provide instruction for students to post to threads
Make yourself visible in the discussion
Do now allow domination of the discussion
21. Activity
Develop a discussion question relevant to the
course you will be teaching and describe the
components of critical thinking that learners will
use to answer the discussion questions.
Four Components of Critical Thinking (Brookfield,
1987)
Identifying and challenging assumptions
Challenging the importance of context
Being able to imagine and explore alternatives
Having reflective skepticism
23. Types of Assessment
End of Semester Paper
Weekly Tests or Quizzes
Group Projects
Case Study Analysis
Journals/Blogs
Reading Responses
Threaded Discussion Participation
24. Threaded Discussion
Participation
Allow for a more detailed assessment of
discussion. Are students really getting it?
Students are required to post a certain
number of responses
Participation is graded by a rubric
25. Tests and Quizzes
Great if students need to memorize facts
and figures
Open book but timed
Could use a proctor