Evidence-Based Asynchronous Learning Best Practices

1. Evidence-Based Asynchronous Learning Best Practices Steven G. Lesh, PhD, MPA, PT, SCS, ATC Acting Chair, Athletic Training Department Research Coordinator, Physical Therapy Southwest Baptist University slesh@sbuniv.edu The 7th Sloan-CTM International Conference on Online Learning: Emerging Standards of Excellence in Asynchronous Learning Networks Session V: Emerging Standards of Excellence for Learning and Pedagogy

2. Online Best Practices “Pedagogy must drive the choices of instructional technology, not the other way around (Chizmar & Walbert, 1999)” “ Distance learning courses are likely to fail if they are delivered as if they were traditional courses (Smith, 1996)”

3. Online Learning • Separation between the instructor and learner requires special... • pedagogical techniques • communication efforts • administrative efforts

4. Theory & Practice • Many forms of online learning are currently being implemented • Little attention has been paid to the pedagogical techniques that have been applied to produce the online learning experience

5. Problems in Research • Critics have sanctioned the scholarly efforts to produce statistical evidence of online effectiveness • The implementation of online learning continues to grow in the distance education sector as well as on the traditional academic campus

6. Purpose of Presentation • To describe the evidence-based best practices utilized in the online asynchronous classroom to produce positive learning experiences

7. lecturing on factual information working as an individual teacher was the primary source of knowledge teacher and print media served as the primary means of communication learning was separated from the rest of the community guiding, motivating, and facilitating valuing working together many rich sources of immediate knowledge learning using a vast variety of media including the Internet learning now occurs globally New Paradigms in EducationGubbins, Clay, & Perkins, 1999

8. Patterns of Online UtilizationFarris & Collins (2000) • Stand Alone Course • predominantly in the distance learning sector • separation of place and/or time • Compliment Course • enhance the traditional face-to-face course • does not reduce contact time • Supplement (Hybrid) Course • “fill in” or complete the F2F course • reducing the time dependency

9. Best Practices and the Instructor • The faculty plays a pivotal role in the successful or unsuccessful implementation of online courses (McKenzie, Mims, Bennett, & Waugh, 2000) • Online class participants are more likely to become engaged by a responsive instructor (Pritchard,1998) • The primary expectation of the online learner is accurate and appropriate feedback (Shea, 1999; Rossman, 1999) • It is the responsibility of the course facilitator to foster an environment that produces effective feedback (Rossman, 1999)

10. Best Practice #1 • Early in a course, the online instructor should establish appropriate guidelines for discussion, participation, and assignment completion, as well as ensure that each participant is aware of these guidelines

11. Best Practices and Static Information Displays • First element of online pedagogy that the learner will encounter (First Impressions!) • Often related to either course administration or instructional materials • contact or instructor information • course syllabus or course calendar • guidelines and expectations • static lecture material and assignments • hyperlinks to course or content related material

12. Static Information “Do’s & Don’ts” • Above all, the course instructor should remember that the online environment is not conducive to lecturing and this should be avoided in static information displays (Rossman, 1999) • Don’t “recreate” the F2F Classroom by simply putting your lecture on the Internet (Karuppan & Karuppan, 1999) • Take advantage of the interactive environment to produce engagement (Muirhead, 2000; Smith, 1996)

13. Static Information “Lead In” • Begin the course with a personalization effort • photograph • personal welcome to the course • “non teaching” related information or data • Make attempts to level the technological playing field • Many learners join online courses for the element of convenience, but are often not adequately prepared to become engaged in this new learning realm • Seek & Find = preliminary learning experience fun and interactive

14. Best Practice #2 • Static course information should be presented in a manner that is clear, concise, and accurate providing the necessary guidance and feedback to promote an environment that is both conducive to learning and establishes the parameters for learner engagement

15. Best Practices & Communication Tools • Synchronous • chat room (32% utilization)1 • streaming audio and video; iTV • Asynchronous • discussion board (81% utilization)1 • e-mail (74% utilization)1 • file transfer protocols (ftp) • 1 McKenzie et al., 2000

16. Best Practices & Synchronous Communication • Incomplete at Best • Chat Rooms have wide commercial acceptance • new “language” has been developed • Streaming Audio & Video are rapidly developing = iTV • improvement over compressed video! • issues with compatibility and band width • the “new”digital divide • there is interesting promise! (?)

17. Limitations of Synchronous Communication • Severe Global Classroom Limitation • time and space distortion • it isn’t the same time all around the world! • Chat Room Participation • decreased ability to transcript sessions • responses tend to be short and spontaneous • crazy with greater than 6 - 10 participants • chaos may make following a thread of discussion difficult and frustrating (Palloff & Pratt, 1999) • the chaos caused one study to abandon the use of chat during the course for a discussion board (Perrin & Mayhew, 2000)

18. Best Practices and Asynchronous Communication • Online asynchronous discussions permit learners to find greater depth and understanding of the course content (Trinkle, 1999) • The moderator should work to constantly monitor the quality of the threaded responses and encourage active participation from all course participants (Rossman,1999)

19. Asynchronous Communication Strategies (Beaudin,1999) • design thought provoking questions that specifically elicit on-topic discussion • provide guidelines to assist online learners in developing responses • adjust or reword the original question when responses are going in inappropriate directions • provide discussion summaries on a frequent basis

20. Best Practice #3 • Asynchronous communication tools are consistently superior to synchronous communication tools at this time in the technological revolution

21. Best Practices and Group Projects • Collaborative learning groups appear to be both effective and efficient1 • Student satisfaction appears to be best when utilizing team projects that focus on critical thinking and real life problem solving skills2 • working with partners prompted the group to stay on task when compared to individual project performance3 1 Curtis and Lawson, (2001); Oliver, et al., (1998) 2 Thompson & McGrath, (1999); Wegner, et al., (1999) 3 Oliver, et al., (1998)

22. Best Practice #4 • Design and utilize collaborative projects that are applicable to the real working life of the respective group members

23. Textual Information and Best Practices • Tendency of online students not to completely read posted textual information • opting to quickly follow links to other material (Oliver et al., 1998) • popularity of websites may be related to the richness of content or what we call “eye candy” (Karuppan et al, 1999) • Material should be in an appropriate format and depth to stimulate interest (Karuppan et al, 1999) • Excessive static information posted on the course website may not contribute to greater learning

24. Scaffolding • Scaffolding is the process of providing a framework of operation or direction for an instructional event (Oliver et al, 1998) • initially, the scaffolding tool should be very supportive • as the learning progresses, the amount of guidance should be reduced accordingly to allow the learner to mature and explore

25. Best Practice #5 • A fine balance of textual information should be provided so as to stimulate the students natural curiosity for learning with an adequate amount of information to stay on task • “Not TOO much, but NOT too little”

26. Online Testing Best Practices • Potentially one of the greatest sources to promote learning…as well as frustration! • Interactive quizzes appear to increase the depth of learner interaction with course content1 • Key to learning is the ability to provide periodic graded self-assessments of the individual’s knowledge base with immediate feedback in both performance and areas of deficits • Note: This is related to learning (lower security) not necessarily formal assessment (higher security) 1 Thompson & McGrath, (1999)

27. Online Testing Examples • Standard styles and formats • multiple choice, T and F, and matching • short answer and essay • Creative styles and formats • crossword puzzles • game shows • learner developed

28. Best Practice #6 • Integrate a wide variety of periodic quizzes to provide feedback to the learner on their individual learning performance • utilize the periodic assessment tools to guide the progress of the online course and make corrections if needed to further enhance the learning

29. “focus on how a subject [should] be taught rather than through which medium it is [being] taught.”Genieve Bodiwalaonline student from India“Providing students with access to meaningful content does not guarantee learning…”Oliver et al (1998) Quotes to live by…

30. Best Practice #7 • Be creative and innovative! The details, opportunities, and strategies to deliver online learning should be strongly founded in sound instructional design principles, and above all, should engage the learner with the desired content

31. Thanks for Your Attention! Enjoy Your Time in Orlando! Steven G. Lesh, PhD, MPA, PT, SCS, ATC slesh@sbuniv.edu