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Creating Dynamic Course Content: Making Class More Fun!

By Cathy Garland, VP of Marketing & Sales for Scholar360



My goal today is to present a solution to a problem. The problem is unengaged students. The solution, in my opinion, is not to throw out traditional forms of teaching. Rather, I believe the solution is augmenting traditional forms of teaching with Web 2.0 tools and breaking up lectures into bite-sized pieces.

Let’s start by talking about what changes today’s student brings with them. Then I’ll cover a number of tools you can use to interact with these students in a more effective, collaborative way.

Who Are Our Students Today?

• Send over 400 text messages per month, on average, according to some sources.

• View their cell phones as an extension of themselves, sending text messages, making calls, checking the time, scheduling appointments, calculating math, taking photos, playing games or looking up something on the Internet.

• Like to define who they are and make connections via social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, etc.

• Are multi-taskers in the extreme.

• Are raised on 2+ hours of TV per day.

| |What Are Our students saying? |

| |Multi-tasking is necessary |

| |What they are learning doesn’t seem relevant |

| |They are concerned with social problems |

| |They are concerned with paying for an education that will not guarantee a job. |

| |Bottom Line: They are not engaged. |

What Is the Problem?

Part of the problem:

Frequent TV viewers in early childhood were most likely to score in the highest 10% for concentration problems, impulsiveness and restlessness. Scoring within that 10% doesn't mean a child has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but many would have it, and the others could face major learning problems.

Every added hour of watching TV increased a child's odds of having attention problems by about 10%. Kids watching about three hours a day were 30% more likely to have attention trouble than those viewing no TV.

“The addictive nature of web browsing can leave you with an attention span of nine seconds - the same as a goldfish.” -According to Ted Selker, an expert in the online equivalent of body language at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US.

Are we teaching goldfish???

What Has Changed?

Learners as little as forty years ago would complete the required schooling and enter a career that would often last a lifetime. Information development was slow and often proprietary. The life of knowledge was measured in decades.

Today, knowledge (not wisdom) is growing exponentially. In many fields the life of knowledge is now measured in months and years. This is mostly due to the impact of technology.

Over the last twenty years, technology has reorganized how we live, how we communicate, and how we learn.

• Many learners will move into a variety of different, possibly unrelated fields over the course of their lifetime.

• Information learning is a significant aspect of our learning experience. Formal education no longer comprises the majority of our learning. Learning now occurs in a variety of ways – through communities of practice, personal networks, and through completion of work-related tasks.

• Learning is a continual process, lasting for a lifetime. Learning and work-related activities are no longer separate. In many situations, they are the same.

• Technology is altering (rewiring) our brains. The tools we use define and shape our thinking have changed.

• The organization and the individual are both learning organism. Increased attention to knowledge management and mapping highlights the need for a theory that attempts to explain the link between individual and organizational learning.

• Many of the processes previously handled by learning theories (especially in cognitive information processing) can now be off-loaded to, or supported by, technology.

• Know-how and know-what is being supplemented with know-where (the

understanding of where to find knowledge needed).

How do we change?

Some thoughts from experts:

“The first thing that {graduates} will remember 20 years from now will be the relationships with their student colleagues and their professors. And the second thing that people will remember is that educational outcome.” - Phillip E. Long, CIO at Yale University

“…entice faculty members to do things. You encourage them. You make it easy. You at least provide the opportunity without the barriers.” - Phillip E. Long, CIO at Yale University

“You also lead {change} by making certain that students can articulate what it is that they want. In our case, we also do it by creating differentiated-learning environments. There’s more than one way to skin a cat. There’s more than one way to advance, and we allow those multiple ways to thrive in the same environment. We don’t hold one up as superior to the other – it’s just an alternative.” - Michael M Crow, President of Arizona State Univ.

“The past 15 years have seen a significant increase in the use of technology in higher education. In fact, professors now find it difficult to imagine teaching without the Internet, course management systems, Microsoft Office, email, and other technological applications.

Meanwhile, prospective students and new faculty members increasingly judge colleges and universities based on the educational technologies they offer.” - Edward J. Maloney, “What Web 2.0 Can Teach Us About Learning”

I do not advocate a complete erasure of older, traditional methods. Rather, I suggest a creative approach to incorporating all forms of learning and all technology systems that can support these learning forms.

I suggest that schools work hard to create a culture where new technology is embraced, supported, and actively encouraged. Also, I recommend keeping an open dialogue with your student body.

The approach to eLearning that I would like us to implement uses social software technologies to empower students in their self-governed activities. Students are directed to solve a problem using all the tools available and in collaboration with other students.

Self-governed, problem-based and collaborative activities call for tools that support construction, presentation, reflection, collaboration, and tools for finding people and other resources of relevance to the presenting problem.

“Social Networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook have shown, among other things that students will invest time and energy in building relationships around shared interests and knowledge communities.” - Edward J. Maloney, What Web 2.0 Can Teach Us About Learning

“Social software can be a difficult concept to define. The term not only includes a wide range of different technologies, but the social aspect of the technologies often emerges from a combined use of different technologies.” - Christian Dalsgaard, Institute of Information and Media Studies at the University of Aarhus

Tools to Consider

Web 2.0

Web 2.0 or “read/write web” developed from a recognition of how technical developments and significant changes in internet usage have altered how we interact with information and with each other in the electronic world.

From it we can see a new focus on innovation, creation, collaboration. It emphasizes:

• Shared knowledge over static information delivery

• Knowledge management over content management

• Social interaction over isolated “surfing”.

CMS/LMS/LMS-SN

Course Management Systems (CMS) are generally used in very limited ways by both faculty and students. According to a recent Educause Center for Applied Research study, the vast majority of students who use course-management systems do so simply to gain access to course materials and their grades.

Learner Management Systems (LMS) are built around the individual learner, rather than the course. An LMS-SN incorporates all the academic features of an LMS with the Web 2.0 features of a social network. This catapults learning from the confines of the classroom (virtual or residential) to encourage a more active, participatory role for students.

Social Networks

Social networks are defined as connections or relations between people engaged in different kinds of communication. Communication can be one-way as well as two-way and synchronous as well as asynchronous. There are at least three types of networks:

1. Networks between people working collaboratively

2. Networks between people sharing a context

3. Networks between people sharing a field of interest

Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking tools can also support communities. The principle behind social bookmarking is to bookmark your web pages on the web, instead of in your browser. When you bookmark a web page, you tag the page with different keywords of your own choice. These bookmarks can be viewed and shared by other people.

Blog (or Weblog)

A blog is a log file with dated entries listed on a web page in chronological order. Maintaining a blog requires continuously writing new entries which can be categorized under different headlines.

In itself, a blog is not a social or collaborative tool. However, when linked to other blogs, it becomes a social environment or community and networks are formed.

Discussion Forums

Discussion Forums are web applications for holding discussions and posting user generated content. Internet forums are also commonly referred to as web forums, message boards, discussion boards, (electronic) discussion groups, discussion forums, bulletin boards, or simply forums. Messages within these forums are then displayed either in chronological order or as threaded discussions or both.

RSS Feeds

It is possible to subscribe to blogs (as well as other news content such as newspapers, magazines, etc.). Using RSS feeds enables users to be notified whenever a new entry has been written on a blog or an article of interest has been published.

This enables connections between bloggers and their readers

Communities

Communities are groups of people collaborating or communicating for any reason. Communities can be based on themes, personal interests, hobbies, etc. They can also be academically based (i.e. when a teacher divides the class into groups of 3 to work on a class project, a community is born). Communities can be public (open to the whole school) or private (only open to specific people within the school).

WIKIs

Wikis provide a collaborative area for instructors to post vocabulary that students are learning within a course. The students can then define the vocabulary (called wiki entries).

This method gets students to define for themselves what they are learning, read what other students have posted, make changes, and generally come to a class consensus on what is being learned.

File Sharing

Enabling students to share files within a course and review their peers’ work is an incredible way to foster collaborative learning. Many LMS systems provide a secure place for this to happen.

Students can also share personal files and photos, much like they would on Facebook or MySpace. This allows relationships to build.

Instant Messaging

Some professors are beginning to use instant messaging within the classroom setting. (Why not? Your students are!) A teacher’s assistant can be assigned to pop an IM to a student in class who looks confused or seems to be having trouble. During study times, this is a great way to connect with students to offer one-on-one advice and help.

Texting

We talked about texting and its wild popularity among students. Administrators at schools are using this means of communication to alert students of emergencies and other necessary alerts.

Instructors can use texting to remind students of dates and deadlines, offer daily advice, etc. This is only just now being used in an academic setting.

Video

Videos can be used to pack an exclamation into any presentation – live or online. Contrary to popular belief, they do not have to be created and you do not have to have an editing team to support you. Try or Google’s sources for free videos. Use them as catapults for class discussion and on discussion forums to support concepts or points. Or, provide students the opportunity to turn in a video rather than a paper. You might be surprised at what students turn in!

Video & Digital Recording

If you want to get a bit more creative, you can create your own videos using a variety of free or inexpensive editing software tools. The learning curve might be a little steeper, but the result is a unique broadcast that your students will enjoy, share, and discuss. Keep ‘em short, keep them simple, and to the point. Try 60-second “commercials”. (You might even try uploading them to and see what kind of fame you garner.)

Video Conferencing

Also known as streaming video/audio, this form of communication is excellent for those times when you want to hear immediate responses (online language courses) or just need to be able to read facial expressions. It’s a more expensive form of communicating – often just the streaming server and equipment is cost-prohibitive to schools. However, many LMS vendors do provide streaming video/audio at an additional cost.

Podcasting

A podcast is a digital media file, or a related collection of such files, which is distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds (RSS feeds) for playback on portable media players and personal computers. The term "podcast" is a combination of the words "iPod" and "broadcast, the Apple iPod being the brand of portable media player for which the first podcasting scripts were developed. These scripts allow podcasts to be automatically transferred to a mobile device after they are downloaded.

Though podcasters' web sites may also offer direct download or streaming of their content, a podcast is distinguished from other digital media formats by its ability to be syndicated, subscribed to, and downloaded automatically when new content is added, using an aggregator or feed reader capable of reading feed formats such as RSS or Atom.

Pictures & Animations

To find pictures or animations, try searching the internet. Or, use the link in Microsoft Office to their website. It contains oodles of photos, animations, and sounds you can use for whatever you need. Also, don’t forget to search news sites for real life photos that can be used as long as a reference to the photographer and news site is listed.

PowerPoint Presentations

You are definitely NOT stuck with what Microsoft Office provides. You can access their website for additional presentation themes created by other users. You can also get quite a few very cool tools for free from .

Music

Don’t forget to use music to engage student’s emotions, build excitement, etc. There are numerous resources for free music (just search Google for “free music”). Embed them in presentations, play as an intro to class (2001 Space Odyssey is always a good one), or use creatively as homework assignments.

Games, jokes, puzzles

A great way to make a review more interactive and just plain fun is to use a popular game-show, such as Jeopardy, Family Feud, Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, etc. Use competition to build class morale and learning.

You can also send students puzzles that teach vocabulary words, stimulate their memory, etc.

And, unless you have a dry sense of humor like mine, jokes are a good way to insert humor in a border-line boring lecture.

What’s the Good News?

In its fifth annual survey of online learning, the Sloan Consortium has found that enrollment in online education continues to outpace general college-enrollment growth.

The report, titled Online Nation: Five Years of Growth in Online Learning, indicates that about 3.5 million people took at least one online course in the fall of 2006 — up from about 3.2 million the year before…growing faster than general college enrollment, which grew by 1.3 percent from 2005 to 2006.

Tools for teachers

Games, Jokes, and Puzzles

Game Show Presenter

Crossword Puzzles  

Games and much more for educators

Free software for several games and more tools

Make your own puzzles with their free software

Digital Recording

windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx Windows® Movie Maker

Web Sites for Resources for Teaching Online:

 ion.illinois.edu/IONresources/instructionalDesign/learningStyles.asp Great site for online learning tips and techniques

  Multiple resources for integrating technology

  FREE threaded discussion software

uvm.edu/~jmorris/creatingonline.html For teachers who are learning how to teach online

start Web site to set up a free BLOG

csulb.edu/~jvancamp/work4.html Developing your own online course

General Sites and Tips for Teachers:

Dale Mueller’s site for web-based continuing education

Numerous postings about issues facing today’s teachers.

cod.edu/software/Products.htm Many multi-media products available for purchase

  Google’s link to scholarly articles, books, etc.

Interact with students thru podcasts & blogs

Publish and share curricula on this wiki

Organize your homework

Online exam preparation

Learn a new language online with Skype

For information on our LMS-SN

 

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LMS

Collaborative Tools

Class Content

Individual Tools

Social

Networks

ePortfolios

Blogs

Wikis

Discussion Forums

File sharing

Collaborative

Context

Field of Interest

PowerPoints

Videos

Lectures

You can use social bookmarking to provide web pages with pertinent links and resources to students and enable them to provide additional resources to their fellow classmates.

You can use Blogs to engage students in dialogue, ask for feedback, solve problems, share advice, and chronicle life from your/their perspective.

You can use forums to engage students in dialogue, ask for feedback, solve problems, and share advice within a course or a community.

You can use RSS feeds in classes by asking students to subscribe to your class blog and other news feeds applicable to class content. This encourages class discussion.

You can use communities to solve problems, dialogue, gather feedback, maintain relationships after courses have ended, and more.

You can use wikis to also get feedback from students. If they are defining a wiki entry incorrectly or there seems to be some confusion, that your cue!

Your LMS should provide an area for both uses.

Most IM software systems are free and even come with computers. The trick will be to have a list of each student’s “handle” – which is their IM contact information.

Most phone companies are beginning to offer unlimited texting. This might be too much to start with, but something to consider for the future.

To link to a video, simply copy and paste the URL of the video location into an object in PowerPoint. Or, download the video to your computer and upload it to the school’s LMS.

You’ll need a camera – and it doesn’t have to be an expensive one. You’ll need editing software. See list of tools for teachers.

It might be worth looking into…costs to think about are equipment for yourself, for the school, and for your students.

Podcasting is a great way to send “bit-sized” material to students

for their studies in your course. It also doesn’t require them to be present.

There are many sources on the internet that will walk you through the creation of content, broadcasting, and more.

Think “right-click”! You can “borrow” pictures and animations from anywhere on the web, just don’t publish them. See list of tools for more sites.

The URL for the Microsoft Office website is available through Microsoft as a link whenever you search for clip art, photos, or new themes.

Most computers or sites provide their own audio players.

See list of tools for teachers for a few.

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