Web.Edu Agenda 7 for October 25, 2003

Last Updated: 10/23/03
Link back to course Welcome...

Web.Edu Agenda 7
for class on October 25, 2003

Startup
1. New computers, new User Name, new Password. Logging in:
  1. Make sure that Logon To: says GUPLAB
  2. User Name is tomclass
  3. Password: environment with e changed to 3 (two places), i changed to 1 (one), o changed to 0 (zero), first and last letters capitalized, all other letters lower case
2. Reminder to sign in during the class, using the online signin form on the course web site
Announcements:
1. Starting October 20, Pipeline requires a current-version or recent-version web browser. You can get free downloads of Netscape 7.1 and Internet Explorer 6 SP1 (Service Pack or Update 1) from support.wayne.edu/allwsu/software/support/index.php (live link on course web site). Also, if you are using Netscape, you must allow the site lumprod.wayne.edu to use pop-ups. Directions are on the Pipeline web site pipeline.wayne.edu
2. Online grade reports are working. In order to get your online grade reports, you must first use the class information form to change GradeReports from No to Yes. Notice the dates for the assignments - work completed after that date is not reflected yet.
3. Reminder about regular online work: conference postings, online weekly course reports.
4. After today we skip the week of November 1 and meet again November 8. - work online instead. I will be posting "lectures" on the course web site.
Technical problems in online courses - Review
1. Review on Internet connection problems
2. Email systems. Maximum storage allowances for student and faculty. Beware of graphics files.
3. File format compatibility. The person with the newest version must save as an older version. Not an Internet problem.
1. Managing files - this is and will be an issue in any online course. Can you find your files, in order to upload them, and can you find them once you have downloaded them?
1. Getting help. At the present time, many Instructors may not be aware of all problems.
2. Computer crash, computer virus, computer worm, network down
3. Very rarely these problems may threaten to affect your grade. Know about the University Ombudsman and Grade Appeals.

Non-technical issues.

Overview: Non-technical issues are much more apt to affect online students than are technical issues. There are both positive and negative effects. The overall way to benefit the most is to be an active learner, rather than a passive one. Active learners always do better than passive learners, but the advantage increases online.
The value of a college education. Everyone talks about the increased earnings, and in terms of an investment, a college education is a better investment than the stock market, (even in good times). But did you know you will also be more satisfied with your personal and family relationships, whether married or single? You will be healthier. You will get more satisfaction from your job. In working for a college degree, you are doing something very good for yourself. And to get the most out of it, be an active learner.

Active learning compared to passive


Passive		Active
Listen		Ask
Absorb		Explore
Store for later use		Use now
Keep doubts to self		Make doubts public
Hide from Instructor		Seek out Instructor
"I'm having trouble"		"We're having trouble"
"Teacher can't teach"		"We're having trouble"
"Why did you grade me down?"		"What should I do better?"
"Teach me"		"Help me learn"

Positives
1. Online discussion
 1. There must be a "critical mass" of students participating, along with the Instructor. I have had good online discussions with as few as three students participating.
 2. You must jump in. Have opinions, express opinions, debate opinions. Bring in examples, news stories.
 3. However, no one person should absolutely dominate the online discussion - I call this "boardjacking" - wearing the other participants out with very frequent and very long messages (pages and pages), using your own special meanings for words, criticizing anyone who disagrees or has another point of view, and not responding to other views. If this happens, the online discussion really dries up, and I believe that it is the Instructor's responsibility to step in if this is happening.
 4. Can you use HTML markup? Many online discussion forums accept HTML (WebBoard is one). This can be fun. HTML formats text with "tags." (Really, the tags don't show up the way you see them below.
 1. Use and tags for italics
 2. Use and to underline
 3. Use and to make text bold
 4. Use <big> and </big> to make text <big>larger</big>.
 5. Use and to make text red. You can also use "green", "blue" and others.
 6. Combine tags as in <big>big and underlined</big> but end the second one earlier - think of these tags as nesting pots in the kitchen; the small pot must fit entirely inside the big one.
 5. What are the positives on online discussions, for students?
 1. Ability to express your opinion fully - not limited by class time and that person up front hogging all the words
 2. Ability to express yourself carefully - read and reread. Some people like spell check for this.
 3. Back and forth discussion to understand how other people think - a big advantage of a college education
 4. Making a contribution by helping other students - being helpful useful, and showing off at the same time
 5. Being informal and having fun, perhaps being part of a community.
 6. Shy people often appreciate the online discussion more - they are shy face-to-face, but not online. Interestingly, the people who do not like online discussions are often among those who do well face-to-face.
2. Having more personal control over the class direction and content.
 1. More opportunity to "speak"
 2. Introduce new topics, raise new questions
 3. Pursue existing topics - pursue a thread
 4. Influence the pace
 5. Style or feel of discussion
 6. Often more options in the assignments
3. More flexibility in your study schedule.
4. You can get to know the instructor better than you would otherwise. Often the Instructor has more time for one-on-one interaction online. (Knowing the faculty is the best determiner of how much you will value your college education.)
5. You can also get to know the other students in the class better. Face-to-face you may have a couple of friends in a class, but online you can get to know more people.
6. Something different, something new and cool. Going to class in your jammies, for example. Doing something valuable with your modem, for another example.
7. Some special cases where online is by far the best option
 1. Family expecting a new child or has young children, with good family support
 2. Injured
 3. Disabled - low vision, deaf, crippled
 4. Traveling but will always have good Internet access
Negatives
1. But also responsibility...
  1. Easier to "drop out," can be less there to pull you back
    1. I have started sending weekly emails, but email addresses change, people can "blow off" email messages, and some do not read email regularly
    2. I also require brief weekly course progress reports from online students
  2. If the Instructor is confusing students, may not be other students to ask the questions
  3. Large blocks of time are more efficient for course work, lead to more satisfaction and reward for the student, but we suspect that many people are initially attracted by a (false) impression that they can "fit it in" and point and click to get that knowledge into their minds
    1. I have thought of assigning people to make a schedule showing when they will work on the course. Up until this semester, I haven't done this because I thought it was to controlling, but many faculty have said that they think it is a good idea.
  4. Online courses are not easier that face-to-face - extra work is assigned to compensate for "seat time"
    1. When a crisis comes up at home or work that requires that the course be put aside for awhile, it can be harder to get back, and work piles up more quickly. Should not put course aside 100%
2. Instructor can also not do his/her part - one saying is that the Instructor is "not the 'sage on the stage' but the 'guide on the side'"
  1. Instructor can feel that the assignments are set, the discussion is primed, now I can sit back and let this little machine run by itself - grade assignments, participate in discussion
  2. Doesn't work - Instructor must take a hands-on role if students are to make it through the course
  3. Advice - don't hesitate to push the Instructor if you feel this is going on
  4. Student can feel - mistakenly - that they are "out there" all alone. When all else fails, call the Instructor.

On balance
1. Make no mistake, I am an advocate - I love computers and the Internet, and also - how can I give learners more control over their learning?
2. Works extremely well for many or even most students
  1. Can often preview a course in detail from an earlier semester, or from an advance syllabus for the upcoming semester (not all systems allow this)
  2. Organized, active students love the control and responsibility, will often teach each other
  3. Many students remark that they like the discussion forum - they can always say their piece, and can say it the way they want to - edit, explain, use formatting - give and take is better - can follow up
    1. Easier for students to bring in their own expertise
    2. Usually the online discussion is not graded for content, but I have begun to feel that sometimes so much care is put in and the quality is so high that it deserves credit. I do encourage students to quote the online conference in their paper
  4. Many online course are starting to involve student web pages - most popular assignment ever!
  5. People take Internet courses to brush up on their Internet skills - to have it become commonplace
  6. Many shy people who do not speak up in class find their voices online
  7. Many students who have taken a first online class keep coming back to take more - they take all we offer
  8. Student papers online as course materials
  9. Students come back to the discussion forum after the class is over (not all systems allow this)
3. Can have problems for some students
  1. Those who really didn't have time but thought they could manage anyway - would have
  2. Those who don't "get into" the online discussion
4. Can seem like self study, but is not
  1. Value of a college degree - in readings, but there is more. Higher level of satisfaction with your life, more stable marriage with higher levels of satisfaction, and on and on. Do not sell this short!
  2. What leads to satisfaction with your college career? - see http://www.cll.wayne.edu/web101 - get to know the faculty
  3. What it is - active learning. You must be active in an online course, cannot only show up for class.
    1. Log in to the online discussion on a regular basis
    2. Read the texts and have something to say
    However, you learn better if you are actively learning than if you are learning passively. Online teachers do commonly remark that the students who participate seem to understand the content better and be able to use it better
Coming up or emerging
1. Universities and faculty will learn how best to use this new medium.
  1. Making information about online courses more available, including what courses are online, what the course web site is, and how to get started
  2. Better way to identify online students and get information to them
  3. Technical support must be around the clock.
  4. More consistent use of email
  5. Better way to send email to a class, including updating email addresses
  6. Blended courses - like this one
2. Present technology will improve
  1. Faster and more reliable Internet access
  2. Easier and more uniform email attachments
  3. Where access is required, will become more transparent
3. New technologies
  1. Internet videophone, multimedia (experiment with sound on the ISP web site)
  2. Talk and data at the same time
  3. Video conferencing
4. Needs
  1. Returning assignments via email to a group instead of one-by-one
  2. Better way to make sure that students are staying involved in the course - the Web Hub is a start.
  3. Better online discussion forum, more oriented to courses
    1. Better way of maintaining threads

Assignments due next class (from the assignment schedule on the Syllabus - get used to reviewing that)

Reading, Chapter 6 for next week, Chapter 9 for the next class on November 8.
For November 1, draft of Essay. Turn in as an email attachment. Needs to reflect class and readings.
Postings on Blackboard, weekly reports
Finish the "email test" if you have not already done so. Three messages (others have been done in other ways).
1. Send an email to at least two different people, with me being one of them.
2. Send an email to someone else, with me as a cc
3. Forward an email from someone else to me.

Watch for my adding you to the third discussion forum, an email ListServ. You should have gotten an email welcome to the List. If not, make sure that I have your current email address in the Class information form!
Preview: If you send an email to the email address WebEduF03@lists.wayne.edu, it will get distributed to the whole class.

Messages for Discussion Forums
Dates	Discussion forum	Weeks	Messages	Contact
9/20 through 10/18	WebBoard	4	8 min	Link from course web site
10/19 through 11/22	BlackBoard	4	8 min	blackboard.wayne.edu
11/23 through 12/13	ListServ	4	8 min	webeduf03@lists.wayne.edu
Semester	All three	12	26 min

Turning off the lab computers
1. Click the "Start" button (if you computer has a "Windows" key you can press that instead)
2. Point to or click on "Shut Down..."
3. Make sure that "Shut Down" is selected
4. Click the "OK" button or press the <Enter> key
5. Wait until your computer turns off or displays a message that it is now OK to shut down your computer
6. Turn off the computer but leave the monitor on - it will go into sleep mode.