Jennifer Maddrell leads a discussion of another key aspect of online teaching and learning--developing cognitive presence in online courses. In addition to discussing the definition of cognitive presence, we consider how it can be facilitated, and the challenges that students face when the instructors emphasize collaboration without adequate supports.

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Transcript
Apr 16, 2010 10:03:20 AM - IDL 14 - COMMUNITY OF INQUIRY II: COGNITIVE PRESENCE
 

00:59 - Cammy
I am an ID on the corporate side of things.
 
01:11 - Cammy
I may just stay quiet then... (Cammy is our third co-presenter, but had audio difficulties)
 
01:53 - Joni
Sorry, too many windows open so couldn't click on the mic fast enough. I'm an associate professor at the University of Colorado Denver.
 
04:51 - Joni

This week is the final part in a series exploring the Community of Inquiry Framework. Jennifer Maddrell leads us in an exploration of the practical dimensions of establishing teaching presence in online courses.
 

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Key questions considered include:

Webquests have been defined as “a scaffolded learning structure that uses links to essential resources on the World Wide Web and an authentic task to motivate students’ investigation of a central, open-ended question, development of individual expertise and participation in a final group process that attempts to transform newly acquired information into a more sophisticated understanding. The best WebQuests do this in a way that inspires students to see richer thematic relationships, facilitate a contribution to the real world of learning and reflect on their own metacognitive processes.”    Tom March 2003. In this show, we explore how WebQuests can be used to promote critical thinking and engaged learning. A number of resources are provided to help those new to WebQuests investigate this powerful strategy for facilitating learning.

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Chat Transcript

John Graves, the lead faculty in the Master of Science in Science Education program at Montana State University, Bozeman, spends 30 minutes sharing over a decade of expertise in the design and delivery of online courses. John touches on a number of key considerations in terms of engaging learners in the early stages of an online course:

• providing personal information
• making audio introductions available
• being available to respond to students all the time
• personalizing feedback and developing rapport

To give you a sense of how his courses have been received, here is a quote from one of his students: 
 
" John Graves is one of the best online professors I've ever had. He provides valuable feedback for assignments within a few days of the due date. His class is very organized and it is clear what your responsibilties are. He is always available for questions and spends a good deal of time making sure that we know what is going on." 

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John Graves' rubrics
Chat Transcript

As part of a series that focusses on practical strategies for designing effective online courses, the IDL team focus on how to avoid cognitive overload this week.

 
We discussed a numberof practical suggestions from experience and the research and indulged a little in information overload. Lots of good discussion and resources!

• Chat Room Protocol

Research

• Research on Cognitive Load Theory and its Design Implications for E-Learning
• Research on Cognitive Load Theory: Application to E-Learning
• The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on our Capacity for Processing Information
• Less is More When Developing PowerPoint Evaluations

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Chat Transcript
 

Authentic assessment is within the reach of most online instructors. It's just a matter of starting small and considering some basic principles in designing effective learning experiences, notes Mary Engstrom, senior instructional designer at the University of Montana. Mary discusses a framework for developing authentic tasks and identifies a number of examples. A key take away is the notion that individuals receive personalized feedback throughout the process of completing authentic tasks and can develop the ability to self-monitor their development if the opportunities are provided.
 

PowerPoint Slides

As a student or instructor in Higher Ed institutions today, it is almost inevitable that learning management systems such as Blackboard or Moodle will play a key role in the learning and teaching experience. But is there a problem with using a single, centralized system to manage learning? David Wiley and Jon Mott argue that there are certain limitations to such centralized systems, including:

• the perpetuation of the industrial age paradigm of learning;
• privileging the role of the instructor at the expense of the learner; and,
• limiting the power of the network effect in learning.

Join the ID live team this week as we discuss the practical implications of using such a system and whether we agree with these statements.

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Chat Transcript:

Having recently discussed the need to avoid cognitive overload in online courses, we take a step back to consider whether or not cognitive overload is actually an issue. As Arlene Walker-Andrews, Associate Provost and Psychology Professor at the University of Montana, points out: “I do not believe that attention and cognitive capacities are limited. In my view, attention shouldn’t be considered a finite resource, rather it should be characterized as “attending,” which suggests flexible, skilled action. Recent theories about attention suggest that although not all stimuli are analyzed, nonattended stimuli are not all filtered out and their impact on learning and memory will vary depending on relevance and/or personal experience.” Great stuff!

Join Arlene and the ID team this week to listen to what this means for individualizing the learning experience and tailoring instructional strategies to the cognitive abilities of learners.

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Arlene's Notes for the Discussion

Dr. Helen Barrett, recipient of the EIFEL lifetime achievement award for her contributions to e-portfolio research and development, joins us this week to put a firm emphasis on having students control their learning through e-portfolios. In addition to highlighting the ‘two faces of e-portfolios’, Helen makes the case that universities have been placing too great an emphasis on e-portfolios for summative learning. 

 

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Live Blogged Notes: http://cammybean.kineo.com/2010/06/two-faces-of-eportfolios.html
 
Chat Transcript

Xiaojing Liu, Senior Research Analyst at Kelley Business School, Indiana University, joins us this week to discuss how to design effective online cased-based learning courses.  Drawing on her research into cased based-learning startegies used in an MBA program, Dr. Liu considers the benefits and challenges of case-based learning from both a student and faculty perspective. Some insightful commments in the chatroom as well.

In a slight departure from our traditional format, we discuss several research papers that are being presented at the Association for Educational Communications and Technology Research Symposium being held in Bloomington, Indiana from July 20 - July 23. Jennifer Maddrell, presenting on the influence of Backchannel Communication on Cognitive Load, discusses her paper and several others in this 30 minute discussion. All papers presented at the symposium are freely available on the AECT website.

Available on the Web

Chat Transcipt:

Despite the caveats identified in the research, the conclusion, for some, was still: Online learning is better!

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Inspired by a number of discussions at the Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning in Madison Wisconsin,  we consider the process of transitioning from a proprietary learning management system such as Blackboard to an open source system such as Moodle. Keith Lynip, director of Extended Learning Services at The University of Montana, discusses the nature of this process from the request for information from vendors to the selection of an open-source provider. Questions such as how to support faculty in this transition/transformation process are addressed.
  afkatws

 
Zuochen Zhang, Assistant Professor in the School of Education at Windsor University, and Richard F. Kenny, Associate Professor at the Center for Distance Education, Athabasca University, joined us this week to discuss the perspectives of International students in online courses.
It is becoming common practice in higher education for online distance education programs to enroll international students, but what are the implications for online course designers and instructors when faced with learners from diverse backgrounds that may not be familiar with cultural references, discourse conventions or a constructivist pedagogical approach.  Tune in to find out more.
 
Discussion is based around Learning in an Online Distance Eductaion Course: Experiences of Three International Students

Time to put a little fun into online learning--with good reason: 'Emotional arousal helps the brain learn'. Medina, Brain Rules (2008). Joni Dunlap leads the IDLive team in considering how to incorporate fun into the fabric of a course to provide a more stimulating learning experience.