When was the last time someone from outside your school thanked your students for the work they were doing?

An eighth grade English teacher, Jessie Thaler, says that being thanked was the most surprising effect of having her students blog. Her students weren’t used to being appreciated for what they do. Being visible and findable online means that her students’ work can be appreciated. And it should be; check out what her students have written. (Those of you who have taken or facilitate Cultural Competence: A Transformative Journey will recognize the “Where I’m From” poems as a similar activity from one in that course.)

That idea of being “findable” is our blog theme this month. One of the benefits of Web 2.0 technology is that it gives us the opportunity to make learning visible online. In Building Online Collaborative Environments, we talk about being “clickable.”

When we talk about making students “clickable,” we mean making them accessible to search engines and making it easier for people to find them and their work. It’s much more difficult for students to build their learning networks if no one else can find them (or at least their content).

When Jessie Thaler’s students post to her blog, they are building a learning network. They are making connections with others that would be difficult or impossible without this technology.

Being visible means students have an authentic audience for their work. How many hours did you spend in school writing papers that no one read besides you, your teacher, and maybe your family? Knowing that others can read their writing can be very motivating for students. High school math and computer science teacher Chris Higgins has written about the motivating effect of a map showing locations of visitors to his classroom site. Students are so excited about these global visitors that they check the stats on weekends and use Google Earth to explore the locations.

This also means we all have an easy way to support other educators, even if we can’t visit their physical classrooms. We can thank students for sharing their work; we can be the authentic audience that helps motivate them.

Now I have a favor to ask of you. Can you please find some student work posted online and be their audience? Thank them or give them feedback; just go comment and let them see that their work is appreciated. Look through the featured posts from Class Blogmeister for some inspiration (to leave a comment, click the teacher’s name and then look for the student entries in the left navigation of the classroom blog). You can also try this list of classroom blogs, although some of these blogs aren’t currently being updated. If you know of some great student blogging happening, please share the link in the comments below.

Thank you!

Image Credit: cc licensed flickr photo shared by psd

In the 1984 movie, Ghostbusters, Rick Moranis’ character, the Gatekeeper, was looking for the Keymaster. Cataclysmic events would occur once the Gatekeeper and Keymaster met and preventing such a catastrophe was the goal of the Ghostbusters.  There are times when our online world feels a little like that.  Cataclysmic, catastrophic!

Over the course of my previous online experience, I have been a student, an instructor, a principal for a virtual high school, and a district manager for all online learning. Strangely enough, my horror stories are not focused on the Chemistry students who did not receive their lab kits, or even the software that refused to download, although those were challenges. My horror stories are more about relationships and people. The instructor who failed to show up in an online course for two weeks because someone in central office neglected to tell him he was scheduled to teach. The group member who waited until the last minute (literally at midnight!) to submit her portion of a large project. The superintendent who thought we could have hundreds of students in one course because “how hard could it be to teach online.”

More horrifying yet, are the individuals who’s vision of online teaching and learning takes on a 1998 perspective. The attitude of “but we’ve always done it this way” rather than embracing the possibilities of a 2010 online classroom. Web 2.0 tools and web 3.0 thinking.

When you look at your vision of online, are you a Gatekeeper or a Keymaster? The cataclysmic event being a 1998 vision that results in a old-school perspective of online learning. Or are you a Ghostbuster banishing the old thoughts that prevent the expansion of new ideas and possibilities?

Aspire to be a Ghostbuster! There are a growing number of us!

Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."

I took a bit of artistic license with this, but this is based on a true story shared by Jeff Goldman at the excellent MinuteBio blog.  Several weeks ago, I put out a call for e-learning horror stories. Jeff’s was by far the best (or worst!) story, and I’m grateful that he inspired me to this creativity.

With deepest apologies to Edgar Allen Poe…

Online Course

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious module of forgotten lore,
While I designed, my objectives mapping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my cubicle door.
“Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my cubicle door —
Only this, and nothing more.”

Ah, distinctly I remember, seven years ago December,
And each separate service center spread out upon the map
Eagerly I wished to prove, and vainly I had sought to move
Our onsite courses to online — online would be a snap
We’d learn across the distances, converting would be a snap.
We’d fill our knowledge gap.

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
Confidently I marketed this superb online course.
Who should take the online course, what to learn in an online course,
Such convenience as a benefit of the online course,
Why not take this online course?

Back in my Baltimore cubicle, I prepared for this pinnacle
Of online learning. But there, the tapping, louder than before.
“Surely,” said I, “surely that is someone from my local office.”
But I see, then, who is there, and confused I do implore,
“Why is a colleague from Virginia here at my door,
Traveling to tap on my cubicle door?”

This I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing
To the woman whose voice now started somewhat hoarse.
This and more I sat divining, with my head confused reclining
Her answer I was pining: “I’m here for my online course.

I’m here for my ONLINE COURSE.”

Image credit: cc licensed flickr photo shared by J. Heinisch

It’s a common complaint (often exaggerated) about online education that students plagiarize, but my horror stories aren’t about students. My horror stories are about developing online courses. (Note: neither of these stories is from PLS; these happened at a prior job.)

How NOT to Hide Your Tracks When Plagiarizing

I was reviewing a course I inherited from a coworker who had just left the company when I discovered some sentences that just didn’t fit quite right. The tone shifted drastically mid-paragraph—always a red flag. So I started to highlight some phrases so I could Google them…and suddenly realized there were links embedded in the text.

As it turned out, this course included extensive copying from other sources. One of the sources was a website that frequently linked to glossary terms. But the person who copied the content didn’t know how to remove the links after she pasted it in Word, so she just changed the blue text to black and removed the underline. As soon as I hovered my mouse over the offending passages, I could follow the links right back to the original source. It did make it easy for me to find it though.

Oh, the Irony

I’ve seen a number of subject matter experts plagiarize content for courses, but my all-time favorite story isn’t from a course I worked on myself. Another instructional designer had a SME who, frankly, really wasn’t a great writer. She had been struggling for weeks to coach him on the writing style and content. Finally, she received a draft that was right on track. She was so happy that she was getting better quality work from him…until she did a routine plagiarism check on it. Over an entire paragraph had been copied from a website.

The topic of the copied and pasted content? Business ethics.

Your Horror Stories

What about you? Do you have a great story about copied and pasted content finding its way into an online course, either as part of course development or as a student submission? What are your horror stories?

It was a dark and stormy night or so the transcripts say,
The nimble fingers of the students transformed the course all day,
Collaboration took place in wikis and chats the most,
But rising from the General Forum came an ALL CAPS post.

It was no admin nor help desk participants knew well,
No instructional designer in anger sent out that yell,
No course mentor moaned in exasperation or did write,
Twas just BobSmithly posting his noisy complaint for the night.

BobSmithly voiced that his work deserved more than due reward,
And thus he made collaboration within the course quite hard,
The other students read what he had wrote and kept their peace,
So ignored his wails and whinging that came without a surcease.

BobSmithly was convinced that he knew more than each classmate,
But his small group suffered the most from that horrifying ingrate,
For all of the assignments the group tried to get along,
And endured in hushed silence as he blamed them for every wrong.

It was a dark and stormy night or so transcripts contend,
And so perhaps that was the reason (or the holiday weekend),
When suddenly the all caps posts ceased; On Monday bright and eager,
Within the course they found that BobSmithly logged off…forever.

The course mentor logged on at once to see what had happened,
Then called the teacher and students for answers to her questions,
And one fact most interesting came out into the light,
That every thing the participants had done was flat out right.

His small group included him and ignored his text-based crimes,
The teacher, with gentle words, replied to his “concerns” each time,
So though the course was empty over the weekend so long,
The small group and instructor were sure to be cleared of all wrong.

At length the course mentor announced the reason he had quit,
BobSmithly had “personal affairs” to which he must commit,
The announcement caused relief of which there was now no lack,
Though a chill ran down their spines at his last message: I’ll be back…

Dark side of the moon

For some the month of October conjures up images of Fall Festivals, autumn leaves, and candy corn. For others, memories of Edgar Allan Poe’s  The Raven or The Tell-Tale Heart come to mind.

The Raven
Edgar Allan Poe
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

This month the Online Course Development Team is thinking more Edgar Allan Poe and less candy corn. Join us as we explore the “dark side” of online teaching in the form of teaching horror stories. While you won’t hear an online instructor say, “but only one student was injured!”or “the science lab needed remodeling anyway.” All online instructors have tales to tell whether it’s technology outages (how reliable is your ISP?) or inappropriate behavior by students.

What stories can you tell?

During September we have looked at Online Teaching and Learning, hopefully, from potential students’ and teachers’ perspective. Beginning with misconceptions and determining what it takes to learn OR teach online. Do you have the skills to be successful?

April made us think about the message we are conveying when we use humor. She gave us concrete ideas about how to add humor and questions to consider when using humor. “Is the humor going to further the discussion about the content?” Great question! Afterall, it’s not about us or our personal amusement!!

Christy taught us to be VOCAL in our online courses… without being loud and obnoxious! (Yes, humor for my personal benefit! )  VOCAL translates to Visible, Organized, Compassionate, Analytical, Leader-by-example. Excellent guidelines for any interaction whether online or face-to-face.

So… do you have the skills to be successful? Try teaching or learning online! You may surprise yourself with how powerful online interactions can be!

No, this isn’t about how loud or outspoken online facilitators should be; it’s a model for successful online teaching. One of the first reading assignments in our Facilitating Online Learning Communities course is “BE VOCAL: Characteristics of Successful Online Instructors.” VOCAL is an acronym for

• Visible
• Organized
• Compassionate
• Analytical
• Leader-by-example

Visibility is about social presence, how much participants are aware of each other as real people in an online environment.

Organization is critical for online facilitators partly because online students must be more organized. In an online environment, learners must take more responsibility for managing their own time and directing their own learning. Online facilitators need to be organized to support this self-directed learning.

Compassionate online facilitators recognize and appreciate that their learners are real people with emotional needs as well as intellectual ones. If your students are afraid of failing or don’t feel that your online classroom is a safe environment, it’s unlikely that they’ll ever get past those emotional barriers to be able to effectively learn. Relating to your participants compassionately can also help them open up to you and provide you with insight on their motivation.

The analytical side of online facilitation is when instructors take advantage of the technology available to track and analyze student behavior. For example, in Sakai, our LMS, facilitators can see statistics and generate reports on student activity. Why does that matter? Take an example from the Facilitating Online Learning Communities course: the quiet participant.

In the online environment the facilitator cannot see the understanding nod or questioning glance of a quiet participant. In fact, in an online, asynchronous classroom, the facilitator may not even know if the participant is in the room. Silence in the online world can mean many things. Is the participant present but not prepared to post? Unaware of the need to post? Not yet logged in? Having technical difficulties?

Analyzing site statistics can help a facilitator determine what’s wrong. If the statistics show that the student doesn’t have any activity in the course yet, the problem may be a technical issue with logging in. On the other hand, if the statistics show that the student has read course content but simply hasn’t posted anything yet, the necessary solution may have more to do with compassion to encourage a reluctant poster than with technical expertise.

A leader-by-example in the online learning environment sets the tone and models expected behavior. They can guide learners through the activities, pushing when participants need to be pushed and supporting when they need the support.

Although the original model uses “leader-by-example” for the last letter of VOCAL, I think it could also stand for “learner-by-example.” The best online facilitators learn along with their students, modeling lifelong learning. This is especially important with adult learners; recognizing that adult learner have valuable experiences and insights to share makes a course more valuable for both the facilitator and the participants.

What do you see as the characteristics of successful online facilitators? If you rewrote this VOCAL model, what would it stand for?

• Versatile or Vibrant?
• Open or Original?
• Creative or Credible?
• Adaptable or Available?
• Lively or Lifelong Learner?

There are hundreds if not thousands of guides on how to be a great online student or teacher. As a matter of fact, PLS offers a course on how to be a better facilitator (DFS). Therefore, my post will be brief today.

Thank you.

…

…

…

Or not.

You see, what we forget is that to interact, diffuse tense situations, and/or connect on a fundamental level we must have something in common. One of the ways to do that in online learning, beyond the content of the course, is to use humor.

But I’m not funny, you wail!

Fear not! For I shall slay the beast of boredom and deliver unto you the treasure of the funny.

Ahem.

Sorry about that. Getting back to reality means that I can offer a few suggestions on how to add humor to your courses:

1. Use a picture: Dilbert, Gary Larson, ICanHasCheezburger are all funny and some of them can even apply to your course content
2. Tell a joke: math jokes, science jokes, writing jokes, teacher jokes
3. Poll your students: As an example, ask them who the best instructor is and only offer them the choice of your name (for all three responses)
4. Top 10 List ala David Letterman
5. Don’t get sued. Seriously. See pages 43-53 of “Did you hear the one about ?” Important considerations for instructors in applying humor in online courses“

To further narrow your choices, think about the following:

• Is the humor going to further the discussion about the content?
• Is it offensive to anyone in the course?
• Do I need to explain it or give a lead in to the humor (which takes the fun out of it, in my opinion)

Think using humor is a bunch of hooey, even after I went to all that trouble to slay a dragon for you? For shame! Course retention can actually be better when you use appropriate humor (Garner, 2006) and, when incorporated into a course,  humor creates the perception that the instructor puts extra effort into the course which helps relax students and improve learning (Garner, 2006).

In Using Humor in Online Courses, the author mentions a study by LoSchaivo and Shatz that found, while humor didn’t increase course grades, it did seem to have a positive impact on student participation (emails and discussions).

However you decide to incorporate humor into your course make sure that it’s appropriate. For example, sarcasm, while sometimes funny when associated with voice cues and body language, comes across flat (and sometimes derogatory) in a text based medium like forums, wikis, and chat. And not everyone comes from the same background or has the same values, so keep that in mind when finding your “humor voice” as you communicate and interact with your students.

Finding your humor voice takes time and some extra effort so don’t push yourself. My suggestion is to try one “funny” per module or section of course content. The good thing is that you can reuse humor content for each course so it will be fresh for each section you teach. Unless of course you flunk someone and they have to take your class again.

So, told any good jokes lately?

References

Garner, R. L. (2006). “Humor in pedagogy: How ha-ha can lead to aha!,” College Teaching, 54(1), 177-180.

LoSchaivo, F.M., & Shatz, M.A. (2005). Enhancing online instruction with humor. Teaching of Psychology, 32, 247-250.

Taylor, C., Zeng, H., & Eskey, M. (2009). “Did you hear the one about ?” Important considerations for instructors in applying humor in online courses. Accessed at http://conference.merlot.org/2009/Saturday/Taylor_Zeng_Eskey_Saturday_ppt.pdf

When I tell people I work online and work from home, the first reaction is usually “Oh, I would love to do that!” Followed by “You get to work whenever you want AND in your pajamas! That’s challenging to my thinking given I am more likely to be working in a suit jacket than a pajama top. What is it about working online that results in so many misconceptions?

The same is true for teaching and learning online; misconceptions abound. That’s not to say that learning or working online is for everyone. It’s not! For example, those pajama people… how productive can they really be?!

This month we are going to look at what makes a good online student and what makes a good online instructor.  What characteristics help insure success working online?

Perhaps you’ve thought of teaching online but were unsure what requirements… or skills you needed. Several universities and learning entities have put together a vast amount of information including assessments that help you determine if you are a good candidate. The Illinois Online Network has posted a concise list of criteria for online facilitators. Would you prefer a short quiz? Check out an excellent assessment from OnlineLearning.net.

If you are considering taking a course online or know someone who has an interest, access the Student Online Readiness Tool. Also, look at the Illinois Online Network for a discussion of unique student qualities needed.

What characteristics do you think point to online success? Are you the perfect candidate for online? Join our discussion!