Past+student+examples

= Past Student Examples =

Below are some examples of high quality heuristics and accompanying explanations developed by past students. (High quality refers to Distinction and High Distinction level.)

Note: Reference lists have not been included.

I hope these examples help you with your Task 1. Shirley

//**Always provide scaffolding for authentic learning**// ‘Authentic learning’ is a term used to describe learning experiences that aim to represent a real-life situation where information derived from instruction may be used in context to create knowledge and meaning for the learner. When designing and implementing an authentic learning environment or scenario, in addition to delivering the necessary content, tools and resources, we must provide facilitation and ‘scaffolding’ to support the learning experience. There are many approaches that can be adopted to provide an authentic learning experience for students, for example, in a case-based environment learners need to draw on their ‘experiences’, or rather the cases provided in the learning design, to develop solutions to the challenges they face in the authentic learning environment or activity. Bennett, Harper and Hedberg (2001) described a case-based approach where learners, when faced with a complex authentic situation, were required to think or ‘act’ like practitioners. Cases can provide multiple perspectives that serve to illustrate more than one solution to a problem. In order to assist learners with achieving the objectives of such a complex activity it is necessary to provide scaffolding. Depending on the characteristic of the students, the learning environment and design some scaffolding may include: • Supporting collaboration – assisting students to form groups, instigating communication between group members and even mediating any disputes. • Participating in forums – structuring forums for collaboration or tasks, maintaining a presence to convey ‘availability’ and responding to questions • Facilitating discussion - asking students to share experiences and backgrounds, suggesting topics and summarising discussion • Promoting reflection – encouraging students to explore previous work or discussion • Coaching and providing feedback – at critical times (Herrington & Oliver, 2000) to assist with tasks or activities. May also encourage peer reviewing and support. While designers may include a series of supportive mechanisms they must also be prepared to adapt the support and scaffolding to suit that of different cohorts or individual learners. Bennett (2002) implemented a case based learning design which included supports such as analysis questions (for discussion), templates (for project work) and tutorial sessions. However in reflecting on the implementation Bennett commented that “For some tasks, however, it became apparent that some learners needed more support, for example to achieve the kinds of thinking required for the case analysis task.” Bennet added that findings from her evaluation phase would inform the development of further supports. In my experience, as a student learning via an authentic learning environment, I found the presence, direction and affirmations of the teacher very important in my ‘grasping’ of the conceptual challenges of the authentic scenario and associated tasks. What is obvious to the designer may not be at all clear to the learner. Therefore designers and teachers should always be prepared with a series of support and scaffolding strategies to meet the needs of a diverse student cohort.
 * Example 1: **

Example 2: //**Make online discussion purposeful to encourage learner participation**// Much has been written about participation in discussion in online learning environments including the effects of participation levels on learning outcomes, the relationship between participation levels and student satisfaction and the factors affecting participation levels (Dennen, 2005; Gerbic, 2006; Mazzolini & Maddison, 2003). A common thread amongst this research into participation is that while participation is not a measure of learning it may be a useful indicator of the level of student engagement in the online learning environment. But more importantly communication between learners also promotes understanding of course content, a sense of community and achievement of learning objectives. However, in order to elicit, encourage or facilitate participation in discussion, discussion activities must have some motivation or purpose. When developing or designing an online learning environment that utilises online communication tools we need to remember that learners are unlikely to participate if there is not an identifiable reason or purpose to the discussion. Setting a number of required postings or replies as an assessable activity may encourage students to comply with the requirements of an assessable activity but it does not necessarily give them cause for ongoing discourse. Discussion tools enable learners with no face to face interaction to communicate with one another and thus allow for the possibility of enhanced learner knowledge building through peer negotiated meaning. Jonassen (1999, p. 228), commented that “learning most naturally occurs not in isolation but by teams of people working together to solve problems”. Jonassen asserted that collaboration tools, such as online discussion forums, enable learners to work together to construct what he describes as socially shared knowledge. Therefore, providing collaborative activities will encourage discussion between learners as it is necessary to complete the activity. Woo, Herrington, Agostinho and Reeves (2007) described authentic activities that encourage participation. The nature of the complex and situated tasks facilitated learner discussion by requiring collaboration, peer review and also the need for clarification and reinforcement. In my experience as a student studying online, discussion was made purposeful for me by: • undertaking collaborative activities • responding to focus questions relevant to assessable tasks • facilitated chat at critical times, for example, preceding delivery of assessable tasks When implementing this heuristic designers and teachers should consider the objectives of the learning design, the task and activity structures and the communication tools that are available. Other considerations may include the characteristics of the student cohort, social and cultural impacts and delivery of the learning design (wholly online or blended).

Example 3: //**When planning online teaching be sure to include contingency planning for "technical hitches"**// Technical issues at the user-level and also the institutional level can affect online learning (Australian Institute for Social Research, 2006). The facilitator of any online course should put in place strategies to address possible unforeseen events that could hamper the learning process. From an organisational perspective, the advent of e-learning means much more crossover and liaison between education services and IT departments than ever before. Teachers should aim to sustain a good relationship with those who can offer technical advice, assistance and who are maintaining infrastructure. This relationship is necessary to ensure that help is readily available when issues arise. An online teacher should involve IT resources in the initial planning phases of any proposed online course to ensure that existing infrastructure can accommodate learning needs. Recently in the SESIH, new Learning Management System (LMS) software was found to be incompatible with existing software and there was a delay in the launch of online products while this issue was addressed. The structure and specifications of servers should be considered. Slow servers may make it difficult for students to access information in a timely manner, and lead to frustration and lack of participation in the course. Can the server host the course effectively, or do other arrangements need to be made? With the SESIH looking to implement online learning in a large organisation, it was necessary to purchase a new server, specifically dedicated to e-learning as the existing servers would not have handled the additional traffic. Regardless, of the age and functionality of the server, there is still the possibility that the server could go down. If this were to occur, connectivity to course work, discussion boards, information, and assessment tasks would be lost. Asking students to keep hard copies of any online work would ensure that tasks can still be submitted. Teachers should also keep back-up information. Providing alternate e-mail addresses, phone and fax numbers ensure that learners can still remain in touch if required (Levitch & Milheim, 2003). The technical limitations of learners also need to be considered. Students have varying technology available to them, at home or in the workplace. Bandwidth at remote sites, differences in internet access speeds, equipment and software can all impact on the participation and contribution of students (Levitch & Milheim, 2003). For example, downloading of documents and streaming of multimedia resources can be time-consuming, or even impossible with older computers or slow remote connections (Grubbs, n.d.). The SESIH spans rural and metropolitan areas, with varying access. In these cases, it might be necessary to provide resources on CD-ROM for students to take and utilise without having to connect (Grubbs, n.d.). Ensure that students know the correct process for reporting any technical difficulties. Do they contact IT department, or is the course facilitator the first port of call? Sorting out matters at the onset of the course can mean less problems if issues were to arise. Contingency planning for online learning is imperative for success. Whether the issues relate to organisational infrastructure, hardware failures, software incompatibilities or learner resources, with appropriate planning obstructions to learning can be avoided.

Example 4: //**Moderators need to have an active presence, model effective communication and work to sustain a positive learning environment**// Teachers / facilitators / moderators / coach and mentor are all titles that can be applied to the moderator of an online learning environment. The moderator is responsible for the smooth running of the online learning environment. Levin and Cervantes state that most failures in online learning are the result of “a lack of appropriate mediation at the appropriate times in the unfolding process of a network learning interaction.” (1999. p.21) For facilitators online learning moderation involves balancing the technological factors of the medium and the educational factors of the learning experience. They need to feel comfortable themselves with the technologies and the roles they will be undertaking. They need to be aware of best practise in moderating online learning and the way in which they communicate this best practise. As Woo, Herrington, Agostinho and Reeves outline “educators must acquire confidence in the efficacy of the approach” (2007. p.36). It is through their own self confidence and belief in online learning as an effective delivery system that they will be able to successfully moderate an effective learning environment. Moderation is time consuming as Levin and Cervantes states “network activity is episodic, unfolding over time through a series of different phases.” (1999. p.3.) For each of the phases the moderator needs an awareness of the changes and a willingness to apply the appropriate skill and knowledge. Moderators need to be aware of the ongoing role they have and be able to maintain that role for extended periods of time. Communication on line can be much slower than a face to face conversation. The moderator needs to keep active and vigilant and to act promptly if a problem appears to be arising. Woo, Herrington, Agostinho and Reeves (2007) raise the issue that as much of the contact can be written it also requires a confidence and sensitivity in written communication. Moderators need to understand online learning and all that is involved in creating a safe, supportive and educationally sound learning environment. Moderators should be instrumental at setting boundaries and modelling effective and respectful interactions. If the students are involved in authentic online tasks these tasks may include collaboration in a team setting. The moderator needs to support the learners in creating teams, in selecting roles and in developing the skills and knowledge demanded by the task. In informally discussing different online learning experiences with my work colleagues I have been amazed at the different responses. Two of these responses clearly show the variation in experience ‘a great way of doing things –it’s like the old correspondence education but with support and ongoing contact” and “I never knew what I was doing and I felt extremely isolated – I hated it and just experienced one problem after another”. I believe that the moderator sets the style and effectiveness of the experience. Moderators need to be active and need to clearly state what the goals are of the educational experience, what methods will be used and what the expectations are of the learners. They need to be responsive and active throughout the experience. As Berge (1995. p. 7) states “It takes time for student and instructor to develop effective use of technologically mediated instruction, and it takes time for students to learn in this environment.”

Example 5: //**Intervene and monitor online forum discussions to promote the development of a learning community.**// In a course of study, the instructor may choose to use asynchronous communication as one of the course tools. Asynchronous communication in this context is communication between participants not occurring in real time. In an online forum, messages, replies and comments are left on a online discussion platform. An online forum is a common asynchronous communication tool used in higher education and is present in many learning management systems. It is used in courses which are fully or partially offered online.

Online forums have the potential to create a sense of community amongst the student cohort and this sense of community can aid student learning. At their simplest, they are used as a method of communicating information between participants. On a more complex level, they can be used to exchange ideas, encourage participants to work together cooperatively and can build up a sense of community amongst participants who may or may not see each other face‐to‐face. This sense of community can create an environment for critical exchange and reflection (Dawson, 2006).

A number of factors can improve the learning potential of an online forum. Careful consideration of the format and ongoing use of the forum on the part of the course designer is a key factor of the success of the forum. Some of the key issues to consider:

//Promote socialisation// Part of the process of creating a learning environment in the online forum is the socialisation phase ‐ where the students have the opportunity to have social interaction that is not yet related to the study area. This phase is important in creating a sense of trust and social community (Dawson, 2006). The online environment is a textual not a visual environment so participants need to create a "presence" through the use of text rather than visual cues (Burnett, 2003, p. 248). The instructor can play a pivotal role in assisting in the socialisation phase by initiating activities that promote social interaction. (Dawson, 2006)

//Maintain a presence but do not dominate// The instructor needs to monitor the activity to check when intervention is necessary and to ensure that student concerns and queries are addressed (Vonderwell, 2003).

"The social and pedagogical presence of the instructor is essential for improved communication and learning. Yet, online instructors need to be careful in structuring a feedback mechanism to encourage student inquiry and collaboration rather than quick, immediate answer to a question that can itself be a barrier for effective student learning." (Vonderwell, 2003, p. 88)

If the instructor dominates or has too strong a presence in the online forum, the students may be less likely to collaborate with each other, instead relying on the instructor (Mazzolini & Maddison, 2007). The instructor can encourage student to student interaction by allowing students to lead and guide the discussion (Burnett, 2003).

"[T]he instructor plays an important role to motivate effective online discussions; more online guidance, more structured discussion topics and considerable time devotion are required for instructors" (Wu, 2004, p. 148).

I participate in and observe online forums as a tutor in a first year Commerce subject. The students often use the forum as a medium for exchanging practical information such as clarification of assignment details, class swaps and resource information. They also use the forum to express various frustrations and problems that arise. Quite often they seem unaware or unconcerned about the instructors' presence. The online forum was used extensively in 2008 for a cross campus group project. Many students had profound difficulties with the activity due to the following factors: - group members not responding to posts - language and cultural differences ‐ as some students were first year international students - unfamiliarity with the medium ‐ particularly as applied to the educational setting - the highly complex nature of the task - lack of instructions and guidance.
 * Personal Reflection**

In my role as tutor, I made suggestions to the students regarding the use of the forum including use of language and socialisation techniques, with limited success. This I partly attributed to a lack of understanding and training across the whole student body regarding the use of the forum in this activity and a lack of scaffolding in building up the students' skills in the use of the forum in completing the group project. There was an incorrect assumption that the students would "just know how to do it". As expressed by Vonderwell (2003) "[m]erely providing discussions or collaborative activities does not mean that students will actively participate in the activity" (p.88). The across campus group experiment was not repeated in subsequent semesters.

Example 6: //** Moderators must maintain an active presence and provide guidance when needed **//

“e-moderation” of blogs is often regarded as time-consuming and therefore expensive, which leads to the limitation of their involvement “in the guidance and moderation of online communities” (Puntschart and Tochtermann, 2006). Effective moderation, however, encourages a dynamic, productive generation of blog community ideas and results as well as preventing the blog community from acting in an extreme and unintended manner (Puntschart and Tochtermann, 2006).

The postings available in Paulus et al (2009) indicate that their student community blog was not moderated effectively, with students attempting to start discussions (with little response) on a variety of topics, and those students writing their frustrations in their blog entries and stating them in post-blog interviews “it’s so hard to find topics to talk about… nothing caught on…” (Paulus et al, 2009 p.11). Effective moderation has been shown to steer bloggers toward suitable discussion topics and open more topics for discussion (Puntschart and Tochtermann, 2006).

Moderation activities have a positive effect on the ability of the blog to stay on track and with active community involvement (Puntschart and Tochtermann, 2006). Such activities include:

· Adding initial statements on a topic

· Introducing new focuses

· Advice to improve quality of statements – keeping members focussed on topics, ensuring compliance to netiquette

· Integration of content and communication – advice to read content, asking of content-related questions, referring to content

Deng and Yuen (2007) found that students participating in a blogging exercise felt more comfortable contributing to their own personal blogs instead of the academic and professional blogs that were part of their studies. Other web 2.0 technologies tended to be used for interaction between peers. An active moderator may have encouraged people to feel more comfortable with the blog communication medium and may have been able to elicit a comfortable community spirit. The anonymity found in the general ‘blogosphere’, where people can present a ‘mask’ to the world and be unselfconscious in their anonymity (Hookway, 2008) is lost when the blog is part of a course of study. An effective moderator must understand this exposure and consequent restraint that a student blogger will feel and must endeavour to make their students comfortable with this level of exposure.

Moderation is important in synchronous as well as asynchronous online environments. For example, our weekly chat sessions require effective moderation of the chat, otherwise we can find ourselves off topic and drifting somewhat aimlessly. The chat transcripts vary from the first week where students were trying out the technology, some for the first time, and several commented that they “felt lost” (W2Chat.doc) to the most recent where discussion was actively directed and re-focussed. Further, by taking note of student suggestions for the weekly chat formats, arising from problems in previous chat weeks, the moderator showed an active democratic moderating style that suited our post-graduate students. Feedback was also given to students, making us more confident with the medium. “Guys - you are raising interesting points in terms of the research of these web 2.0 tools. This is very good! You are all on the right track - there are mixed results with all these technologies and different ways of researching their use” (W5Chat.doc, 21:16, Shirley Agostinho, 2009). As well as feedback acting as a confirmation for students it also demonstrates the presence of an active effective moderator. The moderator has moved on to ensuring that the topic stays on track – comments such as “now back to task 2” show that the moderator is both involved in the discussion and is prepared to guide the discussion where required.