Module #3—Unit #2
Exploring Communication Tools in WebCT/Vista and Moodle
During the first term of each year within my classroom I assign students to homogeneous reading groups. These groups are determined by a variety of tests and pre-assessment tools. Reading fluency, comprehension of text and reading strategies are some of the elements that I assess when determining how to build these groups. Based on each group’s reading proficiency I provide a number of appropriate texts for each group to select. The selection of material to read is done collaboratively by each group. Members are encouraged to discuss and reflect with each other the rationale for their choice of reading material. Literature circle groups must come to a mutual decision on the text that they will all read. Once this is done, students begin to read the material together in their small groups. These literature circle groups will extensively discuss the literature throughout the reading of the text. The asynchronous discussion forum tool will be utilized so members can begin to post their thoughts and reflections of the day’s reading session. Each group will have a forum attached to their specific title that they are reading. Each member will be able to create and reply to messages, and the entries will be threaded for ease of use. Each member will be required to post one open ended question to the group, and will be required to reply to one message as well. This will occur after each reading session (there are 3 reading sessions per week).
As students move through the material, I’ll assign a series of online activities and reflective entries designed to help students comprehend the reading material. Each reading group decides collectively which activities they will complete. Students move through this package of activities designed to enhance their understanding of several literary elements as they pertain to specific sections within the text. The online activities will be presented through WebCT/Vista’s module like format. Members of each group will select which activity they will complete, and then each group will use the synchronous tool-Wimba classroom to present the details of their activity to the group. The video (for presenter only) and chat feature of this tool will be available to students, but the audio portion will be unavailable. Group members will be instructed to begin posting chat messages/questions to the presenter after he/she has completed the presentation. This will enable the presenter to explain the material uninterrupted. After the presentation is complete, students can begin discussing the activity through the chat feature of Wimba. Each group member will present his/her activity using the Wimba classroom tool.
In the past my reading groups have shown an aptitude with carrying on very interesting and informative discussion sessions as they read through a text. My students are very technologically savvy and most have several communication devices at their disposal. As we have already immersed ourselves with several forms of information technology activities this year, I find this activity to be a natural extension of their technology skills. In fact, students have participated in a similar activity where they were required to post their thoughts in a blog-like format to a question that I would pose on a weekly basis in science class. I found their excitement when adding their thoughts to the series of questions that I posed to be quite refreshing. I noticed increased motivation from certain students who typically would not volunteer this type of information during class time. I think that each reading group will enjoy posting their thoughts and reflections daily to the discussion forums. Normally, there is always a range with respect to the volume and quality of messages that each group puts forward on the forum. Typically, the reading groups that require active management from me to help them stay focused and on task will not volunteer as much information when discussing a novel as the more proficient groups would. However, I have noticed that my struggling readers seem to add/list more information within an online format than they do in the classroom. Therefore, it is my hope that these online activities will increase the participation of several of my reluctant readers. I have two groups that always have rich and in-depth conversations as they move through a text. I anticipate that these groups will enjoy using the discussion forum, and will post quite a lot of information to their threaded areas.
Each Wimba classroom session will be archived, so students can revisit the transcript if they need to read a portion of the presentation for further discovery and conversation. This transcript will provide me with detailed information on member participation. It will also allow me to observe the quality of student interactions as they posed and replied to each other’s questions. I would continue to closely monitor student interactions on all the discussion forums throughout the duration of each activity. It is even more imperative to do this as opposed to the managing of daily classroom dialogue. There may be a sense that some students feel that they can say almost anything online because I am physically not in the same room with them, challenging them to keep their words respectful. This strategy is of the utmost importance to me considering my grade 7 student population.
Post a message to the Module 3 Discussion: Synchronous and asynchronous communications that Describes your own strategies in determining the communication process you have created and why synchronous or asynchronous approaches seemed appropriate to the learning context.
I used the WebCT/Vista LMS to develop my student activity and was very pleased at the relative ease while working within the ‘build’ mode of the platform. I developed my plan by populating my site with the asynchronous tool-Wimba classroom, and the synchronous tool-discussion forums. The entire Vista platform is very intuitive and I was able to easily navigate the ‘build’ functions adding and removing resources quickly and easily. I liked how quickly I could add a feature within the ‘build’mode, and then easily view how my changes would appear to students by selecting the ‘student view’ section of the Vista page. I especially liked how I was able to effortlessly add different ‘content links’ within the ‘Module’ section of my LMS. Thee are enough tools from voice presentation, discussion forums, assessments and assignments to create a very balanced and rich learning experience for students.
My students are very tech savvy and are all always very motivated and excited when I incorporate various technologies within their learning program. It is really amazing to witness how much more engaged they become when I blend traditional content delivery with various digital tools. I therefore felt very comfortable in selecting Wimba classroom and discussion forums as my communication tools that would support student learning as they progressed through various texts/novels/literature. My students are very ‘chatty’ and have often said to me that they enjoy learning as a group, and from one another. In addition to their desire to learn from each other, their expertise with information technology made my selection of synchronous and asynchronous tools an easy one.