Using WebTycho to Enhance a F2F Class_combined - DE Oracle

DE Oracle @ UMUC An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty Center for Support of Instruction *Real Video (http://marconi.umuc.edu/ramgen/GS/wt/facdev_q1.rm) | *Real Audio (http://marconi.umuc.edu/ramgen/GS/wt /facdev_audio_q1b.rm) | Transcript *Real Video (http://marconi.umuc.edu/ramgen/GS/wt/facdev_q2.rm) | Using WebTycho to Enhance a F2F Class CSI Staff Staff Writer Center for Support of Instruction Published: 0 2004 Category: » Online-pedagogy » Teaching-strategies The Graduate School made a commitment in 2000 to provide a WebTycho online classroom to every face-to-face (F2F) class, and asked all its faculty to find ways to use the online classroom to enhance their F2F classes. The principle reasons for this commitment were to enable all graduate students to have ready access to online resources (e.g., UMUC's library resources) and to promote information literacy for all graduate students. Faculty who are new to using WebTycho to enhance a face-to-face class often express questions and concerns about how to get started and how to get student buy-in. This article addresses these frequent questions in video and audio format -- with transcripts provided. We asked two veteran faculty members, Dr. Maggie Elgin (#elgin) and Dr. Ted Field (#field) , to answer these frequently asked questions from their own perspectives: 1. How do you get started using WT in your F2F classroom? (#q1) 2. In what ways can you use WT to support your F2F course? (#q2) How do you help students get started using WebTycho in the F2F class setting (#q3) (especially those who specifically want the F2F experience or don't want the online experience)? 3. *If you have difficulty viewing or hearing the video or audio segments below, you may need to download and install the latest version of basic RealOne Player (http://www.real.com /realoneplayer.html) from RealNetworks. (Look for the basic Free RealOne Player, not the Free Trial.) Question 1: How do you get started using WT in your F2F classroom? Question 2: In what ways can you use WT to support your F2F course? Using WebTycho to Enhance a F2F Class - DE Oracle *Real Audio (http://marconi.umuc.edu/ramgen/GS/wt /facdev_audio_q2b.rm) | Transcript *Real Video (http://marconi.umuc.edu/ramgen/GS/wt/facdev_q3.rm) | *Real Audio (http://marconi.umuc.edu/ramgen/GS/wt /facdev_audio_q3b.rm) | Transcript Question 3: How do you help students get started using WebTycho in the F2F class setting? Biographies of Participants Dr. Margaret A. Elgin Dr. Maggie Elgin began her teaching career with UMUC Graduate School in 1990. She has continuously taught ADMN 638 (Research Methods for Managers) since then. In addition, Dr. Elgin currently eaches UCSP 630 (Introduction to Research and Statistics) and ADMN 688 (Marketing Intelligence and Research Systems). She received the UMUC Stanley J. Drazek Teaching Excellence Award in 1995. Dr. Elgin is a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park. She earned her doctoral degree in education with a concentration in research methods and statistics and business administration. She has a master's degree in psychology and a bachelor's in sociology. She currently directs the Educational Research and Analysis department at the National Association of Home Builders. Dr. Ted Field Dr. Ted Field is Program Director for the Not-For-Profit Management track and course manager for ADMN 601 (The Manager in a Technological Society). He currently teaches the Doctoral course DMGT701 (Epistemology and Research Methods); OMED 610 (Digital Information Literacy for K-12 Educators); and ADMN 635 (Organizational Leadership and Decision Making). He has taught in the Graduate School since 1996. Dr. Field took his Ph.D. in Development Sociology from Cornell University after spending many years in Africa, first as a Peace Corps Volunteer, then in Botswana, Somalia, and Mozambique as a development expert. Dr. Field is Chair of the Board of Directors of Heartlands International, a nonprofit group dedicated to facilitating community development worldwide. He also serves from the board of the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council (NACC) as a member of NACC's Curriculum Guideline and Membership Development Task Forces. Rating: Not yet rated Comments No comments posted. You must be logged in and be a member of the UMUC community in order to comment. Using WebTycho to Enhance a F2F Class - DE Oracle Contact Site Manager Created and Maintained by the Center for Support of Instruction © University of Maryland University College Powered by ArticleMS from ArticleTrader.com If you are a member of the UMUC community and do not have an account, please register for a FREE one. If you have a guest account but are Faculty/Staff of UMUC please send an email to the DE Oracle Site Manager (mailto:degrad@umuc.edu?subject=Please Update my DE Oracle Guest Account) so that your guest account can be updated. Using WebTycho to Enhance a F2F Class - DE Oracle DE Oracle @ UMUC An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty Center for Support of Instruction Transcript - Question 1 CSI Staff Staff Writer Center for Support of Instruction Published: 0 2004 Category: » Online-pedagogy » Teaching-strategies Main Article: Using WebTycho to Enhance a F2F Class Q1: How do you start using WebTycho to enhance a Face to Face Class? Participants: Dr. Maggie Elgin and Dr. Ted Field Maggie: I got started in WebTycho very, very slowly about three years ago when a mandate came out that said with our face-to-face classes, we had to use some WebTycho enhancement. And, of course, the Graduate School, I now realize in a wise way, didn’t define that for us. So I didn’t know what that meant. I learned how to sign in and get into the shell for my course and kind of explored. (I felt like I was the first woman landing on Mars.) I tried to find my way around it and saw the class announcements and saw the menu on the left-hand side, saw... that we could have conferences. I could actually post all my course handouts. I could send the students to the [online] library, all of that. I’m a very non-technical person, so it was very scary for me at first, getting in there. I think the only reason I did was because the Graduate School said that we had to do it. And so, I got in there and learned some immediate things such as there is a self-help menu option you can [easily access]. And I discovered much to my pleasant surprise that my questions were actually there. They have a very good index. And answers to my questions were there. And they prescribed for you how you would set up a conference or post a class handout. I also found that I was assigned a distance education coordinator and that was somebody who was right there and met my just-in-time learning needs. She responded to my questions right away. So, I’ve had a lot of good coaching and prompting. And that really got me started. I got in the classroom and just did what a lot of people do; I kind of played around a little bit. And almost by trial and error I figured out what I could do. And with the coaching support, it began to seem not so foreign and technological, but a tool that could make my job easier and add information for the students. Ted: That’s interesting. I got into [web-]enhancing my courses in a totally different way. I had been teaching online — the whole course online — and then when we had the ... request that we start enhancing face-to-face, I moved from my fully online course into one that was a face-to-face equivalent. So I already had a lot of the training and knew how to do the postings and the conferences and the study groups. My challenge was how do I then take that into a face-to-face environment. When I did that, I discovered quite to my amazement that it really simplified my face-to-face teaching because I was using the WebTycho portion to manage all of the class, so I could really focus on the content in the face-to-face. It also enhanced my online component because the conferences where we can have Transcript - Question 1 - DE Oracle Contact Site Manager Created and Maintained by the Center for Support of Instruction © University of Maryland University College Powered by ArticleMS from ArticleTrader.com weekly discussions in the class were enhanced or reinforced by face-to-face [discussion]. I was thrilled to finish a couple of those classes and recognize those were probably some of the best classes I have ever taught. Maggie: WebTycho does make it easier. Ted: Oh, it is much easier. The students were much more engaged. I was challenged, but in a nice way. I didn’t find myself at all bored in what I was doing; I could explore both [the online and the f2f component]. I could actually get students talking about the implications of online communication in terms of management, because they were doing it. And it was not an academic exercise; they actually had to do it as part of their class work. So, they were very exciting classes. Maggie: One of the most, I think, intriguing and rewarding times for me was one night in class where we were really into a discussion about sampling. It was ten o’clock, we had to go home, we were getting brain-dead. But we were still [engaged], I could tell; the students' appetite for the information was whetted and so was mine. I told them we’d pick up the discussion tomorrow in the WebTycho conference area. The first thing in the morning I set up a little conference and people jumped in there and we continued the discussion over the weekend. It really was a good example of just-in-time learning. People were ready to learn and they got the information. Ted: I’ve done the same thing. We have had conversations which have gone the whole semester almost seamlessly from face-to-face to online. It has been so exciting watching students start leading those discussions. I could participate in those discussions, in some ways, as a peer. I mean, we teach adults and we are adults also, and we were all discussing the particular issues together. I could bring my expertise into it, but I could do it as a peer. And there’s just something about the magic [of combining] the online and the face-to-face, which I recommend for anybody to try it. I really would. Rating: Not yet rated Comments No comments posted. You must be logged in and be a member of the UMUC community in order to comment. If you are a member of the UMUC community and do not have an account, please register for a FREE one. If you have a guest account but are Faculty/Staff of UMUC please send an email to the DE Oracle Site Manager (mailto:degrad@umuc.edu?subject=Please Update my DE Oracle Guest Account) so that your guest account can be updated. Transcript - Question 1 - DE Oracle DE Oracle @ UMUC An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty Center for Support of Instruction Transcript - Question 2 CSI Staff Staff Writer Center for Support of Instruction Published: 0 2004 Category: » Online-pedagogy » Teaching-strategies Main Article: Using WebTycho to Enhance a F2F Class Q2: In what ways can you use WT to support your F2F course? Participants: Dr. Maggie Elgin and Dr. Ted Field Ted: First and foremost, I use WebTycho for the ease of the administration of my courses. I have students submit all their papers on it. I use the library e-reserve feature. What that does, it puts some of the course functions into the hands of the students. I have to administer the class much less, and when I’m in the [physical] classroom, I can spend most of my time teaching. Maggie: I use WebTycho, Ted, to supplement the entire course. I post class announcements in there between sessions. And I set up conferences. One of my favorite things to do is when a class session is over and there’s a leftover conversation, we can pick it up the next day or for the rest of the week in the WebTycho conference. So, I use the conferences. I post many of the course materials, the syllabus... All of the course handouts are posted in the course content area. I do use the reserved readings from the library. I use [WebTycho] for the entire business of my class. Ted: Yes, I use the conferences, also, to keep a dialogue going throughout the week, the semester, rather than all face-to-face. You show up [online] and have to revisit the last week, some small discussion that can sort of turn over. And I like using the announcements to link the students into, say, newspaper articles, current events, things that might be important. And I’ve been able to generate some special conferences doing that. I think [students] appreciate that; it keeps the class current. WebTycho keeps students busy, it keeps them discussing, and it allows me, again, to focus on the content. Maggie: It keeps the course very current. I think it’s really important to use that class announcement area to let folks know that there’s now new information posted in the conference area or the course content area. Ted: I [update announcements] just once a week, give them some heads-up on what to expect. I may put in a quote that I can find. I had a Milton Burle quote that I put in my last week’s conference, and some of the students sent me emails on how much they appreciated it and what a giggle they got from it. The quote had something to do with teamwork. (They’re in the middle of team projects right now.) But [I take advantage of] that [immediacy] and really ...having the tools, again, to manage the whole course. Maggie: I do use [my WebTycho classroom] to provide students with all of the supplemental materials that I normally in past years have carried into the classroom and duplicated and passed out. Now they can go on WebTycho and download it themselves. I can go into the classroom light ‘n lively, I’m not Transcript - Question 2 - DE Oracle Contact Site Manager Created and Maintained by the Center for Support of Instruction © University of Maryland University College Powered by ArticleMS from ArticleTrader.com carrying 20 pounds of paper. Ted: I particularly like using the grade book function where students submit their assignments online. ... It’s date stamped. I don’t lose papers taking them to the car. And students can’t claim that they passed it in if it’s not there. Maybe the computer eats the homework occasionally, but I’ve had no more dogs eating my homework excuses since I’ve been teaching online. Maggie: WebTycho is a good, I think, overall supplement to a face-to-face class. I think it gives students additional information above and beyond what we have time to accomplish in the classroom. Ted: It’s absolutely powerful. It’s increased the power of my teaching ten-fold... Maggie: I agree. Ted: I can just focus on the content. I can focus on the interactions. And students have all the materials there available to them. Rating: Not yet rated Comments No comments posted. You must be logged in and be a member of the UMUC community in order to comment. If you are a member of the UMUC community and do not have an account, please register for a FREE one. If you have a guest account but are Faculty/Staff of UMUC please send an email to the DE Oracle Site Manager (mailto:degrad@umuc.edu?subject=Please Update my DE Oracle Guest Account) so that your guest account can be updated. Transcript - Question 2 - DE Oracle DE Oracle @ UMUC An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty Center for Support of Instruction Transcript - Question 3 CSI Staff Staff Writer Center for Support of Instruction Category: » Online-pedagogy » Teaching-strategies Main Article: Using WebTycho to Enhance a F2F Class Q3: How do you help students get started using WebTycho in the F2F class setting? Participants: Dr. Maggie Elgin and Dr. Ted Field Maggie: One of the ways I use [the WebTycho classroom] that supports the students using it is that I never go in there and do anything for the class that I don’t tell them about what I’m doing. I always start in the class announcement area and tell them there’s a conference that they need to participate in between now and a certain date — the next week of the class, for example. Or there’s some additional information that’s been posted in the course content area. So, I think supporting the students through [giving] a lot of information in the class announcement area, letting them know what else is in WebTycho for the class, is very useful to them. Ted: I use the announcements in the same way. And I also build some redundancy into the classroom. If I did an announcement, sometimes I’ll also send a shorter announcement by [the WebTycho class list] email, just to let students know where to find things, what to expect. Particularly for the new students who are also learning their way through this, I find that helps tremendously. So, I guess as I’ve been supported, this has enabled me to be supportive of students in meeting the objectives of the course. Maggie: Yes. When we first started using WebTycho to supplement our face-to-face classes, I remember talking to the students and kind of trying to help them ease into it. I teach a research and statistics course, and students are always scared to death when they arrive in the course. They want a lot of handholding, they want to see me and be around me. I think that they feel that is coming across as supportive. So, I talk to them [about the WebTycho component]. I actually send them an email before the class starts and talk to them about the fact that it is WebTycho-enhanced and I give them some examples of what that means. And then we talk about that on the first night of class. And they have a schedule... What I’ve done in the past is have three of my 14 or 15 classes fully online [midterm and final exams and one session that lends itself well to online discussion]. They know about that well in advance. I always ask them how many have had experience with online WebTycho learning. I’ve been asking them that question now for over three years. Semester by semester I’m seeing more and more people, more and more students that now are familiar with WebTycho. Ted: So, you’re seeing less and less resistance to the use of WebTycho? Maggie: Less total resistance. But I almost always have one student who says, “I thought I purchased a face-to-face class and that’s what I want.” But I do remind them that it is a requirement of the Graduate School that all classes be web-enhanced and that I think they will see a lot of me — maybe more than they want! — and that they will see that the WebTycho really does supplement and enhance the course, and that it is really very user-friendly. Transcript - Question 3 - DE Oracle Ted: I do that and I give some very specific pointers to them: One, developing the expertise of being able to do something online looks awfully good on a resume. And it really helps in terms of their jobs; they can learn how to manage an online team, for example. And quite a few of the students pick up on that. Another point, it sounds like a little thing, but it’s not a little thing: When the weather turns bad and you teach at night, sometimes if you could do something online rather than have to drive or get caught in the traffic; many of the students are very appreciative of that. And the third point is the library. I’m getting more use of and better use of library resources through the link in the classroom. So, [I point out] some very pragmatic [advantages of WebTycho]: not having to drive in every night, particularly as the weather gets bad; it’ll enhance their careers; they can add it as a skill that they’re developing; and, again, I think it’s enhancing their intellectual abilities through the use of the library. This approach works well. Maggie: Yes, I agree. One of the things I consider one of my challenges right now, as an online/face-to-face instructor, is how can I show students online the support that I show them in the realtime classroom? How can I communicate that level of support? I’m right there for them in an online version; one of the ways to [demonstrate] that that is really simple: check into the WebTycho classroom and get back to people quickly, so that when they send out a message they don’t feel like it’s gone into a black hole. [When] students get a pretty quick response, they know you’re there and that you’re available through the WebTycho communication. Ted: Absolutely. I go online every day, but some days, I’m just checking, it’s for a very short period of time. But it enables me to put up an announcement, respond to a [question], and simply say "I’m available for you." (Students also have an office phone number they could call [to get] an immediate response from me.) It makes a very big difference and it doesn’t cut into my time. It enables me, again, to establish that really special relationship that an educator has with a student, to establish it in a virtual environment in a way that I can still keep their focus on the course objectives. And it doesn’t take that much time. Maggie: One of the things the Graduate School shared — they did some research in online learning and teaching — one of the things they shared with us at faculty meeting that I found really helpful was the whole idea of "leaving tracks." Ted: Yes. Maggie: I think it’s really easy to go into [the WebTycho classroom], and [if] the students, (hopefully) are caught up in a conference between themselves, [not to interrupt]. It's always great to see [the student-student communication]. But you’ve got to jump in there from time to time. When the students are going back and forth with one another, you don’t have to respond to everybody at that point. But, I think getting in there and showing them that I’m following this discussion and adding my own two cents shows them, again, that this course online doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The instructor's right there. She’s looking in. The students are in there talking to one another and we are honestl