Provide a rational for the selection you have made in terms of why the communication space you have set up is supportive of your instructional goals. Describe how you see students working within the tool or tools you have set up. What tools are available to you to help you to track or record student activity within the CMS? If you have any concerns or foresee any issues associated with the use of particular tools feel free to raise them in your rationale.
To support student learning, the first communication tool I created is an asynchronous discussion forum. I chose to make the 8 forums asynchronous because students taking this course will be in several different time zone and using a synchronous tool such as a live-chat would be very difficult to synchronize as “it constrains participants in terms of a single time that learners and teachers must be present (Anderson, p. 340).” The forums include question and answer forums for general inquiries, assignments, Adobe Dreamweaver questions, HTML coding questions, Cascading Style Sheet questions, Adobe Photoshop questions, a forum to post resources, and a forum for general chit-chat. Each forum has instructions for postings (see below). Since participation counts as 15% of each student’s overall grade, I expect participation. To determine this grade I will use Moodle’s built in tools to trace each student’s participation and provide feedback.
However, synchronous communication is a more “familiar educational model with a great deal of similarity to teaching and learning in campus-based classrooms (Anderson, p. 340).” Asynchronous communications also create “a shortage of coordination and reduce opportunities for students to feel ‘in sync’ with the class (Burge & Howard, 1994 cited in Anderson, p. 348).” Further, “asynchronous communications can generate a lot of material for students and teachers to engage with (Egan, 2009).” As such, students may feel overwhelmed or miss the post where their question is answered. To address these issues, the second communication tool I have setup is a class survey to determine the best time for synchronous chat. The purpose of the survey is quite simple: to setup virtual “office hours” in which the instructor will be available for live chat. Students are given 10 time slots to choose from and told that the top 3 will be chosen for live chat sessions. I have tested the survey and it works. I have also tested the live chat sessions in Moodle and found that they work, however, given that this course will not be going live during the duration of ETEC565, I have not setup the actual live chat, but will when I eventually get the chance to offer this as an LMS course. As stated in the opening paragraph, the major limitation of live-chat is that they can be very difficult to synchronize, especially if students are spread over multiple time zones.
John
References
Perkins, M., Pfaffman, J. (2006). Using a Course Management System to Improve Classroom Communication. Science Teacher, 73(7), 33-37.
Egan, John. 2009. ETEC565 Module 3, Unit 2: Communication Tools. Retrieved June 17, 2009 from https://www.vista.ubc.ca:443/webct/urw/ssubcauth.snUBC.siubc/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct?appforward=/webct/startFrameSet.dowebct%3Fforward=manageCourse.dowebct%26lcid=4655277011&username=s31931074×tamp=1199708647&mac=6ee3947bb16835d7ab7f4ffc37312e36
Descriptions of how students will use these forums:
General Questions
Are you having navigation issues? Do you have questions about due dates, course structure, etc.? If so, please post those questions in this forum. Also, as we are in a collaborative learning environment, please feel free to post your own answers to other classmates’ questions. Your instructor will be browsing these forums at scheduled times and will post any clarifications to your responses. Remember, things are not set in stone. If there is a general consensus amongst the class that differs from your instructors interpretation, there is room for negotiation.
Assignment Questions
Each week you will be given a new assignment and rubric. If you have any questions about the assignments, instructions, or rubric, post those questions here. Also, as we are in a collaborative learning environment, please feel free to post your own answers to other classmates’ questions. Your instructor will be browsing these forums at scheduled times and will post any clarifications to your responses. Remember, things are not set in stone. If there is a general consensus amongst the class that differs from your instructors interpretation, there is room for negotiation.
Dreamweaver questions
Please post questions concerning general Dreamweaver issues in this forum. For example, if you are missing toolbars, panes, or any other questions about Dreamweaver. As this we are learning in a collaborative environment in which participation counts for marks, please do your best to respond to your classmates’ questions.
HTML coding questions
As you will learn, Dreamweaver has a code view in which you see the code for your web page. Being able to manipulate code is an incredible tool, but sometimes it can seem daunting and confusing. If you have any questions about coding or how you can manipulate code to make your web site appear as you want it too, post them here. As this we are learning in a collaborative environment in which participation counts for marks, please do your best to respond to your classmates’ questions.
Cascading Style Sheet questions
Each Dreamweaver template will have a Cascading Style Sheet associated with it. The style sheet is used to describe how a web document should appear in a web browser.
Please post any questions regarding CSS in this forum. As this we are learning in a collaborative environment in which participation counts for marks, please do your best to respond to your classmates’ questions.Photoshop questions
Photoshop is one of the tools you may use to create a customized banner or create other images/illustrations for your web site. As there is no direct support for Photoshop in the lessons, you will need to use this forum for any Photoshop queries. As this we are learning in a collaborative environment in which participation counts for marks, please do your best to respond to your classmates’ questions.
Resources
As you progress through the course, you will likely come across many resources that may be useful to your classmates. Use this forum to post such resources (journal articles, tutorials, free templates, font sites, etc.)
Chit-Chat
Sit back, relax, get to know your classmates!