Helping students develop standard writing skills is essential for them to become successful in each of their classes. Your article has an original concept even for a non-English course. I can really see the concepts and practices established in your article being implemented in any course. For example, courses with a CLC project require students to create their individual parts to the project and then compile the material into a reading worth, logically flowing, uniformed six to eight page paper. It would be a good idea to implement a "writer's community" within the structure of the clc project. The "writer's community" sounds very similar to a "writer's workshop" where students review in detail the works of their peers and provide constructive comments on ways the writing can be improved.
It would be great if examples within the presentation regarding the different types of activites or exercises that could be used for each of the under used tools of the class wall, chat room and journals.
I like the idea of live chat rooms in the online classroom. If we could get a good number of students to sign on at the same time, it would be easier to convey volumes of important information at once, rather than doing it individually. I also think that keeping journals is good idea, but I have a feeling that students will not participate in that unless they will be earning credit for it.
I love the idea of live chat, and I have seen it work fairly well at other institutions. The key, I think, is what Kristen notes: getting a group of students to log in at the same time.
I have a friend at another institution who holds optional additional information sessions by chat and sometimes invites guest speakers. I had the privilege of being a guest speaker twice, and what he did was intriguing: he started by logging in early and playing music for students who also arrived early (usually, it related to the theme of the day). Then, the guest speakers didn't so much lecture as join the instructor in facilitating a discussion. I can't quite recall all the details, but I think students had the opportunity to engage in a post-discussion forum for points. Since it was optional, I don't know how this worked from a practical perspective, but I do know that he had a pretty good turn out for evening sessions. My guess is because it wasn't quite what they expected at first (music) and gave them a voice (discussion) in combination with a way to earn points. As Kristen says, I think credit will be a vital component to making this work, but I love the idea of trying it out. I wonder if we could beta test something like this in a class or two?
Pinara: Thank you for your feedback. I think the idea of implementing the concept of a writer's community within the structure of a CLC project is a good one. I do not have much experience with CLC projects in online classes, but it is definitely an avenue to explore in the future!
Kristen & Jen: The concept of a synchronous online meeting centered around a guest speaker or specific topic is one that I can see working in our online classes here. When I taught online at the secondary level, I scheduled meetings very similar on a weekly basis. They were optional, but students earned extra credit for attending. They afforded the opportunity for students to interact in a live classroom environment with their instructor on a weekly basis, which they looked forward to. We used to use a program called "Elluminate" which was very effective in an online classroom setting. Students could chat, applaud, comment on the instructor's presentation either over audio or by typing comments in a chat box. Instructors had complete control over the classroom and could turn off chat among students, poll students in the middle of a lecture/session, and publish results. Something to consider as we move forward!
4 Comments
Helping students develop standard writing skills is essential for them to become successful in each of their classes. Your article has an original concept even for a non-English course. I can really see the concepts and practices established in your article being implemented in any course. For example, courses with a CLC project require students to create their individual parts to the project and then compile the material into a reading worth, logically flowing, uniformed six to eight page paper. It would be a good idea to implement a "writer's community" within the structure of the clc project. The "writer's community" sounds very similar to a "writer's workshop" where students review in detail the works of their peers and provide constructive comments on ways the writing can be improved.
It would be great if examples within the presentation regarding the different types of activites or exercises that could be used for each of the under used tools of the class wall, chat room and journals.
I like the idea of live chat rooms in the online classroom. If we could get a good number of students to sign on at the same time, it would be easier to convey volumes of important information at once, rather than doing it individually. I also think that keeping journals is good idea, but I have a feeling that students will not participate in that unless they will be earning credit for it.
Stephanie,
I love the idea of live chat, and I have seen it work fairly well at other institutions. The key, I think, is what Kristen notes: getting a group of students to log in at the same time.
I have a friend at another institution who holds optional additional information sessions by chat and sometimes invites guest speakers. I had the privilege of being a guest speaker twice, and what he did was intriguing: he started by logging in early and playing music for students who also arrived early (usually, it related to the theme of the day). Then, the guest speakers didn't so much lecture as join the instructor in facilitating a discussion. I can't quite recall all the details, but I think students had the opportunity to engage in a post-discussion forum for points. Since it was optional, I don't know how this worked from a practical perspective, but I do know that he had a pretty good turn out for evening sessions. My guess is because it wasn't quite what they expected at first (music) and gave them a voice (discussion) in combination with a way to earn points. As Kristen says, I think credit will be a vital component to making this work, but I love the idea of trying it out. I wonder if we could beta test something like this in a class or two?
Pinara: Thank you for your feedback. I think the idea of implementing the concept of a writer's community within the structure of a CLC project is a good one. I do not have much experience with CLC projects in online classes, but it is definitely an avenue to explore in the future!
Kristen & Jen: The concept of a synchronous online meeting centered around a guest speaker or specific topic is one that I can see working in our online classes here. When I taught online at the secondary level, I scheduled meetings very similar on a weekly basis. They were optional, but students earned extra credit for attending. They afforded the opportunity for students to interact in a live classroom environment with their instructor on a weekly basis, which they looked forward to. We used to use a program called "Elluminate" which was very effective in an online classroom setting. Students could chat, applaud, comment on the instructor's presentation either over audio or by typing comments in a chat box. Instructors had complete control over the classroom and could turn off chat among students, poll students in the middle of a lecture/session, and publish results. Something to consider as we move forward!
Thanks,
Stephanie