Uncommon Thinking for the Common Good™ educause.edu

ED EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative Webinar - Participant Chat: Links and Abbreviated Transcript Community Discussion Session: Online and Blended Learning September 8, 2014: 1:00 p.m. ET (UTC-4; 12:00 p.m. CT, 11:00 a.m. MT, 10:00 a.m. PT)

Session Link:

https://acms.ucsd.edu/online-ed/learning-glass.html

Abbreviated Chat Transcript:

Bonita Bray (UBC): (9/8/2014 13:09) most challenging is finding time

Jennifer Duis: (13:09) Lack of support, someone who has time to observe, give feedback

Bonita Bray (UBC): (13:09) for faculty to find the time

Mary W: (13:09) Time is always an issue

Mary-Alice Muraski: (13:09) We have an issue with instructors attending workshops

donna z 2: (13:09) another vote for the finding time challenge

J R Boyd: (13:09) getting faculty to commit the time

Nikki Reynolds, Hamilton College: (13:09) Understanding what can be effectively moved out of the

classroom;

Scott: (13:10) Agree with Bonita. Also professors come to us with varying degrees of expertise online --

from totally new to experienced. And they have different goals.

Dale Johnson: (13:10) I think the biggest challenge is helping them envision what the final result will be

like.

Lisa Star: (13:10) More online training, less face to face workshops

Kristy Conger - Univ TN Health Science Center: (13:10) I agree with Bonita's comment....our faculty are

struggling to find time to participate in professional development opportunities that are provided

Tawnya Means: (13:10) At some universities, faculty development is not as high a priority as other

activities that are rewarded such as research and publication

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J R Boyd: (13:10) food of course

Lisa Star: (13:10) Fewer staff members to deliver faculty development

Nikki Reynolds, Hamilton College: (13:10) Particularly getting faculty to understand the concept of

"chunking" or "sound & example bites"

Bonita Bray (UBC): (13:10) @Dale - we try to put faculty into our online course as a student so they can

get an idea of how they could set up and faciitate their course

Jennifer Duis: (13:11) lack of support in learning the technology, dealing with technical difficulties,

students unprepared to do anything except 'click' on something (i.e. don't know how to open a file with

specific software)

Scott: (13:11) Faculty are generally not rewarded, in terms of credit for tenure, for attending prof.

development workshops, building online courses, or becoming great online teachers

Jennifer Duis: (13:11) right, Scott, lack of reward for putting in the huge amount of time it takes to deal

with online portion of class, lack of recognition for how much time online class takes

eileen stuyniski: (13:11) Lack of faculty participation in voluntary faculty development (due to time

contraints and competing priorities)

Mara Hancock: (13:12) Development of flipped classes requires more focus on in-class activities.

Iryna: (13:12) faculty training is not required for the faculty who want to teach online

Jennifer Duis: (13:12) Concerns about negative impact on minorities and lower socioeconimic status

students

Dale Johnson: (13:13) I have had to resort to direct payments many times to buy out their time or

support summer work.

Mara Hancock: (13:14) We have a pedagogy working group, chaired by faculty. The focus of our

blended/flipped work has been primarily about improving engagement. It has absolutely improved the

pedagogy in some of our seminar courses.

Veronica Diaz: (13:14) Mara, why don't you call in and tell us more about your project

Veronica Diaz: (13:14) Dale, why don't you call in too and tell us about how you support faculty

Sara Nystuen: (13:14) We are exploring badge/certifications for faculty development which has created

a positive buzz.

Kelvin Thompson (UCF): (13:15) Sara, we'd love to hear more about what you're doing with

badges/certifications!

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Bonita Bray (UBC): (13:15) @Sara - would love to hear more about that - just about to try it here

Dylan Barth (UW-Milwaukee): (13:16) I'd like to hear more from Sara about badges as well!

Brooke Carlson- Chaminade: (13:17) At Chaminade, our IT is making the badge/certifications available to

faculty...I have yet to get started with them...

Mara Hancock: (13:17) Sorry, not on phone.

Dale Johnson: (13:17) Sustainability is the challenge for the long term for us as well.We have been using

grant money as incentives, butthe strucutral changes require leadership from the department chairs,

dean and provost.

Kristy Conger - Univ TN Health Science Center: (13:17) We are currently experimenting with embedding

an instructional designer into one of our programs/colleges which offers online degrees. So far the

response has been very positive.

J R Boyd: (13:18) we do a certificate of faculty enhancement, but frankly we can only allude to the

impact of the P&T process, and most often they are obtained by the "choir"

J R Boyd: (13:18) >on< the P&T process, sorry!

Allan - Boise State University: (13:19) Our attempts to get faculty to commit time is to sign an agreement

ahead of time with the department chair and the faculty member and paying them a stipend that either

the faculty memebr gets or the department uses to hire areplacement to lighten the instructor's load for

that term.

Washington State University: (13:20) Our university does not require faculty to participate. What

incentives work in an environment like this?

Cub Kahn/Oregon State: (13:20) Food!

Brooke Carlson- Chaminade: (13:20) Our online courses sometimes get dropped at teh last minute, so

the commitment from faculty can be tricky.How much effort do you put into a syllabus if it is going to be

cut at the last minute?

Pam Farmer: (13:21) Teaching is a component of the P&T process.What measures can be included in

that process to represent the contributions the faculty are making related to teaching excellence?

Mary W: (13:22) @ Brooke Carson- Chaminade....we encounter this as well.No real solution, yet.

Brooke Carlson- Chaminade: (13:24) My hope, Mary W, is perhaps the badge offerings can get faculty

excited and learning more about how to teach online and blended classes.

Bonita Bray (UBC): (13:24) At UBC we're seeing interest in the student as producer idea

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Mary W: (13:25) We are suggesting activities for students as producers as well

Dale Johnson: (13:25) We are experimenting with HapYak embedded in our lesson videos to monitor

student viewing habits and do formative assessments.

Lisa McGrady: (13:26) One challenge we face is in content-heavy courses like nursing. It's hard to get

beyond content presentation + content presentation + content presentation + discussion forum

repeating the content presentation.

Katie: (13:26) At Harvard School of Public Health we are starting to use eportfolios for students to

synthesize their learning, especially for practicum courses

Jennifer Duis: (13:26) Data on how what exactly is going so far?

Katie: (13:26) We are using both Canvas and Digication

Mara Hancock: (13:26) We had one faculty compare results on same class, different semesters. One

flipped, the other not.

Brenda: (13:26) What is HapYak?

Washington State University: (13:26) For our extraccurricular activities (our Global Connections events)

that are meant to engage students in our virtual campus it is incredibly difficult to find a time that will

work for critical mass of students to participate in a synchronous activity.

Mara Hancock: (13:27) Mid-term exams showed an improvement.

Bonita Bray (UBC): (13:27) UBC heavily into the flipped classroom - no extensive data yet but anecdotal

evidence is positive

Mara Hancock: (13:27) Student feedback was extremely positive.

Mary W: (13:27) We are looking into intigrating WordPress to 'hold' ePortfolios...so, students can take

them with them...after graduation.No data just yet.

Deyu: (13:27) we encourage faculty to take baby steps

Jessica Egan: (13:28) At UMass Amherst, we are implementing change in smaller steps. We've flipped

just the listening and speaking activities in language learning classes.

Brown University: (13:28) @ Katie -- have the results been good in Canvas' eportfolio tool and digication.

How do you measure if students continue using these tools? Is that possible?

Clark Shah-Nelson: (13:29) Flipping -> Blending -> Fully online continuum :)

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Mara Hancock: (13:29) This was an experiment, but is increasingly an interest in our faculty who teach

seminar (not studio) based courses. It combined some more formal video lectures up front with some

more spontaneous and adhoc videos from the faculty as well as open content.

Katie: (13:30) @Brown - still early in our use, though so far we find Digication more flexible. Instructure

says they are adding features to Canvas portfolios

Jennifer Duis: (13:30) main results so far have that we don't appear to be doing harm, DFW rate

maintained, possibly more A grades, but we haven't dug into impacts on minority & lower

socioeconomic status students

Mara Hancock: (13:30) However, the most intensive work was in redesigning the class time and that

happened throughout the semester and required intensive engagement from the instructor

Don Olliff - UC San Diego: (13:31) At UC San Diego we are creating videos with the Learning Glassto keep

the students interest.https://acms.ucsd.edu/online-ed/learning-glass.html

Brown University: (13:31) @Mary W - do you require students to build a Wordpress as part of each

course? I love the idea of Wordpress as the holder for a student portfolio.

Jennifer Duis: (13:31) we blended our large intro general chemistry and initial data indicates very few of

the students are interacting with the pre-lecture/online material

Mary W: (13:32) @ Brown University we will be allowing students choice. They can use Canvas,

WordPress and or something else

Brenda: (13:33) We are doing eportfolios also and allow students to use any platform but offer extensive

support for WordPress

Mary W: (13:33) I think WordPress is the best....

Brown University: (13:33) @ Mary W. Nice! Do students use Wordpress on your server, or do you have

them set up a blog at wordpress.com

Mary W: (13:34) @ Brown U students do need a hosting...either via BlueHost [small fee] or WordPress

[free]

Joe Brightman: (13:34) I've used Wordpress before, since that stays with the students, if you have them

host through WP.

Brenda: (13:34) We have Campus Press (Edublogs) for Wordpress sitewide.Students can export to a

general Wordpress site on graduation.

Brenda: (13:35) We are using eportfolios primarily for "Career portfolios" now, although they have been

used for classes and program assessment in the past.

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Jennifer Duis: (13:35) We have ~40% first generation in college and they do not seem prepared

technology wise or time management wise to handle the considerable amount of work required outside

of class

Jennifer Duis: (13:35) for blended classes

Hiroyo Saito: (13:36) I would like know where is the best place to look when we are getting started with

accessibility and usability in blended courses

Debra@MDC: (13:36) @Jennifer - we run into a similar issue regarding the techno divide

Washington State University: (13:36) Building off Jennifer - does anyone have an intro to tech class for

incoming students?

Brown University: (13:37) The biggest challenge to being innovative is getting the course fully built long

before it runs, and then experimenting and doing cool stuff. Ittakes time and trial and error to be

innovative.

Tawnya Means: (13:37) UF has an online orientation that sets students up with all that they need to

know, including tech

Jennifer Duis: (13:37) @Hiroyo, that's a whole other nasty pit, keeping up with the accessibility, we

certainly weren't prepared, nor was our Disability Services department

Debra@MDC: (13:37) We have a Virtual College orientation. Right now it isn't required and we are

revamping it to address these areas as well as general informaiton

Brooke Carlson- Chaminade: (13:37) @Jennifer:My experience is similar, and results are poor...shallow

research, very little writing...

Bonita Bray (UBC): (13:38) @Hiroyo - I, too would be interested in seeing what others have used - it's a

difficult thing to get faculty interested in

Dale Johnson: (13:38) The student "learning curve" to get used these changes can be very steep. We

have resorted to an intro video of about 4 minutes to help them understand the flipped model and get

familiar with the online materials.

Veronica Diaz: (13:39) @Dale, what's your uptake on the intro video?

Tsvet: (13:39) @Bonita and Hiroyo the best way to interest faculty is to have students with disabilities

attend their courses.That usually exposes all the problems and encourages faculty to seek help.

Bonita Bray (UBC): (13:40) @Tsvet - good idea since the usual respose from faculty is that "no one with

disabilitiesis in my class"

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Leo: (13:40) From the very beginning it is important that students realize they need to take charge of

their own learning becoming instructors in their own right.

Mary-Alice Muraski: (13:40) We have several facutly doing intro videos covering their syllabus -

Dale Johnson: (13:40) We get about 90% viewership because we make it the first things they see.The

proof it works is the feedback we get from faculty that it eliminated 98% of the first week frustration

they used to have explaining the course to students.

Jennifer Duis: (13:40) I know our Disability Resources got $$ to add new transcription software but sadly

don't know what that is

Bonita Bray (UBC): (13:40) in Canada no legal mandate to make things accessible so more of an uphill

battle

Mary W: (13:41) I am interested in personal learning.

Leo: (13:42) Developing specific concept inventories that can be used as diagnostics by the students to

show them what they have learned.

Jennifer Duis: (13:42) Feedback I've heard from students thrown into our new intro-math course that

has personal learning, is that they HATE it

Jennifer Duis: (13:42) yup

Brown University: (13:42) we are engaging faculty with program competencies on a regular basis, trying

to encourage them to make it fun.

Jennifer Duis: (13:42) They have to sign into a lab multiple hours a week

Jennifer Duis: (13:43) the less they know the more and more work they must do

Lee Tansock: (13:43) @ Jennifer, if your students are not used to self-paced learning, they will not like it.

We have found that it depends on the student. If they are motivated, they will like it.

Brooke Carlson- Chaminade: (13:43) My online experience produced lots of small student input, no

"new" artifacts, even though the end result of that class is a research paper.

J R Boyd: (13:43) how ironic!

Jennifer Duis: (13:43) it's just them in front of a computer in a lab

Jennifer Duis: (13:43) theyd didn't come to our institution to take 'online' class

Washington State University: (13:44) Has anyone had success convincing faculty to be more explicit

about their outcomes in their online classes?

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Debra@MDC: (13:44) Competency Based learning may take more encouragement and communication -

has anyone seen this to be the case?

J R Boyd: (13:44) It is funny tho how much time traditional students will spend staring at screens large

and small for other things...

Jennifer Duis: (13:45) true, J R

Dale Johnson: (13:45) Jennifer - our first personalized math course was run with just the computer and

student and it was a failure.We had to go to a flipped model to get them back in the classroom and then

performance rebounded.

Kieran Mathieson: (13:45) Rubric-level formative feedback systems create assessment data as a matter

of course.

Andrew Bonamici, Univ of Oregon: (13:45) re accessibility... the EDUCAUSE IT Accessibilty Constituent

Group is a great resource.

Brooke Carlson- Chaminade: (13:45) One online suggestion from faculty who hasbeen teaching online

for a while is to offer material for a week at a time.Our online students are working/taking

classes/parenting/etc...

Jennifer Duis: (13:45) we use clickers in class for active learning (also use them to 'force' students to do

pre-lecture but doesn't seem to be working)

Jennifer Duis: (13:46) but those of us who've used clickers a long time don't have resources to really help

newbs use them properly...

Tsvet: (13:46) @Jennifer attach a grade penalty for not doing the pre-course reading and students will

improve on that front

Hiroyo Saito: (13:47) @Andrew thank you for the info

J R Boyd: (13:47) Tsvet points at the need sometimes to train students to have good study habits!

Jennifer Duis: (13:47) @ Tsvet, there is a grade penalty, 10%!

Tsvet: (13:47) @Jennifer we also found that not all clicker questions are created equal.the questions

have to be real world and designed to generate discussion.

Jennifer Duis: (13:48) developing good questions is not trivial, for certain

Leo: (13:48) Students need to be presented with authentic learning scenarios that they can relate to.

Mary W: (13:48) @ Leo well put....

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Kate Ellis: (13:49) Is this even possible without engaging in SoTL (Scholarship of Teaching and Learning)?

I hope so.

Tsvet: (13:49) Unless faculty are chased from the classroom by the students, the outcomes of the

surveys and courses seem to make little difference.

Mary-Alice Muraski: (13:50) @Kate - why would you not want to engage SoTL?

Andrew Bonamici, Univ of Oregon: (13:50) from Lindsey Freer at Univ of Oregon: to get suystained

faculty buyin, efforts need to be institution-wide and also instituion-specific. requires institutional effort

and commitment, not just individual and departmental.

Leo: (13:52) The classroom is a tool. A classroom design severly impacts how an instructor conducts

f2f/flipped type activities. The classroom infrastructure must be conductive to the method of teaching

attempted therwise it will act as a deterrent.

Brooke Carlson- Chaminade: (13:52) Absolutely, Leo.

Debra@MDC: (13:53) well said @Leo +100!

Andrew Bonamici, Univ of Oregon: (13:55) @Leo Hear, hear.

J R Boyd: (13:56) I completely agree Leo but this is the hand we've been dealt today, so we hav eto help

faculty make transitional moves within that crappy environment.

J R Boyd: (13:57) My point being that if we wait for the campus that is all active learning classrooms we'll

be retired or worse.

Bonita Bray (UBC): (13:57) @JRBoyd - LOL - right on - we have to work with what we've got now

Debra@MDC: (13:57) @JR having someone in Academic Space or Facilities (which ever group updates

and maintains classrooms) is critical to transitioning and helping to improve old classrooms for new

learning models