GOSS (Global Online Student Support) ARRTS

Australian Remote Rural Training Systems - Adelaide

Russell Boreham from ARRTS demonstrated the GOSS system which ARRTS is using as a communication platform to be used in conjunction with their paper based modules.

GOSS is a communication hub that can be used by lecturers and students, students Australia wide and Lecturers Australia wide.

Acess is free to students using the ARRTS resource. Lecturers pay $40 for 6 months. This system has a great chat facility in which students/teachers can book a 'chat' appointment via an availablity diary.

For further information please email Russell Boreham at
www.rboreham@arrts.com.au

Quotes from Janet McMillan - Flexible Learning Leader 2002

Douglas Mawson Institute - Adelaide (discussion on tafestudents.com)

- Web pages must be dynamic, reflective, user friendly and functional
- RSS feeds are a good idea for a CoP
- The use of log ins can be a deterent for recruiting new members
- It is important to provide the participants with training on the technology
- If possible have a face to face instruction session first
- Build the community - people first, then common interests then plan of action
- Participants must have a WI4me (whats in it for me). Examples are local news and events, job board
- Look at why the participants would want to go online - what advantages are their of accessing online compared to face to face
- The importance of adequate funding for a facilitator.
- The facilitator is critical for sucess. They must have passion/time and the ability to bring people along with them.

Quotes from Carole McCullough - FLL 2002

TAFE Frontiers - Melbourne

Carole has the task of overseeing 'The Source', a great CoP for practitioners in the VET sector in Victoria. The url is
http://source.tafevc.com.au

Carole has listed the following as hints in developing a CoP
- creating a sense of ownership is imoprtant, use competitions, pictures, be specific
- trust is an important element so use log ins
- be careful of technological problems as you will lose participants
- target your audience - encourage a sense of belonging
- push the site initially - market, advertise, fortnightly email reminders, flyers, networks (use websites and email mailing lists)
- CoPs do have a life span. It is important to create a new model to reengage those who have left
- the site must be constantly involving
- training and ongoing support is important to the success of the CoP
- in the beginning 'The Source' focused on the website, now they are focusing on the forums
- role of the facilitator is critical. Make sure their role is clearly defined.
- a facilitator must 'weed out and prune' discussions.
- constant evaluation is critical in the success of a CoP. Can use statistics on how many postings, how many participants, how many topics and how many have accessed but not made postings.
It is important to evaluate the lurkers.

Carole lists the following as important techniques in setting up a discussion forum
1/ The heading must be relevant and eye catching
2/ Make the topic name specific
3/ The thread name needs to be creative and engaging
4/ The facilitator should make their postings eye catching - use bold, italic, smiley icons, colours etc

Quotes from Leone Wheeler (FLL 2000) and Katrina Beard

RMIT University - Melbourne

Quotes from a discussion with Leone and Katrina
- information must be useful, new and current, important to update regularly
- it is important to have a good facilitator particularly one with the ability to stop 'flaming'
- it is very time consuming for the facilitator particularly in the early stages
- limit the discussion forum to one major discussion then break out into smaller ones
- when promoting the network it is important to 'hook' them early on. One good idea is to send out a choclate frog after the participant has made their first posting
- have ongoing marketing strategies. Idea include special topics, newsletter available only online, invite an industry expert, include games.
- training must be a priority. This will take time and money. You must guide the participants closely in the begining. They must have a 'how to' including instructions on ettiquette, technology and how to get help. A help desk is ideal.
- the site must be targeted, exciting and WI4me

- example of CoPo to look at is PASCAL who are using newsletters, forums, blog and RSS feeds

www. obs-pascal.com

On the topic of logins both Leone and Katrina had differing opionions.
Katrina
- must have a password. Builds level of trust. Safety online is very important
Leone
- participants should have ease of access. Using logins can be a deterrant.

Katrina uses a very useful analogy of 'Inviting participants to join a CoP is like inviting friends over for dinner'.

1/ they must have a reason for coming over
2/you would make sure they had the correct address and knew how to find the house
3/you would clean up your house to make it look inviting ie. nice tablecloth, maybe candles, plump up the cushions. You would have an easy pathway from the front door to the loungeroom.
4/you would not just sit and look at each other but rather engage in topical conversation perhaps about the results of the last Olympics or common interests for example your children or work.

If we use the above analogy in a Community of Practice/Network Online then :
1/ participants must have a reason for accessing the site (Wi4me)
2/ participants must know how to access and have the correct address and technology
3/ the site must be easy to follow and navigate and look appealing and inviting
4/ the facilitator needs to monitor the conversation in the discussion forums and encourage lively dialogue.

The importantance of relevance for motivation - Learning by Playing: Games in your WebCT Course

This course was delivered online via WebCT as part of the University of Calgary e-Learning Conference. While the facilitators did a fantastic job with this course I did not complete the course. Why?

The course was an online course on how to set up games in a WebCT Online course using Quizmaster. I thought this would be very relevant our Faculty utilises WebCT and has access to the Quiz master software. However the facilitators, while trying to make the course as interesting as possible asked the participants to pretend we were part of a group that was trying to stop endangered animal species. We were required to break into groups and create a website based on our research on these animals. First of all while yes, I am concerned about how we as a human race are endangering some species, I do not have a week to research this topic. Secondly, we were asked to create a web page - many participants did not have those skills (the facilitators did give us a link to many tutorials on how to do this!), finally we were required to go in and research tigers, elephants etc.

While I thought it was a unique idea and 'fun' at the beginning I quickly realised that in one week I would not be able to finish researching this topic, let alone learn how to create a complete web page from scratch - oh yes I forgot to mention we were asked to break in groups and collaborate on the development of the webpage. WHEN, was I going to learn how to create games. This course was only allocated nominal hours of 8 hours over a 5 day period!!!!

So I did withdraw after the second day. The faciliators did direct me to their final notes which I was able to downloard. It was a fantastic booklet that they have produced which is a step by step instruction guide on how to develop and use many great games including 'Who wants to be a Millionaire'.

So while I realise the instructors were trying to make the course 'fun' I think it is vital teachers remember that students today are time poor so it is best to keep to the topic. I like their concept but I think it would have worked better if we as participants had to research 'Games in Online courses'.

So while I did not complete the course, I did learn what I had set out to ie. 'how to set up games in your WebCT course' and also more importantly this highlighted to me the importance of keeping courses relevant. This would also apply in any CoPs. Yes, while most feedback is telling me to make CoPs fun, any activity or information still must be relevant.

Does anyone else have any examples similar to this one?
Regards,
Kerry

Building Online Interactivies with Hot Potatoes 6 (and the use of Blackboard)

This course was delivered online by Susan Bergstrom - University of Calgary.

The first learning curve for me was using 'blackboard'. I did find blackboard easy to navigate and use and the University gives very detailed 'how to' information including two movie tutorials on using the discussion board and adding attachments. There was also an online tutorial 'Orientation to Blackboard'. Once again this emphasized the importance of having very clear, easy to follow instructions to help put the new learner at ease. Susan did this very well. However, I must admit I still prefer WebCT!

Hot Potatoes is a VERY EASY to use free (for those working for publicly-funded non-profit-making educational institutions, who make their pages available on the web) download that makes it easy to create interactive crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises, multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, online puzzles and quizes.

The URL for Hot Potatoes home page is
http://web.uvic.ca/hrd/halfbaked/

There are 5 major sections in Hot Potatoes:
JCross - this tool helps you create interactive online crossword puzzles
JMatch - this tool makes it easy to create interactive matching questions
JCloze - this tool lets you create interactive gap-fill exercises
JMix - this tool helps you create interactive jumble-sentence exercises
JQuiz - this tool makes it easy for you to create interactive quizzes
Susan states that 'each of these interactivies are a fun way to enhance all kinds of learning, with hints and immediate feedback on hand at the click of a mouse'. I believe they are particularly useful as review exercises.

Using these interactivities is one way of creating FUN in a CoP. For example you could set up a crossword on specific industry terminology. I would also suggest giving participants who complete the interactivity correctly some kind of prize eg. chocoloate frog.

The Art of Facilitating Online Discussions course

This course was delivered online by Colleen Kawalilak via the University of Calgary.

The course highlighted the importance the role a facilitator plays in the success of an online discussion (or CoP).

Colleen lists the following as important points to consider or use when when faciiitating online:

- navigation

- silence

- a space of welcome

- inclusion

- solicit

- formatative feedback

- individual-personal contact

- co-create community

- quotes, references and comments

- colourful, emotional language

- visual

- empower

The term 'safe online learning environment' was discussed at length. Colleen commented on the importance of 'the power of relationship'. It is up to the faciliator to create this. Hints on how to encourage this safe environment include :

- using warm words such as ending with 'warmest regards' and 'good morning wonderful people'
- using emotive icons eg. :)
- encourage learners to contact the facilatator one to one if they need help
- mediate early if there is any negative emotion
- using photos
- use personal antedotes
- make sure you as a faciliator respond in a timely manner ie don't leave the student hanging
- keep the groups small
- students feel more comfortable if the learning platform has spellcheck
- send out private email or private call every now and then to keep in touch
- send out weekly email as a review of previous week or information on the coming week
- ensure the technology and learning management tool is easy to use for example the discussion forums should have a 'compile' or 'collect' function
- make postings interesting by using colour
- start a seperate 'coffee club' area for students to communicate socially
- KISS Keep it simple sunshine!
- inform the students of correct netiquette
- provide tool links to time management, study, writing tips, tutorials

It is interesting to note that much of the above information I gathered not from the actual course material but rather the very interesting discussions which Carol facilitated in the discussion forums! Other students who participated in these discussions included
Georgio Agosst - ABB
Marguerite Wells - Cornel University
Sandra Larwill - Ontario University
John Toews - University of Calgary

Gilly Salmon seminar

The Gilly Salmon seminar held on the 12 August in Canberra had two topics -
Topic 1 - Creating Engaging Learning Experiences Online

Topic 2 - The Way Ahead - Whats in sight for e-Learning

While this seminar was predominantly about moderating classroom discussions the
same principles can be applied to moderating an online discussion in a CoPo.

Gilly discussed the following -

The importance of 'how to' at the beginning. This must also be considered when designing an onilne forom in a Copo, how can the participants log on, how can they post, how can they sort etc.

The use of e-tivities. Gilly uses these in all her online class discussions. I think they would work very well in the first posting of a Copo as an icebreaker initially and as a prompter later on.
Please refer to the URL below for further information on e-tivities.

Here are three quotes from Gilly -

'Its not about teaching its about creating fabulous experiences'

'no problems only opportunities'

'students prefer to do something rather than see something'

For more information you can access Gilly's webpages at
www.e-tivities.com
www.e-moderating.com