Role of the Online tutor

Hello everyone,

I see the “constructivist, learner-directed” instructional model being promoted in the EPA.  This is in stark contrast to the teacher centred learning many of us – or at least I – have been used to in previous classes..  I say this because we are not simply being given a set of information and asked to recall them in an “assessment”.  We are asked instead to create our own learning experiences but more that that we are expected to create the experience of our peers by the quality and quantity of our interaction with them.

Based on the five roles students elucidated were necessary in an online tutor namely planner, model, coach, facilitator and communicator I found it difficult to select only three however the following are my choices for the most important:

Responsibility	Why it is important
Communicator	In an online setting a tutor’s communication responsibilities multiplies ten-fold.  Students lack the numerous opportunities for information sharing which naturally abound in face-to-face classes.  They do not have the benefit of hearing their peers questions nor the tutor’s response to those questions as they would in an on-the-ground classroom. As such it is the tutor’s role to anticipate these questions and provide ample guidance and opportunities for student collaboration to ensure all students are aware of course policies, course content, modes of delivery, assessment schedule, tutor availability, synchronous meeting times (if applicable), tutor expectations of the students and many others.  The tutor must communicate these things and more in a manner which does not overwhelm the student but is comprehensive enough to lead to an informed student group.  If the communicator role of an online tutor is neglected or poorly performed the students are unlikely to become engaged with their course material.
Model	The online environment is fairly new to most students and the tutor must lead by example with the types of behaviour they wish to see modeled by their students.  Timeliness w.r.t. grading and feedback on the part of the tutor will likely lead to students being timely with assignment submissions and group or discussion contributions.  If the instructor does not lead by example in this regard students will get lost along the way and possibly never recover.
Coach	In an online environment it is even more necessary for instructors to cheer on their students when they perform well on their assignments or tests.  The disconnect students often feel when enrolled in an online class can be overcome by having the instructor applaud success and provide positive critiques on work submitted by persons at risk of becoming discouraged in the class.

These are my thoughts for now on the matter.

Web 2.0 tools and my teaching approach

There are three main ways I see the use of web 2.0 tools affecting my teaching approach:

1.  Feedback – these tools improve the immediacy of accessing and digesting student feedback.  I can now adjust my teaching or lesson plan to the needs of my class as I progress through the semester thereby creating a more custom tailored classroom experience for the student(s)
2.  Active rather than passive participation – The use of these tools often encourage ‘doing’ over seeing.  I would incorporate more quizzes and group activities in my lessons.
3.  Flipped classrooms – The tools available make it easy to provide students with course material (text, audio and video) one week in advance so that they can read it through and even start completing a study/work sheet thy will complete at the next class.  I believe this will be of great benefit as it will allow me to offer the student support when they need it most – while doing the activity!

Using web 2.0 tools - Diigo

Hello everyone,

For this week’s assignment my group worked with Diigo, a bookmarking and markup tool which allows users to easily record and share web sites they find interesting or relevant to a particular project they may be working on.  There are many nifty features available in this web 2.0 tool and while I am still to discover most of these I found the following useful for my activity:

1. The ability to save bookmarks as part of a list – this allows me to classify my bookmarks according to some purpose which makes it easier for me to organize and access the content at a later time. In this activity my list was called HCI Activity 3 since these resources were to be used for that particular activity.
2. The ability to create groups – this feature allowed me to invite my students to a closed group where they could view resources I had shared with them and also allows them to make contributions of their own (either by adding new bookmarks, comments or marking up the bookmarks I had shared with them)
3. The ability to associate a bookmark with a particular group – this feature meant that I am able to categorize which students have access to the bookmarks I have added to my library.

My Activity

 

Human Computer Interface Design – In Class Activity #3 (one hour)

Group One :

http://art.yale.edu/

Group Two:

http://www.ifly.com/flights

Group Three:

http://www.vacaway.com/

Group Four:

http://www.rodcdavis.com/

Group Five:

http://www.adlucent.com/

Group Six

http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/

You must form yourselves into groups of three persons then randomly select one of the above websites (by blindly drawing numbers) and complete the following activity.

Instructions & Deliverables:

You are required to login to diigo and access the resources put into the HCI Activity bookmarks list.  Visit the bookmark for your assigned group number then, based on the principles discussed in our “Visual Organization” and “Colour and Typography” classes, critically evaluate the web site. You will find bookmarks to other site resources you can use in completing your activity included in this bookmark list.  If you use other sites be sure to add them to the HCI Activity List using diigo so you can easily share them with the class later.

Your evaluation should include, but is not limited to the items below:

• The use of these design principles on the web site (Layout/colour schemes/font use etc.)
• If these principles have not been used state where and how they can be incorporated to enhance the usability of the site.

Your submission must include:

1. An actual markup of the page or site done by your team members using the highlighting and ‘sticky note’ features of Diigo to illustrate your critical assessments.
2. A discussion presentation to the class of your analysis of the web site.

 

 

Resources

Diigo website - https://www.diigo.com/index

Reasons Teachers should use Diigo - http://resourcelinkbce.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/12-reasons-teachers-should-use-diigo/

Using Diigo in the classroom - https://sites.google.com/site/team8project9440/using-diigo-in-the-classroom-2 

Collaborating using Diigo - http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/classroom-collaboration-using-social-bookmarking-service-diigo

Getting Started with Diigo (YouTube) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RC3uvzv4_8

Discussions, discussions, discussions...

‘Netiquette’ refers to a set of generally accepted rules or protocols governing our postings (via any and all tools) online.  As with basic etiquette, the purpose of netiquette is to ensure cordial relations among persons in a particular sphere.

Some netiquette guidelines I commonly give young persons are:

1. Do not post/write anything online that you would be embarrassed to see on the front page of the daily newspaper! – Many persons have a false sense of security when using the web and feel that they can behave and say things to others which they would not be ‘brave’ enough to do face to face.  I feel it is imperative that this misconception be exposed so I stress to my students the absolute lack of control they have over information they put on to the www.
2. Treat others as you would have them treat you - this covers mutual respect, tolerance, generosity of spirit, constructive criticism (If you have nothing good to say then don’t say anything!)
3. Use appropriate language – Many of you have elaborated on this point so I will only add that I tell my students that every online communication that they have with me is an opportunity for them to practice and develop their written communication skill which is a true asset to have when job hunting.

The technology I would use to promote discussions among my students is a toss-up between facebook and moodle.  I am undecided because:

Pros	Cons
Facebook Almost all students already have accounts Many students have this service running on their phones	Limited privacy/security
Moodle Designed to facilitate many modes of class discussions Discussions completely private to group members Participation can be easily included in course gradebook	Students can un-enroll themselves from receiving forum updates

Please share your comments, views below.

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Alicia

Online Learning

The Challenges of being an online learner

1. An individual may be desirous of acquiring the knowledge in an online course but they learn best in a traditional classroom environment.  Some people simply learn better and retain more when the knowledge is attached to a tangible experience
2. Procrastination is the thief of time! 
3. Feelings of isolation or being lost in the material.  There are always students in a class who are not brave enough to ask questions but there are also those who are not afraid.  When questions are posed both the brave and the shy benefit from the teacher’s response but this is not necessarily the case in an online setting.  On the flipside some students who are shy may be more willing to pose questions in the relative anonymity of an online class 
4. I know you asked for three but a VERY real challenge is lack of technology.

Ways these challenges might be overcome

Well I don’t have the solution to these challenges but I have some thoughts…

1. I can say that this first point is 100% me! I thrive in a group. I love to discuss, laugh, debate and reason with my colleagues… I also am not the best typist K I see the only solutions to this as 
1. The learner ‘biting the bullet’ and focusing on the ultimate goal which is learning the material. 
2. The facilitator doing their best to encourage as much interactive activity as possible in the class including opportunities for the face-chat.
2. Learners must accept responsibility to be self-directed up to a reasonable point… again though the course must be designed and delivered in such a way that the facilitator is in constant communication with the student.  Particularly by maintaining ‘office hours’ and responding in a timely manner to questions and providing feedback on assessments… 
3. Facilitators can make their response to questions (and the question itself) public to all participants in the course.
4.  Students must be made aware of all the technological requirements for a course before they are allowed to register for it – I have had students register for online courses and they have no internet at home and cannot use it at work either!  I am certain that cases exist where persons can make do with cyber cafes and or coming to a school/library on the weekend but it is not ideal and likely limits the student’s achievement potential.

I must say that to-date this course is being delivered in a manner which meets and supersedes any of my suggestions above.

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Alicia