Module-4

Content, Communication and Collaboration
 

Content Knowledge:

1. Students will apply schema to subject matter in initial post to instructor posed question.

2. Students will develop content knowledge by conducting research on topic to find scholarly articles to provide analysis of content.

3. Student’s blog interesting content fact/s learned.

4. Students reply to blog posts of content they learned from each other’s blogs.

5. Students write short content paper about facts learned.

6. Students share papers with two other students to gain feedback.

Communication:

1. Students communicate synchronously using Skype

2. Students communicate asynchronously using blogs

3. Students communicate using bulletin boards or listservs

4. Students using texting

5. Students communicate via cell phone

6. Students communicate via e-mail

Collaboration:

1. Problem based learning

2. Social Networking sites

3. Web-hunts/searches

4. Clouding

5. Second life teams or projects

6. Modeling or design

Reflection

All students have some form of prior knowledge or experience they bring to the Distance Education (D.E.) of Face-to-Face (F-2-F) learning environments. In some cases laying the foundation is the job of the instructor through either the use of modeling, case study or example. Once this foundation is brought to the forefront the learning can begin and the student can answer the posed question. Research and web-hunts are helpful cognitive development, and hones deductive and computer skills. Blogs, bulletin boards, and clouding allow students the ability to communicate asynchronously as well as discover new technologies or hone technology skills. These are all technologies being employed in many workplaces and are advantages to the D.E. and F2F environments. These are advantages since little training is necessary, and if training is necessary, it (the training) will be more in depth. Recently we have seen many studies on the use of I-phones in the classroom. There is no reason this cannot transfer to distance education along with the aforementioned technologies. According to Durrington, Berryhill and Swaffrod (2006), “Another strategy for fostering student interactivity is problem-based learning (PBL)”. PBL or Case-based learning is a real-life scenario in which students problem solve collectively. These approaches like the other methods/tools listed are real world examples of technologies students are inundated with and easily implemented in the D.E. classroom while allowing participation among all students.

Reference:

Durrington, V., Berryhill, A., & Swafford, J. (2006). Strategies for enhancing student interactivity in an online environment. College Teaching, 54(1), 190-193. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.