| Home |
 |
Chapter 7 |
|
On the Web! Activities |
|
Electronic communication via asynchronous conferences (also called forums or bulletin boards) can be highly effective for “extending a classroom discussion beyond the classroom.” Nancy Chism, Director, Office of Faculty and TA Development, the Ohio State University has provided a list of the ways electronic class discussions can stimulate learning in the Handbook for Instructors on the Use of Electronic Class Discussion (2003). Applied to the K-12 classroom, these suggestions are equally effective.
For an example of how a forum can function as an instructional tool, Adam Kinory, NBCT School: The School of the Future, New York City-District 2, designed a teaching unit, Audio P.O.W.E.R. (Paradigm of Writing Encouraging Reflection) for an 11th-Grade inclusion English class. A section of the unit is devoted to as Kinory specifies, “Exchanging written reflections with peers about radio stories via online bulletin boards.” The topic the students are to write on is an autobiography in which they reflect on “how highly stressful and emotional situations test and change people.” Kinory uses the electronic bulletin board to enable the students to respond to life stories they have listened to on National Public Radio by posting their thoughts on the bulletin boards. Their postings were appeared on NPR’s bulletin board site Your Turn, giving them access to each other’s writing, along with identification of their audience. Kinory noted that “The peer-to-peer nature of a board reduced any possibility of such consternation [the desire to maintain a strong sense of ownership derived from construction of a personal response, such as a journal entry, and the desire to incorporate additional perspectives suggested by the teacher] arising. The use of the bulleting board removed all social dynamics that might affect how feedback is given or received.”
Center for Improved Engineering and Science Education (CIESE) http://www.ciese.org/ manages a number of exciting collaborative projects via the Internet. Many of these use forums for communication among participants. For example, the Global Water Sampling Project investigates water quality. To facilitate communication among participants in this project and to share data, a forum is used. This asynchronous tool offers a time-shifted communications channel especially useful for worldwide participation.
Electronic bulletin boards have also proven to be enormously successful serving as e-mentors for novice teachers and pre-service teachers. Dr. Judy Harris, an associate professor of curriculum and instruction at the University of Texas, Austin, created WINGS Online, an electronic bulletin board to serve just this purpose. The student- and new teachers in Texas “chat with each other, find and get advice from e-mentors, and seek research help on various topics” on an Internet bulletin board which offers asynchronous contacts to the postings that can be anonymous if the participants so desire to, perhaps, avoid appearing not up to their new career responsibilities.
Search the sites below or other sites you find on the web for more ideas. After reviewing at least two sites, consider how you might use these tools when you teach. Prepare a How To Enhance Instruction with Conferencing handout to share with your peers
Want to know more? Check out these sites:
Google Education Discussion Forums
http://forums.atozteacherstuff.com/
http://community.elearners.com/forums/default.aspx
http://mathforum.org/kb/forumindex.jspa
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=4792
http://k12.carnegielearning.com/cfbb/index.cfm?page=recent
http://www.softarc.com/AboutFC
Sources:
Teaching online: Best practices and tips: Handbook for instructors on the use of electronic class discussion. Retrieved May 7, 2004, from www.jjconline.jjay.cuny.edu/faculty/teachonline.html
Kinory, A. Audio P.O.W.E.R. (Paradigm of writing encouraging reflection). Retrieved May 7, 2004, from http://ali.apple.com/ali_sites/exhibits/1000441/Professional_Development.html
Borja, R. R. (2002, April 3). ‘E-mentors’ offer online support, information for novice instructors. Retrieved May 7, 2004, from http://www.edweek.org/ew/newstory.cfm?slug=29mentor.h21
The Global Water Sampling Project. Retrieved May 7, 2004 from http://k12science.ati.stevens-tech.edu/curriculum/waterproj/index.shtml
|