Activity+Three

Discussion Electronic Conversations

The rapid advance of technology and readily available bandwidth for the average person has enabled a greater variety of electronic conversations for online teaching and learning. Starting with email and chat rooms that require a minimum of bandwidth and simple software, the e-conversation has developed into uses of wikis, video conferencing, webinars, and similar variations. To name a specific e-vehicle to top the list of importance in the online classroom is a bit difficult. The vehicle will change based on the need. Email will be used for students to communicate questions of a personal nature. These requests can also affect learning outcomes. Email still provides the opportunity for a well thought out response. Chat rooms, on the other hand, provide a text-based synchronous setting for a quick exchange of questions and answers. Some chat rooms are now providing a video feature that does enable a voice-to-voice and face-to-face interacting between students and instructors. There are still some bandwidth issues in play here when there a multiple users.

Some instructors use web conferencing tools to conduct conversations and demonstrations. There are many commercial brands of this tool available: WebEx, Go to Meeting, Adobe Connect, Team Viewer, Elluminate, and others. A relatively new player in this area is AnyMeeting. The accounts are free and sponsored by tasteful advertisements on a small side bar to the right of the screen. This conference site allows the presenter to broadcast live video, PowerPoint presentations, share his or her desktop, use a free conference number so that presenter and participants can interact verbally in real time, use traditional chat, survey, and recording features. If a student cannot attend the “live” session, a link to the recording can be posted in the online classroom so the student can view the recording and complete the survey as documentation of having attended. This tool is rapidly becoming a major part of my online teaching as it helps reach auditory and visual learners and helps to build community.

Another strong feature of my learning management system is the “feedback box”. This feedback area is located within the digital dropbox for each assignment. This is where “teaching moments” can occur. Comments regarding the assignment can be input at this location. Once saved, the system automatically sends an email to the student that their instructor has posted feedback for them to review. Whatever the tool used, engaging and interacting with students is the goal.