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VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES IN WEBTYCHO. Frank Schindler University of Maryland University College , European Division Heidelberg, Germany. University of Maryland. Online Study since 1992 Leader in the field of E-Learning 2004 Award “ Price of Excellence ” from
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VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES IN WEBTYCHO Frank Schindler University of Maryland University College, European Division Heidelberg, Germany
University of Maryland • Online Study since 1992 • Leader in the field of E-Learning • 2004 Award “Price of Excellence” from International Council for Open and Distance Education of 142 Countries
WebTycho • Interactive LMS • Web-Based Technology • Fully Editable • Supports Problem-Based Learning
Problems of Online Education • How to eliminate the feeling of isolation • How to help students to reach their learning goals • How to improve communication
Special Study Support • Individual Activities • Group Activities
Need for Group Activites • Some class activities must be performed in groups to avoid self-study • Certain balance between individual and group activities needed
How to Implement Special Study Support Need for • Virtual Communities Their Creation, Management and Monitoring
Means to Implement Special Study Support • Electronic Study Materials • Discussion Forums • Video Conferences • E-Mail • Chat
Individual Activities • Paper/Electronic Study Materials • Web-Based Conferences • Online assignments • Online Tests (Exams)
Group Activities • Study Groups • Collaborative Projects/Documents • Online Exams
Examples of Virtual Communities • Web-Based Conferences • Web-Based Study Groups • E-Mail • Chat
Web-Based Conferencing • Created by teacher • A set of sample tasks posted online • Students are to discuss them online • Verbal Evaluation
Web-Based Conferencing… • Should be mandatory • Necessity of Their Proper Scheduling • Participation counted toward the final grade
Web-Based Conferencing… Assumptions • Weekly schedule followed on time • Students do their independent readings • Policy on plagiarism needed
Study Groups • Created by teacher • Students can ask and answer questions • Can be marked if needed • Can be mandatory/optional
E-Mail • Limited Number of Participants • Good for Online Teachers to Exchange Ideas • Some Limited Teacher/Student Communication desirable
Chat • Good tool instead of conventional office-hours • Limited Number of Participants • Time-Zone sensitive
Examples of Study Groups • Cybercafe • Group Projects • Online Assignments • Online Exams • Chat
Management of Conferences Teacher • Monitors happening in the conference • Comments responses of students • Changes status of conference from read & write to read-only mode
Managent of Study Groups Teacher • Monitors actions in the study group • Answers some questions if needed • Changes status of study group
Advantages of Virtual Communities • Psychological support for students • Creation of personal, social relations • Feeling to be part of a community • Avoiding communication bottleneck • Speed and art of bi-directional communication • Reduction of grading work for teacher
Advantages of Virtual Communities… • Provide a way to steer and manage online course • Allow better course administration • Allow to exchange ideas among teachers • Allow online testing
Disadvantages of Virtual Communities • Limiting factor is number of participants • Mode (Synchronuous vs. Asynchronuous) • Hard to mark (grade)
Conclusion • Lack of functioning virtual communities in virtual classroom means something is wrong • Better management and integration of virtual communities in online learning needed
Od jesene 2004 Frank Schindler Katedra aplikovanej informatiky a výpočtovej techniky, FEI STU Iľkovičová 3 812 19 Bratislava frank.schindler@stuba.sk