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Engaging Students in Online Learning Environments

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All of the Resources from the ETLO Online Course:

Engaging Students in Online Learning Environments is a seven-week course for experienced online instructors.

The readings and activities will help facilitators learn how to engage students in online environments by encouraging deep reflection, promoting collaboration, and creating a learning community within their online courses. Where appropriate, the course draws on free, web-based tools that support the pedagogical focus of each session. Participants will learn strategies to help them organize and share the many resources available online and how to create content to make online and blended courses more engaging. Each session will also address how to effectively integrate mobile devices to extend teaching and learning. Participants work both individually and collaboratively throughout the course. As a final project, participants complete a Collaborative Implementation Plan that will help them to synthesize what they learn in each session and apply some of the tools and strategies discussed in a future online facilitation endeavor.

How to Provide Fair and Effective Feedback in Asynchronous Courses. There are several policies and procedures that online instructors can implement that will help them provide specific, fair, consistent, and effective feedback to their students in an online, asynchronous course. Announcements Area First, maintain a highly visible announcement and or conference area on the course site.

This announcement area is where the course instructor should post reminders regarding deadlines of assignments or discussion board posts. It's especially important to give specific information in these announcements during the first week of class regarding helpful hints and expectations of the students during the class to ensure success and level the playing field for all. Everyone reads the same message; everyone has the same expectations placed upon them. The announcements area should also include a policy for late submissions. Always hand in assignments and post discussions by the due date as listed in the syllabus/calendar. About the AuthorElizabeth A. UNSW Teaching Staff Gateway Giving Assessment Feedback 2015 03 27. A Brief History of Assessment.mp4. Evaluation of Online Discussions Some of the online discussion assignments will be based on a template; Discussion Rubric. University of Wisconsin - Stout — Schedule of Online Courses, Online Certificate Programs, and Graduate Degree Follow us on Facebook.

A discussion rubric guides students in writing original posts and replies to other students. To simply agree or disagree with other students is not sufficient. * Open class discussion is an important and significant part of an online course. While class discussion whether online or face to face, can be characterized by free flowing conversation, there are identifiable characteristics that distinguish exemplary contributions to class discussion from those of lesser quality. The criteria found on the rubric above will be used to assess the quality of your initial postings and responses to the postings and comments of peers during class discussion.Note: Initial postings are your comments based on the discussion prompt posted by the instructor.

Responses to others are your replies to your peers' initial postings. Discussion Board Expectations. ETLO Discussion Question Models. This discussion format is designed to put participants in real-life experience situations where they are asked to share ideas and strategies for addressing issues they will face when they encounter concepts being taught in the course. This is a very popular discussion format because participants enjoy haveing a 'heads-up' about issues they are likely to face as well as coming away with ideas suggested by their colleagues and first-hand information from the facilitator. Example Question: Share at least one strategy for addressing discussion issues that may arise in a virtual course by responding to one or more of the scenarios posted below. Be sure to respond to your peers' posts with ideas and examples to extend the discussion. Scenario One: No Message Postings from Alicia You've just started Session Three of your Algebra 1 course and Alicia has not posted a message on the discussion board.

Discussion Board Etiquette. 15 Rules of Netiquette for Online Discussion Boards [INFOGRAPHIC] - Online Education Blog of Touro College. “Netiquette” refers to rules of etiquette that apply to online communication. Follow these 15 rules of netiquette to make sure you sound respectful, polite, and knowledgeable when you post to your class’s online discussion boards. Before posting your question to a discussion board, check if anyone has asked it already and received a reply. Just as you wouldn’t repeat a topic of discussion right after it happened in real life, don’t do that in discussion boards either.Stay on topic – Don’t post irrelevant links, comments, thoughts, or pictures.Don’t type in ALL CAPS!

If you do, it will look like you’re screaming.Don’t write anything that sounds angry or sarcastic, even as a joke, because without hearing your tone of voice, your peers might not realize you’re joking.Always remember to say “Please” and “Thank you” when soliciting help from your classmates.Respect the opinions of your classmates. RULE OF THUMB: If you wouldn’t do or say something in real life, don’t do it online either. 3 socratic questioning. Socratic questioning. Type of question to predict knowledge on topic Socratic questioning (or Socratic maieutics)[1] is an educational method named after Socrates that focuses on discovering answers by asking questions of students. According to Plato, Socrates believed that "the disciplined practice of thoughtful questioning enables the scholar/student to examine ideas and be able to determine the validity of those ideas".[2] Plato explains how, in this method of teaching, the teacher assumes an ignorant mindset in order to compel the student to assume the highest level of knowledge.[2] Thus, a student is expected to develop the ability to acknowledge contradictions, recreate inaccurate or unfinished ideas, and critically determine necessary thought.

Pedagogy[edit] In teaching, teachers can use Socratic questioning for at least two purposes: Socratic questioning illuminates the importance of questioning in learning. Socratic questioning and critical thinking[edit] Psychology[edit] See also[edit] References[edit] UNSW Teaching Staff Gateway Assessing by Discussion Board 2016 05 10. The Methods and Means to Grading Student Participation in Online Discussions. This is the final post in a three-part series on how to create effective discussions in an online environment in courses for credit.

In this post I’ll share how to grade and assess students contributions in online discussion forums—the final yet essential step that supports learning in several ways. I am eager to share my insight into the assessment component of online discussions, as we found within our institution’s online program that assessment through the use of a rubric that was the critical element to success. The rubric allowed course instructors to give quality feedback to students, clarified for students’ expectations and to the surprise of several professors the rubric improved the quality and quantity of discussion postings. Components of effective Online Discussions – Review Motivating students to participate in forum discussions is not an easy task—it requires strategic effort by the instructor during the course, and by the course designers in the course design phase. How-to Facilitate Robust Online Discussions.

Class discussion can be an effective learning tool – the challenge? How-to facilitate and manage discussions virtually. This is post two in a three-part series on how to create effective discussions in an online learning environment. Post one, introduced five components of effective discussions and addressed the first two – 1) course design and 2) establishing guidelines for students. In this post I”ll show how course instructors can develop and sustain dialogue by 3) creating ‘good’ and ‘right’ questions, and 4) guiding and moderating the discussions to support meaningful discourse. In the final post I’ll discuss methods for assessing student contributions in online forums. Discussions with no goal… Imagine for a minute, what a soccer game would look like if played without goal posts. “The challenge is that educators have the responsibility to provide structure and guidance that will encourage and support students assuming increased control of their learning” (Garrison, 2006).

Resources. How to Get Students to Participate in Online Discussions. This is the first post in a triplet series on how to create effective discussions in an online learning environment. This post discusses how course instructors can shape and create robust and rich discussions, in post two I”ll share facilitation strategies to develop and sustain course dialogue, and I’ll conclude the series with methods for assessing student contributions and participation in online forums.

Please note, this series addresses discussions in the context of online courses for credit – as forums in Massive Open Online Courses [MOOCs} are a different animal altogether [I will share my thoughts on MOOC discussion forums next month at the close of the MOOC course I am taking]. Getting students to ‘talk’ Getting students to participate in [brick and mortar] classroom discourse can be a painful process – the blank stares or worse students absorbed with their laptops or iPhones, which is disconcerting to say the least. What makes Online Discussions effective…. Wade, D. Like this: Ipadio - Reach the Hard to Reach. Animate Your Life | Tellagami® Phonevite - Share Your Voice - Community-Based Voice Broadcasting - Phone Tree Service. Voki - Home. English Text To Speech, TTS: English, Spanish, French, Russian, Italian, German, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, Chinese.

Text to Voice, also known as Text-to-Speech (TTS), is a method of speech synthesis that converts a written text to an audio from the text it reads. The Text-to-Speech engine has been implemented into various online translation and text-to-speech services such as ImTranslator extensions for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Microsoft Edge. ImTranslator Translation ImTranslator Dictionary ImTranslator Compare Online Translators ImTranslator Translate and Speak service This TTS reader service sounds like you are listening to a real person. The service gives you the opportunity to practice your listening and speaking skills or master a foreign language.

If the voice is too fast for you, you can adjust the voice rate by using the Speed menu. The text can be replayed as many times as you wish. Use ImTranslator speech-enable service, and get your computer talking to you! The Described and Captioned Media Program. Zotero | Home. Looking for the Dictionary.com Toolbar? | Dictionary.com.

Welcome to TechMatrix | TechMatrix. Differentiation is an Expectation: A School Leader’s Guide to Building a Culture of Differentiation. Differentiation rubric for teachers. Personalized Learning Chart Version 3. Personalized Learning is NOT Differentiating Instruction. The term “Personalized Learning” is a buzz word educators use to be an alternative to “one size fits all” teaching.

Unfortunately, the message is confusing. Ed.gov’s archive as part of the National Technology Plan lays out the definition of Individualized, Personalized, and Differentiated Instruction: Individualization refers to instruction that is paced to the learning needs of different learners. Learning goals are the same for all students, but students can progress through the material at different speeds according to their learning needs. For example, students might take longer to progress through a given topic, skip topics that cover information they already know, or repeat topics they need more help on. Differentiation refers to instruction that is tailored to the learning preferences of different learners.

Personalization refers to instruction that is paced to learning needs, tailored to learning preferences, and tailored to the specific interests of different learners. Differentiated Instruction in an Online Classroom | EduTrendsOnline. By Theresa Melenas, Ed.D. My role as an administrator and instructional coach in K-12 public education has me working collaboratively with teachers to create better learning opportunities for students. A majority of teachers I encounter need support in how to differentiate their instruction to reach all learners. The concept of differentiated instruction (DI) may seems to be only applicable to the bricks and mortar setting of a traditional classroom, but many DI strategies can enhance the educational experience of online adult learners. According to Tomlinson (2000), differentiation means tailoring instruction to meet individual needs, by differentiating the content, process, products, or the learning environment.

Allow students to access videos in addition to, or instead of just reading text. How can I differentiate the process of student learning in my online course? How can I differentiate the products for my online course? References Tomlinson, C. (1999). In her spare time, Dr. Google+ Note: This blog post outlines upcoming changes to Google Currents for Workspace users. For information on the previous deprecation of Google+ for users with personal Google accounts, please see this post. What's Changing We are nearing the end of this transition. Beginning July 5, 2023, Currents will no longer be available.

Workspace administrators can export Currents data using Takeout before August 8, 2023. Beginning August 8th, Currents data will no longer be available for download. Although we are saying goodbye to Currents, we continue to invest in new features for Google Chat, so teams can connect and collaborate with a shared sense of belonging. This month, we’re enabling new ways for organizations to share information across the enterprise with announcements in Google Chat. Announcements in Google Chat Managing space membership with Google Groups In-line threaded conversations Discover and join communities with up to 8,000 members Who's impacted Admins and end users Why it’s important. Sharing and Storing Files Collaboratively. File Storage: Hey, I’m three weeks into this online team collaboration and my computer is knee deep in files.

What’s the best way to share these with my team while keeping them backed up? Box.net Simple, Secure Sharing from Anywhere Securely create and upload all of your files and folders from any device. Free for personal use. Dropbox Simplify your life. Your projects are scattered from your work computer, your home computer, your phone, and your mom’s desktop. Free 2 GB of storage or $19.99/month ($199/year) for 100 GB.

KeepandShare Share, manage and access all of your content online. Great way to stay organized and share information. Lifetime free account with a 100 document limit or get a premium account for $49.99 a year and store up to 10,000 documents. Seems easy enough to collaborate with anyone from anywhere. Zotero Grab your research with a single click This tool specifically targets research-based collaboration. Search feature could use some work but the forums are great. CutePDF Free. Sharing Documents and Collaborating Online. Now it’s time for the meat and potatoes. Virtual meetings and group conversations are great, but what about a project that requires much more than communication accessibility?

I need an online tool that supports document collaboration. I have a team of five highly talented engineers working with charts and measurements. I’m not sure if I trust online collaboration for a project of this detail. Why not? Would it make you feel better to sit in a library with your group when one person just drank a liter of Red Bull, another is on a two-day study binge, and one has to leave in an hour and a half? Google Docs Create and Share Your Work Online The leader in document collaboration has made it easy to swallow the Google pill. With Google Docs, you do not have to send emails, save files, or worry about your information being lost. Google Docs now syncs up with the aforementioned Google+ Hangouts so teams can video conference while editing documents.

Free with a Google account Cacoo Evernote Free. Online Meetings and Video Collaboration. NOTE: This is Part I in a series of three articles about web-based tools to help facilitate collaboration and document-sharing among a group of people, stay organized with all of your files, and increase productivity. Here are some solutions for group calling in the early stages. Skype The World’s Most Popular Video Calling Software Group video calling is a great way for face-to-face introductions of team members. Assign roles and launch your project. Free trial membership for one week. Download the program directly to your computer in 5-10 minutes. Skype is user-friendly and most members of your team will have heard of the service, and may have even used it before.

Google+ Hangouts Video Chatting on Google+ While Google+ is hanging on, there are features that have serious potential to reach a positive tipping point, and Google+ Hangouts is one of them. The price is right. Users must be on Google+ and therefore, must take the time to create a profile and Google account. OoVoo Tinychat Free. How-to Make Group Work Collaborative In Online Courses: Four Strategies. Tips for Surviving Group Projects in Online Class. Student%20Collaboration%20in%20the%20Online%20Classroom.

Glow and Grow Self Reflection. Bubbl.us - Brainstorm and Mind Map Online. PowToon, free business presentation software animated video maker and PowerPoint alternative. ZooBurst. Storybird - Artful Storytelling. Fastest Way to Create Comic Strips and Cartoons - Toondoo. Fastest Way to Create Comic Strips and Cartoons - Toondoo. Pixton | Comics | Make a Comic or Storyboard.

Your Account. Explain Everything Collaborative Whiteboard Animate Thinking. Educreations. Interactive Video Learning. EDpuzzle. Office Mix. Beautiful and easy to use newsletters.

Glogster: Multimedia Posters | Online Educational Content. LibriVox | free public domain audiobooks. PhET: Free online physics, chemistry, biology, earth science and math simulations. Home Page. National Library of Virtual Manipulatives. BrainPOP.

Gooru | Sign up, Sign in. Free Audio Books. Welcome to Discovery Education. PBS LearningMedia. CosmoLearning | Your Free Online School: Courses, Video Lectures, Documentaries, Images, Books and more. Khan Academy. Ten Ways to Overcome Barriers to Student Engagement Online (Academic Technology: At the College of William and Mary) How to Create Engaging eLearning Content - LearnUpon. The Simple Science of Creating Engaging eLearning Courses. Using Content Curation Tools to Engage Students.

20 Twitter Hashtags Every Teacher Should Know About. The Twitter Hashtag: What Is It and How Do You Use It? Getting started with Twitter. Twitter for Beginners. 10 Excellent Social Bookmarking Tools for Teachers. Teach100. Using Pinterest for Education. Pinterest: Discover and save creative ideas. Why Scoopit Is Becoming An Indispensable Learning Tool. Scoop.it | Content Curation & Content Marketing Software. Diigo V3: Highlight & Share the Web! Social Bookmarking 2.0. Top 10 Free Content Curation Tools For Teachers.

What is Content Curation? Learning the art of Digital Content Curation | LinkingLearning. Teaching With Content Curation -- THE Journal. Teacher as Curator: Capture and Organize Learning Materials with Web 2.0 Tools. How to Create and Collaborate with Google Drive. How to use Google Drive. Photo Grid - Collage Maker. Pic Collage. Venn Diagram. RSA Animate - Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. Building An Online Learning Community by Kevin Wilcoxon. Student Motivation and Engagement. Five Factors that Affect Online Student Motivation.

iNACOL National Standards for Quality Online Courses (v2) National standards for quality online teaching v2.