Course Portfolio
Return to ETAP 623 Fall 2012
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Intention of the Course
The purpose of this course is to support and guide instructors of blended or totally online courses to use student collaboration to create an environment of social presence. This course will suggest ways to implement student collaboration, provide ideas about team roles and promoting communication, and demonstrate examples of building trust and effectiveness among the students.
This course supports both large group collaboration, like Discussion Groups used by all students in an online course, and small group collaboration, like four or five member student teams working together on an assignment or work project. Some of the course material will be designed specifically for large group, others designed specifically for small groups, and others work for both. Each topic will mention whether it is designed for large groups, small groups, or both.
Learning Outcomes
This course is designed to build Intellectual Skills and Cognitive Strategy in the people taking the mini-course. Verbal Information will sometimes be used an an intermediate step to Intellectual Skills, like teaching the different roles on an effective student project team before providing examples and exercises in establishing those roles.
Needs Assessment
Instructional problem: There are many studies which show the importance of student collaboration in online courses, and how effective collaboration contributes to student success. However, the type of collaboration, and the manner of delivery, makes the difference between effective and ineffective forms of collaboration. This course will present and describe the means to design and maintain effective student collaboration.
Nature of learning: The learners will become aware of ways to implement student collaboration into their online learning environment. This is a Verbal Information learning outcome. Learners will also gain proficiency in the delivery and maintenance of collaborative techniques. That is an Intellectual Skill learning outcome. Finally, learners will gain an understanding of the pros and cons of various forms of collaborative learning, and learn a method to determine when to use particular collaborative learning techniques. That is Cognitive Strategy.
Who are the learners? They are instructors of fully online or blended learning courses. Some of the instructors may have taught online courses before, others may be complete novices. The experienced online instructor will be taking this course because they have either never used collaborative learning in their courses or previous attempts at implementing collaborative learning failed.
Instructional context: All of the material is online. There will reference material consisting of articles, knowledge summary pages, and instructional videos. Learners will also get a chance to practice the use of various collaborative methods. Since this course is designed to be taken as needed, the collaborative practice may not be completely accurate, as there may not be other students participating, but the learners will see how various collaborative methods work.
Instructional solution: Learners will begin by describing their online course environment. This allows the instructor the context to analyze learners' work and provide constructive feedback. This will not be a fully automated course, as instructor feedback is important. Learners will engage in practice exercises after reading the appropriate reference material for each unit. Some units will both individual and group work, to give learners a chance to experience collaborative learning.
Goals: The overall goals of this course is to provide learners with the mechanics and experience of various collaborative learning techniques.
Course Objectives
1. Given a description of a course or learning environment, the student will be able to list the considerations (pros and cons) of at least five different methods of collaborative learning. Based upon those considerations, the student will select the two best methods to implement.
2. For any given collaborative learning method, the student will be able to describe what an instructor should do to best facilitate its effective use. The student will be able to identify what needs to be done prior to the course and during the course to ensure the effective use of that collaborative method.
Task Analysis
Prerequisites for Objective #1:
1. Knowledge of the pros and cons of various collaborative learning techniques
a. Knowing what to look for in a collaborative learning technique b. Identify key aspects of a collaborative learning technique c. Ability to compare desired results to key aspects
2. Ability to transform a description into a series of necessary results or abilities
a. Identify key words, phrases, and concepts b. Match key words to results c. Ability to create measures from desired results
3. Choosing the right alternative
a. Cognitive skill to make an informed decision
Prerequisites for Objective #2:
1. Understand the role of a facilitator
a. List and define the key roles of a facilitator
2. Identify the conditions necessary for a role or action to be taken
a. List necessary conditions or environmental settings b. Describe how to create the conditions listed above
3. Identify pre-course conditions
a. Describe the course environment and setting
4. Identify recurring and sustainable actions that support collaborative learning
a. Practice good planning and organizational skills
- Identify the actions and items to be scheduled
- Consistently practice advance scheduling skills
b. Extrapolate anticipated results of actions
c. Compare results of actions to intended results
- Demonstrate ability to measure scope, span, and completeness
Course Outline
Unit 1: What Collaborative Learning provides
- Objectives: After completing this unit, the student will be able to describe how collaborative learning supports a deeper understanding of knowledge. The student will also be able to list and explain at least three ways collaborative learning builds cognitive strategy.
- Tools: web page with information, link to journal article
Unit 2: Aspects of Effective Collaborative Learning techniques
- Objectives: After completing this unit, the student will be able to list five key aspects that build effectiveness in collaborative learning.
- Tools: web page with information, a video testimonial (Still need to film that), a link to a research paper, and the links to instruction on group dynamics, team roles, and problem resolution.
Unit 3: Asynchronous Discussion Boards
- Objectives: After completing this unit, the student will be able to define the following terms: discussion group, discussion thread, and post. The student will also be able to define what discourse is, and describe how to effectively use it in a discussion group.
- Tools: web page with information, link to sample discussion group, video on adding a post, and a link to a document discussing discourse.
Unit 4: Asynchronous Wikis
- Objectives: After completing this unit, the student will be able to define a wiki, and list and explain the advantages of using a wiki. The student will also be able to describe the limitations of a wiki.
- Tools: web page with information, link to sample wiki, and video on adding information to a wiki
Unit 5: Synchronous Chats
- Objectives: After completing this unit, the student will be able to list the advantages and limitations of using an online Chat session.
- Tools: web page with information, video of a chat screen, link to document on Netiquette
Unit 6: File Sharing
- Objectives: After completing this unit, the student will be able to describe the characteristics of file sharing systems. Students will also be able to describe how version control software works, and explain why it is important.
- Tools: web page with information, links to common file sharing and version control systems, video showing to use version control
Unit 7: Synchronous Virtual Meetings
- Objectives: After completing this unit, the student will be able to demonstrate how to use a video conferencing site.
- Tools: web page with information, links to commonly-used video conferencing sites, a sample conference invitation, a video showing how to set up a video conference, a video showing a short video conference
Unit 8: Choosing the Best Collaborative Learning
- Objectives: After completing this unit, the student will be able identify key characteristics of various collaborative learning methods and match those characteristics to aspects of a course.
- Tools: web page with information that sums the characteristics of all collaborative learning methods, an exercise where the student identifies course aspects and places collaborative learning methods in order of effectiveness for that course, a link to a journal article summarizing all collaborative learning
Unit 9: The Future of Collaborative Learning
- Objectives: After completing this unit, the student will be able to predict future developments in collaborative learning and list characteristics to look for in future collaborative learning.
- Tools: web page with information
Multimedia Tools
- Links to online documents for group dynamics
- Example of discussion board
- Show a full thread, from initial question - Include discourse posts
- Example of wiki
- Video example of adding to wiki
- Video of chat development
- Video on file sharing and version control
- Video of a video conference
- Links to tools and applications discussed