Creating an Effective Online Learning Community

Online Activities for Community Building:

    Community is a crucial component to effective learning. In an online environment and in an age of technology, community can be hard to build in class. Some activities that can enhance community in an online learning environment include: peer review, group work, zoom meetings and discussion boards. Peer review is an excellent way for students to have the sense that they have a role to play in the class, specifically in another students learning. Group work can take many forms, but is always an effective activity to build and enhance community and student relationships. Being able to see your professors face and peer students in a zoom meeting is a helpful first step to building community. Meeting on zoom regularly is an excellent method to build community. Having every student (when in small class sizes) participate on a zoom class is a good way to get students involved in the community they are in. Discussion boards allow all students to hear their peers ideas and thoughts. Responding to student discussions and getting conversations going build community. 

Best Practices:

    Ideally, in an online learning environment, the objective of the class, the expectations for the class, rubrics for the assignments, and calendar are available to the students to access on day one of the course. These are the best practices. In order for student's learning to be successful and for class involvement/engagement to be high, students need to know how the instructor wants things to be done and what is expected of them and when- most importantly, students need to know what the learning outcome of the class is in order for them to make goals. 

What Would I Do:

    In order to create a successful online learning community, I would do my best to follow these above guidelines. I would ensure that my students were able to build relationships with one another, that I knew them all and had met them all via zoom, and I would make sure that every student knew what the goal of the course was. I am sure that there would be many different challenges and adjustments that had to be made, but as a general guide- implementing these activities, and following these best practices is a good start. 

Impact of Gamification

             Some of the goals of gamification are to introduce new objectives, help students retain information and engage students. As researchers have looked into the learning tool of gamification, many have found that gamification does, indeed, accomplish those things. Some studies demonstrate uncertain results. Because of these mixed results, there are concerns as to whether or not gamification is a positive learning tool. The empirical research study discussed in this article explored how gamification impacts students learning, engagement and program behavior of different personality types (introverted, extroverted, conscientious, agreeable, open and neurotic). 

            Gamification has the most positive impact on introverted students. They had higher points, badges and logins. The data collected about introverted students was vastly different than that of extroverted students- demonstrating that personality type has a great deal to do with the impact of gamification. With neurotic personality types, no difference was found in the gamified and non-gamified groups. With the conscientious personality trait, students with high conscious were more accurate in their problem solving. 

            Taking this research into consideration, in order to use gamification successfully in a classroom I would say that it should be optional. It would be important to share research with your students about the benefits of gamification as well as who it may benefit most. If it is optional, than each student can try it and discover for themselves if this is a helpful study tool for them.  If they find that it is they can continue to spend time with it, if they find that it is not helpful than they can find other ways to positively impact their study based off of their personality. I believe it is a poor decision for an educator to make all of their students participate in something that may only benefit a small percentage of them, but I think it is a great tool to offer for some. 

"The impact of gamification on students’ learning, engagement and behavior based on their personality traits" by: Rodrigo Smiderle, Sandro José Rigo, Leonardo B. Marques, Jorge Arthur Peçanha de Miranda Coelho and Patricia A. Jaques

Student Assessment in Online Learning

             Online learning assessment methods have been researched and studied as a result of online learning becoming much more prevalent. Instructors of online courses share their concerns about online learning assessment as follows: time management, student responsibility, structure of the online course, content complexity and informal assessment. Through all five methods of online assessment mentioned in this article (written assessment, online discussion, fieldwork, test/quiz/exam and presentation) there are challenges presented. These challenges include: the literal distance between the student and the instructor, adapting to using technology to communicate with students and the workload for students as well as their time management. Through conducting studies, they have also found that assessment data and feedback are crucial in successful online assessment. Students need to hear feedback from the instructors on their assessments and instructors need evidence of the students learning. 

            Once the challenges of online learning assessment are identified, effective practices can be put in place. Since the students are not face-to-face (F2F) with their instructors, large complex assignments online became very difficult. A solution to this is breaking large assignments down into small manageable steps. This allows the instructor to see the student learn over time and assess along the way as well as provides the students an opportunity to hear feedback as they progress through their assignment. An additional effective practice to ease this challenge is creating mini-tutorials for students to guide them through the assignment and/or navigate the online course. There are many other effective practices including: rubrics self-check quizzes, ungraded quizzes, using synchronous technologies to interact with students on an as-needed basis, commenting on student assignments for feedback, peer assessment and using student moderators to read through student discussion boards. 

            As an educator, if I were teaching an online course, I would employ the use of mini-tutorials, rubrics, virtual meetings, and comment feedback. I think many of these effective practices listed above are very helpful, but these are most important to me. Sharing grading rubrics with students is extremely helpful in communicating what your learning objectives and goals are for them and what the expected workload is through the semester. Rubrics also make grading simple and more straight forward. I would also post videos on my course page to help the student get to know me and also to talk them through each assignment, especially the complex ones. I would try to host weekly zoom meetings to ensure that the class is all on the same page and understands their task as well as provide as much feedback on their assignments as I can. 

    

    Kearns, Lorna. "Student Assessment in Online Learning: Challenges and Effective Practices."Merlot Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, Vol. 8, No. 3, September 2012

Using AR and VR Technology in the Classroom

             Using augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) is becoming more common in classrooms today. These technologies have been improved upon and made more affordable, giving these immersive technologies incredible value. These technologies turn two dimensional learning into an immersive three dimensional experience. Augmented realities bring leaning to the real life by presenting students with virtual three dimensional objects. For example, students are able to look at a tornado that is presented in AR in their classroom. Virtual realities allow students to travel across the globe and visit Mount Everest and the Great Wall of China to experience a completely immersive transporting experience. There is value in incorporating AR and VR in a classroom because it makes learning a more hands-on experience as well as makes learning available to a wide range a students with a wide range of learning capabilities. 

            Project VOISS (Virtual Reality Opportunities to Implement Social Skills) is a VR experience designed for middle school students with learning disabilities to allow them to practice and learn social skills. Project VOISS allows these students to develop these skills in a low risk environment. Project VOISS takes students into different social setting. As the student is viewing and experiencing the situation, a guide walks them through and explains what they should be making note of. For instance, the guide will point out what the other students facial expressions look like, their tone, body language, etc. This is to help develop social skills and read different social situations. The students are presented with choices for how to respond as well as "quizzed" on what people's facial expressions may be trying to communicate. 

            The Project VOISS program/app can be used by students anytime and anywhere. In a special education setting I would choose to sit with students as they engage with the VR training. This allows them to ask questions and share their thoughts, including what is difficult for them to understand and share what they already knew. Even though these technologies are immersive, student lead and hands-on, I think it is crucial that the educator remains engaged with the students learning. I would use Project VOISS either one-on-one with a student or in a group setting. 

Review of the SAMR Model

         The SAMR (Substitution Augmentation Modification and Redefinition) Model is one approach to integrating technology in a classroom. The model is represented as a ladder, starting with substitution at the bottom, leading up to redefinition at the top. This is a taxonomy-based model, meaning that there is a hierarchy or linear evolvement. The SAMR model works to enhance and transform the application of technology in the classroom, starting with substitution. At the level of substitution, technology is replacing a tool, with no major change (i.e. writing an essay on a computer versus by hand). After substitution, comes augmentation. At this stage, technology acts as the replacement but also as an enhancer (i.e. reading and listening to digital books on a tablet versus a group read aloud time). Moving on from the two SAMR technology "enhancement" tiers, we come to the transformative technological uses: modification and redefinition. Modification involves redesigning a task (i.e. using an interactive simulator to learn versus textbook lectures). Finally, at the top of the SAMR model, is redefinition. Redefinition presents an opportunity for technology to not just redesign a task, but to open doors for completely new tasks (i.e. creating videos/podcasts versus an essay/oral presentation). 

        Technological advances are unpredictable and complicated. Each software or program comes with it's own set of user application. This makes integrating technology into a classroom all the more difficult, in that it is ever changing. There is also such a wide variety of technological tools to use, that it can be difficult for educators to decipher which are best. Numerous online learning theories, models and frameworks have been created and researched with an attempt to guide and support educators as they learn effective practices for integrating technology in their classrooms. The SAMR model, designed by Puentedura, is a more recent model of technology integration that has been gaining popularity. 

        Although the SAMR model presents some challenges, it is able to act as a starting point to consider how to integrate technology into your classroom. I have been teaching in early childhood for the past three years. I intend on staying within this age group as I further my teaching career. It is easy to think that, with preschoolers, these theories and practices have no application. But that is wrong! Although these students are too young to be creating edited videos, podcasts, simulators, etc. they have all of that ahead of them in their school journey. Early childhood is a time to prepare students for these things. 

    There are developmentally appropriate ways to introduce the SAMR model in a preschool classroom. Some of these ways include, sharing informational videos and photos on a TV or smartboard, rather than looking at posters or reading books (substitution), watching a youtube read aloud of a story, rather than the teacher reading it during group time (augmentation), playing an informative interactive digital game about how plants grow, as opposed to a scientific diagram (modification), and playing and recording music on an instrument app and voice recorder rather than just singing and playing music (redefinition). There are many ways to apply the principles of SAMR in a preschool classroom. I, personally, do not ascribe to the idea that using technology is always beneficial, especially with children who are young, but I do recognize there are benefits. In some ways, integrating technology can help children be more engaged and interested, but in other ways, technology can lead to further distraction. 

Online Learning Theories

         Community of Iniquity is an online learning theory proposed by Garrison, Anderson and Archer. The core idea of this theory is interaction between students and faculty on an online platform. They mention three "presences", which they describe as a social phenomenon created through interaction between students and instructor. These three presences are cognitive, social and teaching. This theory has become very common in blended and online courses with assignments like discussion boards, blogs, zoom, etc. where students and faculty interact on a consistent basis sharing their ideas, information and opinion. 

        

        The Connectivism online learning theory put forth  by George Siemens focuses on the way knowledge and information move and grow due to the immense data communication networks. Rather than highlighting a student's interaction with their instructor, like the Community of Inquiry theory, this theory highlights a student's interaction with infinite data. Learning is about finding connections between the ever changing data sets and information of the present. Students learning through these means need to be provided experience and opportunity to engage with and navigate large sets of data. This online learning theory would be most appropriate in a course with high enrollment, where there are so many students that the instructor is more hands-off. 

        The last online learning method mentioned in this article is Online Collaborative Learning (OCL), which is presented by Linda Harasim. Similar to Connectivism, OCL emphasizes learning through the network, or large sets of information, but it focuses on collaboration with peers. The three phases of knowledge building through collaboration presented by Harasim are idea generating, idea organizing and intellectual convergence. These phases involve brainstorming, analyzing and synthesizing knowledge within a group of peers and/or faculty and presenting knowledge through essays and group work. Rather than being hand-off (like a connectivism approach), in OCL, instructors act as discussion facilitators and teachers are meant to participate in the conversation. 

        Asynchronous and synchronous are two categories for any type of learning. Asynchronous learning occurs when the teacher and student are not interacting face to face. Many fully online courses operate asynchronously. Posting in discussion boards, emailing and reading articles are all examples of asynchronous learning. Synchronous learning involves social interaction between student and teacher. This could be in person or on an online conference where teacher and student are engaging with each other. Both of these methods are using in e-learning environments. 

        One advantage to online learning environments is that it gives teacher s a wide range of tools that are inaccessible in the classroom. Having your students listen to podcasts, watch videos, write reflections, etc. are effective ways of teaching online. Along with that, online learning can be a fitting way to learn for a wide range of students. Some students may prefer sitting in a classroom "textbook style", while other's may be more visual learners. Online learning provides many different outlets to learn, which provides more opportunities for success for students. Because there is not one unified model of online learning and each online course one might take may be different. It can be difficult to adjust to online learning. This is a disadvantage of the online learning environment. It can be unpredictable for students. Along with that, technology issues arise for students learning online, devices may not be available to all people, and it can be isolating for students. 

  Welcome

Hello! My name is Linnea and I am set to graduate with my associates in early childhood education from Columbus State in May 2024. I have worked in a preschool setting for the past three years. My goal after graduation is to get a job as a lead teacher in a 3's classroom. My favorite thing about working with 3's is all the incredible stories they share with me and each other. 

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