To BBB or not to BBB, that is the question!

Today was the first time FLC held its virtual meeting. We used the Big Blue Button (BBB), a pretty cool conference tool on Canvas… if you know how to use it. Thanks to Marcia and Dawn who helped us navigate the tool. Among the participants were Mary, Alyssa, Janell, and Vicky. It was hilarious at the beginning when we found out that each of us could be the moderator, could assign someone else to be the moderator, mute and unmute the other participants, and then once in a while we heard Janell slurping her coffee… and poor Mary who could only type her conversations on the side and inadvertently got ignored, because we were mostly looking at our own images or the screen in the center and so we completely forgot to look at the chat off the side (until we turned on the audio chat notification).

One of the big drawbacks of BBB is that it only works on PC and not on mobile devices. Jane tried it on her phone at the airport and I tried it on my iPad, and it just didn't work. Too bad. So we were using each of our personal computers at the comfort of our home or office trying out this “new” tool (at least to most of us). Another drawback according to Marcia is that BBB apparently can only host up to six participants at a time. So she suggested another conference tool called “Go To Meeting” which perhaps we can try next time. For math instructors like Vicky and me, we found BBB is quite clunky…. can’t write mathematical expressions too well with a mouse or it will require us to use one of the tablet computers and bear with the time lagging. Dawn also added another drawback, i.e. it can only keep the recording of the conferences for 14 days. Check out the recording of this first virtual meeting before it disappears in 14 days! (By the way, we forgot to start the recording earlier, so you will only see a partial meeting there.)

Anyway, we accomplished a lot actually in two hours going over the items on the agenda for the day. Dawn introduced another tool called “Padlet,” a brainstorming virtual board. So we also monkeyed around with it, trying to post a few messages and pictures here and there. Then we talked about the recent QM workshop that a few of us participated. It’s called “Using Instructional Materials and Technology to Promote Learner Engagement” focusing on QM Standards 4, 5, and 6. While we found the overall experience is valuable, it is ironic that we the participants didn't find the short course as engaging as the title suggested.

The conversations continued to touch issues on whether we could “require” online students to participate in virtual conferences as a way to engage students. We were wondering whether there is an existing document of online learning expectations, policies, minimum requirements, etc. If not, perhaps FLC can initiate the formation of such document and involve administration to get on board with it. Marcia started a discussion on this on Canvas discussion boards. I’d love everyone of us to chime in. I think our collaborative efforts will help tremendously in dealing with some of the frustrations when students do not respond as we expect them to.

Toward the end of our meeting, I expressed an interest in having another virtual meeting using BBB (or any other tool that we decide to try). Vicky brought up a good point that practicing more with these technology tools (conferencing, discussion boards, etc.) would increase our confidence in using them with our respective students. I think Faculty Learning Community is just the perfect place for us to do that! Before we all left the conference room, Marcia left us with this note: "If you want a chuckle after we are finished, watch this YouTube on web conferencing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYu_bGbZiiQ." I don't want to be the spoiler. You've got to watch it yourself.

On a personal note, I thank all of my colleagues for their unique personalities, talents, and expertise. I am thankful for FLC, from which collegial community I gain invaluable knowledge, skills, and overall learning experience as a way to help me to be a more effective instructor teaching online classes that could be challenging at times.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Anita

Meeting # 3 - What Does Online Community Look and Feel Like?

For meeting # 3, our group decided to use the time we'd carved out for today to work on the Quality Matters online workshop that many of us are taking, which is called Using Instructional Materials and Technology to Promote Learner Engagement.  We set up refreshments in the eLearning Lab, where some of us decided to work in order to avoid the typical interruptions we experience in our usual offices and work areas. I loved seeing and hearing our group members drop in and/or settle in in the lab, and I also loved seeing that so many of us were online working on the course, too (look at the "Participants" list under "Navigation" in the QM course). We are still forming as a group, but despite all of our different physical locations, I felt like part of a community today! Isn't this exactly what we are thinking about when we consider engagement and community in online learning environments?

As I searched for engaging learning materials as part of an assignment for Module 3 in our QM course,  I came across a video that I really liked. It met the objectives for my course assignment, and I think it's appropriate for our FLC, too! For context, I will share my assignment responses (which are also posted inside the QM course) along with the video (link is also posted below). Enjoy!

 

 

Dawn's QM Assignment:

Through MERLOT II, I found an excellent video called "Engaging and motivating students". Access the video here: [http://online.cofa.unsw.edu.au/learning-to-teach-online/ltto-episodes?view=video&video=221]

How does your selected material align with your objectives or competencies (please post the objectives or competencies with which your selected material aligns)?

Course Objective: “Upon completion of the course, Learners will be able to define student engagement in the context of online learning.”

Module/Unit Objective: “Learners will describe the definition of student engagement in presentations to their colleagues”

This video is part of workshop and training material from Learning to Teach Online at the University of New South Wales. It addresses the topic and nature of student engagement online from the perspective of educators in a presentation format, all of which supports and aligns with my learning objective.

In what way does your selected material meet Specific Review Standard 4.4, "The instructional materials are current" (refer to the Annotation for Specific Review Standard 4.4 for more information on what it means to be "current")?

This material is posted on a current and maintained university website and “represents up-to-date thinking and practice in the discipline” as described in the annotations for GS4, SRS 4.4.

In what way does your selected material add variety to your course in terms of the Annotation for Specific Review Standard 4.5?

This material is in captioned video format, which will provide variety from the text and other printed readings. Students will be able to access the content using captions, if they prefer. Also included with this video is a downloadable pdf of Strategies and Tips for teaching online.

How would you cite your selected material in order to meet Specific Review Standard 4.3?

McIntyre, S. (2011, January 19). Engaging and motivating students. Learning to teach online. Video retrieved from http://online.cofa.unsw.edu.au/learning-to-teach-online/