Christopher Cheung's Portfolio

Topic/Purpose

The purpose of my mini course is to help teachers foster student collaboration using instructional technologies that help with document creation and sharing, online discussions, blogs and virtual meeting spaces. My goal is to help teachers extend their students' experience outside of their brick and mortar classrooms to truly engage students in a community of learning. By the end of the course, students in this course (instructors in real life) will be able to leverage instructional technologies to help their students work and learn in a collaborative learning environment.

Needs Assessment

As part of the needs assessment for this course, a survey was sent out to current K-12 teachers as well as higher education instructors. The survey asked a variety of questions involving the amount of group work that teachers require from their students, whether or not students have time in class to work on group projects, what types of collaboration teachers want their students to participate in, and whether or not the teacher wants to learn more about technology-mediated collaboration tools.

Results for the survey can be found here: Needs Assessment

As you can see, many of the instructors that answered the survey require their students to work on group projects, however most do not give students time to work on these projects in class. This requires students to work in groups outside of the classroom. In addition, instructors believe that a mix of in-person and online collaboration are important. This is important because it stresses the need for collaboration tools that are technology-based, which prevent students from having to work together in the same place at the time same time. The final question in the survey asked instructors if they wanted to learn more about technology-mediated collaboration methods, and a large majority (81%) said they were interested.

Statement of Purpose/Problem

Communication and collaboration skills are vital in today's world, and in order for students to be fully prepared for the teamwork they will need to participate in, in the workforce, they need to start while they are in school. Part of preparing students for the workforce is giving them the tools they need to be successful. Included in these tools are the knowledge of technologies that can foster communication and collaboration, even if participants are not working in the same place. According to Tabatabaei and Lam (2013), "instructors cannot assume that students are familiar with collaboration and communication technologies [CCT's] and will therefore know how to apply these technologies in group work" (p. 72). The responsibility to teach students what these technologies are and how to use them effectively falls on our shoulders as educators. "By teaching how the various technologies can be applied, or by requiring that these technologies are used for group projects, the communication and collaboration of the teams can potentially be improved" (Tabatabaei & Tam, 2013, p. 72).

In addition to requiring students to participate in group projects and assignments, there are other ways to teach students the importance of collaboration. One of these methods is creating a collaborative learning environment for your students. According to Lee, Tsai, Chai & Koh (2014), "students engaged in collaborative learning [CL] processes co-construct their knowledge through interactions involving the exchange of ideas and opinions, sharing of relevant information, and providing of peer feedback" (p. 426). Collaborative learning also benefits students because it "develops students' communication skills and social awareness to engage in knowledge-building discourse, to negotiate the meaning of ideas, and to generate criteria for the evaluation and resolution of different ideas" (Lee et al., 2014, p. 426). Part of creating collaborative learning environments involves using technology to expand the boundaries of the classroom. Rather than keeping all your learning activities in a classroom, instructors can use technology to expand the boundaries of their lessons and broaden student learning experiences, because "when technology is used to eliminate low-level or non-essential requirements, the cognitive load associated with such tasks is reduced; cognitive resources can then be reallocated to support higher-order thinking and learning activities" (Ke & Kwak, 2013, p. 105).

Fostering greater collaboration amongst students and encouraging collaborative learning requires a great deal of time and effort on the instructor's part. Part of these responsibilities is for the instructor to "determine the appropriate technologies for different teamwork activities, and encourage and enforce students to use them" (Tabatabaei & Lam, 2013, p. 78). Also, "while collaborative learning [CL] is a desirable skill, fruitful collaborative learning [CL] has to be fostered through conscientious effort by the teachers" (Lee et al., 2014, p. 426). To help teachers fulfill these responsibilities, this course will teach faculty about different types of collaborative technologies, and how to implement them to help their students reach their full potential.

Analysis of the Learner

The intended audience for this mini course is educators from K-12 and Higher Education. While the concepts being taught would benefit older students more than younger students, all teachers are welcome to participate in this course to increase their knowledge of technology-mediated collaboration tools and methods. Participants in this course should have prior teaching experiences and a general knowledge of technology and technological terms.

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this course, students will be equipped to:

• Explain how collaboration and technology improve student learning and understanding
• Identify and select different types of collaborative technologies based on desired course outcomes and activities
• Implement collaborative technologies to create engaging and interactive classes

Performance Objectives

By the conclusion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Explain how collaboration and technology can improve learning
2. Create content based discussion using VoiceThread
3. Foster real-time document collaboration using Google Drive
4. Use web conferencing software to create virtual classrooms
5. Incite text-based discussions and reflection
6. Implement various collaborative technologies in real-world situations

Task Analysis

Essential Prerequisites

• Learners must be able to actively read for understanding.
• Learners must be able to communicate effectively through writing.
• Learners must have access to a computer with Internet access.

Supportive Prerequisites

• Learners should have basic computer competencies.
• Learners should understand basic computer terminology.
• Learners should be interested in improving collaboration in their class.

Curriculum Map

To view my curriculum map, please click the following link: Curriculum Map

References and Resources

Ke, F., & Kwak, D. (2013). Constructs of student-centered online learning on learning satisfaction of a diverse online student body: A structural equation modeling approach. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 48(1), 97-122.

Lee, K., Tsai, P.S., Chai, C.S., & Koh, J.H.L. (2014). Students' perceptions of self-directed learning and collaborative learning with and without technology. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 30, 425-437.

Tabatabaei, M., & Lam, M. (2013). Awareness and usage of collaboration and communication technologies in student teamwork. Journal of International Technology and Information Management, 22(2), 71-83.