Recorded session quest!

I've never taught an online class before, and setting up a synchronous learning session for my students is one of the most intimidating aspects.  I will actually attempt to do so next week, but in order to practice I set up a group Hangout with my wife, sister, and a friend.  They were silly and wrote silly things, but it is easy enough to set up such a thing.  

Anyhow, here is a link to the video of my terrible chat/video call on Google Hangouts.

I think if I use Google Hangouts with my actual class, the most difficult thing will be to keep the kids on the chat feature and off the video feature.  Actually, this year the video feature will not be bad as I have a very small class (six people), but video chat will be overwhelming with a large class.

I'm sure I'll get more comfortable with more use.

Delivery methods and synchronous vendors

In the fall, I will be teaching an online course.  Most of my presentation of that course will be asynchronous.  However, to give students the full learning experience, they need opportunities for synchronous learning.  Synchronous learning will give them instant feedback that they need.

There are a number of vendors that have products for synchronous delivery.  Adobe Connect and Cisco WebX both look interesting.  They seem to have nice conference call features which will bring students as close as possible to the traditional classroom experience.  For me and my school system, we will be using Google Hangouts.  It offers some of the features of these other programs but with no cost!  I have almost no experience using Hangouts, so I have to learn more about it before the fall.  The video link provide on the Google Hangouts page was interesting.

I found another video that gave much more information on Hangouts, but I need to practice with it.  Here is that video.
It seems that hangouts is most used as alive text feed that allows people to send pictures as well.  However, it does have a video chat feature as well.  I'll have to explore it more.

Learning Management System vs. Course Management System

The titles Learning Management System (LMS) and Course Management System (CMS) are similar and LMS and CMS programs serves a similar purpose.  Bother are designed to help teachers manage online learning.

CMS - Course Management System

This  is the simpler of the two systems.  A course management system allows the teacher to lay out material used in the course for online access.   Systems typically termed CMS are often little more than a place to store files.  These systems are not easily expandable to different types of content.  In the past, I have used Google Classroom as a course management system as a part of a traditional classroom setting.  I plan to use it even more this year to give students easy access to course materials from anywhere.  However, most teaching will still be done within the traditional classroom.

LMS - Learning Management System

LMS are more complex than CMS and provide course content, course activities, grading, and communication tools.  This type of system has more capabilities for actually teaching online.  I feel that such a system is necessary for a truly successful all online course.  I will be teaching AP Environmental Science online this year.  My school system and I will be using Moodle Rooms for our LMS.

Roles and functions in an online learning environment

As a soon to be teacher of an online class, it is important that I understand the different roles within that environment.  These include students, teachers, facilitators, administrators, course developers, and parents.

I will focus my post here on the roles that will be most important to me.

Teacher - as a teacher of an online course, my job is to present material, answer questions, give assignments, and provide feedback that allow my students to master the desired material.  This requires creation of material by me and use of others materials in an organized way.

Course developer- I will be teaching AP Environmental Science online this year.  The course has been developed by the College Board, but there is a lot of leeway in how it is taught by the teacher.  I will use the course developed by the College Board, but in some sense, I will be the course developer as well.

Students - As in any learning environment, students and student learning shall be the focus of the course.  They will review course material, complete assignments, ask appropriate questions, and hopefully master the material.  At the end of the course, I also want them to provide feedback to me about the course so that I can improve it in the future.

Facilitator/administrator - I put these roles together, because for me that will be fulfilled from a common location - the county schools central office.  Our technology specialist determines the LMS and SIS that we use.  I will be using Moodle as my learning management system and Powerschool as our student information system.

Parents - Parents shall be able to keep up with their students progress online.  Additionally, as a teacher, I will make efforts to ensure that parents are aware of how their students are performing.

Online learning - Synchronous vs Asynchronous

The online model of teaching is different from a traditional, face to face classroom.  This offers some benefits and some drawbacks.  Most often, content for online classes is presented asynchronously.

Asynchronous learning

Asynchronous learning means that the material presented by the instructor and the the material viewed or work performed by the student do not occur at the same time.  This is most often the case with online learning.

I'll give a couple of examples of asynchronous presentation with links to real examples from MIT.  After giving a few examples, I'll describe some of the benefits and drawbacks of asynchronous learning.

Online books or reading assignments. (Note - asynchronous learning is not unique to the online environment.  Textbooks used in traditional classrooms also present material asynchronously.

Free online textbooks!

Video lectures - while in class lectures are presented in real time, when they are filmed, they can be watched anytime.

Educational video lectures!

Worksheets, lecture notes, slideshows, and other reading assignments.

Lecture notes (not as exciting, so no exclamation point).

These are just a few examples of asynchronous methods of presentation.

Benefits

• These can be accessed at any time so students can fit them to their schedule.
• These can be accessed more than once, so if students don't get it the first time, they can go back over it again.
• There is variety so different methods of presentation can be used.

Detriments

• No interaction with a live person.  Students can't ask questions in real time.  (Discussion boards offer a way for students to ask questions, but the response will be delayed.)
• Lazy students can short the process.  There is a tendency to skim or cut short important material because of a lack of direct accountability to another person.

Synchronous learning

The biggest drawback of asynchronous learning is lack of direct feedback.  However, online courses can offer that with synchronous learning.  Group chats, video conferences, and hangouts offer students the ability to interact with the teacher and other students in real time.

Benefits

• Students can interact with live people.  This allows them to ask questions in real time, but it also allows them to see or hear what others are thinking.  This can prompt their own thinking.
• If synchronous hangouts are made mandatory, there is someone to hold the students accountable for showing up.

Detriments

• Synchronous learning occurs at a specific time.  It can be recorded and rebroadcast for asynchronous learning, but if a student can't access the learning at the right time, he will miss the opportunity for live feedback.
• Chat and hangouts are not quite real time.  While you can see what someone posts when he enters it, a students own response time or a teacher's response time is limited by typing speed.  A simple back and forth can occur, but it is difficult to approach the level of real conversation where many people communicate in a quick manner.
• Videoconferencing offers some remedy to the real time by allowing for conversation instead of typing.  However, these are often limited by internet access speeds.  Moreover, participants in such conferences can rarely see the people all at once and thus vital visual cues of communication are lost.

Certain things about a traditional classroom can never be duplicated in the online world, but by using a variety of synchronous and asynchronous methods, the online teacher can offer a true learning environment.  In fact, he can offer things that a traditional classroom can not, even though he can't offer everything the traditional classroom does.

Digital Health

As we move to a more online world, it is important to balance digital use with other activities in order to ensure a healthy lifestyle.  I feel that I am pretty good at this already.  However, with my recently beginning an online course, planning an online course to teach in the fall, and actually teaching an online course in the fall, I will have to spend more time at my computer.  This has made me thing about how to balance online time with other time and how to ensure that my online time does not lead to health problems.

Here is an image of my Google Calendar showing some of my upcoming activities for planning classes on the computer and time set aside for exercise and enjoyment away from the computer.  Hopefully, taking the time to schedule such things will help me keep a healthy lifestyle.

A couple of things that I have found.  I usually have good posture.  However, after I sit at a computer for awhile, my posture starts to deteriorate and I begin to lean forward and hunch my back.  To avoid this, I will make a point to sit at the computer no longer than 30 minutes straight.  If I get up, take a break, do something else, walk around, and come back, my posture stays good.  Sitting too long is bad for posture.

Second, sitting too long is bad period.  When I take my breaks, I will be sure to do something active (even if it is just walking the halls at school).

Technology is a great benefit for my own learning, my teaching, and my enjoyment.  However, I will limit my online time and purposefully take part in physical activity every day.  I will encourage my students to do the same.  This is more important for them to hear because many of them are gamers.  Online school work plus extended time for game play can easily make for too much sessile time.  I will encourage them to get up and about.

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Digital safety and security

• What is the most important step we can take in terms of ensuring our digital safety?
• What strategies can we take to help our students consistently keep digital safety in the forefront of their minds?

Ensuring digital safety in an online teaching environment is the online teachers responsibility.  To do so, he must make sure that students know what is expected of them and that they are aware of dangers online.  Too many students don't think of online safety at all or only think "Safety Third!"

To ensure digital safety for students, teachers should set strict limits on what is allowed in his online world.  He should emphasize what is expected and what is prohibited.  This is of particular importance in forums where students should be taught to 1. stay on topic and 2. be respectful.  The teacher can help students by having using different types of forums.  For example, using Moodle, a teacher can have students post their own thoughts before allowing them to see any of the other students responses. 

Students must also be taught to use online resources but to know how to vet those resources, both for accuracy and for computer safety.  Addressing this early in a course and emphasizing it throughout will help students be cognizant of online dangers from malware to identity theft to copyright infringement.

Below is a link to my digital bookmarking sight with some resources that I think will help students be aware of digital dangers online.

Digital safety bookmarks

Feel free to explore these, and if you have any suggestions for me for others, leave a comment.