Discussion Applied Pedagogies Ch. 3﻿

THE ONLINE WRITING INSTRUCTION COMMUNITY

Discussion Applied Pedagogies Ch. 3

9/13/2016

Let's chat about Applied Pedagogies. This space is for discussion on the chapter three.

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5 Comments

Jessie Borgman

9/24/2016 07:52:46 am

I really liked the idea behind this chapter, that online teaching is something you have to learn to do. I think the metaphor of driving a stick was really interesting because while people know how to drive (and teach writing), learning to drive a stick (or teach an online course) is a new experience. I do wish this metaphor was carried throughout the chapter a bit more though. I felt like it was there at the beginning and the end, but I would've liked to see more reference to it throughout.

Marshall made some really good points about new instructor training and how it is often focused on learning how to use the CMS. This is a real problem and I liked her argument for the focus on pedagogy. Online teaching is different and even if you know how to teach, not everything you've done in your f2f courses works in your online courses.

The other thing I liked about this chapter was the focus on students and the student experience (and training for that matter) in regards to online courses. I was on the phone with a student yesterday who was frustrated that she had to participate three days out the course week. She said that the reason she took an online course is that she wanted to be able to do all of her assignments on one day per week when it worked for her.

Marshall's point about making expectations clear to students is a good one to make and one that I am hoping our field (OWI) starts to focus on; we need to change the definition or expectations of online courses in the eyes of students, faculty and administrators if we're going to legitimize it to everyone because let's face it, not everyone is sold on online courses.

MIchael Greer

9/25/2016 09:08:34 am

I appreciate the real world focus of this chapter. In fact, I wish I had been able to read this chapter when I first started teaching online. I think I did a lot of grinding of gears as I made the transaction from f2f.

One of the key points I see is the importance of presence. Everyone agrees that instructor presence is important in an online class, but nobody knows how to define presence! I try to use a combination of audio and video presentations for the whole class with one-on-one responsiveness to individual questions. I do try to respond as quickly as possible when students have questions about an assignment, unless they email in the middle of the night!

Another key point in the article is about structure. I did get good advice when I first taught online, about the importance of structure and schedule. I try to set a routine and a schedule at the beginning of the semesters and stick with it. Changing deadlines on the fly in an online class is a recipe for mutiny.

The realism in the chapter comes with the discussion of training. I had none whatsoever when I started teaching online, perhaps because I am off campus. Most of what I have been offered is general training in the use of the CMS. None of it is specify to teaching writing, and none of it is related to pedagogy.

The good news is that the chapter argues that shifting to online makes many of us better teachers. I know that is true for me. I have had to up my game considerable, and I still feel like a beginner.

Michael Greer

9/25/2016 09:14:30 am

I agree with Jessie's point about expectations, which was another important theme in the chapter. There is a kind of double standard among students, who want to be able to complete class work entirely on their own schedule and convenience, while at the same time expecting students and peers to be available 24x7. I do a little video at the beginning of each class that I call "Keys to Success" and I talk to students about what the research and my experience shows are the important factors for success as a student in an online course. I have found that breaking course assignments into small steps due about three times a week is effective, but students to push back, as Jessie reports, and complain about not being able to log in and do everything in one session per week. We need a kind of student expectations best practices doc for OWI as a whole. Anyone want to collaborate on drafting something like that?

Tess Evans

9/25/2016 11:19:46 am

My biggest takeaway from this chapter was the importance of defining "presence," managing expectations, and developing training that is more than learning the CMS. I took an online class as a master's student and was shocked at how isolating it was and how easy it was to forget to engage with the course--the course was not set up to interact at all with other students. I found two friends on campus who were also taking the course, and we developed our own peer group to discuss assignments and expectations, which helped tremendously. That experience made me realize how important peer interaction was to the learning process--yet in my first experience teaching online a few students expected a go-at-your-own-pace independent course, which usually translated into not interacting with the course and their peers (or me) and not leaving themselves enough time to complete assignments.

Changing from one CMS to another can also be difficult because, as the author indicates, the CMS is not the course. The learning curve for new technologies can lead to unanticipated glitches for both students and teachers. Also, learning how to use the CMS isn't the same as learning how to design a particular course within a particular department for online delivery. Who are these experts who should train instructors? I would argue that they are the teachers themselves, who have often been thrown into the online environment as instructors with little preparation, but, as a result, probably have more experience in the online environment than those who assign them to the courses. It seems to me that writing instructors within a department who teach or have taught online should get together to discuss what they have done, what has worked or not worked, etc. They should also include in some of those discussion students who have taken online courses.

Presence is a subcategory of managing expectations, but it's something I worry about--how does my definition match up with that of admin or students? How often must students interact with the course? How often and in what forms must I demonstrate my presence? Right now I'm teaching an online technical writing class alongside the same f-t-f class. The online class is more work in that I can't combine course sites because I'm constantly having to tweak assignments for the online version (I've taught the 6-week online version, but this is the first time I've taught the regular semester version). My expectations were more thought-out for the summer course when students weren't taking any other classes versus a regular semester when my class is just one of several on their schedule. Past experience has shown me the value of setting up expectations in multiple ways: First I sent an email before the first week of class to lay out the expectations, so that those who don't like the expectations have time to drop before the semester starts. Next, I realized the need to re-emphasize those expectations in a brief video--especially once I learned, based on their introductions, that all of my students are on campus. Virtually all mentioned scheduling as a reason for taking the online version (some indicated a course conflict, but I worried about the number of "works better with my schedule" comments). Only one student took the course out of a curiosity for online courses. As with my summer course, I provided a tour of the course site through another video to ensure everyone knows where things are posted. The course I teach is a required course in high demand, so my goal is to persuade students to drop if they are not willing to work within the expectations of the online format.

Something I found interesting in relation to the CMS is that we use them so much in our f-t-f classes that some students comment that they could just take the course online--which has started to make me question how online courses and CMS are changing the expectations of face-to-face courses. How do we develop online courses that are as rigorous as the face-to-face versions, without reducing the perceived value of a face-to-face course--that is, to use technology in the f-t-f classroom in a way that doesn't somehow make students feel as if "having to be there" is a waste of time. I know it isn't a waste of time because having to be there means that they WILL do three hours of activities each week that the online students have to motivate themselves to do. But their perception is always on my mind. I think students do get to know each other better in person, get quicker resolution to their questions, and also get more opportunities for discussion and presentation--that is, there are advantages of everyone being together at the same time that can't be replicated in an online format--unless the online course has expectations for synchronous class meetings just like the f-t-f course. Bottom line, I don't want either platform to be seen as "less than."

Jessie Borgman

10/6/2016 08:23:15 am

Hi Tess-

I really liked what you said here: "I would argue that they are the teachers themselves, who have often been thrown into the online environment as instructors with little preparation, but, as a result, probably have more experience in the online environment than those who assign them to the courses."

I would argue this too! I think this is one of the unfortunate realities of online teaching, those teaching the course have more experience than those who are in charge of handing out courses to teach. I'm actually going to look at this in my graduate work. I'm interested in how WPAs with no experience teaching online are handling the online courses in their programs.

I also liked your notion of providing an overview video. I do this for all of my classes. I've learned in my experience that I shouldn't assume the students know how to navigate or that they've had any training on the LMS from the school, or that they are that computer literate.

Providing an overview video gives at least a high level overview of the course layout.

Best,
Jessie