An E-learning Classroom: The Student's Perspective

Ms Louise Smith

April 23, 2003, 0000 GMT

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< cherieg> yvette.....do you know if there is a schdule of chat functions?
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< yvette> Yes, it is on the scheduling link of the web site
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< yvette> Hi, Joanne, is this the right room for student's perspective of elearning?
< Joanne> Yes I think so! At least, that's why I'm here.
< yvette> Good!
< yvette> where are you?
< Joanne> I'm in New Jersey
< yvette> I am in Ithaca NY
< Joanne> smiles
< yvette> STudent or instructor?
< Joanne> I'm an instructor :)
< yvette> I as well, and I teach academically and design and instruct in business settings
< Joanne> I teach computer science classes
< yvette> Im an OD (organizational development) consultant and teach change management and parocess consultation, leadership development etc etc
< Joanne> What is change management?
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< Joanne> Hi Taylor
< Taylor> hello
< yvette> Helping people cope with the psychological impact of change
< yvette> Hi, Taylor
< Taylor> hello
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< Joanne> Oh, I see
< yvette> Hi, Phil
< phil> hi
< Taylor> hello
< phil> are you finding it hard to keep up with the mountain of information
< yvette> I am just getting into this session. Had to work all day unfortunately
< Taylor> I as well.
< Taylor> I just finished up a session in fact
< phil> I find it also difficult to get involved
< phil> What session did you finish, Taylor
< yvette> why do you find it difficult to get involved?
< Joanne> How did it go, Taylor?
< phil> I don't have the time I need to devote to this
< phil> Has anyone viewed the live sessions?
< Taylor> I finished the session on the paper I presented with my partner for this conference, e-literacy in the classroom
< Joanne> Yes Phil, they were fun!
< Taylor> It went well...we got a very fruitful dialogue going
< yvette> Taylor, that sounds interesting. I wish I had been there. Is the chat archived?
< phil> How many people are enrolled in this conference?
< yvette> don't know, phil
< Taylor> Yes it is archived apparently...there is a link to all the recorded chats. I was in the Lehua room 2300 GMT for today
< phil> How long will all this information be available
< Taylor> Presumeably for the length of the conference if notl onger
< Joanne> Usually it's available for at least a week or two after the conference. They tell you at the end how long they will keep up the data. Papers go first, then forums.
< phil> ok, thanks
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< yvette> Hi, Louise
< Taylor> hello Louise
< Joanne> Hi Louise
< Louise> Hello yvette
< Louise> Hello Taylor
< Louise> Hello Joanne
< Louise> Minna san Konichiwa
< Louise> I am a teacher of Japanese
< Taylor> ahh
< Louise> in Brisbane, Australia
< Louise> I teach using a hybrid method to students around the state
< Louise> Queensland
< Louise> 7 times the size of the UK
< Louise> 5 times Texas US
< yvette> My son is studying in ADelaide
< Louise> Where do you come from?
< Taylor> So your students are spread aroudn the state, don't actually meet in a classroom?
< yvette> Ithaca, NY b;y way of New Orleans
< Joanne> New Jersey, US
< Taylor> Ohio
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< Louise> Taylor can we hold your ? for a bit?
< Louise> Hi Judi
< Taylor> sure
< Judi_K> Hi
< Taylor> Hello Judi
< yvette> Hi, Judy
< Louise> We are just introducing ourselves
< Louise> Would you like to tell me about your work or IT interests?
< Louise> yvette?
< Judi_K> Hi everyone. I'm Judi Kirkpatrick, due to be a presenter in another hour and a half on an Assessment Tool.
< yvette> I teach in the masters program for Organizatioal Development at the Fielding Graduate Institute,a nd for eCornell's adult certification program. I also design customzied training for business and train trainers to teach online.
< yvette> I am presenting tomorrow.
< Louise> great
< Louise> thanks Judi good luck
< Louise> Joanne?
< Joanne> I teach computer science subjects in an online environment.
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< Louise> thanks - must be hard?
< Taylor> Hello Toshi
< Joanne> *laughs* Some days.
< Louise> Toshi san konnichiwa
< Louise> Taylor how about you?
< Toshi> Hello,
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< Taylor> I am a teacher of Freshman compoistion and am doing research on electronic literacy in the classroom
< Louise> Very topical in Oz right now
< Louise> Toshi could you introduce yourself?
< Toshi> I'm an assoicate professor of Junior College
< Judi_K> I've taught fycomp for years, Taylor. Now you're feeling like our online students feel, no doubt.
< Louise> Hi cathya
< cathya> Hello
< Louise> Toshi what do you teach there and where is it?
< Toshi> ergonomics, not on line, in Kagoshima, Japan
< Louise> cath can you introduce yourself?
< Louise> Kagoshima is a beautiful place!
< cathya> Hi I am director learning center for gillette campus of Sheridan college
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< Louise> Toshi what 's your IT interest?
< Toshi> I'm surprise you know this small town
< Louise> Cath is there IT/online learning there?
< cathya> Yes we have a growing program
< Louise> Hi Jeanne could you introduce yourself?
< Louise> Cath what courses are the main ones?
< Toshi> I teach basic IT and manage IT enviroment in my college
< cathya> Our math classes, online wellness, and English seem very strong
< Jeanne_Arizona> Jeanne Franco - I teach online and traditional accounting courses at Paradise Valley Community College (a Maricopa school) in Phoenix.
< cathya> Accounting is that challenging?
< Louise> Thanks everyone
< Louise> for introducing yourselves
< Jeanne_Arizona> The only real challenge is the grading of online student assignments. Usually takes me 30 minutes per student per week for grading, communicating, etc.
< cathya> You must have it very well organized, good for you!
< Louise> We have many different areas of expertise
< Louise> As I said before I teach Japanese in a hybrid online learning environment
< Jeanne_Arizona> I've offered 4 online accounting courses for 8 semesters now, and I have it down to a science.
< Taylor> I'm teaching hybrid freshman comp courses and learnign what works
< Louise> I am wondering why you all joined my presentation today
< Taylor> I've integrated tutors from my school's writing center into the peer editing of the course online
< cathya> Interesting we would like to better implement hybrid classes here too
< Louise> If you have any specific questions?
< Toshi> Would you tell the details of "Hybrid", Luise?
< yvette> I am interested in the student's perspective of what they want from online learning
< Taylor> yes
< Louise> Sure
< Jeanne_Arizona> I'm wanting to get ideas as to how to best incorporate live chat into a course. I find it very difficult given that students take online courses because they have such unusual work schedules.
< Louise> hybrid means online in real time I have an internet and phone connection
< Judi_K> Agrees with Jeanne that it does get easier over time. Have taught fycomp and Advanced Expository Writing online since '98, AmLit since '90 and now I'm doing a new lit. class in the fall, short fiction.
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< yvette> Your paper says that self development is an important end result of online learning. Can you elaborate on that
< Louise> Hi Shari
< Taylor> I want to make my hybrid courses more effective for my students so they get them ost out of the technology involved and from each other as well
< Louise> the other half is offline - self study
< shari> Great to be here--see already a topic of interest--hybrid
< Louise> We touched on this earlier in our chat
< Louise> self development
< Louise> I think all of us prob have had to do this
< Louise> IT is a new relatively new medium to be used in the hybrid method
< Judi_K> With hybrid, students can teach the teacher, often.
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< Louise> We have all had to learn new things as we have gone along
< Louise> Yes Judi! I have learnt a lot from them
< Louise> What are some things students have taught you all?
< Toshi> self study may be hard for someone, but online will make a motivation for it
< yvette> so self development is learning new skills? self reflection in being in a new setting? learning how to navigate in unknown waters of virutal learning?
< cathya> YOu mention that the other half is self-study, what does that involve?
< Louise> Yes yvette
< Louise> We call it offline/asynchronous lessons
< yvette> Louise, I like that question. I learn never to take anything for granted. To be very careful with the written word. My students often interpret something in ways I had never dreamed.
< Taylor> My students have taught me not to make any assumptions about their skills with technology, but to be sure that I go over my expectations of how they use technology in a thorough manner
< Louise> We use Blackboard as a repository
< Louise> Students have 2 x 50 mins lessons at school
< Louise> They can access it from home too
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< Louise> Yes Yvette no matter how clearly you write instructions students can come up with another interpretation
< yvette> Yes, Louise. I used to teach dance and found the dance always changed when the dancer interpeted the choreography. Next question:What do you learn from the students who don't enjoy the online environment? What is typically missing.
< Louise> Yes Taylor
< yvette> That is , what do they say didnt' work for them?
< Louise> I find students who don't like online learning drop out at the beg of the course
< yvette> Do they say why?
< Louise> They cant cope with the steep learning curve
< Louise> and usu have loe IT skills
< Louise> sorry low IT skills
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< yvette> learning curve of the technology? (sorry for all the questions)
< yvette> Oh, yes, techmnology learning curve
< Louise> it's ok I don't mind
< Taylor> I think the students feel frustrated and challenged and don't want to learn the tech because they thinks it's complex andh asp ower over them.
< Louise> I've heard that from students too Taylor
< yvette> Taylor, that's so interesting. "Power over them" I never thought of that
< yvette> I wonder what that power is
< Louise> I think you have to be tenacious/determined to learn online
< yvette> self directed, too. I teach primarily adults who have come back for more education, so it's an easier audience, I think
< Louise> Maybe they don't feel in control of their learning environment
< Taylor> That power is their perception of technology... what students don't realize is that they can determine whether technology has any power over them by simply learning about the technology
< Louise> I have taught from age 13 years
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< yvette> INteresting thought, Louise. At fielding the learning theory is based on dialogue and the professor is really in the background, so the student is in charge of learning in this model
< Louise> Hi Dan
< Taylor> Yes Lousie...that's exactly it
< DanF> Hi, Louise
< Louise> Once young students feel at home in the online environment they love it
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< yvette> Do you find introverts more comfortabel online than extroverts (that's my experience)
< Louise> Dan do you have any questions about online hybrid learing?
< Taylor> I've noted a few introverts will use the tech, but most won't if it's not required
< Louise> It takes longer to build a relationship with introverts
< Louise> but they are comfortable with it
< Taylor> most students that is
< yvette> thanks
< DanF> I wonder about that. I know that I'm introverted, and I would probably sitting in my hotel room, wondering if I should mix and mingle or not if this weren't virtual.
< Louise> Toshi what do you think?
< yvette> I am introverted too and much chattier on line than in person
< Toshi> Some of the students of night course do not like online support
< DanF> Yes, I do have a question. Most of my online students are taking the course onliine due to busy schedules. I'm thinking I will only be able to use chatting for office hours. Any ideas?
< Taylor> That's a good idea...I've thoughto f trying it next year
< Taylor> for my courses
< Louise> You could use a discussion board
< Louise> so students can post anytime
< Toshi> nods
< yvette> I use chat for office hours for eCornell. It is sometimes difficult, because students can't make the hours and feel frustrated when they are used to asychn environments
< Louise> You could try and use a chat session at night from home at a later time?
< DanF> I have a discussion board, but the students tend to post not to each other but just to my original question.
< Toshi> they can post from cellular, too
< Louise> What about an email round robin to start so they get to know each other?
< Toshi> some students feel "shy" on board, but not in e-mail
< Louise> if they feel connected socially maybe then they will want to interact more
< DanF> Let me ask this: is there a good MOO for private office hours? I'm afraid of privacy problems in a chat room.
< Louise> Does anyone know one?
< Louise> Have you tried Tapped IN?
< DanF> The only one I know is at Romantic Circles, and even though the "romantic" deals with British Lit of the 19th C, students might get the wrong idea. :)
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< Louise> Yes!
< DanF> What's the url for Tapped IN? Can anyone set up an office there?
< Louise> I think you can host these kinds of discussions there
< Toshi> www.tappedin.org ?
< Louise> Any other issues about online learning you'd like to discuss?
< Louise> Does anyone have real time/ synchronous lessons?
< Louise> online I mean...
< Louise> Bye Dan thanks
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< yvette> I have used the chat room to role play--is that the kind of example you are looking for
< Louise> That sounds interesting - what did you do exactly?
< yvette> The student (an adult HR director) played the role of a manager who didn't understand why he couldn't give an employee who didn't perform well a raise. I role played the Hr director to e=demonstrate how to have a difficult conversatoin
< yvette> We were studying how to give constructive feedback
< Louise> That's interesting - did it work well?
< yvette> then we debreifed after the role play. The student learned experientially
< yvette> Yes, according to the student it was helpful. Adults seem to always want application of the learning
< Louise> That would be great practice for the real situation
< Louise> What did the student's think of it?
< yvette> That's mostly what I teach--theory in practice--social psychology. The student loved it and I've done it for coaching situations, too.
< Louise> I agree as an adult learner I am definately like that too!
< yvette> Lousie, thanks. I've got to finish some more work. I appreciate your conducting this session. Best to you!
< yvette> By, Toshi!
< Toshi> Thank you folks
< Louise> Thanks Yvette for you great participation your work sounds interesting !
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< Louise> bye Toshi!
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TCC 2003 Online Conference
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University of Hawaii, All rights reserved.