Thinking about our audience....

This YouTube clip really got me reflecting on our changing university audience and their use of technology (and our use of technology and teaching strategies). I plan on using this clip to start a discussion with students in the spring about both of these topics. Check it out. [Update 10/29/08: Dr. Michael Wesch recently posted an entry to his blog,
Revisiting “A Vision of Students Today". I suggest you watch the video and then read his blog post, written more than a year after creating the video.]



And I plan on using this clip when talking with my Education colleagues about the importance of integrating technology more fully and creatively in our work with teacher candidates and in-service teachers -- to help prepare them to engage, inspire, and empower our digital-native students.

Sending big files to students

Here are two sites that help you send large files to students via email:

-- mailbigfile.com

-- yousendit.com

Cool kinetic sculptures

I love this sort of thing. Theo Jansen, a Dutch sculpture, has created beach creatures out of electrical tubing and lemonade bottles. Check out this demonstration -- love the creativity...and the possibilities!

AECT presentations

I had the pleasure of attending the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) annual conference in Anaheim, CA, last week. I also had the pleasure of sharing two presentations. For any interested folks, here are links to the two presentations (as pdf files) and the corresponding handouts (as MS Word files):

Strategies for Creating Social Context in an Online Calculus-Based Physics Course
-- Presentation
-- Handout

No-Nonsense Discussion Guidelines for Enhancing Social Presence in Online Courses
-- Presentation
-- Handout
Note: For the digital story used in the presentation, please see a previous post in this blog -- Storytelling for presence, posted on May 17, 2007.

Tools for using film clips in the classroom

I really like to use film clips to illustrate various points. It's easy to do these days if you have Internet available in the classroom with so many film, tv, and advertising clips available via YouTube. This fall, I ended up in a room without Internet access. Luckily, there are tools that help you download clips to your computer. The two tools I've been using are Video Downloader and KEEPVID.

Here are a few of the clips I use in my courses:


To talk about classroom discussion facilitation --




To talk about the lecture format --




To talk about the future use of technology to support teaching and learning --





To talk about adult learning theory --








To talk about student engagement --





To talk about classroom management --

Structures for small groups reporting out to whole group (Protocols Part 4)

As I've mentioned before in this blog, I like to use small group activities in my courses, both on-campus and online. In my June 27, 2007 post, I described a few common reporting out structures that I use in the classroom. Below I describe the adjusted versions of those structures, used to help avoid boring report outs in online courses. These strategies – Rotating Threads (modified from Rotating Stations), Snowballing Threads, and Jigsaw Threads – involve students in small group discussions, while allowing for the benefits of reporting out in different ways than posting and reading summaries.

Note: The descriptions below assume the use of asynchronous threaded discussion forums, but you can use these same structures for synchronous discussions using chatrooms instead of forums. Especially consider using these structures synchronously when you have limited time.

Rotating Threads

1. Set up threaded discussion forums, with a different provocative issue to discuss in each forum.
   
2. In groups of 4-5, have students rotate to a new forum. In terms of timing, you could have each group spend one day in a forum – e.g., Forum A on Monday, Forum B on Tuesday, and so on.
   
3. Have each group record their ideas about the issue in the forum.
   
4. Once groups have rotated to each forum, give students time to revisit all of the forums to see what other groups posted.
   

Snowballing Threads

1. Discussion starts with small group discussions, with each small group having their own discussion forum.
   
2. After designated amount of time, each small group joins with another group in a new forum.
   
3. After designated amount of time, each larger group joins with another group in a new forum, and so on, until the whole group comes together into the same forum.
   

Jigsaw Threads

1. Groups of 4-5 students become experts on a particular issue/topic. Each group of experts has their own discussion forum to work in as they develop their expertise. Depending on the topic, and level of desired depth of expertise, this could take one week.
   
2. Form new groups. Each new group includes an expert from one of the original groups. These new groups have their own discussion forum.
   
3. Experts lead new group in an online discussion on their area of expertise. Again, depending on the topic and desired depth, each expert could lead a discussion over one day to one week.
   

Related posts in this blog:
Discussion ground rules
Don’t jump into discussions
Engaging quieter online students
Small groups reporting out to the large group?
Karma (or inspiration) points for discussion assessment
Beyond debates and conversational roles (Protocols Part 1)
Structures for asynchronous online discussions (Protocols Part 2)
Structures for synchronous online discussions (Protocols Part 3)

Don't jump into discussions

As the facilitator/instructor, don't jump in immediately. As soon as you start contributing to the discussion, it has the potential of shutting down ideas -- students are less like to share alternative viewpoints.

In my online courses, for example, if students start a discussion on Monday, I will wait until Thursday to post (and I make sure students know this is my plan so they don't think I have disappeared and am not monitoring). This allows the students to post their original position without being swayed by me. I monitor the discussion, even though I don't post, during those first few days to get a sense of who is participating, where the discussion is going, what themes are emerging, what misconceptions need addressing, and so on. Then, on Thursday, I post to threads of discussion instead of to every individual student post. This shows students that I am attending to all of their comments, even though I do not have a 1-to-1 ratio of post/response interactions.

Related posts in this blog:
Discussion ground rules
Engaging quieter online students
Small groups reporting out to the large group?
Karma (or inspiration) points for discussion assessment
Beyond debates and conversational roles (Protocols Part 1)
Structures for asynchronous online discussions (Protocols Part 2)
Structures for synchronous online discussions (Protocols Part 3)
Structures for small groups reporting out to whole group (Protocols Part 4)