Using 'myUdutu' for directed learning modules

I am sure by now you have noticed the term 'SCORM' showing up in various places around Moodle.

SCORM is a set of standards for how to manage e-learning resources. Wikipedia : SCORM

With SCORM we can create robust online content. You are able to incorporate websites, videos, quizzes, discussion topics, objectives, presentations, audio,... into one directed learning activity. This incorporates nicely into Moodle, allowing you to grade SCORM quizzes and see how long time was spent on the activity (like other Moodle reports you have seen).

There are a fair number of SCORM content generating software options available. I looked at most of the free tools listed on Moodle's site, and in my opinion myUdutu's online tool is the best. I also liked eXe, but it lacked some functionality (incorporating ppt's) that makes it hard to recommend.

myUdutu is a completely free online tool, from a company that sells hosting for the content you generate in myUdutu. Just create a free account and you are off. The Getting Started Guide does a great job of introducing you to the software, and once you login there is also a link for 'how to use myUdutu', (which is a myUdutu generated project) which is also helpful.

One shortcoming seems to be the inability to have short answer assessments. I think you could however mix Moodle tools in (wiki, quiz, forum) to get them a place to give a short answer to a question.

Using Wikis in Science Classes

iaw "What I learned in my ION class this week".

I am not sure how well our own courses lend themselves to wiki development, but I think we should definitely make teachers aware of how wikis can help them teach science in a more collaborative and inquiry based way to their own students.

This article has some great examples of the strengths of wikis (working with other schools all over the world to collect data, for instance).  It also explains the ways you can control access.
http://www.suite101.com/content/using-wikis-in-science-classes-for-collaboration-a67853

Many educators now use Bernie Dodge’s building blocks for a successful WebQuest:

• The Introduction orients students and captures their interest.
• The Task describes the activity's end product.
• The Process explains strategies students should use to complete the task.
• The Resources are the Web sites students will use to complete the task.
• The Evaluation measures the results of the activity.
• The Conclusion sums up the activity and encourages students to reflect on its process and results.

Bernie Dodge’s webpage: http://webquest.org/index.php
This seems an excellent model to follow if you want to assign a webquest task in an online course.

An example of a wiki created by a K-12 class using these building blocks:
http://scook.cuip.net/~speretz/wikiwebquest/webquest.htm

Jim Witte's Tips for Effective Online Discussion (Nov 10 -2010)

This afternoon I attended the "Teaching Excellence" workshop presented by Jim Witte entitled: Online Discussion Strategies.  Jim basically went over all the tips for good online discussions that he has assembled over years.  A link to the pdf explaining all the tips can be found at:

http://jimwitte.com/workshops/11-10-2010-online-discussion#attachments 
(I highly recommend you download the pdf jwitte-online-discussion.pdf for future reference since it has some great suggestions.  Below I list the tips (the pdf has far more details).

1. Create discussions that have a purpose
2. Develop comfortable discussion questions focused on specific problems rather than broad, opinion-type questions.
3. Separate procedural communication from learning discussions.
4. Classic 1-week online discussion activity structure:  Initial posting (close and only then start) / 2 response postings.
5. Develop a rubric that lays out expectations, but is easy to apply.  Include # postings, required replies, deadlines. (pdf has examples)
6. Develop some guidelines for posting, general "rules of engagement".  This is a general extension to the grading rubric, applies to all postings. (pdf has examples)
7. Provide explicit instructions for each discussion activity.
8. Teach your students how to participate in an online discussion.
9. Practice "guide on the side".  Work hard at keeping moderators from becoming the locus of discussion.
10. Connect online discussion to F2F lectures (if applicable).
11. In large enrollment courses, use online discussion activities to break down the large into smaller.
12. Provide resources (readings, websites, media, etc.) for discussion activities.  keep the focus on the issues/topics, rather than the search form information.  It's good to give students a choice in materials (protects you from linkrot, accommodates student interests and abilities).
13. Consider using a variety of online discusson activities.  Choose discussion types that fit the goals for your course.  Activites that provide students with a choice can provide students with a way to make the course more relevant to their own interests, goals.
• reflective posting - write a reflective posting. Typical topics: asking students to write about their goals/interests in the course, or a summary of what the student thinks has
  been the most important or relevant points, or to relate the topics in the course to their own circumstances, job, studies, etc.
• jigsaw posting - students investigate multiple perspectives/aspects of an issue, bring back to the group as a whole. For example, instructor may develop 20 questions on a topic, and assign students to specific questions. Instructor should provide a few resources for each question. It's also possible to assign multiple students to the same question, and ask them to work together.
• critique posting - students create an artifact (a powerpoint, an outline, an analysis, a diagram, etc) and fellow students provide constructive feedback to make suggestions
  for improvement.
• pre/post lecture questions - in conjunction with a guest speaker (delivered f2f or via synchronous online videoconferencing), students can post questions in advance which could help inform the content of the guest lecture, or post followup questions for the guest speaker afterwards. In large courses, the function of the moderators might be to distill postings down to a smaller, more manageable set of questions.
• problem set postings - in some math/science/engineering disciplines, problem sets are common. General discussion space for problem sets, or individual discussion spaces for each problem make it possible for students to help each other.
• role play - students post in the voice/from the perspective of someone else, and post responses in that voice. The summary/wrapup might ask participants to look for extensions/elaborations to the perspectives presented, consider what perspectives might be missing, or identify common ground/differences.
• discussion jobs - In addressing a discussion topic, some students are assigned discussion jobs, like "idea generator", "skeptic", "wrapper", or "moderator".
• student-contributed readings - students can take turns posting websites, news articles, or articles from the library that pertain to the topics of the course.
• connect to informants - students connect to informants (perhaps students in other countries, in industry, in the field, etc) in order to gain information to be used in a report, presentation, web site, etc.
14. Ask about course discussion (online or f2f) in your informal mid-semester feedback, or use a poll/survey to get quick informal feedback.

This pdf file also goes into the positive aspects of online discussion compared to F2F discussion.  In addition Jim suggests some things on what things you can do with "discussion forums" other than discuss. 

One main point that kept coming up: STRUCTURE IS GOOD!

Other pdf files that are at the link are a short activity ( that may help you think of appropriate discussions for your course. (discussion-tps.pdf)
Ask yourself these questions:

1. What topics will your learners discuss? How will learners benefit from the discussion(s).
2. How might the activity be structured? Who will be discussing? (learners-instructor, learners learners, or perhaps someone outside the course?) How long might the discussion activity last? How many postings will learners make, and when? Do any of the formats listed in Tip 13 look promising?
3. How will learner postings be assessed? How will you judge the success of your online activity? What sort of information do you expect to need in order to improve your online activity the next time it's offered?

Another file shows you with figures the difference between course and activity discussions (Tip 3) and the chronological structure of a discussion (Tip 4). (discussion-figures.pdf).

I think the tip sheet will be a great resource to use when making sure that my discussions will be useful and varied.  I also like the idea of first having initial postings be open and then close, only after the close will the response postings be allowed.  That is different from ION courses.

Greetings, M.

Notes from CITES's Innovative Approaches to Blended Learning

Hi all,

I just got back from the CITES discussion that was entitled, "Innovative Approaches to Blended Learning."

This was a very catchy title as we all seek to be innovative or at least should be en route in our search. The problem with this talk was that the title was not what the talk was about at all.

Blended learning was defined by the audience as a way to get us all involved in the discussion, however that was the last time the term was used.

Instead, E.T. Hansen showed us his idea for a new way to teach our students, a web-page using, Square-space.

Building his argument for this, he used the United States Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan's remarks at a recent meeting of the state of educational technology director's association forum. He is correct that with this next generation of college student that there will be even more things to grab their attention and education must compete.

Hansen is open to a community approach to his learning community. In this case, the University of Illinois and the University of Syracuse, where he is also employed.

His site, ShiftLearning.com, is an unique approach but, it does exactly what Moodle, Compass, etc. does.

Security is an issue as authentification is not needed. The course page is a public site that anyone can join and become a member of the learning community. In this case, of course, their work will not be graded with others.

The most interesting I gained was that we could revisit the idea of using Google docs as his students that give him feedback love it.

This was not as advertised so actual notes on innovation in blended learning does not apply here.

Parkland Online Science Teaching Workshop

This past Saturday I attended a one-day workshop at Parkland College entitled “Designing and Improving an Effective Online Science Course”.  Organized by Heidi Leuszler and Dave Wilson (I am sure with help from many others). 

I had a very good time.  I learned a few things, probably not as much as those participants who had never taken an ION course or never taught online, but I felt it was still worth my while.  And it felt great to share some of our experiences and things we are considering to implement in our courses.

Below are a few blog entries on larger topics we discussed at the workshop.  And here are a few points I that do not fit anywhere but that I wanted to share:

• when giving students resource material it turns out that using too many might overwhelm students and they do not look at any of them.  Using just a few of the very best sources will make it more likely that they will read the papers or open the links.
• when answering student questions about how to use or find something on the web it is often easier to use Jing (instant screenshots and screencasts) than actually writing out the instructions via text.
• to avoid virus transmission encourage students not to use attachments.  Maybe they can link to documents in google docs? 
• When asking for proof that students did a laboratory exercise or a fieldtrip ask them to upload pictures to shutterfly or flickr, that way the moodle server will not get overloaded.
• According to Heidi it is actually possible to give an Oral exam in an online course.  She gives students 5 questions at the beginning of the class.  They work on answering those questions and then during the 30 min Oral exam via Skype or phone they will be asked to answer two of them (the two are decided by the instructor).
• Give students "Two Mulligans" during the course.  They may run into a computer problem so they cannot submit an assignment or for some reason their work does not show up in moodle.  This can happen.  Just not more than twice to the same student in one course.

Hope you can join me next year for the workshop.

Kitchen Labs and Simulations

One of the perceived drawbacks of online science courses is that there is usually no lab component.  But it does not have to be that way.  There are now many ways you can still incorporate hands-on science into an online course.

There are companies that sell kits that will have all the equipment (except what one can buy in a grocery store) and instructions for doing labs.  Including fetal pigs!!!  A kit for a course usually runs around $180 dollars - which is pretty reasonable considering that students do not have to drive to a campus to take a Saturday lab and the lab fees that one has to pay as on on-campus student.

The company that had a rep at the Parkland workshop was:
Labpaq

And the company that folks at Parkland actually use is:
eScience labs

At the workshop people also shared web sources for simulations and animations that they use for their science courses (incl. chemistry and physics).  I am listing some here because I think there are probably quite a few that we could use for our courses.

Molecular workbench - This is a free, open-source tool that creates and delivers visual, interactive simulations for teaching and learning science and engineering.

Chem Collective - from their website: "a collection of virtual labs, scenario-based learning activities, and concepts tests which can be incorporated into a variety of teaching approaches as pre-labs, alternatives to textbook homework, and in-class activities for individuals or teams. It is organized by a group of faculty and staff at Carnegie Mellon University for college and high school teachers who are interested in using, assessing, and/or creating engaging online activities for chemistry education"

PhET Interactive Science Simulations - a fellow workshop participant shared this with us.  It is super easy to use and there are some really interesting simulations here. 

learn.genetics.utah.edu - a resource with lots of animations, but also some experiments that can be done at home.

ExploreLearning - when you sign up you get access to vitual manipulatives (a.k.a. gizmos) - there is a 30 day free trial.  These gizmos are geared towards K-12 education.  To see how that would work check out one of the videos.

Citations

When students submit work they often use many different types of citation formats.  To keep citations consistent they could use an online tool such as Son of Citation Machine.

The reason it came up as a topic during the Parkland Workshop is because it could be a tool to also teach student to get all the information for the sources they use and then actually learn that some sources are better than others.

This is a link to an article that discusses how to use the Machine.

http://www.helium.com/items/1133047-how-to-use-son-of-citation-machine