Wonder what would be a major trend of higher education in 5 years from now? If you are relating it to the use of online learning technologies, you are right on the track. According to data released recently by research firm Ambient Insight, only 5.14 million students will take all of their classes in a physical classroom while 18.65 million will take some of their classes online and 3.55 million more will take all of their classes online. More

Jaesoon An, Ph.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

The new paradigm in education is the shift from a teacher-centered learning environment to a more student-centered learning environment. Active learning and constructivist practices require that the instructor takes on a more facilitative role, placing students at the forefront of knowledge generation, idea sharing, and collaboration. However, the challenge is getting students to participate in classroom discussions? How do you encourage those students to interact classroom discussions that feel completing assigned work, coming to class, and passing tests are sufficient? To reduce issues of a few students dominating discussions while others listen passively, personal response systems or “clickers” can be integrated into the classroom.

Clickers allow you to easily involve and interact with an entire class, while capturing real-time assessment data. Clickers automate and streamline administrative tasks such as taking attendance, grading quizzes and tests, and tracking student and class performance. How do clickers enhance student learning? Dr. Peter M. Saunders, director of Oregon State University’s Center for Teaching and Learning, has revealed the following best practices when integrating clickers:

• Limit the number of clicker questions to five per class
• Use PowerPoint to prepare, manage, and display questions
• Create questions that support peer discussion and instruction
• Use a variety of assessment question types.

For more best practices from Dr. Sanders, visit the article Can Clickers Enhance Student Learning? View the CTL’s clicker resources at http://teaching.uncc.edu/e-learning-tool/clickers-personal-response-systems.

As more and more of you are called upon to teach online courses, you face the significant challenge of keeping students involved in the course. One way to do this is to increase the sense of community among your students.

This Faculty Focus post from Jane Dwyer, a senior lecturer at Rivier College, suggests some techniques to help you connect more with your online students. The techniques she uses are:

• Introductory letter
• Video clip
• Introductory questions
• Pet gallery
• Bully session
• Shared leadership
• Question forum

The details are in Dwyer's post. But you can see that she uses various course tools we have available: forums, student profiles, etc.

I particularly like the use of a short welcome clip to introduce yourself (no course information) and make your students feel welcome and comfortable. You don't need a high-end video camera – you could use something as simple as an ultra-compact camera like the Flip Video.

Good luck with your next (first?) online course!

Sam Eneman
Center for Teaching & Learning

I read something in Campus Technology about 60-second lectures, and it sounded interesting:

As the manager of online services and senior instructional designer at San Juan College in Farmington, NM, [David] Penrose developed a method of condensing a 60- minute lecture into 60 seconds. After doing some "reverse engineering" and breaking down the traditional lecture into individual components, Penrose came up with a format that professors could use to develop a focused minute-long lecture that would be supported by assignments designed to enrich the students' research, collaboration, and writing skills. The next step: deciding the best method for presenting the micro-lectures. Explains Penrose, "It quickly became obvious that using video as the delivery mechanism was the way to go. By using video, we could present high-impact images, words that were difficult to pronounce combined with audio explaining the concepts, so that students could see and hear and read and experience all of this material over the course of 60 seconds." The main goal of Penrose and his team was to create video podcasts that could be easily streamed, viewed, and digested on a smart phone or handheld device.

Unfortunately, the rest of the article talks about the hardware and software used to create and disseminate these videos.  I wanted to hear more about how, specifically, one makes a 60-minute lecture into 60-seconds.  What do the faculty and students think about this?  Really, this is great stuff. 

Here is what I think would need to happen, in part:

• Create an outline of the absolutely key concepts
• Distinguish between critical vs. merely useful
• Set student expectations higher, especially in terms of preparedness

What else?  This list is far, far from complete.  I think that last bullet is a big one.  The 60-minute lecture can often let students off the hook, so to speak, from preparing fully for class, especially if the lecture covers the reading.  If we use a 60-second lecture to instead enhance or guide the reading, then students are pretty much forced to become partners in learning and hold up their end more.

Garvey

J. Garvey Pyke, Ed.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

Just to add to Jaesoon's post about hybrid courses, this is a frequent topic on campus and in the field: how do we define courses into various types?  I like the definitions that Sloan-C uses [see pg. 4 of the free PDF]:

I hope this is useful in helping us make decisions, moving forward, on how we classify our courses at UNC Charlotte.

Garvey

J. Garvey Pyke, Ed.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

Some professors use online resources during classroom instruction. Some give online learning materials and assignments, and then reduce class seat time requirement. Some do not require class seat time at all although students can choose to come to the class. Some give instruction in the online environment only and do not hold class meetings.

Jaesoon An, Ph.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

Ask your students if they use Facebook and the chances are most of them do. Maybe it's time to take advantage of that and integrate Facebook into your course.

This post on the Online College blog can help you get started. It lists 100 ideas to use Facebook for class projects and for engaging your students in a new medium. Here are just a few:

• Have students follow news feeds relevant to course material.
• Create Apps for Facebook.
• Keep up with politicians -- especially for political science students.

Sam Eneman
Center for Teaching & Learning

Are you tired of writing extensive comments in the margin of a student paper during grading?  Do you wish you could just talk to the student instead?  Well, professor Jim Glading at SNHU has an innovative practice for you: he uses Jing to record audio and then put a link right there on the student's paper.  This sounds like a time saving device but also one that will provide students with richer feedback. 

Garvey

J. Garvey Pyke, Ed.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

Online learning is different from traditional face-to-face instruction. Online learners must possess certain characteristics to succeed in a virtual classroom. According to the Illinois Online Network, online learners should be self-motivated, self-disciplined, and think critically among other criteria. However, the following question arises: How do you help students learn online? Janet Moore provides a variety of ways to help students learn online. Some strategies include:

• Set the tone for engaging students as a learning community
• Emphasize the relevancy of the course to students
• Make the structure of the course and expectations for overall flow explicit
• Encourage self-direction and diversity

For more strategies to help students succeed online, visit Janet Moore’s blog.

Melanie

Melanie Smith | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte

Are you looking for ways to incorporate active learning strategies into your teaching? Service learning is one effective way to do it. By having students participate in real-world projects pertinent to your subject area as service activities for community organizations or events, you can give them chances to practice what you are teaching and reflect in the process of the experience. Campus Compact provides resources on service learning.

Jaesoon An, Ph.D. | Center for Teaching and Learning | UNC Charlotte