multi-continent groups (chris hartt)

October 27, 2014Presented by Dr. Christopher Hartt, PhDFaculty of Agriculture

Multi-continent groups

June 3, 2014 | presented by Jane Smith

PRESENTATION TITLE

My background

Teaching since 2008Online using WebCT, Eluminate Live, Blackboard 8.1, Moodle, Blackboard Learn, Camtasia, EliveB.A.(83), MBA(86), PhD(13)22 years as Entrepreneur/Intrapreneur


PRESENTATION TITLE

The Course

M.A. Communications and M. Public RelationsEthics and Legal Responsibilities - Fall 2011

25 2nd year students, at times in 7 provinces and 4 continents (one student did travel to Africa later in the semester) frequently in 10 time zones (at one point 12)Completely online


PRESENTATION TITLE

Pedagogical Approach

From experience – difficult to engage online students– Task must be linked to grades– Procrastination must be discouraged

From Literature– Need for authentic experience (Hetherington &

Reeves 2003)– Value of social interaction (Salmon, 2013)– Importance of Collaboration (Palloff & Pratt, 2010)– Assessment (Moore & Kearsley, 2011; Palloff & Pratt,

2010)– And a great deal more from work on Large Course

committee at Saint Mary’s University


PRESENTATION TITLE

Issues/Demographics

Different time zonesEmployed studentsAge range24 female – 1 male (not really an issue but fits here best)Experience gapCommitment gap


PRESENTATION TITLE

Tools availableTextbooksElluminate Live (or Elive)Moodle

– Chat*– Forums*– Testing*– Assignments*– Wikis– Linked content* (webpages, articles and videos)– Videos*– Peer grading*

* Employed in this course


PRESENTATION TITLE

Course introduction10 minute video of the prof was posted in moodleBriefly explained the nature of the course, the attitude and the syllabus (also posted)A live chat was scheduled where the prof participated in the general class chat room (students were told they could ask for a general chat or Elive session at any time)Students also emailed questions via moodle; answers were shared in the course page (questions were left anonymous)


PRESENTATION TITLE

Groups5 groups of 5 were generated randomlyEach group was assigned a chat roomThe group was required to have at least one 60 minute chat per week for the duration of the course

– Topics were assigned weekly

Students scheduled their own chats via email– Working out their time zone issues

There were group tasks assigned for presentation to the whole of the class in addition to peer learning activities


PRESENTATION TITLE

Phase 1There was no textbook for the courseIn lieu, a series of articles were provided via links through the library (50 to begin with in two groups)Week 1 each student was assigned an articleEach student discussed the article within their groupStudent posted a 500 word summary of the article to a discussion forum (naming the thread)Week 1 articles were basic concepts in EthicsStudents chose a book to read for a later book review assignment


PRESENTATION TITLE

Week 2Students were assigned 4 discussions each to comment on and ask respectful questions of the original summarizerSummarizers then updated their posts to clarify the papersIn the group chats the students described the paper summaries they had read so that the whole of their group were familiar with their content

Each group was assigned a basic topic in Ethics for which they were to prepare a PowerPoint presentation (10 slides). They began discussing this task in their chat


PRESENTATION TITLE

Week 3

Week 3 each student was assigned an another articleThese articles were either more specific to communications theory or related to the legal issues aspect of the courseOnce again each student discussed the article within their groupStudent posted a 500 word summary of the article to a discussion forum (naming the thread)

The group advanced their work on the PowerPoint


PRESENTATION TITLE

Week 4

Students were assigned 4 discussions each to comment on and ask respectful questions of the original summarizerSummarizers then updated their posts to clarify the papersIn the group chats the students described the paper summaries they had read so that the whole of their group were familiar with their content

Each group posted a draft PowerPoint on the basic concept assigned


PRESENTATION TITLE

Phase 2 (3 weeks to complete)

Each student was asked to select 2 Basic Concepts PowerPoints to comment on in order to provide the other groups with feedback (no more than 5 per ppt)Students peer graded the discussion forums and feedback from classmates (using the moodle peer grade tool)

Students began looking for topics for their final project


PRESENTATION TITLE

Phase 2 part 2

Groups updated their PowerPoints and added explicatory notesGroups provided M/C questions based on their pptIndividual students peer graded the group powerpointsStudents further discussed the materials in their groupsA Multiple choice test was completed on the material covered in the papers and pptsEach group chose an article from a third batch posted to discuss in the group (not on test)

– These articles were more advanced and focused difference in perceptions


PRESENTATION TITLE

Phase 3

This phase focused on the final project During the phase we continued to work on the discussions of papers from the previous phasesStudents also presented and discussed their book reviews within the group and then posted to a discussion forum in the same model as the earlier papersStudents reviewed new papers based on their interestsGroups discussed ideas generated for the final project


PRESENTATION TITLE

Final Project

The final project in the course was to find a situation in which a decision was made and explain how that decision could be viewed as both ethical and unethical depending of the theories of ethics which were applied (essentially an advanced Critical Thinking exercise)Students prepared and shared a proposal A two part final paper was written (3,000 words on both the ethical and unethical arguments [6,000 total words required])A 30 video clip was also submitted for each side – media tool A press release or briefing note was also prepared


PRESENTATION TITLE

Beginnings of the final project

Proposals shared within groups only– Some proposals were based on news reports– Others were based on the students work situation

(some of these were help confidential)

Ideas were discussed, some students changed their plansGroup members suggested papers they had read which might be helpful


PRESENTATION TITLE

Development of the ideas

Once final ideas were developed longer summaries were developedShared with the full class (unless confidential)Feedback through forums and group chatsOnce prof had the proposals more papers were posted for use by individual students or suggested if not available through library (each set of papers was in its own folder)


PRESENTATION TITLE

Final Phase

Students posted their videosStudents posted or submitted their final papersStudents graded each other within the groups via a model which prevented same grading

– Xx12-1 where x is the number of students in the group

– No two students could be given the same score

Students also self-evaluatedAn M/C test on the legal issues aspect was completed online


PRESENTATION TITLE

ReflectionsA young student had some difficulties with the more experienced members of her group – met and phone callsOne group actually worked out how each of them could get the same grade on the peer evaluationOne mature student had difficulty with the relatively low grades she received from her peers (always had A+ before)Several of these students have sought me out since and the comments were that they learned more from this course than any othersNot everyone was thrilled with the amount of workI was only asked to join a group chat on two occasionsI reviewed the group chats regularly and posted answers to questions that came upSometimes students would email specific questions that arose in the chats.


PRESENTATION TITLE

Thank you

Dalhousie Centre for Learning and TeachingCOHEREDalhousie Faculty of Agriculture

Do you have any Questions??

multi-continent groups (chris hartt)

Education

jane smithpresentation

chat roomthe group

group tasks

group powerpointsstudents

theircontenteach group

threadthe group

generated randomlyeach

pptindividual students