Session 4... Teaching with the North Carolina Information Highway

9-1 Saturday, November 16

"In a time of drastic change it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists."

--Eric Hoffer

Point to Point and Multi-Point Formats

Teaching and learning at a distance with synchronous delivery systems is a very different experience from that of our regular classrooms.The state has spent a great deal of money over the last 10 years in developing a high speed broadband infrastructure to deliver education opportunities throughout the state. Most community colleges and high schools have at least one "virtual campus" or "NCIH" (North Carolina Information Highway) classroom. These are generally used to deliver courses to other remote sites.  

The idea is to be able to offer face-to-face virtual classroom instruction in real time. The teaching model assumed by the designers seems to be the traditional teacher standing in front of the class and spouting forth information that the students received passively. But we teachers know that if students are not engaged in learning in regular classrooms with this model, how can we expect them to be engaged in similar models at a distance? So we must design other ways to ensure students involvement within sites as well as between sites.

Your challenge is design your lessons using all the tools at your disposal for distance education (web pages, chat rooms, discussion boards, large and small group activities, etc) that will enhance students involvement with the content ... and doing this within  the  structure of the NCIH. So each group will present a 45 minute lesson centered around the development and use of case studies in instruction for your discipline. We will expect to have 3-4 members per group. Each member will participate in the group presentation. The idea is to engage students at the local as well as the remote site in the instruction.....typical talking head lessons are not permitted....rather try to develop strategies that will involve students in learning. Use forms of collaboration and cooperation....within each site and between sites...Make it "hands-on"... develop a rubric for the evaluation of your group's lesson. We will have a total of 4 hours for our NCIH use.

You might want to explore the Distance Education Clearing House for further information to guide your practice.

First, list your group members and your lesson title on the discussion board under NCIH Lessons. Each group lesson should deal with an aspect of using case studies in instruction...in your subject area. Each group should choose one of the following  (or something similar). Explore the development, use, ways to analyze, and ways to evaluate real life case studies in instruction. We should ideally have about 4 groups.

As a part of developing your lesson, please consider the following items:

Describe the pedagogical model you used. What additional pedagogical models could be used? What did you like about what you did? What would you do differently if you were to teach this again?

What is similar and different between this and traditional instruction?

How could you supplement this instruction? What technological tools would you need to further engage your students?

What ways can you evaluate student learning and faculty teaching with this delivery system? From your experience, discuss ways in which the role of the teacher and the role of the student changes in on-line instruction. How do you see the curriculum development process changing in the context of distance education?

Develop a rubric by which you want your lesson to be evaluated by others and place this on-line for easy viewing and compilation.

Provide any necessary handouts on -line or deliver to appropriate site ahead of scheduled lesson.

Please make an appointment to visit an NCIH site and learn the basic elements of delivering a lesson with this system. Do not come to class "cold", not knowing how to operate and use the equipment.

So, we should learn 2 major concepts this week...how to use the NCIH classroom as an effective delivery tool and various aspects of case studies as instructional tools.

    Take a look at this web site (www.jonesinternational.edu) representing one of the first accredited on-line universities. Select "demo" for exploration. The courses have audio and video segments that you can download onto your computer to listen to or view. In order to get to these pages, you may will have to fill out a page with your name and e-mail address. Discuss how the bells and whistles (video and sound) add to or distract from the lesson. After seeing this, what would you do differently? On the Discussion Board, discuss how something like this can or can not be useful. Please post responses under the topic "International University."

 

Assignments: Use the following as a guide. These are intended to assist you in learning new concepts or to go deeper with ones that you may already know. Feel free to skip those sections with which you are already very familiar and/or use.

  1. Please reflect on your experiences teaching and learning with the NCIH. Send me a statement that represents 3-5 things that you liked best about what you did as an instructor. ...List one thing that you would do differently if you were to do it again. List 5 things that you learned or relearned from doing this exercise.
  2. With your group, discuss the questions listed above and write an executive summary to add to the Discussion Board under "NCIH-Executive Summary":
  3. How does your experience compare to what you find in the literature? What models are described in the literature?
  4. Explore the different tools available for asynchronous, synchronous, hybrid (now called blended) and special configurations needed in the context of on-line learning environments.
  5. In groups plan and design a distance learning classroom which includes the technologies you need to provide a quality distance education program at your community college. Include the following elements: vision statement, goals, technologies, faculty training, and technical support. Please share an executive summary of your discussions and plans in the Discussion Board under "Distance Learning Classroom."
  6. Develop your group presentations for Session 5. These will be 45 min in length and will have the characteristics outlined in Expectations.
  7. You should be finishing your books now and completing your discussions of them on the board.
  8. Please complete any other assignments you have not yet finished.

If you have any question or ideas about any of this, please write or call me....