Presentation to Faculty of Nursing, U of Toronto. April 19th 2011

1. Teaching with Technology: A Conversation Clare Brett, Curriculum, Teaching & Learning, OISE Innovation Committee, Faculty of Nursing April 19th, 2011

2. Agenda Upcoming directions in teaching with technology Overview of technologies for teaching The role of social presence in online courses and programs

3. Upcoming directions in teaching with technology Technically: Cloud computing—so smaller faster more powerful machines, mobile, always internet accessible, streaming multimedia Broadly an increase in user-generated content, customization, user control Educationally technical changes have initial impact on social contexts, the broader culture—then to higher education. Self-organizing systems: more student-generated content, integrating and working collaboratively with ideas; distributed group interaction. Case-based learning & other more complex, open-ended and authentic learning scenarios; immersive learning environments student-mediated rather than teacher-generated.

4. Added Value? A technology enhances the teaching or learning opportunities in some way. Frees up class time to focus on complex problems, or cases or higher order activities { e.g. answering online questions before class; podcasts of lectures} Allows instructor to track student understanding on the fly {e.g. using clickers} Extends opportunities to interact with material and ideas {e.g. problems presented online, web-based simulations or cases accessible before and after class} Provides authentic learning experiences that connect classroom with real world {e.g. wikis, simulations, learning journals/blogs}

5. Overview of technologies for teaching

6. Clickers Clickers make lectures more interactive; Prompt students to engage more deeply with the material; Can be used to maintain interest, test understanding, or motivate small-group discussion

7. Are they effective? More constructive activity; opportunity for social engagement -- should promote learning; Data from Harvard, MIT, and others showing effectiveness of Peer Instruction in terms of: increased student performance on tests; reduced drop-out rates reduced failure rates

8. What could you do with them? Peer discussion example: Give students a question that tests their understanding of a difficult concept Call for a vote Allow two minutes for peer discussion Call a second vote Display the results and address any outstanding confusion

9. Podcasts

10. What are they? Why use them?

11. Concerns about Podcasts? Students won’t show up for class, leading to: Fewer interactions between students and prof; Loss of student opportunity to interact with peers, ask questions, etc. Poor development of student time management skills, self-discipline; Increased drop-out rates.

12. Are these reasonable concerns? Students appreciate having recorded lectures; Not all students use them; Students see them as most useful for review purposes; May discourage some students from attending class. The instructional challenge: How can Podcasts be most effectively used? e.g., Providing review materials for difficult concepts e.g., Freeing up class time for more interactive learning activities

13. Via ITunes or home made Quicktime I use small videos made with either Screenflow (Camtasia) or Quicktime for online courses.

14. Wikis—what are they? Collaborative, open, web-based writing environments E.g. wikipediahttp://www.wikipedia.org Anyone can edit the contents of any webpage. Learners can add and format text and create hyperlinks between webpages. You can create new pages so the site can grow as you add material.

15. Instructional value? Can provide a model of text development—they potentially offer a view of the process of idea development in writing.

16. Students become participants in the improvement of the course, and develop a persistent, developing resource for students after graduation.

17. Contributing to wikipedia or other public resources increases visibility of institution and increases authenticity of student learning.

18. Reflective Journals/Blogs Support the process of integrating ideas within and among courses. Can be directed or open-ended Can be self or instructor assessed. Means to both direct and assess student learning for both instructor and student. Powerful learning tool (Brett, 2009)—peer support and modelling, metacognitive growth.

19. Learning Journals

20. Immersive Learning Environments Second life Education Electric Archaeology: Digital Media for Learning and Research

21. Immersive Learning Environments Characterized by: Embodied and Immersive learning experience Situated in a virtual world that can model any real world contextSecond Life Role playing brings learning to life Can model complex and authentic situations—very appropriate for medical learning Thought to be more motivating and relevant as a learning context for the net generation raised on video games and social media Research on the learning effectiveness of these and other web 2.0 tools are still emerging. Shows promise for incorporating new, more comprehensive forms of assessment (Clarke-Medura & Dede, 2010). Emerging potential uses in nursing and other health care domains (for a review see Hansen, 2008, JMIR).

22. Assessment principles using technology: To provide continuity between instruction and assessment by using learner-centred assessments which complement learner-centred activities. Construct course with a wide range of learning activities and assessment measures that will appeal to a range of learners and at the same reduce the opportunities for plagiarism and cheating. Encourage and assess learner contributions to discussion. Use rubrics to establish performance expectations and to provide a meaningful basis for self-assessment or teacher assessment. Always provide prompt feedback on assessments and assignments. This both encourages engagement and reduces anxiety among learners. Treat online quizzes and tests as open-book learning experiences and design them with this in mind. This will reduce instructor anxiety about cheating! Use a variety of more extended measures such as projects, learning portfolios, self-assessments and ongoing assessment of discussion contributions. (Taken from Palloff, R. M. & Pratt, K. (2009). Assessing the Online Learner: Resources and Strategies for Faculty. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA )

23. Current Research Private—public contexts Recommend: other entries; journal articles Community: social presence, identity Collaborative writing environments

24. Build-a-case environment E.g. COIL at Bridgepoint Health; (Collaborative Online Interprofessional Learning) Collaboration with UT Using video, simulated patient records, interactive exercises to create cases in different areas: diabetes, complex chronic care.

25. References Benton, T. H. (2009). Online learning: Reaching out to the skeptics. The Chronicle of Higher Education, September. [Accessed October 2009, http://chronicle.com/article/Online-Learning-Reaching-Out/48375/] Brett, C., Forrester, B., & Fujita, N. (2009). Learning journals as an instructional and self-assessment tool for epistemological growth in online learning. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology. 35(1), 1-18.[Accessed October 2009: http://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/view/517/247] Brett, C. Links to various educational technology presentations, including this one: http://grail.oise.utoronto.ca/blog/clare/publications-presentations/ Bruns, A. & Humphreys, S. (2005). Wikis in teaching and assessment: The M/Cyclopedia project. WikiSym, International Wiki Symposium, October, 2005, San Diego, CA. [Accessed October 2009, http://eprints.qut.edu.au/2289/]. Clarke-Midura, J., & Dede, C. (2010). Assessment, Technology, and Change. Journal of Research, Education and Technology, 42 (3). Ferriter, B. (2009). Learning with blogs and wikis. Educational Leadership. 66(5), 34-38. [Accessed October 2009, http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/feb09/vol66/num05/Learning_with_Blogs_and_Wikis.aspx] Hansen M. M, (2008). Versatile, creative, immersive & dynamic virtual 3-D learning environments: A review of the lieterature. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 10 (3). http://www.jmir.org/2008/3/e26/ Palloff, R. M. & Pratt, K. (2009). Assessing the Online Learner: Resources and Strategies for Faculty. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA . Peters, V., & Hewitt, J. (2010). An investigation of student practices in asynchronous computer conferencing courses. Computers & Education, 54, 951-961. Reynard, R. (2008). Avoiding the 5 most Common mistakes in using blogs with students. T.H.E. Journal, October. [Accessed October 2009, http://www.campustechnology.com/Articles/2008/10/Avoiding-the-5-Most-Common-Mistakes-in-Using-Blogs-with-Students.aspx] Rimer, S. (2009). At MIT, large lectures are going the way of the Blackboard. NY Times, Jan 12. [Accessed October 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/us/13physics.html?_r=1

26. Contact Information: Clare Brett, PhD, Department of Curriculum, Teaching & Learning: clare.brett@utoronto.ca http://grail.oise.utoronto.ca/blog/clare/about/