Tag: potcert

That Community Thing

Lisa M Lane 10 Comments

I’ve studied some about creating community in online classes, and we’re working on the topic this week in the POT Cert Class. And yet, I don’t do it. Create community, I mean, as an instructor.

Unlike in many online classes, my discussion forums are not set up for discussion. I do have a number of posts required, but each post has a purpose: one is for posting a primary source, the second one for responding to my guidance with a thesis and mini-essay, and a third to help someone else. I do not provide conversation prompts because my goal is not conversation.

However, in the very first forum, where I ask them to introduce themselves, either community forms or it doesn’t. And it stays that way the whole semester.

If, in the first forum, the first few students posting begin by responding to other students in a chatty and friendly way, instead of just introducing themselves and leaving, the others follow suit and the class takes off and community forms quickly. Participation and conversation levels remain high throughout the class, even in all the other forums where only posting their own work is required.

If, in that first forum, people only do as instructed and introduce themselves, and few comment on each other’s introductions, the community never takes off and the forum remains a posting board. This happens regardless of whether I, as the instructor, participate by welcoming people or not.

Interestingly, the level of student success in the forums doesn’t seem affected by which way it goes. They help each other at the same level regardless, because those trying to get an A are required to offer a helper reply to someone each week. Performance and learning seem unaffected by whether or not they form a community, but they clearly have more fun and make more social connections. Such support likely does have an effect I cannot see, perhaps engendering confidence and reducing fear.

But I wonder the extent to which it’s up to the students to form community anyway, even in classes where instructors are trying to force engagement and conversation?

Pedagogy Menus

Lisa M Lane 5 Comments

For many years, I have been considering how to give students more options in what kind of assignments they use to satisfy the objectives in my classes. Each time I think of something, I pull back, realizing it would be a record-keeping nightmare. Particularly when the foundation of my class is based on certain skills (thesis development, primary source evidence) that I need them to practice all the time. They can’t just do something else instead of this – it’s foundational.

Last week, I saw this post in Twitter:


and I began thinking about the food menu motif. In keeping with my MOOC triad idea, I’ve worked out a three-way analogy instead.

At the one end of the spectrum is the Prix Fixe. At a restaurant with a prix fixe menu, you order dinner, and what you will eat is pre-determined by the chef. You are served what they have listed, with no substitutions. Elements of a prix-fixe course design would be:

  • read pp. 18-36 of your textbook
  • using only the sources you’ve been given, do these questions/problems/quizzes
  • post twice in the forum this week about this topic or reading, and reply at least once to a colleague
  • complete all items in this course for the grade
  • collect lots of grades to get the final grade
  • “discuss”
  • learning = fulfilling the standards

Next would be the Limited Menu course design. Here there is a menu of items to choose from, but not too large a selection, kind of like the corner coffee shop with one guy back in the kitchen. Elements of a Limited Menu course design might be:

  • go over the context reading on this subject at Wikipedia
  • use any source to do these questions/problems/quizzes
  • find this type of thing on the web and post/discuss on the board
  • explore your own interests in context
  • choose one activity of each type/skill
  • reflect on your learning
  • engage in collaborative or cooperative work
  • learning = increasing understanding in a predetermined subject

Then there’s the Buffet style. A buffet is somewhat limited, but has many types of items. Elements of a Buffet course design could include:

  • find out about x
  • gather some resources about it and share
  • post whatever you want about this week’s subject
  • explore only your own interests
  • stay engaged
  • self-assess your work based on a rubric
  • learning= increasing understanding on an area of your interest
Flickr cc Michael’s Cookie Jar

My question to brainysmurf1234 was “what if they only choose dessert?” In other words, I am not a proponent of the Buffet style for first-year collegiate academic subjects necessary for general education. But neither am I completely comfortable with the Prix Fixe approach.

My designation of Content-Based MOOCs are rather like the Prix Fixe design, since all the topics are designated and testing takes place on only those resources assigned. The Task-Based MOOC is more like the Limited Menu, with some choices. And the Community-Based MOOC is like the Buffet, where it is easy to eat too much and get overwhelmed.

So I am leaning more toward a Limited Menu. The basis of my classes has become the construction of theses and essays based on the student’s choice of primary sources. These sources are limited to those posted by the students and their classmates each week. Thus they are doing the choosing, but from a limited menu (primary sources only from the Late Middle Ages, for example). The form of what they do with these sources is pre-determined (five-paragraph mini-essay) but the content is chosen by them.

I do love buffets, but I have to face it – I’m the one guy back in the kitchen. This must be manageable.

With my limited menu, perhaps, they won’t feel they have no choice in what they’ve ordered, but they won’t fill up on watermelon and 16 different kinds of cake either.

A Plea to Experienced MOOCers

Lisa M Lane 6 Comments

This week is the first week of our open, online class in teaching online, the POT Certificate Class.

It is primarily intended for teachers new to online instruction, especially at the college level.

However, it is a completely open class, and last year we had participants from all over the world. Most of the people who had a lot of experience acted as moderators and mentors, and it was a wonderful community.

This year, we have some wonderful additions, but many new participants are not only experienced with online teaching, they are experienced with MOOCs. The tradition (if such a word can be used by a phenomenon that’s only been around since 2007) is for people participating in Massive Open Online Classes to set up their own blog and, in most cases, do their own thing.

According to my Three Types of MOOC schema, they are people accustomed to Community-Based MOOCs.

This class, however, is not Massive, and it is task-based. Thus members should be creating blog posts based on the tasks of each week, rather than engaging in broad open-ended topics, particularly those laden with ed tech jargon and the names of various other MOOCs (ds106, cck08, change11) as they compare their experiences.

Unlike these MOOCs, this class is not an open framework for participating in an online community. The syllabus, unlike other MOOCs, is not just an open topic and a synchronous session (we may not even have many of those). It is based on guided exploration particular topics with a particular design of progress, particularly suited for those just beginning to teach online.

Class has been open for one day, and due to the activities of these wonderful people, all of whose work I personally love to read, the new folks are already intimidated.

The pedagogy here is not really connectivist; it’s more constructivist, with some instructivism each week.

The task for this week is to set up our blogs. The experienced MOOCers all have blogs already, and are enjoying side conversations far above the head of the people for whom the class is intended. This week’s posts should pertain to setting up a blog, and discussing aspects from the reading in the textbook.

So I ask you, please, if you are an experienced MOOCer, you are invited to learn with all of us in whatever capacity you wish. But keep in mind – the intention of the “potcert” tag was to make sure that your posts that relate to syllabus tasks are the only ones that appear in the main blog.

As Jim wrote in his prompt, “In general, narrowly focused posts that offer interesting reflections and connections better engage readers than long summaries of the readings and/or long musings on a wide range of topics.”

And, as last year, I invite any of you MOOCers with a lot of experience to volunteer as mentors and help others.