The Equation: Collaboration + Discussion + Facilitation = Better Online Learning

Track: 
Design and Delivery
Level: 
Level 1 - Beginner
Sloan-C Certificate Program Eligibility: 

This online workshop can be counted toward the Sloan-C Certificate.

Workshop Description
Introduction: 

Formerly titled: Dynamic Collaboration, Discussion, and Facilitation Practices

Similar to a single spark creating a roaring fire, it takes only one interaction to stimulate an online classroom. Each subsequent interaction offers new perspectives, points of view, ideas, questions, and disagreements. Through collaboration and discussion, both online facilitators and students share in the learning process.

Resources Provided: 
  • Presentations, readings, web links, discussion threads and other materials, viewable online for 1 year
  • 1-Hour Live Workshop Orientation - Learn about Moodle 2.2 and BlackBoard Collaborate. Navigate the workshop space
  • 1-Hour Live Panel Discussion - Participation in Live Q&A
  • Viewing of Live Sessions available for 1 year
Learning Objectives: 
  • Participate in and Increase and provide quality engagement in an online academic environment
  • Discuss thread design: threading, pace, sequencing discussion prompts, using Socratic dialog, modeling reflective exchange, and closing down an exchange
  • Help students communicate clearly without the aid of nonverbal communication cues
  • Create exemplary exchanges
Outcomes: 

Creation of an implementation plan for a minimum of two new discussion engagment strategies

Facilitators
Facilitator(s): 

Dr. John Thompson is an Associate Professor Emeritus (recently retired) at Buffalo State College where he taught online courses in the Educational Technology graduate program. Thompson taught nearly all his graduate courses 100% online. Now as an adjunct at Buffalo State and elsewhere, he continues to enjoy the flexibility of teaching from his home office at all hours of the day and night without having to drive to campus. His previous career experience includes working in urban, suburban, and rural schools as an elementary and secondary classroom teacher (general education and special education), curriculum coordinator, principal, and school superintendent. He also functioned as director of training for two state governments and director of a university-based computer training organization. He also operates his own training and consulting, Global Learning Institute, Inc. Thompson’s PhD is in Education Administration from the University at Buffalo where his doctoral dissertation researched connections between adult education principles and writers of computer documentation. His current research interests include online learning, Web conferencing, Web 2.0, and green computing.

 

Pricing and Cancellation Policy

Price: $345 Each
Sloan-C Member price: $195 w/coupon code* (you will enter the coupon code on the payment page of your shopping cart process)
College Pass Member Pricing: No Cost w/coupon code* (you will enter the coupon code on the payment page of your shopping cart process)
*Members receive unlimited discounts with membership and College Pass holders receive 100 (50 or 25) "free" seats in the entire Sloan-C Workshop series.

Cancellation Policy: 

If you register and pay for a Sloan-C workshop and are unable to attend or if Sloan-C reschedules/cancels a workshop, we will be happy to apply your payment to another Sloan-C workshop/seminar at your request. However, no refunds will be given. This offer is good for one year.

Technical Requirements/Minimum System Requirements

Combining the capabilities of industry leaders Wimba and Elluminate, Blackboard Collaborate provides a comprehensive learning platform designed specifically for education. It is helping thousands of higher education, K-12, professional, corporate, and government organizations worldwide deliver a more effective learning experience through online, blended, and mobile learning.

System Requirements:

  • Click here to check the system requirements and support browsers for using Elluminate
  • Click here to find out if your computer has the right Operating System and Java version installed to run Elluminate and to configure your system.

     

http://sloanconsortium.org/sites/default/files/pages/moodle-logo-med.gif


Moodle:
Sloan-C uses an open-source LMS called Moodle for the asynchronous component of workshops. Moodle provides a flexible and user-friendly set of asynchronous collaboration and learning tools. As with most open-source technologies, the Moodle software is free, making it a very cost-effective software package for any institution or company, without sacrificing quality. Moodle is a robust environment that is dynamic, interactive, and provides cross-platform learner access through a standard web browser.

System Requirements

Moodle will work in any modern web browser, however, moodle works best in a range of specific browser types (see below). Your browser should also have both cookies and javascript enabled. These are typically enabled by default, but if you think these settings might need enabling, check the documentation for your particular browser for how to do these.

To make best use of what moodle has to offer, it is recommended that users choose a browser that supports moodle's in-line HTML editor. This is a WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) editor with an interface much like you would see in most word processing packages.

This in-line HTML editor will only appear if you use one of a specific range of browser types that knows how to start the editor. If you do not use one of these browser types, you can still use moodle just fine, but without the luxury of a WYSIWYG editor. Luckily, there is a supported browser that will work on all major operating system types. The list of supported and not supported browsers is shown below:

Browsers that support the HTML editor Browsers that do not support the HTML editor
Recent versions of: 

Internet Explorer (v5.5 or later) 
Firefox (all versions) 
Mozilla (v1.7 or later) 
SeaMonkey (all versions) 
Netscape (v7 or later) 
Any versions of: 

Opera 
Safari 
Camino