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2007

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning

2007

Summer Institute in Online Course Development

Hosted By: The Center for Distance Education, College of Rural and Community Development, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Curt Madison Director Center for Distance Education Steve Jones Chancellor University of Alaska Fairbanks Bernice Joseph Vice Chancellor for Rural, Community and Native Education College of Rural and Community Development Mark Hamilton President University of Alaska

Welcome to iTeach, an intensive clinic in the Your iTeach creation and production of distance-delivered courses. During your time here, we’ll explore Facilitators the latest in research-based practices for effective course delivery. Throughout the week Shauna Schullo we’ll introduce a variety of media tools, but Associate Director our focus will remain on best practices for [email protected] effective teaching. Carol Gering Our goal is to get you started, help you frame your course in a pedagogically sound manner, Design Team Manager and equip you with the knowledge and skills [email protected] to continue your course development after you leave here. Because we believe you’ll find the Heidi Olson community of fellow iTeach participants such Instructional Designer a rich resource, we have created an Internet [email protected] space to extend community and communication beyond the time frame of this week. Christen Bouffard Instructional Designer [email protected] Shari George Course Manager [email protected]

Understanding By Design Understanding By Design

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 8 Understanding By Design

Introduction

Understanding by Design provides a fl exible framework for the pragmatic development of online courses. Of all the material we have reviewed, we believe this method best serves our purposes for the thoughtful design of curriculum.

Using a “reverse engineering” approach, we will explore the desired outcomes for your course, and then work backward to create a rich learning experience for your students. Along the way, we’ll talk about “understanding” - what it really means and how you’ll recognize when your students achieve it. Credits and Sources

Our primary resource for this method is the 2nd edition of Understanding by Design, written by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. We’ve provided a copy your packet of materials. A workbook is available by the same authors; from this workbook we’ve chosen a handful of worksheets that we fi nd particularly useful. We’ve secured reprint permission and included copies in your binder. While the binder as a whole is licensed under Creative Commons - and free for you to share with others simply by giving attribution - the pages from Understanding by Design and the accompanying workbook are copyright protected.

Agree or Disagree? “Teaching and learning are two sides of the same coin.”

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 9 Understanding By Design

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 10 Understanding By Design Understanding By Design: Second Edition, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. (pg. 18) and Jay McTighe. Understanding By Design: Second Edition, Grant Wiggins

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 11 Understanding By Design

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 12 Understanding By Design

1-Minute Response

Write One Thing That You Hope Every Student Will Understand By the Time They Complete Your Course

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 13 Understanding By Design

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 14 Understanding By Design

Stage 1: Identify Desired Results

Agree or Disagree? “When you multiply two numbers, the answer is bigger.”

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 15 Understanding By Design

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 16 Understanding By Design Understanding By Design Professional Development Workbook, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. (pg. 69) and Jay McTighe. Grant Wiggins Development Workbook, Understanding By Design Professional

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 17 Understanding By Design . 79) pg he. ( g McTi y ins and Ja gg ment Workbook, Grant Wi ment Workbook, p essional Develo f n Pro g Desi y B g Understandin

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 18 Understanding By Design gy g f p gg y g pg Understanding By Design Professional Development Workbook, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. (pg. 71) and Jay McTighe. Grant Wiggins Development Workbook, Understanding By Design Professional

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 19 Understanding By Design Understanding By Design Professional Development Workbook, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. (pg. 133) and Jay McTighe. Grant Wiggins Development Workbook, Understanding By Design Professional

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 20 Understanding By Design Understanding By Design Professional Development Workbook, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. (pg. 115) and Jay McTighe. Grant Wiggins Development Workbook, Understanding By Design Professional

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 21 Understanding By Design . 91) pg he. ( g McTi y ins and Ja gg ment Workbook, Grant Wi ment Workbook, p essional Develo f n Pro g Desi y B g Understandin

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 22 Understanding By Design gy g f p gg y g pg Understanding By Design Professional Development Workbook, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. (pg. 86) and Jay McTighe. Grant Wiggins Development Workbook, Understanding By Design Professional

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 23 Understanding By Design . 87) pg he. ( g McTi y ins and Ja gg ment Workbook, Grant Wi ment Workbook, p essional Develo f n Pro g Desi y B g Understandin

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 24 Understanding By Design gy g f p gg y g pg Understanding By Design Professional Development Workbook, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. (pg. 87) and Jay McTighe. Grant Wiggins Development Workbook, Understanding By Design Professional

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 25 Understanding By Design . 87) pg he. ( g McTi y a J ins and gg ment Workbook, Grant Wi ment Workbook, p essional Develo f n Pro g Desi y B g Understandin

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 26 Understanding By Design gy g f p gg Jy g pg Understanding By Design Professional Development Workbook, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. (pg. 87) and Jay McTighe. Grant Wiggins Development Workbook, Understanding By Design Professional

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 27 Understanding By Design

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 28 Understanding By Design

Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence

Agree or Disagree? “Doing something correctly proves that you understand what you are doing.”

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 29 Understanding By Design

1-Minute Response What is Understanding?

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 30 Understanding By Design Understanding By Design Professional Development Workbook, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. (pg. 23) and Jay McTighe. Grant Wiggins Development Workbook, Understanding By Design Professional

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 31 Understanding By Design . 157) pg he. ( g McTi y a J ins and gg ment Workbook, Grant Wi ment Workbook, p essional Develo f n Pro g Desi y B g Understandin

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 32 Understanding By Design gy g f p gg Jy g pg Understanding By Design Professional Development Workbook, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. (pg. 158) and Jay McTighe. Grant Wiggins Development Workbook, Understanding By Design Professional

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 33 Understanding By Design

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 34 Understanding By Design

Assessment Map

Instructor eﬀort: to create materials for and gradw this assessment type. Student eﬀort: to complete/perform.

Instructor Student Assessment type Effort Effort BlackBoard Internal/Auto-Grade 1 1 Survey 2 1 Short Answer/Essay 3 2 Paper/Report 3 3 Journal/Reflection 2 2 Structured Discussion Board 2 1 Demonstration/Presentation 1 3 Scenario 2 2 Role-Playing 2 2 Games 2 1 Portfolio 3 3 Research Project 3 3 Standardized Exam 1 2 Certification Exam 1 2 Case Study 3 3 Participation/Presence 1 1 Modeling/Simulation 3 3 Problem Solving 2 3 Student Led Interaction 2 2 Precis/Summary/Thesis/Synthesis 1 2 Self/Peer Evaluation 2 2 Interviewing 2 3

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Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 36 Understanding By Design g y g , , gg J y g (pg ) Understanding By Design, 2nd Edition, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. (pg. 179) and Jay McTighe. Understanding By Design, 2nd Edition, Grant Wiggins

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 37 Understanding By Design ) . 164 (pg he. g McTi y a J ins and gg Grant Wi , ment Workbook p essional Develo f n Pro g Desi y B g Understandin

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 38 Understanding By Design g y g f p , gg J y g (pg ) Understanding By Design Professional Development Workbook, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. (pg. 164) and Jay McTighe. Grant Wiggins Development Workbook, Understanding By Design Professional

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 39 Understanding By Design Understanding By Design Professional Development Workbook, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. (pg. 164) and Jay McTighe. Grant Wiggins Development Workbook, Understanding By Design Professional

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 40 Understanding By Design

Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences & Instruction

Agree or Disagree? “Eﬀ ective teaching is a complex, interactive achievement.”

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 41 Understanding By Design

1-Minute Response What is one thing that you learned without listening to a lecture?

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 42 Understanding By Design Understanding By Design Professional Development Workbook, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. (pg. 267) and Jay McTighe. Grant Wiggins Development Workbook, Understanding By Design Professional

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 43 Understanding By Design ) . 241 (pg . e h ig McT Jay nd a ns iggi nt W a Gr , n io t i d E nd o c e n S ig s e D y B g n i nd a rst e nd U

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 44 Understanding By Design U e a i g y (pg. 232) and Jay McTighe. Understanding By Design Second Edition, Grant Wiggins e ig e o E i io , a iggi a Jay ig e (pg )

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 45 Understanding By Design

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 46 One Enduring Understanding Understanding Understanding Know andDo Familiar With Worth Being Important to "Enduring" What differentiatesyourcoursefrom Overarching Goals & Characteristics Big Idea 3-5 Essential Question others onthesametopic? Essential Questions Understanding Big Idea Essential Question Unit Questions Evidence Assessments Activities Assessments Activities Ovverarchingg Goals Evi dence • Read text & Characteristics • Practice with online shutter speed What differentiates your coursem fro simulator others on hte same topic? • Use camera settings to freeze • Photo: capture motion blur •in Attend a sporting event; set up motion (apply) near the goal and shoot photos. 1. What purpose does photography serve passing traffic Unit Questions • Use camera settings to create • Take photos with and without a for YOU? (This foundational question • Photo: freeze the action at a informs editing strategies.) motion blur (apply) tripod—compare results. sports event • Systematically change shutter speed. 2. What makes a photo great? • What makes photos blurry? • Predict results of changes in 3. How can you display your images with • Journal: document results of• Systematically change ISO the most visual impact? • What shutter speed should I shutter speed (interpret) • Examine the exif information from • Explain relationship between your experiences at the sporting your sporting event photos This course focuses on photography as art. use if I don’t have a tripod? shutter speed, aperture, and ISO event. What did you learn? • Note how aperture changes when • Which shutter speed is faster: Photojournalism would emphasize different (explain) What camera settings would youshutter speed changes aspects of photography. 1/60 or 1/500? • Note how shutter speed and • Describe what you learned (self use next time? • How does ISO affect shutter aperture change as ISO changes knowledge) • Essay: explain relationship between• Determine which shutter speeds speed? shutter speed, aperature, and iso produced the best results. • How are aperture and shutter speed related? Essential Questions • Read text • Research online photography • Photo: object in focus, • Analyze the visual impact of journals for tips • When is shallow dof appealing shallow depth of field on background blurred • Take your tripod to the botanical -- and when does it look like different subjects (interpret) • Journal: what did you learn at garden. Systematically change the How do I select the a mistake? • Explain relationship between the botanical garden? aperture on successive shots and note the results. aperture and shallow depth of • Discussion board: compare right shutter speed? • Systematically apply zoom and • What are f-stops? field (explain) photos with varying depth of note the effect on depth of field • Use camera settings to control field and analyze their visual• Try the macro mode on your • How do zoom and macro depth of field (apply) How do I create appeal. camera and note the effect on modes affect depths of field? • Document what you learned (self depth of field. shallow depth of field? knowledge)

• Discussion Board: Evaluate and critique examples of warm images, How can I control the • Critique the visual impact of • Read text • What color is light? cool images, and images shot with quality of natural lighting? various lighting conditions (interpret) • Search online photo galleries for a flash. • Analyze an image and conclude examples; post links on the is capturing light. is capturing • What is a color cast? what type of light sources were • Analyze an image to determine Discussion Board for classmates what type of lighting was used. to review • What is golden light? used to create the image. Explain Explain your conclusions. • Experiment with white balance

The essence of photography The essence your conclusions (interpret and settings • Why does flash look artificial? explain) • Photo: 2 photos to the Discussion • Experiment with flash settings • Use varying light conditions to board of the same object at• theExperiment with homemade • How can I avoid harsh shadows? create different moods (apply) same location, but taken at two reflectors and diffusers • Argue the merits of different different times of day. Argue• Choosethe a location and note how lighting conditions on a given the light changes at different times Worth Being merits of the mood created in each Familiar With of day subject (perspective) image. Important to • Document what you learned (self • Journal: what did you learn about Know and Do Big Idea knowledge) 3-5 controlling light? "Enduring"g Understanding

Big Idea

Understanding EssentialQ uestion

Understanding Esssential Question Assessments Activities Ovverarchingg Goals Evidence • Read text & Characteristics Blog post on reaction to MIT site What differentiatesyour coursefrom • Practice problems from text others on hte same topic? Use the Logarithmic Function to find Presentation using 7-9 calculation its limit to 2. • Review website on velocity 1. Why the development of CALCULUS has UnitQ uestions slides (3-5 minutes) changed the world? Use the exponential function to find • Review blog entries from MIT. What is the limit of a Function at 2. What are the most important applica- its derivative at 1. tions of CALCULUS these days? a point?

3. How can you use the concepts of Describe what you learned. CALCULUS in your area of expertise? What is the derivative of a Function at a point?

How can you explain Velocity using the concepts of limit and derivative?

EssentialQ uestions Quiz • Read text Use the definite integral to find the area between two curves • Practice problems from text What is a definite integral? Submission of homework calculations Use the definite integral to find the • Watch demonstrations on class CD How do I find the velocity How can we evaluate definite length of a curve and post observations on class of an object? integrals? discussion board. Describe what you have learned. How can I measure the How can you find the length of area of a region? a curve?

How can I maximize the profit? Interview with 1 of 10 suggested • Read text What is the product rule? Describe the profit as a function professionals

What is the chain rule? • Practice problems from text Describe the demand as a function. Post questions and answers on Discussion Board • Research web for those weho are How can you find the derivative Analyze the break-even point. using caluculus in their profession. Post links on discussion board. of a logarithmic function? Respond to other students’ interviews concepts as: Motion, Area, and Optimization. Area, and Motion, concepts as: Through CALCULUS we understand fundamental we understand Through CALCULUS Worth Being Familiar With

Important to Know and Do Big Idea 3-5 "Enduring" Understanding

Big Idea

Understanding EssentialQ uestion

Understanding Esssential Question

Blackboard Blackboard

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 52 Blackboard

Blackboard Training Agenda

Blackboard Introduction

• Suggested Course Structure • Getting Students Acquainted with Blackboard • Blackboard Resources Course Set Up

• Announcements • Customize the course menu and course banner • Enable and disable course tools • Breadcrumb trail • Structure course content using folders, learning units and course links Communication

• Create and manage groups • Send Email and Messages to users Content Building

• Add, modify, copy and remove course content • Deploy content using set dates • Learning Units • Create, deploy, retrieve, grade and return assignments using add assignment • Digital Dropbox Assessments

• Create and make available tests/surveys • Upload questions from text fi le or from quiz generator • Develop and manage questions pools Evaluation

• Customize the Grade book • Record, modify, and manage student grades

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 53 Blackboard

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 54 Blackboard

Recommended Course Structure

Announcements

• Pending deadlines, current event notifi cations, FAQ of the week, etc. Syllabus (or Course Information)

1. Syllabus 2. Welcome letter 3. Administrative Policies 4. Academic Integrity Policy Staff Information

• Contact information • Response time • Offi ce hours • Personal bio, if you wish Assignments (or Materials)

• Module 1 (or Lesson 1) • Brief overview of the lesson • Lesson objectives • Reading assignment • Lecture material or course content • Learning activity • Self-Assessment • Additional resources • Refl ection/Journaling • Assignment (for assessment of module completion) • Exams Grade Book (My Grades)

• Direct link for student access to their grade book

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 55 Blackboard

Recommended Course Structure

Books (optional—could be included in Syllabus area) Discussion Board

• Weekly topics • Th reads started by instructor • Student questions • Allow new threads • Consider allowing anonymous posts • Archived FAQ • Student Lounge • Allow new threads • Informal, unmoderated area Communication

• Discussion Board, Group Pages, Roster, Sending Email • Disable those features you won’t be using External Links

• Web addresses with additional, relevant information • Plug-ins needed in the course Tools

• Digital dropbox (optional) • Edit your homepage (optional) • Personal Information • Check grade • Manual • Disable those features you won’t be using

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 56 Blackboard

Moving from UBD to Blackboard

Big Idea

• Incorporate into your Course Introduction and remember to refer back to these ideas throughout the course. Th e Big Ideas could also become your unit headings Essential Questions Essential Questions

• Your Essential Questions could either supple- How do I select the ment your course introduction or they could be unit right shutter speed? or section headlines to get students thinking about the upcoming topic. How do I create shallow depth of field?

How can I control the Syllabus: quality of natural lighting?

Assignments:

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 57 Blackboard

Moving from UBD to Blackboard

Unit or Module Questions

• Use these secondary Questions to set up each of the lesson / module/ units. Create a scenario based on the questions or use the questions to get students to begin thinking about how this piece fi ts in with the Big Idea. Evidence

• Use the evidence that you want students to be able to prove to you to help guide your lesson / module/ unit objectives or use it as a checklist for preparation for the lesson assignment. Assessments

• You will probably want and assessment for each lesson / module / unit. Consider also having an assessment that spans several topics to help bring the student back to the Big Idea. Activities

• Activities may include a reading assignment, self-assessment, refl ection or journaling as well as doing something to reinforce your objectives and help strengthen the visible Evidence.

Evidence • Read text • Practice with online shutter speed • Use camera settings to freeze • Photo: capture motion blur in simulator motion (apply) • Attend a sporting event; set up passing traffic near the goal and shoot photos. Unit Questions • Use camera settings to create • Photo: freeze the action at a • Take photos with and without a • What makes photos blurry? motion blur (apply) tripod—compare results. sports event • Predict results of changes in • Systematically change shutter speed. • Journal: document results of • What shutter speed should I shutter speed (interpret) • Systematically change ISO • Examine the exif information from use if I don’t have a tripod? • Explain relationship between your experiences at the sporting your sporting event photos • Which shutter speed is faster: shutter speed, aperture, and ISO event. What did you learn? • Note how aperture changes when 1/60 or 1/500? (explain) What camera settings would you shutter speed changes • How does ISO affect shutter • Describe what you learned (self use next time? • Note how shutter speed and knowledge) aperture change as ISO changes speed? • Essay: explain relationship between • Determine which shutter speeds • How are aperture and shutter shutter speed, aperature, and iso produced the best results. speed related? • Read text • Analyze the visual impact of • Photo: object in focus, • Research online photography • When is shallow dof appealing journals for tips shallow depth of field on background blurred -- and when does it look like • Take your tripod to the botanical diff bj (i ) Jlhtdidl t

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 58 Blackboard

Moving from UBD to Blackboard

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 59 Blackboard

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 60 Blackboard

Blackboard Suggestions

CDE is developing a suite of recommendations regarding structure of Blackboard classes and materials intended to provide a positive and consistent student experience. Following are some of the core principles.

1. Disable/hide sections and tools that are not being used in your class. 2. Use the Course Information section for “meta” information about the course: syllabus, schedule, course policies 3. Include the Instructor Information section and provide full contact information 4. Images for Staff area should be limited to 150 x 150 pixels in the jpg format and optimized for web delivery. 5. Course banner may be added to further customize course site. Banners should be no larger than 200 x 600 pixels and optimized for web delivery. 6. Course information should include an overall course “map” that lays out learning units and due dates (or suggested dates for completion) 7. Gather learning units and assessments in one section, commonly Course Documents, though this might be customized and named Assignments or Materials, etc. 8. Course materials should be “chunked” into Learning Modules or Lessons using a nested folder structure rather than a fl at listing, and unit folders should be arranged chronologically (or reverse) 9. Individual modules should include as many of the following as applicable/reasonable (avoid “Read the text, take a test” style units): a. Unit Overview b. Unit Objectives c. Reading Assignment d. Lecture or Content e. Activity f. Refl ection g. Self-Assessment h. Additional Resources i. Assignment 10. Content pages should include short (1-250 words) materials “in-line” on the page rather than all links to external documents (think about printing!) 11. Make use of Blackboard Learning Units and Archive Modules for sequential units 12. If possible, linked documents should be in a commonly accessible format: HTML, PDF, RTF, GIF, JPG, Flash always keeping bandwidth limitations in mind

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 61 Blackboard

Blackboard Suggestions

13. Use of other formats (DOC, PPT, MOV, MP3) should be supported with clear instructions on obtaining proper viewing soft ware 14. Instructors are encouraged to take advantage of publicly provided Learning Objects and external links and resources to enrich course materials. 15. External links and resources should be logically associated with discrete curriculum and/or categorized and given context with a clear direction to get student’s back to the blackboard site.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 62 Blackboard

A Blackboard Scavenger Hunt

Th e Blackboard Learning Management system can be a valuable addition to just about any class, but to be eff ective students must know how to use it! Take some of the drudgery out of the process by allowing your students to discover by doing—in this case by utilizing a simple, but eff ective, Blackboard Scavenger Hunt. Learning Objectives

Students familiarize themselves with the following primary Blackboard tools/areas:

• Announcements • Course Information area • Course Documents (content) area • Discussion Boards • Assessments (quiz and sending assignments) Students demonstrate their mastery by completing a brief Blackboard assessment. Format/Process

1. Place the “items” in the appropriate locations in your Blackboard course in various formats (items may be part of regular class materials or special items posted just for the Scavenger Hunt) for example: • in a Blackboard Announcement • in a document in the Course Information area • in a folder within the course documents section • in the class syllabus • in a discussion board posting • in a document passed to the student using Digital Drop Box or assignment 2. Create a short, point-bearing Blackboard quiz asking for the items they found and make it available. 3. Create a handout (paper, Word, PDF, or text) outlining the Scavenger Hunt items, tips on locations, and a place to note answers. Don’t forget to indicate where they go in your course to take the quiz. 4. Provide the handout to students as early as possible in the semester, preferably before asking students to use Blackboard to access course curriculum. Finally, students will complete a short, graded, point-bearing Blackboard quiz using the items they have found.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 63 Blackboard

A Blackboard Scavenger Hunt

Examples

Th e key to successful Scavenger Hunt is to make the items being sought fun and/or relevant to the curriculum. You could similarly have students fi nding parts of a theorem, the names of authors, quotations, medical terms, chemical scientifi c names, or other kinds of information might be relevant to your class.

http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=CSD4640

Another option is to create a introductory assignment that uses all of the feature a student would fi nd in a typical lesson. Th is could include posting an introduction to the discussion board or class blog, sending an email to the instructor, using the digital dropbox or assignment feature to answer questions about prior knowledge, taking a pre-assessment quiz or answering questions about class policies found in the syllabus.

http://cuyamaca.edu/stevemccamman/

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 64 Blackboard

Blackboard Resources

Getting Help

UAF Blackboard Support http://www.uaf.edu/oit/cts/blackboard

UAA Blackboard Support http://technology.uaa.alaska.edu/blackboard

CDE Student Tutorials http://distance.uaf.edu/archives/students/substudents/getting-help-1.php

External Resources

Blackboard Support Center https://behind.blackboard.com/s/faculty/

Blackboard and Course Cartridges http://cartridgecatalog.blackboard.com

Using HTML and Blackboard Resources http://www.edtech.neu.edu/teach/use_blackboard/

Blackboard Faculty Users Listserv http://www6.miami.edu/bb/bbfs/

Algonquin College Quiz Generator for Blackboard 6.0 http://lts4.algonquincollege.com/TestGen/TestGen.aspx

Getting Started with Blackboard and other Quick Guides http://www.itd.depaul.edu/website/documentation

MIT Open Courseware: free and open educational resources http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html

Scanning Photos and Graphicst http://www.itd.depaul.edu/website/documentation/Scanning%20Photos%20and%20Imag es%20QG.pdf

Using Media File format comparision guide (pdf, rtf, html) http://www.itd.depaul.edu/website/documentation/PDF,%20RTF,%20HTML%20File%20 Format%20Comparison%20QG.pdf

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 65 Blackboard

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 66 Blackboard

Web Materials That Work

In a recent Teaching Tip we talked about digitizing documents. Th is week we discuss some of the issues that can arise when making documents available to your students and how to deal with them. The Right Format Th e right format for any document will be that which can be read by all of your students while still presenting the information accurately. Plain text is perhaps the most widely accessible, but you oft en lose important formatting and layout. Following are points discuss- ing the most useful document types for web education. HTML/Web Documents HTML documents will naturally be accessible to all students. You don’t have to be a web developer or know HTML to create HTML documents! Just use the Save As or Save for the Web functions in your soft ware. PDF Documents Th e Adobe PDF format is a widely used and accessible format. As members of the UAF community, you have access to the full Adobe Acrobat program, which lets you create PDF fi les from applications, web pages, or by scanning existing print documents. PDF documents can be single-page, multi-page, or even an aggregate of various fi les already in PDF format. Th e important points are to try to keep the fi le sizes reasonable and make sure you provide students with a link to the free Acrobat Viewer in case they don’t yet have it. Office Documents Distributing Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel fi les can be a useful means of exchange as long as your students can view them! Students are not part of the UAF site license for Offi ce. Th ey must understand they will need to own the soft ware, use a lab, or install the appropriate viewer, using links you can provide. Standard Graphics Files If you use Photoshop, Corel Draw, or other graphics programs to create materials, be sure to provide the material in an accessible fi le format. By far, the most accessible will be GIF or JPEG images. If you are targeting other graphics soft ware users, TIFF or PNG are the standards. Try to avoid the less standard BMP, WMF, and PICT platform-specifi c

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 67 Blackboard

Web Materials That Work

types. Windows XP and Mac OS X have built-in viewers that can handle most fi le types, otherwise the free IrfanView8 for Windows or MGIV9 for Mac OS 9 can open almost any graphic fi le. More Resources Find more information, including a variety of links and resources, fi le size information, etc., check this Tip’s resource page on the Center for Distance Education web site: http:// distance.uaf.edu/archives/research/subresearch/teaching-tips.php

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 68 Blackboard

HTML in Blackboard

If you are using Internet Explorer there is no need to know HTML. IE allows you to format text with a WYSIWYG editor similar to the formatting you are able to do in Micro- soft Word.

By default, Blackboard formats your text as 12-point, left justifi ed Arial text. As shown in the image above, Blackboard also allows you to format text using standard HTML markup. If you are not using IE and want to format your text (bold, italic, etc.) you will need to add some simple HTML markup.

If you want to use Blackboard’s standard formatting, leave the “Smart Text” button checked. If you want to control the format of your text, type your code into the Black- board text entry box and select the “HTML” button.

Th e following pages provide some simple code that you can use to format your Blackboard text.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 69 Blackboard

If you would like this... Type this... Headings and Subheadings

Title

Heading

Subhead

Topic

Subheading

Subtopic

Topic

Sub-subtopic

Subtopic

Sub-subtopic Bold text Th is text is bold Th is text is Bold Italic text Th is text is italicized Th is text is italicized Line break If you would like to break text into two If you would like to break text into
lines without creating a new paragraph. two lines without creating a new paragraph. Non-breaking space Th ere are three non-breaking spaces here Th ere are three non-breaking spaces here. Citing a reference Gone with the Wind is a very long novel Gone with the Wind is a very long novel. Bulleted list • Item 1

Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
Item 4

Numbered lists 1. Item 1

Item 1
Item 2
Item 3
Item 4

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 70 Blackboard

If you would like this... Type this... Indenting a block of text Using blockquote tags will indent

Using blockquote tags will indent your text from both the left and your text from both the left and right margins. right margins. Ideally is should be Ideally is should be used for lengthy quota- used for lengthy quotations. tions.

Creating paragraphs with space before and after When using Smart Text, Blackboard rec-

When using Smart Text, Blackboard recognizes your carriage returns and adds a ognizes your carriage returns and adds a space space between paragraphs. between paragraphs.

HTML does not recognize carriage returns; you must add paragraph marks

HTML does not recognize carriage returns; you must add paragraph marks. Creating a link to another web page Th e Center for Distance Education off ers Th e Center for Distance Education off ers many online courses.

(Note: To create your link, place the URL between the quotation marks.) Making your link open in a new window - not in the Blackboard frame Th e Center for Distance Education off ers Th e Center for Distance Education off ers many online courses.

(Note: To create your link, place the URL between the quotation marks.) Making an email link Please email your assignments to youre- Please email your assignments to [email protected] when you have fi nished youre- them [email protected] when you have fi nished them

Inserting an image Chapter 3 examines budgeting and personal fi nancial statements (e.g. personal balance sheet) as necessary building blocks in assessing and measuring …

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 71 Blackboard

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 72 Blackboard

Presenting Sequential Materials in Blackboard

In our last Teaching Tip we mentioned that breaking lengthy material down into manageable pieces was a good thing for your students—and that there are multiple ways to present such sequential material in the Blackboard system employed at UAF. In this Teach- ing Tip we look at four methods for presenting this content, starting with the two most commonly used, and then moving on to two which have much more potential for making integrated, usable, and eff ective lessons. Multiple Individually Linked Documents

Th e most common model used in current Black- board courses is to upload a series of documents one at a time into the selected course area. Th is is illustrated below. While this method is perhaps the most straightforward, it is also the least usable for your students because it demands a lot of navigation from content to index and back, making your material appear disconnected. On a practical level, it takes more screen real-estate, though this can be mitigated by using folders. Multiple Linked Documents

A more compact method is to load the fi rst document, then modify that entry and continue adding further pages to it. However, this really only helps cosmetically—making the index of a folder of documents more compact and making it clear that a series of documents are linked together—but does little to improve the student experience. Linked Module

An under used feature of Blackboard is the ability to import an entire “module” of linked documents at one time. If you are handy with constructing web pages or other documents that have their own internal navigation, you can put the whole series into a folder, compress them into a ZIP fi le, and then load them in as a single Blackboard unit. Blackboard will give you the option to choose which document the students should start with. Th is

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 73 Blackboard

Presenting Sequential Materials

is a particularly useful feature if you are using similar materials in another context, and it greatly improves the student experience by making the material more cohesive. However, you will have to create some kind of navigation within your documents themselves, which can be time consuming. Blackboard Learning Unit

Blackboard has its own facility for creating a sequential series of instruction called a Learning Unit. By creating a learning unit and then adding a series of documents, links, and fi les, you can create a structured curriculum path without having to create the internal navigation yourself. In this model, you can control whether the student must access the material sequentially or if they can jump around using the Con- tents button available in the learning unit. You can read more about learning units in the Blackboard Instructors Manual.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 74 Blackboard

Creating Learning Units

Learning Units enable an instructor to set a structured path for progressing through the content within a course, so students can view materials sequentially.

1. Go to your course’s Control Panel 2. Enter a Content Area (Course Information, Course Materials, Assignments, etc.) 3. Click the Add Learning Unit button 4. Look at the drop-down arrow in the text box next to Learning Unit 5. Click the arrow and view the list of available naming options. If you scroll down to the bottom, you can also select “Other - Add Text Below” and choose your own name for the learning unit 6. Select the name of your choice 7. You can also choose a color for your link by clicking the Pick button 8. Enter your text (description, instructions, etc.) 9. Notice you again have the option for Smart Text, Plain Text, or HTML. Most people should choose the default Smart Text. 10. You then get four options for your learning unit: a. Do you want to make the Learning Unit visible? b. Do you want to enforce sequential viewing of the Learning Unit? c. Do you want the Learning Unit to open in a new window? d. Select date(s) of availability 11. Th e fi rst option, Do you want to make the Learning Unit visible? allows you to determine whether to make the unit available to your students. Select Yes, if the unit should be available to your students immediately aft er creating it. Select No if you will be starting work on the unit, but fi nishing it at a later date and/or time. 12. Th e second option, Do you want to enforce sequential viewing of the Learning Unit? gives you the option of making your students view the unit sequentially-one screen aft er another in the order you select-or allowing them to skip around in the unit. 13. Th e third option, Do you want the Learning Unit to open in a new window? allows you to select whether you want the unit to open inside the Blackboard frame, or inside a new window, with no Blackboard frame. In my opinion, using a new window makes Learning Units look more professional, so you may want to choose this option. On the other hand, the window is not resizable and defaults to a weird, rectangular shape. 14. Th e last option on this screen is date(s) of availability. If you want to create your unit now, but make it available to your students six weeks from now, then you can set the “Display Aft er” date for six weeks from today. In addition, you can set the “Display Until”

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 75 Blackboard

Creating Learning Units

to restrict the visibility date range so the Learning Unit will no longer be available to your students aft er a specifi c date and time. 15. Click the Submit button, and you will be presented with a “Receipt” screen listing the name of your Learning Unit and your text comments. 16. Click the OK button, and you will return to your Content Area (Course Information, Course Materials, Assignments, etc.) screen. Notice your new Learning Unit is now added to the list. Th e Learning Unit has been created, but at this point, it is empty. Populating Your Learning Unit Th ese instructions assume you previously created your Learning Unit

1. Locate your Learning Unit in your Content Area (Course Information, Course Materi- als, Assignments, etc.) documents list. Note the location depends on where you created your Learning Unit and how you modifi ed your course area. It is possible that your specifi c Content Area is called something completely diff erent. 2. Click the name of your Learning Unit. (Th is should be a link. Th e Modify button here is used to modify the name, color, text comments, and other options available when you created your unit.) 3. You should now have two option buttons listed near the top of the window: Add Item, and Add File. 4. Click the Add Item button. 5. Again, we have the options of selecting a name, color, adding text, attaching fi les, adding offl ine content, and tracking the number of views. (Ignore metadata.) 6. Make your selections, and click the Submit button. 7. If you selected “Display media fi le within the page,” then you will next see a screen asking how you want your fi le displayed. Note that the media fi le format supports the following fi le types only: GIF, JPEG, MPEG, Quicktime, AVI, WAY, AIFF, and Shockwave. If you try to have other fi le types displayed, such as Word, then the fi le will automatically default to a link. 8. Other options include adding your fi les as a link, or unpacking the fi le. If you have the fi le displayed as a link, then your students will need to click the link to view the fi le. If you are uploading zipped fi les, then you will want to use the “Unpackage this fi le” option, which will unzip the fi le before displaying it. 9. Also, you can use the “Unpackage this fi le” option for adding groups of web pages or other HTML documents that you created. Use WinZip or another fi le compression utility to combine groups of fi les into one zip fi le. However, be sure to use links on your docu-

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 76 Blackboard

ments to students can move from one page to the next. If you do not include navigational links or buttons, then your students will not be able to move beyond your entry page. If you are not sure how to do this, then you may wish to stick with the other two options. 10. You then have the option of selecting whether you want the image fi le displayed on the left , centered, or displayed on the right. You can also choose whether you want it displayed above or below the text and whether to include a border. Also, be sure to include a brief description of the fi le in the “Alternate text” area in case the student has media fi les turned off in his/her browser. (Some students may do this if they have slow Internet connections.) 11. In addition, you can choose to make the image a clickable link by adding a web site address, then choose to have a new window opened when the student clicks the link, or have the web page open in the current window. 12. Aft er you’ve made your selections, click the Submit button. 13. You will then be presented with a “Receipt” screen showing your new page. Review your page, then click the OK button. 14. On the next screen, you will see three option buttons to the right of your new page: Modify, Remove, and Tracking. If you need to make changes to your page, click the Modify button. If you want to remove it completely, click the Remove button. If you want to see who has viewed your page, then click the Tracking button. (If you just created the page, then there won’t be any data to track.) 15. Click the Add File button if you wish to add a fi le in a “slide show” format. Th is will add only the fi le, with no text. Students can click through each slide. You can also add other fi les, such as Word documents. Simply type in name-this is the description that will appear in the “Contents” section of your Learning Unit-then browse to the fi le location, and type in a brief name for the link. Click the Submit button, and that’s it. Th e fi le is added. 16. Aft er you’ve added all your fi les, documents, information, images, whatever, you can change the order using by using clicking the down arrows that appear in the number text boxes next to each item’s name. Th is determines the order in which students will view each page. 17. When you’re all done adding your content and want to view the results, simply back out of the Control Panel, navigate to the Content Area that contains your new Learning Unit, and click the link. (Remember, it may not display if you’ve set display date restrictions.) Your Learning Unit will open up. At the top of the Learning Unit window, you will see the name of the Content Area that contains the Learning Unit, the name of the Learn- ing Unit, the page number of the total number (e.g., page 1 of 6), a Contents button that will display the list of contents for the unit, and navigational buttons for moving back and forth through the unit pages.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 77 Blackboard

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 78 Blackboard

Adding Assignments

Another way to create an assessment is by creating an assignment. Instructors pose a problem (and attach additional fi les if necessary) and then gives the student the opportunity to complete the assignment in a separate fi le and send it back to the instructor. Th ere is space available for comments for both instructor and student. An entry in the gradebook is automatically created.

Adding an Assignment is another way to receive fi les from a student that does NOT use the digital dropbox.

1. Within your Course Content area, select “Assignment” from the Select drop-down menu (right side of window). a. Name the assignment b. Enter the points possible for the item c. Enter any instructions for completing the assignment. d. Select available options e. Attach additional fi les, if necessary. You might be able to give enough information in the instructions area without having to attach additional fi les.

2. When your students go to submit their assignment, they can make comments about the assignment and then attach their fi le(s) to complete the assignment. Students are also given the option to save the assignment or submit the assignment. Th e submit button must be selected in order to send the assignment to the instructor. Once as assignment is submitted it can not be resubmitted unless the instructor clears the attempt. 3. Since Add Assignment is tied into the instructor’s grade book, the instructor can see when a student submits the assignment, download the fi les, grade it and send it back with additional feedback to the student. An exclamation point (!) will appear in the student’s column in the grade book. Th ere is also a place to add comments that will only be seen by the instructor or TA. 4. When the assignment has been graded, the student can go back into the Assignment area, review the assigned grade and see the Instructor’s feedback.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 79 Blackboard

Digital Dropbox or Assignment Manager?

This is Jerry Voltura with a comparison of the Blackboard Assignment Man- ager and the Digital Drop Box. Which one should you use? Did you know you have a choice? You have 2 options when using Blackboard to help organize your assignments: the Assignment Manager and the Digital Drop Box.

When deciding which tool to use, think about your needs and your students’ needs. Consider using the Digital Drop Box when ﬁ le exchange is required between you and a student, a select group of students (via “Group File Exchange Function” in a study group), or when a project/assignment will not be graded. Using the Assignment Manager may be more eﬀ ective when a grade will be assigned and the graded product requires the submission of one document, such as a research paper or essay.

Here is a quick look at the advantages and disadvantages of each tool. Assignment Manager

Advantages

• Allows multiple fi les for the same project/assignment all in one entry/submission • Allows faculty to retrieve and grade an assignment right from the Grade book • Enables enhanced item management options, including bulk downloading and cleanup of fi les • A column for each assignment is automatically created in the Grade book when you create an assignment using the Assignments Manager • Aft er students submit their assignments, the faculty member sees an exclamation point (!) in the Grade book signaling the assignment needs to be graded • Students can view graded assignments from the “Tools >> View Grades” link from the course menu • Availability dates allows instructor to set deadlines for assignments; once deadline passes, students lose the opportunity to submit the assignment • Provides time and date stamp for all submissions

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Disadvantages

• Submissions using the Assignment Manager cannot be shared with other students • Can only submit assignment one time; no multiple submissions • Additional time needed to set-up assignments using Assignment Manager Digital Drop Box

Advantages

Provides a private and/or shared area where students and instructors can store and exchange fi les

• Students are able to send fi les to the instructor where the instructor can retrieve and review those fi les and then return them to the students • Faculty can send fi les to a single student, selected students, and all students enrolled in a course • Provides time and date stamp for all submissions • No set-up time needed for assignments • Can have multiple submissions of one assignment

Disadvantages

• Assignments are not automatically entered into the Grade book; faculty need to add Digital Drop Box assignment items manually (if they are to be part of the Grade book) • Limited organization capabilities • Multiple fi les appear as multiple entries (i.e. multiple fi les from one student cannot be sent together; students can only send one fi le at a time) • Cannot control availability dates for assignments

Copied from: http://technology/uaa.alaska.edu/blackboard/

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 81 Blackboard

Weighting Grades in Blackboard 6

Introduction Blackboard’s Grade book contains a grade weighting feature that allows an instructor to determine how the soft ware calculates the fi nal grade for a student. Th ere are two options: Weight by Item and Weight by Category.

Th is overview is designed for course Instructors, TAs, and Graders whose courses use the Grade book in the Blackboard Learning System (Release 6).

Getting Started From the Instructor’s Control Panel, click on Grade book. Across the top of the spreadsheet view are several icons and options, click Weight Grades. Th e Weight Grades screen allows you to decide to Weight by Item or Weight by Category.

Note: Th e categories listed here include default categories created by Blackboard. You do not need to use any or all of these categories in your course. To create new categories, go back to the Grade book and click Grade book Settings and then click Manage Grade book Categories.

Weight by Item Weighting by Item allows the instructor to determine the value of a grade at a very granular level, based on each item in the Grade book. For example, in your course, Test One may be worth 15% of a student’s fi nal grade, Test Two is worth 10%, Lab One is worth 5%, Lab Two is worth 5%, the Final Exam is worth 50%, etc.

You may wish to choose Weight by Item if your assessments don’t easily fall into categories or if you want to emphasize a particular item for grading.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 82 Blackboard

Weighting Grades in Blackboard 6

Weight by Category Weighting by Category allows the instructor to group multiple assessments into one category, and assign a value to the entire category. For example, an instructor may decide that all Tests together are worth 15% of a student’s fi nal grade, all Labs together are worth 20%, the Final Paper is worth 30%, etc.

Th e Weight by Category feature uses the following formula:

Sum (( category weight / number of items the category ) * (item score / points possible ))

In other words, the weighted total for each item is calculated by taking the weight of the category and dividing that by the number of items in that category.

Note: Because of the way the Weight by Category formula works, your students’ fi nal grades may appear to be incorrect if they have not yet completed all of the assessments that you have assigned to a particular category. To work around this problem, but still use the powerful Weight by Category feature, we suggest either of the following methods:

• Wait to assign a category to an assessment until you make it available to your students. If you Weight by Category, any uncategorized assessment will not count in the Grade book calculation. • Categorize all of your assessments, but instruct Blackboard not to include the assessment in the Grade book calculations. You can do this by clicking on the name of the Grade book Item, selecting Modify, and selecting No next to “Include Item in Grade book Score Calculations?”

In both of these cases, when the assessment is ready for students to complete (and, therefore, to include in their grading scheme), you will need to remember to undo this change!

To Learn More… Blackboard Learning Services off ers comprehensive classroom training programs and educational materials for the Blackboard Learning System™ products. For more information about how Blackboard Learning Services can serve your institution’s training needs through on-site events, remote seminars, or via our Certifi ed Education Center partners, please contact your Account Manager at Blackboard or visit the online Training Center at: http://behind.blackboard.com.

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Modifying Items for Grade Weighting Introduction

Blackboard Learning System (Release 6) allows instructors to group multiple assessments into one category, and assign a value to the entire category. For example, an instructor may decide that all Tests together are worth 15% of a student’s fi nal grade, all Labs together are worth 20%, and so on. To calculate the student’s fi nal grade, Blackboard divides the weight assigned to that category by the number of items in that category. In order to ensure that a student’s fi nal grade is being calculated properly throughout the term, you may need to temporarily exempt some items from the grade book calculations.

Th is Job Aid is designed as a quick reference document for course Instructors, TAs, and Graders who use the Grade book in the Blackboard Learning System (Release 6). Procedure

To exempt new or existing items from Blackboard’s calculations, use the following steps:

1. To modify an existing item in the Grade book, click Manage Items.

• Th e Manage Items screen appears. Note: You can also exempt an item from being included in calculations during the item creation process. To create a new item, click Add Item.

Th e Add/Modify Item Grade book Item screen appears. Proceed to Step 3 on the following page.

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2. To choose the item to change, click Modify. Th e Add/Modify Grade book Item screen appears.

3. Under Options, Include item in grade book score calculations: click No. 4. Click Submit. Grade book Items successfully updated screen appears.

4. Click Ok.

To Learn More...

Blackboard Learning Services off ers comprehensive classroom training programs and educational materials for the Blackboard Learning SystemTM products. For more information about how Blackboard Learning Services can serve your institution’s training needs through on-site events, remote seminars, or via our Certifi ed Education Center partners, please contact your Account Manager at Blackboard or visit the online Training Center at http://behind.blackboard.com.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 85 Blackboard

Creating Assessments in Blackboard

Th ere are two types of assessments from which to choose on Blackboard:

Survey: Th e survey option creates assessments that record answers anonymously. Use this when you want to perform opinion polls or course evaluations. Survey results are non- graded and anonymous.

Quiz/Test: In the quiz/test option, you can assign point values to each question. Student answers can be submitted for grading, and the results are recorded under each student entry in the grade book.

1. Log into Blackboard. 2. Go to your course area. 3. Go to your Control Panel. 4. Click Assessment Manger under Assessments. 5. You will see two buttons: Add Quiz/Exam, and Add Survey. 6. Click the Add Quiz/Exam button. You will be presented with the Create New Assess- ment screen. 7. Enter a name and description for your assessment. 8. Click the Submit button. 9. On the next screen, you can enter instructions for your quiz. 10. Click the Submit button. 11. Th e next screen asks you about the type of question you wish to ask your student. Click the down arrow in the text box to see what question types are available. 12. Choose your question type. 13. Click the Submit button. 14. Th e type of screen you get next will depend on your question type. 15. Enter the information for your question. 16. In the response boxes, you can enter information that will be displayed aft er the student submits his/her test, such as on which page to fi nd the correct answer. 17. At the bottom of the screen are several button options: Cancel, Add New Question, and Preview. Use Add New Question to add another question to your assessment. Use Preview to see what the assessment looks like. When you are fi nished adding your questions, use the Preview button to look at the quiz and assign point values to each question before submitting it to the system. 18. Notice at the bottom of the Preview button you have two option buttons: Save, and

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 86 Blackboard

Save and Make Available. 19. Th e Save button will save the quiz, but not make it available. 20. Th e Save and Make Available button will present you with additional options: making the quiz available, dates of availability, whether you want to make an announcement (so it will show up in the Announcements list when students log on), where to place the link, and various other options. 21. Make your selections. 22. Click the Submit button.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 87 Blackboard

Creating Assessment Questions for Uploading

Instructors may import fi les containing questions into an Assessment or question pool. Th e questions in the uploaded fi le must match the fi le structure explained below. Th e fi le may include Essay, Ordering, Matching, Fill in the Blank, Multiple Choice, Multiple Answer, and True/False questions.

Th e following information is important to note when importing Assessment questions: Note: • Once uploaded, questions can be manipulated like other questions created within the Assessment. Files with questions may • If there is an error in a question within a fi le, only be imported into Pools and the question with an error will fail to upload. Ques- Surveys. When uploaded to tions without errors will upload successfully. • Th e system does not check for duplicate ques- a Survey, the correct/incor- tions. It is up to the Instructor to manage this aspect rect answer assignment is of the Assessment questions. ignored, but the ﬁ le must • You need to have your formatted questions ready to go before importing them. follow the same format as All fi les must be saved as .txt (text) or .rtf (rich-text) described for Tests and Pools. fi le. Do not save as a MS-Word (.doc) or WordPer- fect (.wpd) document. You may fi nd that using excel to create your fi le works well too. Test Manager

Create a new assessment or survey. Give it a title and enter the description and instructions in the appropriate boxes. From the Add dropdown box, select upload questions and then select GO.

Browse to the fi le containing questions to import. All of the correctly formatted questions in this fi le will be added to the Assessment.

Select a point value for each question. When questions are imported they automatically default to the point value set in Creation Settings. If a default value has not been chosen in Creation Settings questions will automatically have a point value of ‘0’ and Instructors must then enter a point value for each question.

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Creating Assessment Questions for Uploading File Structure for Uploading Questions

Questions in the fi le must conform to a specifi c structure to be uploaded to an Assessment successfully. Each fi eld in the fi le is separated by a tab. Each row is a separate question. Multiple Choice Questions are Structured as Follows:

‘MC’ TAB question text (TAB answer text TAB ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’)

• Text within () may be repeated for each of the answers that are part of the Multiple Choice question. Th e maximum number of answers is 20.

Multiple Answer Questions are Structured as Follows:

‘MA’ TAB question text (TAB answer text TAB ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’)

• Text within () may be repeated for each of the answers that are part of the Multiple Answer question. Th e maximum number of answers is 20.

True/False Questions are Structured as Follows:

‘TF’ TAB question text TAB ‘true’ or ‘false’

Essay Questions are Structured as Follows:

‘ESS’ TAB question text TAB [example]

Text within [] is optional. Th e Instructor may choose to add a sample essay question or leave this blank.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 89 Blackboard

Creating Assessment Questions for Uploading

Ordering Questions are Structured as Follows:

‘ORD’ TAB question text (TAB answer text)

• Text within () may be repeated for each of the answers that are part of the Ordering question. Th e maximum number of answers is 20. • Th e order entered in the fi le is the correct order. Th e system will randomly order the answers.

Matching Questions are Structured as Follows:

‘MAT’ TAB question text (TAB answer text TAB matching text)

• Text within () may be repeated for each of the answers that are part of the Matching question. Th e maximum number of answers is 20. • Th e system will randomly order the answers and their question. • When uploading a matching question, there must be a one-to-one relationship between questions and answers. If not, correct answers may be marked incorrect if more than one answer has the same value.

Fill in the Blank Questions are Structured as Follows:

‘FIB’ TAB question text (TAB answer text)

Text within () may be repeated for each of the answers that are part of the Fill in the Blank question. Th e maximum number of answers is 20.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 90 Blackboard

Creating An Assessment From a Pool

A test is a series of questions an instructor presents to students. Th e purpose of the test can be to evaluate concepts, provide drill, or practice exercises. Student answers can be submitted for grading, and the results are recorded under each student entry in the grade book.

Step 1: Click on the Test Manager link in Assessment area of Control Panel.

Step 2: Click the Add Test icon.

Step 3: Type the Name of the Test and a description. When fi nished click submit

Step 4: Type in the instructions. When fi nished click submit

Step 5: Choose either random block (Step 6A) or From a question pool or Assessment (Step 6B) and click go

Step 6A: Random Block Step A: Choose Test/Pool

Step B: Choose type of questions

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Creating An Assessment From a Pool

Step C: Enter number of questions to use

Step D: Enter the point per question

Step E: Click Import

Step 6B: From a Question Pool or Assessment

Step A: Choose Test/Pool

Step B: Choose type of questions

Step C: Click Search

Step D: **Check the questions you want to use

Step E: Click Submit

Step F: Repeat steps 1 -6 for each pool/test and/or page.

Note: Instructors may select 20 questions at a time from a pool or another assessment to add to a test. If more the 20 questions are found during the search (multiple pages), instructors may only select and submit questions from one page at a time.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 92 Online Course Quality

Online Course Quality Quality Matters

In 2003, a consortium of Maryland colleges and universities (MarylandOnline) received a FIPSE grant to study the features that indicate quality in an online course. Th ey initi- ated a peer-evaluation process, and ultimately developed a set of criteria based in research literature. Th ey adopted the name “Quality Matters” for their project and the resulting documentation.

Th e three-year grant ended in Fall 2006. Th e Quality Matters program continued and expanded beyond the scope of the original grant. Quality Matters now off ers institutional subscriptions as well as a variety of fee-based services. Th e institutional subscription allows partnering universities and colleges to become part of their network, attend training opportunities, and participate in the peer review of courses.

Th e original materials authored under grant funding are in public domain. Th ey may be accessed from the Quality Matters web site: http://www.qualitymatters.org/FIPSE.htm

With their permission, we’ve included a copy of the Research Matrix here in your binder. Th is document provides an excellent research base for many of the course design elements we recommend in our checklist. Course Design Rubric

Our own, internal rubric was developed as a team eff ort among local instructional designers and consultants. It is available on the CDE web site:

http://distance.uaf.edu/archives/research/subresearch/course-quality.php Course Development Checklist

More recently, we developed a checklist of course design elements. We use this checklist as a communication tool between instructional designers and course developers. In the creation of this tool, we reviewed similar documents from other post-secondary institutions. We borrowed ideas from many places, but most heavily from St. Petersburg College in Florida: http://www.spjc.edu/

A copy of the CDE Course Development Checklist is included in the following pages.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 93 Online Course Quality

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 94 Online Course Quality Center for Distance Education

COURSE DEVELOPMENT or REVISION Course Information

Developer Name:

Contract Fee to be Paid for Development/Revision:

Course Title:

Course Number:

Credit Hours:

Number of Graded Elements in the Course:

Design Meeting Date: Initials of Initials of COURSE DESIGN Instructor Designer I. Welcome Instructor welcomes students to the course. __in announcement __in welcome letter __other location: ______

Instructor provides clear directions for getting started. __in announcement __in welcome letter __other location: ______

II. Syllabus Syllabus includes required elements specified by UAF policy: __course title, number, credits, prerequisites __instructor name, office hours, telephone, e-mail __complete list of course materials __course description __course goals and student learning outcomes __description of instructional methods __course schedule and/or pacing expectations __course policies, including participation, late work, plagiarism, academic integrity __grading policies __information on support services __information on disability services

Syllabus includes a list of technical requirements (e.g., connection speed, hardware, software) and a list of expected technical competencies (e.g., e-mail or word processing). Instructor provides brief biographical information and photo. (recommended)

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 95 Online Course Quality

III. Course Content Each lesson or module provides: __learning objectives __introduction to the material __clear directions __learning activities __instructor insights (e.g., lecture notes) __clearly defined assignments

Lecture Notes are sequenced and “chunked” to improve usability. All links are currently functioning. Date evaluated:

Material has been checked for spelling and grammar. Date evaluated:

Learning activities are varied and target multiple learning styles. Please list examples:

Textbooks and required materials are listed. Where are they listed? Have the adopted titles been provided to the Bookstore?

Course abides by copyright and fair use laws. Have reprint requests been submitted to the Bookstore?

Additional resources are provided for students who want more information. (recommended)

IV. Interaction and Collaboration Expected student participation levels are clearly defined. What are they and where are they listed?

Instructor response time is clearly defined for the students. What is it and where is it listed?

Through what channel will assignment feedback be given?

Identify the Communication/Collaboration/Interaction tools used in this course: Discussion Elluminate Chat Email Student Presentations Blog Peer Evaluations Wiki Role Playing Other (Please specify) Group projects/activities are assigned to students. (recommended) Students are introduced to the professional community of practice. (recommended)

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V. Assessment Assignments encourage students to work at higher level of Bloom’s Taxonomy or target multiple Facets of Understanding. Please cite examples:

Assignments include a variety of performance types. Please provide examples:

Assignments are clearly communicated with expectations, including deliverables, due dates, and instructions for submitting. Where are they listed?

Rubrics or examples are provided to clarify expectations and to explain grading criteria.

Students are encouraged to reflect on their learning. Please explain:

A mechanism is in place for instructor to provide specific, detailed feedback to students on each lesson. Please explain:

Students are encouraged to utilize self-assessment materials. (recommended) Please explain:

VI. Learner Support Appropriate instructor contact information is provided. (Providing an e-mail address is strongly suggested.)

Access to OIT Helpdesk and/or CDE Student Services is clearly defined.

Access to UAF resources is clearly defined (e.g., library, tutoring services, labs).

Required tools such as plug-ins and players are clearly defined and links are provided for acquiring those tools. Please list required tools and location of information:

For online courses, a gradebook is available for students to check their progress. A mechanism is in place for instructor to contact students who are falling behind. Please explain:

Role of CDE Student Services is clearly defined. Please list (e.g., mail welcome letter, proctor exams):

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 97 Online Course Quality

VII. Additional Comments

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 98 Research Literature and Standards Sets Support for Quality Matters Review Standards as of 12/5/05

NOTE: This research matrix attaches to the FY 05/06 Quality Matters™ Rubric.

Introduction

The purpose of this document is to provide supporting references from the distance education literature and among commonly accepted standards for the review standards used in the Quality Matters (QM) rubric and course review process. Most of the references in this compilation are based on empirical studies; however, a number of conceptual studies by recognized distance educators are included. (See Appendix 1 for a complete list of references.) In many cases the research support is relatively indirect. While the QM rubric focuses primarily on the quality of course design, much of the current research focuses on course delivery rather than course design.

The QM project views support from the research literature as highly important for informing the continuous improvement process and for justifying changes made to effect improvements. It is hoped that compiling the available research literature as it relates to the QM rubric will have the following beneficial effects:

• Identify ‘gaps’ where research support is lacking or insufficient for general or specific review standards; • Suggest promising areas of research where additional empirical or conceptual support would improve the QM rubric and process specifically and advance the field in general; • Uncover new areas or promising directions based on current research trends.

On the last point, the narrative of this document also indicates certain directions in which it would be useful for the QM rubric to evolve. We view this document as the next step of a work in progress and hope that it will serve as a departure point for other interested researchers and practitioners to share with us additional literature which might have been missed.

Appendix 2 lists the standards sets which have been mapped to specific review standards in the QM rubric. Some of them are a set of general principles and thus are very broad, while others are a listing of more specific practices and protocols. Appendix 2 also lists the abbreviations used to reference these to the QM specific review standards.

It is important to note that the QM course review process is at heart faculty-driven. The rubric and process are founded on the belief that peer course reviews should keep faculty at the center of the process. The QM process is an interactive approach of current teaching-learning practices, best practices standards, and research/conceptual literature guiding the review of a specific online course by peer/faculty.

It is our sincere hope that those using the QM rubric will resist the temptation to use it as a simple behavioral checklist and instead use it as a launching pad to constructivist peer discussion leading to course improvement for the specific course under review. This mirrors what much of the distance education literature suggests as the direction offered by the interactivity available with today’s communication technologies (Saba, 2005).

John Sener, QM Project Evaluator, Sener Learning Services Kay Shattuck, D.Ed., Director of Distance Learning, Carroll Community College

I. COURSE OVERVIEW AND INTRODUCTION

General Review Standard: The overall design of the course, navigational information, as well as course, instructor and student information are made transparent to the student at the beginning of the course.

Literature Support for the General Review Standard:

¾ Gunawardena & Zittle (1997) identified social presence [“The degree to which a person is perceived as a ‘real person’ in mediated communication” (p.9)] and reported correlation between perceptions of interaction and quality/quantity of learning. ¾ Anderson, Garrison, & Archer (2001) noted that social presence (the ability of learners to project themselves socially and affectively into a community) was shown to strongly predict learner satisfaction in online education and challenges the widely held assumption that face-to-face, non-verbal behaviors are necessary for establishing student and teacher rapport ¾ Roblyer & Ekhaml (2000); Roblyer & Wiencke (2003) included student self-introductions and evidence of instructor engagement at a basic level for building social rapport within distance learning designs. ¾ Williams (2000) identified thirteen roles and thirty general competencies necessary for quality distance education in higher education. Instructional competencies were found central to all roles including student support roles. Interpersonal and communication skills dominated the top of the general competencies. ¾ A literature review by Janicki and Liegle (2001) showed that course navigation was one of ten effective web-based design concepts that appeared repeatedly in the research literature. ¾ Swan (2001) cited clear and consistent course structure as one of three factors which “contribute significantly to the success of asynchronous online courses.” ¾ Muirhead (2001) outlined the importance of a well-written syllabus. ¾ Youngblood, Trede, & DeCorpo (2001) identified a number of essential tasks for an effective teacher including welcoming students and clarifying expectations for contributing online ¾ Conrad (2002) found that learners judge instructors based on how clearly and completely online course materials present the details of the course. A well-organized course with a clear overview and introduction including a clear statement of expectations, explanation of the course outline, clear timelines, and well-written course notes helped learners feel that they were getting off to a good start in their course. ¾ Sims, Dobbs, & Hand (2002) pointed out the importance of students’ prior experience therefore in online learning “learners must have the requisite skills to work effectively within this paradigm” and that “designers must spend more effort ensuring that learners are integrated into a narrative sequence of the learning process [that is necessary to achieve] engagement with the content through the interface” (p. 141). Additionally, they pointed out the connection between the “interface design” and “the different ways in which teachers and learners will communicate with each other and the course resources” (pp. 142-143). And although many students have excellent computer skills, it is their adaptation to the demands of online learning – independence, collaboration, peer work – that will have significant impact (p. 145). ¾ Hannafin et al (2003) suggested cognitive factors affecting success in distance learning: prior knowledge; metacognition; system knowledge and prior experiences; self-efficacy; learning styles; and motivation. Factors influencing learning include learning context, opportunities for active learning, resources, tools, and scaffolds. ¾ Shirathuddin, Hassan, & Landoni’s (2003) critically reviewed four well-known guidelines for design usability in their pursuit for promoting content delivery in higher education courses. They identified seven factors of usability that should be considered: screen layout or appearance (information should be easy to find and effective); consistency (for example, navigation and page structure); accessibility ("Having good design and useful content are inadequate without considering the accessibility factors" (p. 122)); good navigation; media use to enhance information presentation; interactivity (for example feedback and searching for information); and useful and relevant content with depth and breadth.

Specific Review Standard (Pt. Value) Research Lit. Support Standards Sets Support I.1 Navigational instructions make the Janicki and Liegle (2001); Swan (2001); SREB CEOC CC organization of the course easy to Shirathuddin, Hassan, & Landoni (2003) understand. (3)

I.2 There is a statement introducing the Williams (2000); Muirhead (2001); ACE LD 1 student to the course and to how student Conrad (2002); Youngblood, Trede, & SREB CEOC CC learning is structured. (3) DeCorpo (2001); Sims, Dobbs, & Hand (2002) I.3 Netiquette expectations with regard to Sims, Dobbs, & Hand (2002); Johnson discussions and email communication (2004) are clarified. (2)

I.4 The self-introduction by the instructor is Roblyer & Ekhaml (2000); Roblyer & appropriate. (1) Wiencke (2003)

I.5 Students are requested to introduce Gunawardena & Zittle (1997); themselves to the class. (1) Anderson, Garrison, & Archer (2001); Roblyer & Ekhaml (2000); Sims, Dobbs, & Hand (2002); Roblyer & Wiencke (2003) I.6 Minimum technology requirements, Sims, Dobbs, & Hand (2002); Hannafin minimum student skills, and, if et al. (2003) applicable, prerequisite knowledge in the discipline, are clearly stated. (1)

II. LEARNING OBJECTIVES (COMPETENCIES)

General Review Standard: Learning objectives are clearly defined and explained. They assist the student to focus learning activities.

Literature Support for the General Review Standard:

The value of learning objectives in describing measurable outcomes has long-standing support in the literature (e.g., Bloom, 1956; Mager, 1962, 1975). As the QM Rubric annotations note, “measurable learning objectives help teachers precisely describe what students are to gain from instruction” and “accurately assess student accomplishment.” Because they are an outgrowth of behaviorist learning theory, learning objectives have been criticized as being excessively focused on behavioral outcomes and inadequate for specifying affective or cognitive outcomes. For this reason, the QM Rubric annotations also direct reviewers to “check for clear indications that the learning objective is meaningfully assessed” for cognitive or affective outcomes.

¾ The importance of developing critical thinking skills has wide acceptance in the field. It is deemed particularly important in adult education to the point of being considered a template for practice (Brookfield, 1997) but is also commonly stated as an institutional policy goal for many undergraduate and graduate programs. Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2001) suggest that appropriate teaching and social presence in a computer-conference environment can create and support “cognitive presence” (i.e., critical, practical inquiry). Bruning (2005) describes one of many possible techniques for incorporating critical thinking skills into an online course. ¾ Gunawardena, Lowe, & Anderson (1998) identified phases of knowledge construction: including, cognitive activity, arguments, resources that explore arguments, supporting literature, data and dissenting ideas, and evidence of changes in understanding.

© 2006 MarylandOnline, Inc. www.QualityMatters.org 9/9/06 4 ¾ Phipps & Merisotis (2000) include analysis, synthesis, and evaluation activities as key activities that should be part of course requirements. ¾ Murphy, Mahoney, & Harvell (2000) found that students without clear direction can be easily confused about their obligations. Group goals especially require clear and achievable objectives. ¾ Spallek, Berthold, Shanley, & Attstrom (2000) surveyed dental professionals on quality assurance criteria for online courses. The importance of courses being scientifically based, regularly updated, easy to navigate, have defined educational objectives, stimulate learning, be created by appropriately qualified academics, and be at an appropriate level for the intended participants were deemed important. ¾ Shea et al. (2002) also found that students in online courses who reported that communicating clear expectations on how to succeed in the course correlated highly with levels of satisfaction and perceived learning. ¾ Sims, Dobbs, & Hand (2002) pointed out that “unit or course content should be considered in terms of the interaction with major design issues” (p. 138). ¾ Pawan, Paulus, Yalcin, & Chang (2003) pointed out that "it is important to first provide clear participant requirements in terms of length, content expectations, and timeliness" (cited in Garrison & Cleveland, 2005, p. 145). ¾ Lux & Davidson (2003) identified within the scientific literature best practices strategies for a "successful CBI [computer-based instruction] modules should contain, i.e., modules that are received favorably by students and which result in a demonstrated higher level of learning" (p. 125). They summarized the guiding principles for module design to include: Goal for users (teach a skill set); presentation (simple, clear straightforward); architecture (default path for novices, high degree of learner control for advanced users); navigation (direct access to all content); interface (intuitive with high level of interactivity); and design method (iterative, solicit feedback from both professionals and end-users) (p.127). ¾ Trigano & Pacurar-Giacomini (2004), building on the literature in human machine-interface, web ergonomic, pedagogical structure, and pedagogical environment, noted that “because of the non-linearity of the information representation in a digital support…(sequence)…the information in hypermedia should be based on information-units (emphasis in original) corresponding to computation-units…[so that the reader/learner will be able to identify] which is necessary and sufficient in order to understand a concept” (pp. 22-23). ¾ Stewart, Hong, & Strudler (2004) in preparing for quality evaluation of online courses highlighted Driscoll’s 1998 and Khan’s 1997 work on web-based instruction – “attention to education details (e.g., clear guidance and direction for each lesson, clear objectives, adequate practice, and meaningful feedback)” (p. 133) was among those considered important. ¾ Koszalka & Ganesan (2004) considered information, instruction, and learning design elements as identified in the web-based online learning literature and applied those to a course which was “initially a failure” (p. 243). Issues addressed were confusion of the learner when “haphazard integration” of CMS features “did not match course objectives”(Oliver, 1999; Kearsley, 1997; Collis, 1999; Grabowski & Small, 1997 were cited); “practice components were often weak or missing (Gilbert & Moore, 1998; Kidney & Puckett, 2003 were cited) (pp. 244-245) ; activities and resources did not closely match instructional purposes (Kidney & Puckett, 2003; Koszalka & Bianco, 2001; Simonson et al., 2003 cited); and “learners did not see a connection between the activities they were completing” and the overall objective (p. 251).

Literature Support for Specific Review Standards:

Specific Review Standard (Point Value) Research Lit. Support Standards Sets Support II.1 The learning objectives of the Bloom (1956); Mager (1962, 1975); ACE LO 2 course describe outcomes that are Spallek, Berthold, Shanley, & Attstrom SREB CEOC CC measurable. (3) (2000)

II.2 The learning objectives address Gunawardena, Lowe, & Anderson (1998); ACE LD 6 content mastery, critical thinking Garrison, Anderson, and Archer (2001); ADEC Principle 1 skills, and core learning skills. (3) Bruning (2005) NEA/IHEP CDB 3

© 2006 MarylandOnline, Inc. www.QualityMatters.org 9/9/06 5 II.3 The learning objectives of the Murphy, Mahoney, & Harvell (2000); Lux NEA/IHEP CSB 2 course are clearly stated and & Davidson (2003); Steward, Hong, & SREB CEOC CC understandable to the learner. (2) Strudler (2004); Koszalka & Ganesan (2004) II.4 Instructions to students on how to Murphy, Mahoney, & Harvell (2000); Shea meet the learning objectives are at al. (2002); Pawan et al (2003); Steward, adequate and easy to understand. Hong, & Strudler (2004); Koszalka & (2) Ganesan (2004) II.5 The learning objectives of the Sims, Dobbs, & Hand (2002); Trigano & course are articulated and specified Pacurar-Giacomini (2004); Stewart, Hong, on the module/unit level (2) & Strudler (2004); Koszalka & Ganesan (2004)

III. ASSESSMENT AND MEASUREMENT

General Review Standard: Assessment strategies use established ways to measure effective learning, assess student progress by reference to stated learning objectives, and are designed as essential to the learning process.

Literature Support for the General Review Standard:

¾ Eanes (2001) provided a “task-oriented question construction wheel based on Bloom’s taxonomy” that provides support for well constructed online assessment. ¾ McLoughlin (2001) suggested that evaluation tasks be associated with both learning outcomes and teaching approaches in order for the numerous characteristics of pedagogy to be supported in a cross- cultural setting. ¾ Wisher, Curnow, & Seidel (2001) looked at knowledge retention in two distance learning course sections for the military and found it comparable with other classroom training. They conclude that distance education offers the potential of improving knowledge retention if frequent testing and spaced practice are incorporated. ¾ Youngblood, Trede, & DeCorpo (2001) identified a number of essential tasks for an effective teacher: make student welcome, clarify expectations for contributing online, clarify grading for the online participation, monitor participation in online discussion, keep discussion on track, contact students offline, bring closure to discussion, use questions to stimulate discussion, move discussion forward, stimulate reflection on students’ comments, encourage students to build on others’ contributions, and divide students into groups for specific tasks. Findings revealed that students felt clarification of grading and of expectations were most important. ¾ Tuzum, H. (n.d.) cited Friedrich & Armer (1999); Kuchinke, Aragon, & Bartlett (2001) and others regarding assessments in WBI (Web based instruction). He pointed out that assessments in WBI “should be different from traditional classroom techniques and include “authentic tasks as written reports” and should be “performance-based mode and should include fewer objective tests” (p. 364) ¾ McVayLynch (2002) noted the “dualistic debate over whether assessment should focus on accountability or improvement,” and suggested that a misconnection in evaluation can still occur “because teachers or course designers fail to create a direct relationship between instructional objectives and assessment measures” (117-118). ¾ Macdonald & Twining (2002) looked at the relationship between assessment, student participation, and the development of skills. They suggested key issues for assessment of activity-based learning: assessment must reflect course philosophy, assessment is essential in creating learning opportunities at critical points, assessment provides a vital opportunity for feedback, helping to complete the reflective learning cycle. ¾ Lewis' (2002) dissertation found the importance of "in-course practice exercises are aligned with the final evaluation tests in terms of both the content and the style" (abstract). She looked at the efficacy of quizzes vs. discussions in online learning in regard to the impact on learning and concluded that students do better in the final assessment tests if in-course practice exercises aligned with content and style, that

© 2006 MarylandOnline, Inc. www.QualityMatters.org 9/9/06 6 intensity and frequency of a student’s participation in group discussions also seems to have a possible influence on final performance. ¾ Thurmond et al. (2002) found that when students believe that their learning was being assessed in a variety of ways and that they were receiving timely feedback were among the strongest predictors of student satisfaction. The Annotations for Standard III.3 direct reviewers to look for evidence that students “receive frequent, meaningful, and rapid feedback” lists a variety of examples of how such feedback can be provided. This study supports the view that the online environment influences students' satisfaction rather than being solely a function of student characteristics. ¾ Shea et al. (2002) found that students in online courses who reported the highest levels of prompt, high quality, and constructive feedback from their instructor also reported the highest levels of satisfaction and perceived learning. ¾ Jensen, Self, & Rhymer (2002) tested for improved effectiveness of multimedia instructional modules in a basic engineering course at the US Air Force Academy. They discovered the importance of keeping the content in a module focused on the objectives (no extraneous material) and “emphasizing that the concepts will be tested on exams” (¶30). ¾ Hannon et al. (2002) used Gagne's & Laurillard's instructional models to design and evaluate five courses in an online curriculum. Gagne's model evolves from cognitive theory with an emphasis on "enhancing learner performance"; while Laurillard's model emphasizes teacher-learner interaction. Hannon, et al noted, "In contrast with Gagne, Laurillard's model of instruction was designed with interactive technology in mind" (¶3). See http://www.irrodl.org/content/v3.2/hannon7.png for table of Gagne & Laurillard instructional events. Students were generally satisfied with the online course, but students' perceptions of the teacher-learner relationship appeared to support the Laurillard approach to design. ¾ Hannafin et al. (2003) noted that “Assessment practices have largely been mapped over from traditional teaching-learning approaches, but may not provide either suitable evidence of student learning or may simply emphasize those aspects of learning that are easy to assess” ¾ Achtemeier, Morris & Finnegan (2003) found consensus among more than thirteen best practices instruments and the accompanying literature review that the text-based questions in online education should be worded clearly, simply, logical, not biased or leading, and each should stand-alone and address only one issue. ¾ Koszalka & Ganesan (2004) considered information, instruction, and learning design elements as identified in the web-based online learning literature and applied those to a course which was “initially a failure” (p. 243). Issues addressed were confusion of the learner when “haphazard integration” of CMS features “did not match course objectives”(Oliver, 1999; Kearsley, 1997; Collis, 1999; Grabowski & Small, 1997 were cited); “practice components were often weak or missing (Gilbert & Moore, 1998; Kidney & Puckett, 2003 were cited) (pp. 244-245) ; activities and resources did closely match instructional purposes (Kidney & Puckett, 2003; Koszalka & Bianco, 2001; Simonson et al., 2003 cited); and “learners did not see a connection between the activities they were completing” and the overall objective (p. 251).

Literature Support for Specific Review Standards:

Specific Review Standard (Point Value) Research Lit. Support Standards Sets Support III.1 The types of assessments selected McLoughlin (2001); McVay Lynch ACE LD 1, 2; LO 5 measure the stated learning (2002); Macdonald & Twining (2002); SREB PCP EA 2 objectives are consistent with Jensen, Self, & Rhymer (2002); Lewis course activities and resources. (3) (2002); Garrison & Anderson (2003); Koszalka & Ganesan (2004); Garrison & Cleveland-Innes (2005); III.2 The grading policy is transparent Youngblood, Trede, & DeCorpo (2001) SREB CEOC TI and easy to understand. (3)

III.3 Assessment and measurement Thurmond et al. (2002); Macdonald & NEA/IHEP T/LB 2 strategies are designed to provide Twining (2002); Shea et al. (2002); SREB CEOC TI feedback to the student. (3) Hannon et al. (2003) WICHE/MSC 2e

© 2006 MarylandOnline, Inc. www.QualityMatters.org 9/9/06 7 III.4 The types of assessments selected Eanes (2001); McLoughlin (2001); Tuzun ACE LO 5 and the methods used for (2001); Lewis (2002); Achtemeier, Morris SREB CEOC SS submitting assessments are & Finnegan (2003); Hannon et al. (2003); WICHE/MSC 5c appropriate for the distance Koszalka & Ganesan (2004) learning environment. (2)

III.5 “Self-check” or practice types of Wisher, Curnow, & Seidel (2001); assignments are provided for quick Thurmond et al. (2002); Lewis (2002); learner feedback. (1) Koszalka & Ganesan (2004)

IV. LEARNING RESOURCES AND MATERIALS

General Review Standard: Instructional materials are sufficiently comprehensive to achieve announced objectives and learning outcomes and are prepared by qualified persons competent in their fields (Materials, other than standard textbooks produced by recognized publishers, are prepared by the instructor or distance educators skilled in preparing materials for distance learning.)

Literature Support for the General Review Standard:

Course content is more than just an aggregation of learning resources and materials; the design of course content is an essential aspect of courses, particularly online courses. This is an issue because, as Kanuka, Collett & Caswell (2002) found, some “experienced distance education instructors tend not to design their courses with a great deal of flexibility - even though they acknowledge that Internet communication technologies can support it" (p. 166). However, the literature provides conceptual support for the importance of this standard as well as some studies which illustrate successful examples of practice:

¾ Liu & Ginther (1999) suggested that designers should base content on a diversity of learning styles; teachers should match course materials and assessments to those same learning styles. For example, visual images and diagrams should be used for analytical, visual learners; cooperative activities for field dependent learners, and individual projects for field independent learners. ¾ Oliver (1999/2002) cited content as one of three critical elements teachers and designers need to consider when designing online courses. ¾ Swan, Shea, Fredericksen, Pickett, & Pelz (2000) investigated the relationship between student perceptions and course design factors and found that consistency in course design was one of the key factors. ¾ Spallek, Berthold, Shanley, & Attstrom (2000) surveyed dental professionals on quality assurance criteria for online courses. The importance of courses being scientifically based, regularly updated, easy to navigate, have defined educational objectives, stimulate learning, be created by appropriately qualified academics, and be at an appropriate level for the intended participants were deemed important. ¾ In one well-accepted conceptual framework (Rourke et al., 2001; Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, 2001) learner-content interaction is one of three principal types of interaction, corresponding to one of the overlapping elements (“cognitive presence”) which need to be considered in designing an online course focused on critical inquiry. ¾ Sonwalkar (2001) describes "pedagogically driven design principles for online education." Among those he suggests that course content is seen as "a set of simulations that support discovery-based learning"; taking advantage of "media assets" to allow for "learner's cognitive preferences"; consider "technological constraints" (¶22-25) of user bandwidth. Additionally, he alerts the important role of experts in content, as well as instructional and web design and the necessity of obtaining copyright permissions. ¾ Conrad (2002) found that learners judge instructors based on how clearly and completely online course materials present the details of the course. A well-organized course with a clear overview and introduction including a clear statement of expectations, explanation of the course outline, clear timelines, and well-written course notes helped learners feel that they were getting off to a good start in their course.

© 2006 MarylandOnline, Inc. www.QualityMatters.org 9/9/06 8 ¾ Perrin & Mayhew (2002) analyzed data, including learning outcomes from two online distance courses and concluded that online educators need to know more than course content, design issues are crucial. ¾ Sims, Dobbs, & Hand (2002) pointed out that “unit or course content should be considered in terms of the interaction with major design issues and their impact on the learning community” (p. 138); that the learning design “requires careful thinking about the learner and the options provided for interacting with the content and their learning partners” (p. 140). ¾ Shirathuddin, Hassan, & Landoni (2003) based on a critical reviewed of four well-known usability design guidelines identified seven factors of usability that should be considered in preparing content for electronically delivery in higher education courses: useful and relevant content with depth and breadth was one of the factors. They pointed out “unnecessary media should be avoided to present long downloading time:” (p. 119). ¾ Koszalka & Ganesan (2004) considered information, instruction, and learning design elements as identified in the web-based online learning literature and applied those to a course which was “initially a failure” (p. 243). Issues addressed were confusion of the learner when “haphazard integration” of CMS features “did not match course objectives”(Oliver, 1999; Kearsley, 1997; Collis, 1999; Grabowski & Small, 1997 were cited); “practice components were often weak or missing (Gilbert & Moore, 1998; Kidney & Puckett, 2003 were cited) (pp. 244-245) ; activities and resources did not closely match instructional purposes (Kidney & Puckett, 2003; Koszalka & Bianco, 2001; Simonson et al., 2003 cited); and “learners did not see a connection between the activities they were completing” and the overall objective (p. 251). ¾ Garrison & Cleveland-Innes (2005) found "defining clear expectations and selecting manageable content, structuring appropriate activities (collaborative and individual), and conducting assessment congruent with intended goals" foster a deep approach to learning (p. 145). Reconfirmed that, "The goal in deep learning is to move discussion from exploration to integration and then to resolution (Garrison & Anderson, 2003)" (p.145). ¾ Nicol, Littlejohn, & Grierson (2005) found that well-structured learning resources facilitated team collaboration and the learning of engineering design. Students in the course were positive about the value of a well-structured (accessible, easy to use) shared workspace to support their collaborative learning projects in engineering design courses. ¾ Zhang (2005) noted that simply converting “paper-based multimedia instruction into its digital equivalent and making it available on the Internet will not lead to effective learning due to a lack of an appropriate mix of content richness, interaction, and engagement” (p. 160)

Standard IV.5 is not a research-based standard, but rather a practical one designed to address the issues of intellectual property and copyright.

Literature Support for Specific Review Standards:

Specific Review Standard (Point Value) Research Lit. Support Standards Sets Support IV.1 The instructional materials have Spallek, Berthold, Shanley, & Attstrom sufficient depth in content and are (2000); Sims, Dobbs, & Hand (2002); sufficiently comprehensive for the Shirathuddin, Hassan, & Landoni (2003); student to learn the subject. (3) Garrison & Anderson (2003); Garrison & Cleveland-Innes (2005) IV.2 Instructional materials are Spallek, Berthold, Shanley, & Attstrom SREB PCP RL 1 presented in a format appropriate (2000); Conrad (2002); Sims, Dobbs, & Hand to the online environment, and are (2002); Lux & Davidson (2003); easily accessible to and usable by Shirathuddin, Hassin, & Landoni (2003); the student. (3) Koszalka & Ganesan (2004); Nicol, Littlejohn, & Grierson (2005); Zhang (2005) IV.3 The purpose of the course Conrad (2002); Trigano & Pacurar-Giacomini ACE LD 1 elements (content, instructional (2004); Koszalka & Ganesan (2004); Jensen, methods, technologies, and course Self, & Rhymer (2002) materials) is evident. (2)

© 2006 MarylandOnline, Inc. www.QualityMatters.org 9/9/06 9 IV.4 The instructional materials, Swan, et al. (2000); Trigano & Pacurar- including supporting materials - Giacomini (2004); Koszalka & Ganesan such as manuals, videos, CD (2004) ROMs, and computer software – are consistent in organization. (1)

IV.5 All resources and materials used Sonwalkar (2001) in the online course are appropriately cited. (1)

V. LEARNER INTERACTION

General Review Standard: The effective design of instructor-student interaction, meaningful student cooperation, and student-content interaction is essential to student motivation, intellectual commitment and personal development.

Literature Support for the General Review Standard:

The QM rubric reflects the research findings that several types of learner interaction are important:

¾ Moore (1989) identified three types of interaction – student/teacher; student/student; and student/content. ¾ Anderson (2002, 2003) suggested an expansion of interaction possibilities to include teacher/teacher; teacher/content; content/content. ¾ Others, coming from an instructional technology perspective, suggested learner/interface interaction (Hillman, Willis, & Gunawardena; 1994) and learner/the virtual world interaction should be considered (Chase, Macfadyen, Reeder, & Roche; 2002).

Because of the intense interest in the role of interpersonal interaction in online learning, there is a substantial amount of conceptual and empirical research supporting this review standard:

© 2006 MarylandOnline, Inc. www.QualityMatters.org 9/9/06 10 achieved comparable grades to those in traditional classroom courses, even after controlling for variance by instructor. ¾ Roblyer & Ekhaml (2000); Roblyer & Wiencke (2003) present a rubric to determine the interaction levels in an online course. The model is based in learning theories, instructional theories, instructional design models, and instructional delivery systems. ¾ Berge (1999), Liaw & Huang (2000), Weller (1988) pointed out the necessity of closing the communication loop. ¾ Murphy, Machoney, & Harvell (2000) investigated the use of contract in promoting learner-centered project-based learning in a web course. They concluded with a suggested list of instructor responsibilities to facilitate this form of active learning. ¾ Muirhead (2000) provided six types of interactive activities that might encourage learner-learner interaction: sharing of relevant personal experiences, reference to appropriate materials (besides assigned readings), comments on the opinions of others, introduction of new issues for discussion, questions posed to the group by students, instructor acting as guide and facilitator. ¾ Jung, Choi, Lim, & Leem (2002) investigated the effects of different types of interaction (academic, collaborative, and social) on learning achievement, satisfaction and participation in web-based instruction. Results indicated that the social interaction group outperformed the other groups; the collaborative interaction group expressed the highest level of satisfaction with their learning experiences; the collaborative and social interaction groups participated more actively in posting their opinions that the academic interaction group. ¾ Tu & McIsaac (2002) revealed that social presence is complicated by the social context of the learners’ and learning environment, by the nature of online communication [including keyboarding and language skills], and interactivity [for example, response time to messages, communication styles, group size]. ¾ Anderson (2003, 2002) pointed out that increased learner control, ability to tailor courses to learners’ needs based on their input, as well as opportunities for meaningful collaboration among learners is a result of increased interactive possibilities in online education. ¾ Belanish, Wisher, and Orvis (2004) found that use of a collaborative question-generation tool produced a 7% increase in the comprehension of course material. ¾ Vandergrift (2002) identified the concept of a faculty member’s ‘restrained presence’ in an effort to facilitate students’ personal responsibility for their own learning and for community building in an online learning environment.” Restrained presence of the instructor might encourage self-directed learning.

There is significant support in the research literature that correlates instructor-student interaction with perceived student learning and satisfaction, for example: ¾ Swan (2001) cited “an instructor that interacts frequently and productively with students” as one of three factors which “contribute significantly to the success of asynchronous online courses.” ¾ Studies conducted by the SUNY Learning Network have repeatedly found that students’ positive perception of interaction with their instructors correlates strongly with perceived learning and satisfaction (Fredericksen et al., 2000; Shea et al., 2001; Shea et al., 2002). ¾ Richardson and Swan (2000) also reported a significant correlation between students’ perceived learning and satisfaction levels with their instructors, while Jiang and Ting (2001) also found correlations between perceived learning and perceived interactions with instructors. ¾ Hannon et al. (2002) used Gagne's & Laurillard's instructional models to design and evaluate five courses in an online curriculum. Gagne's model evolves from cognitive theory with an emphasis on "enhancing learner performance"; while Laurillard's model emphasizes teacher-learner interaction. Hannon, et al. noted, "In contrast with Gagne, Laurillard's model of instruction was designed with interactive technology in mind" (¶3). See http://www.irrodl.org/content/v3.2/hannon7.png for table of Gagne & Laurillard instructional events. Students were generally satisfied with the online course, but students' perceptions of the teacher-learner relationship appeared to support the Laurillard approach to design. ¾ Chang (2003) identified five types of online facilitation by using content analysis of students' threaded messages: (1) assignments and grades (for example, questions about due dates, instructor's expectation, grading criteria), (2) network access (for example, questions about online course materials in the course site), (3) online discussion (for example, questions about clarification, reflections), (4) group activities (questions about those activities), and (5) other course materials access (such as textbook, study guides, the university, and local libraries) (pp. 496-497).

© 2006 MarylandOnline, Inc. www.QualityMatters.org 9/9/06 11 There is also significant support in the research literature that requiring student-student interaction can result in improved perceived student learning and satisfaction, for example:

¾ Beaudin's (1999) survey from 135 online instructors regarding how to keep asynchronous online discussions on topic revealed (1) questions must be carefully design, (2) guidelines must be provided to students, (3) questions might need "reworded when responses are going in the wrong direction," and (4) regularly provided summaries of the discussions by the instructor (p.41). ¾ Swan (2001) cited “a constructive and dynamic discussion between students and their peers” as one of three factors which “contribute significantly to the success of asynchronous online courses.” ¾ Wu and Hiltz (2004) found that required asynchronous online discussions improved students’ perceived learning. ¾ The SUNY Learning Network studies also have repeatedly found that students in online courses who reported the highest levels of interaction with their coursemates also reported the highest levels of satisfaction and perceived learning (Fredericksen et al., 2000; Shea et al., 2001; Shea et al., 2002). ¾ Jeong (2003) took on the challenge of quantifying “how message sequence and group processes affect subsequent discussion and cognitive outcome” (p. 26) and found that “interactions involving conflicting viewpoints promoted more discussion and critical thinking, and the evaluation of arguments was more likely to occur as conclusions were being drawn-not as arguments were being presented” (p. 25).

However, there is also significant support in the research literature for online course designs which do not require student-student interaction, for example:

¾ Indiana University’s Learning to Teach with Technology Studio (LTTS) effectively uses a self-paced, one-on-one mentored format for courses designed to serve K-12 teacher professional development needs (Duffy and del Valle, 2005; Malopinsky, Kirkley, & Duffy, 2002). ¾ Anderson (2003) suggests that deep and meaningful formal learning is supported as long as one of the three forms of interaction (student-teacher; student-student; student-content) is at a high level. The other two may be offered at minimal levels, or even eliminated, without degrading the educational experience. ¾ Sener (2001) reported case studies which utilized a “tutorial model” of instruction featuring strong reliance on tutor-like instructor-learner interaction without requiring learner-learner interaction. ¾ Ragoonaden & Bordeleau (2000) found that two problems emerge from blanket designs for collaborative interaction: technical and interpersonal. Highly independent learners often prefer to work alone, especially when group members worked at a different pace. ¾ Kramarae (2003), Cook (1989), & May (1993) suggested “more is not necessarily better” and warned of potential dangers resulting from imposed interaction as it might interfere with student autonomy in managing time, place, and pace of learning. This is also consistent with the American Council on Education’s Distance Learning Principles, which state that “the learning experience [should be] organized to increase learner control over the time, place, and pace of instruction” (Learning Design Subprinciple 5).

For this reason, the QM rubric directs reviewers to look for evidence of course design which supports student- student interaction as appropriate, recognizing that required or even optional student-student interaction is not necessary for all online courses.

A word of caution: as Swan (2003) notes, while the research results to date establish indirect connections between learner interaction and perceived learning, direct connections between instructor-learner interaction (and by extension, student-student interaction) and learning outcomes have not yet been documented.

Literature Support for Specific Review Standards:

Specific Review Standard (Point Value) Research Lit. Support Standards Sets Support V.1 The learning activities promote the Trigano & Pacurar-Giacomini ACE LD 2 achievement of stated objectives and (2004) learning outcomes. (3)

© 2006 MarylandOnline, Inc. www.QualityMatters.org 9/9/06 12 V.2 Learning activities foster instructor- Beaudin (1999); Fredericksen et al. NEA/IHEP T/LB 1 student, content-student, and if (2000);Shea et al. (2001); Anderson SREB PCP CI 2 appropriate to this course, student-student et al. (2001); Swan (2001); Shea et SREB CEOC TS interaction. (3) al. (2002);Jeong (2003); Wu and WICHE/MSC 2e Hiltz (2004) V.3 Clear standards are set for instructor Swan (2001), Conrad (2002) and NEA/IHEP CSB 4 response and availability (turn-around others imply this indirectly, though time for email, grades posted etc.) (3) not directly; Hannon et al; (2002)

V.4 The requirements for course interaction Swan (2001), Conrad (2002) and are clearly articulated. (2) others imply this indirectly, though not directly; Hannon et al. (2002)

V.5 The course design prompts the instructor Vandergrift (2002) cites the to be present, active, and engaged with the importance of “restrained students. (2) presence”; Hannon et al. (2003); Chang (2003)

VI. COURSE TECHNOLOGY

General Review Standard: To enhance student learning, course technology enriches instruction and fosters student interactivity.

Literature Support for the General Review Standard:

While there is plenty of research related to the concepts of active learning and learner interactivity (also see General Standard V), the QM team has uncovered scant research to date which pertains directly to the link between active learning and/or learner interactivity and course technology:

¾ Sonwalkar (2001) describes "pedagogically driven design principles for online education." Among those he suggests that course content is seen as "a set of simulations that support discovery-based learning"; taking advantage of "media assets" to allow for "learner's cognitive preferences"; consider "technological constraints" (¶22-25) of user bandwidth. Additionally, he alerts the important role of experts in content, as well as instructional and web design and the necessity of obtaining copyright permissions. ¾ Sims (2003) found that study participants were able to identify that interactivity (“the inherent quality of the medium and learning environment” (p. 87) included engagement, control, communication, design, the individual, and learning. Those “nodes” can be connected directly to theoretical literature as “providing benefits to learning” (p. 101). ¾ Shirathuddin, Hassan, & Landoni (2003) based on a critical reviewed of four well-known usability design guidelines identified seven factors of usability that should be considered in preparing content for electronically delivery in higher education courses: They pointed out “unnecessary media should be avoided to present long downloading time: (p. 119). ¾ Johnson (2004) found that faculty generally “decide to implement tools based on whether they believe students can easily use them” (¶18) and therefore information on their use needs to be considered. ¾ Nicol, Littlejohn, & Grierson (2005) found that well-structured learning resources facilitated team collaboration and the learning of engineering design. Students in the course were positive about the value of a well-structured (accessible, easy to use) shared workspace to support their collaborative learning projects in engineering design courses.

Specific Review Standard (Point Value) Research Lit. Support Standards Sets Support VI.1 The tools and media support the learning Trigano & Pacurar- ACE LD 2, 3; LO 4 objectives of the course and are integrated with Giacomini (2004) texts and lesson assignments. (3)

VI.2 The tools and media enhance student interactivity Sonwalkar (2001); Sims ACE T 2 and guide the student to become a more active (2003); Nicol, Littlejohn, learner. (2) and Grierson (2005)

VI.3 Technologies required for this course are either Trigano & Pacurar- provided or easily downloadable. (2) Giacomini (2004)

VI.4 Tools and media are compatible with existing Sonwalkar (2001) standards of delivery modes. (1)

VI.5 Instructions on how to access resources at a Johnson (2004) distance are sufficient and easy to understand. (1)

VI.6 Course technologies take advantage of existing Sonwalkar (2001) economies and efficiencies of delivery. (1)

VII. LEARNER SUPPORT

General Review Standard: Courses are effectively supported for student through fully accessible modes of delivery, resources, and student support.

Literature Support for the General Review Standard:

Many of the previously-cited literature references about the importance of clear descriptions also pertain directly or indirectly to the need for clear descriptions of technical support offerings.

¾ Shin (2001) found that the perceptions of psychological presence a distance student holds in relation with teachers, peer students, and institution can be significant predictors of learning outcomes. An institution’s transactional presence may be relatively more important than teachers’ and peer students’ transactional presence (the degree to which a distance student perceives the availability of, and connectedness with, other parties involved in a given distance education setting” (2002, p.121). ¾ As Ludwig-Hardman and Dunlap (2003) note, “the positive influence advising can have on distance learners’ ability to successfully fulfill their educational goals has been well documented (Feasley, 1983; Hezel and Dirr, 1991; Paulet, 1988; Thompson, 1989).” ¾ Visser and Visser (2000) noted a general lack of empirical research regarding the effectiveness of student support services in distance education. However, Krauth and Carbajal (1999) provide a comprehensive guide to developing online student services, including evidence that provision of one-on-one access to advisors is an essential student support service. ¾ Chang (2003) identified students wanted access to other course materials access (such as textbook, study guides, the university, and local libraries) (p. 497). ¾ Johnson’s (2004) case study indicated that unfortunately providing information to learners about the CMS’s [course management systems] was “typically neglected… [it was] “often assumed that students will figure out CMS skills on their own” (¶18).

Specific Review Standard (Point Value) Research Lit. Support Standards Sets Support VII.1 The course instructions articulate or link to a clear Johnson (2004) SREB CEOC SS description of the technical support offered. (2)

VII.2 Course instructions articulate or link to an Krauth and Carbajal NEA/IHEP CSB 3 explanation as to how the institution’s academic (1999); Ludwig-Hardman support system can assist the learner in effectively & Dunlap (2003); Johnson using the resources provided. (2) (2004)

VII.3 Course instructions articulate or link to an Krauth and Carbajal explanation of how the institution’s student (1999); Ludwig-Hardman support services can assist the learner in & Dunlap (2003) effectively using the resources provided. (1)

VII.4 Course instructions articulate or link to tutorials Chang (2003) and resources that answer basic questions related to research, writing, technology etc. (1)

VIII. ACCESSIBILITY

General Review Standard: The course is accessible to all students.

Literature Support for the General Review Standard:

This General Review Standard has recently been revised to be more encompassing (accessibility vs. ADA compliance), so additional review of the research literature is necessary. Literature references which supply such support include the following:

¾ Coombs and Banks (2000) suggested that when designers and teachers are preparing an online course they should step back and try to access the material and move through it as a student who is blind. ¾ Shirathuddin, Hassan, & Landoni (2003) considered four well-known for guidelines of web design usability design guidelines to look at implementing good course design in higher education courses and noted: "Having good design and useful content are inadequate without considering the accessibility factors" (p. 122). ¾ Schwartz (2004) looks at using internet audio to enhance online accessibility and credited Rowland, Burgsthaler, Smith, & Coombs (2004) with calling attention to the "under-utilization of DE program by disabled students, possibly due to the failure of those programs to adapt to their needs" (¶2). Nielsen (2000) and Zaborowski (Shattuck, 2004) commented "accessible features can result in enhanced learning for all student" (¶3). ¾ Dr. Zaborowski, director of Special Programs for the National Federation of the Blind, described Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (http://www.section508.gov) as a better piece for online designers to consider because ADA “does not directly deal with the access issue….Section 508 will really help you understand what you have to do with links and frames and radio buttons and forms and all the different components of an online education [course]” (Shattuck, 2004, p. 261). ¾ Kinash, Crichton, & Kim-Rupnow (2004) reviewed literature that concentrated on disability and online learning published from 2000 through 2003. They noted 22 pieces were didactic; 12 were descriptive pieces; three were opinion pieces; and only five were research studies. Importantly they noted that this literature was often found only within the disability journals and not the distance learning journals. They urged further study with questions such as, “How can we promote universal design of the online

© 2006 MarylandOnline, Inc. www.QualityMatters.org 9/9/06 15 environment, with particular emphasis on complementing the visual with the auditory interface?” (p. 12) and suggest “the potential of multimedia to support multiple learning styles and needs” (p. 13). ¾ Edmonds (2004) called attention to “first-generation” and “second-generation” issues of access. He pointed out that first-generation access issues revolve around HTML accessibility and are usually addressed by developers of courseware and Web designers. Second-generation issues revolve around the non-HTML applications, such as non-text elements used with Word and PowerPoint. These are “generally in the hands of the faculty member creating the course- that is, a person without the technical background to provide accessibility” (p. 59). He provides directions to make PowerPoint presentations into HTML which are accessible. Edmonds noted two studies (Rowland, 2000; Schmetzke, 2002) which found that only a small percentage of distance learning providers and organizations provided accessible. ¾ Weir (2005) "collected observations and anecdotal information to gain insight into the experiences of special-needs students who take online courses" (p. 30). As a result she developed a set of guidelines for developing accessible online courses, including instructional strategies and course design considerations. ¾ See http://www.access-board.gov/508.htm; http://www.webaim.org for design recommendations (Moore & Kearsley, 2005, p. 119).

Learning style is of great interest to those interested in distance education with some reporting a learning preference of visual learning, but most support Hannafin’s position that learning style is not a good predictor of whether a student will succeed. Neuhauser (2002) compared face-to-face and online sections of the same course and found there was no evidence that either learning style or type (e.g. visual, auditory, or kinesthetic/tactile) is a good predictor of educational success. Aragon, Johnson, & Shaik (2002) found there were significant differences in learning style preferences between online learners and face-to-face students, but those differences were no significant when success factors were controlled. Thus these studies support the notion that learning style is a less significant accessibility issue.

Shattuck (2005) noted that culture plays a part in making education fully accessible since many cultures emphasize different dimensions of teaching and learning (Collis & Remmer, 1997; Robinson, 1999; Robbins, 1997; Chen, Mashhadi, Ang & Harkrider, 1999; Chen & Mashhadi 1998a, 1998b; McLoughlin, 1999; Chase, Macfadyen, Reeder & Roche, 2002; Tu, 2001; Gunawardena, Nolla, Wilson, Lopez-Islas, Ramirez-Angel & Megchun-Alpizar, 2000; Sanchez & Gunawardena, 1998; Gunawardena, Wilson & Nolla, 2003). Study participants (all identifying as coming from non-Western cultures) could describe tensions (with teacher- student roles, with course structure, with cross-cultural nuances and real communication) when working within their “Western” online distance education environments.

Literature Support for Specific Review Standards:

Specific Review Standard (Point Research Lit. Support Standards Sets Value) Support

VIII.1 The course acknowledges the Shirathuddin, Hassan, & Landoni (2003); SREB CEOC SS importance of ADA Kinash, Crichton, & Kim-Rupnow (2004); requirements. (3) Shattuck (2004); Edmonds (2004); Schwartz (2004) VIII.2 Web pages provide Edmonds (2004); Kinash, Crichton, & Kim- equivalent alternatives to Rupnow (2004); Shattuck (2004) auditory and visual content. (1)

VIII.3 Web pages have links that are Shirathuddin, Hassan, & Landoni (2003); self-describing and Edmonds (2004); Weir (2005) meaningful. (1)

VIII.4 The course demonstrates Edmonds (2004); Kinash, Crichton, & Kim- sensitivity to readability Rupnow (2004) issues. (1)

This is a list of references which were consulted for the Review of Literature in MATRIX OF REVIEW STANDARDS for the Quality Matters project.

Achtemeier, S. D., Morris, L. V., & Finnegan, C. L. (February 2003). Considerations for developing evaluations of online courses. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Network, 7(1). Retrieved November 6, 2003, from http://www.aln.org/publications/jaln/v7n1/pdf/v7n1_achtemeier.pdf

Alley, L. R. & Jansak, K. E. (2001). The ten keys to quality assurance and assessment in online learning. Journal of Interactive Instruction Development, 13(3), 3-18.

Anderson, T. (October 2003). Getting the mix right again: An updated and theoretical rationale for interaction. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 4(2).

Anderson, T. (2002). An updated and theoretical rationale for interaction. Retrieved March 20, 2003, from http://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/paper63/paper63.htm

Baker, R. (2003, summer). A framework for design and evaluation of internet-based distance learning courses : Phase one-framework justification, design and evaluation. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 6(2). Retrived December 9, 2003, from http://www.westga.edu/~distnace/ojdla/summer62/baker62.html

Beaudin, B. P. (1999). Keeping online asynchronous discussions on topic. Jounal of Asynchronous Learning Network, 3(2), 41-53. Available at http://www.aln.org/alnweb/journal/jaln- vol3issue2.htm

Belanish, J., Wisher, R., and Orvis, K. (2004). A Question-Collaboration Approach to Web-Based Learning. American Journal of Distance Education, 18(3), 169-18..

Bloom B., ed. (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals, Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain. New York: McKay,

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Brown, A. R. & Voltz, B. D. (2005). Elements of effective e-learning design. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning,6(1). Retrieved April 21, 2005, from http://www.irrodl.org/content/v6.1/brown_voltz.html

Bruning, K. (May 2005). The Role of Critical Thinking in the Online Learning Environment. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 2(5). Retrieved May 20, 2005 from: http://www.itdl.org/Journal/May_05/article03.htm.

Chang, S. L. (2003). What types of online facilitation do students need? ERIC ED470183 from Annual Proceedings of Selected Research and Development: Practice Papers presented at the National Convention of the Association for Educational Communications and Technology (Atlanta, GA, November, 2001) Retrieved November 21, 2003 from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2/content_storage_01/0000000b/80/27/b5/66.pdf

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Duffy, T., and del Valle, R. (2005). LTTS: A course management system for online inquiry learning. Presentation at the 21st Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning, Madison, WI. Retrieved September 28, 2005 from: http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/Resource_library/handouts/05_1805P.pdf

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Edmonds, C. D. (2004). Providing access to students with disabilities in online distance education: Legal and technical concerns for higher education. The American Journal of Distance Education, 18(1), 51- 62.

Fredericksen, E., Pickett, A., Pelz, W., Swan, K., and Shea, P. (2000). Student satisfaction and perceived learning with on-line courses: principles and examples from the SUNY learning network. In Bourne, J. (Ed.), On-Line Education, Volume 1: Learning Effectiveness and Faculty Satisfaction. (pp.7-36). Nashville, TN: Center for Asynchronous Learning Networks.

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Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2001). Critical thinking, cognitive presence, and computer conferencing in distance education. American Journal of Distance Education, 15(1), 7-23.

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Garrison, D. R. & Anderson, T. (2003). E-Learning in the 21st century: A framework for research and practice. London: Routledge Falmer.

Gunawardena, C. & Zittle, F. (1997). Social Presence as a Predictor of Satisfaction within a Computer- Mediated Conferencing Environment. American Journal of Distance Education, 11(3), 8-26.

Gunawardena, C., Lowe, C, & Anderson, T. (1998). Transcript analysis of computer-mediated conferences as a tool for testing constructivist and social-constructivist learning theories. In: Distance Learning '98. Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Distance Teaching & Learning (14th, Madison, WI, August 5-7, 1998). ERIC Document Reproduction Service ED422854.

Hannafin, M., Hill, J. R., Oliver, K., Glazer, E. & Sharma, P. (2003). Cognitive and learning factors in web-based distance learning environments. In M. Moore & W. Anderson (Eds.), Handbook for Distance Education. (pp. 245-260). Mahwah, NJ; Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Hannon, P.A., Umble, K.E., Alexander, L., Francisco, D., Steckler, A., Tudor, B., et al. (2002). Gagne and Laurillard's models of instruction applied to distance education: A theoretically driven evaluation of an online curriculum in public health. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 3(2). Retrieved December 9, 2002, from http://www.irrodl.org/content/v3.2/hannon.html

Hislop, G. (2000). Working professionals as part-time on-line learners. In Bourne, J. (Ed.), On-Line Education, Volume 1: Learning Effectiveness and Faculty Satisfaction. (pp.71-84). Nashville, TN: Center for Asynchronous Learning Networks.

Huitt, W. (2000). Bloom et al.’s taxonomy of cognitive domain. Retireved November 20, 2005 from http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/cogsys/bloom.html

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Jeong, A. C. (2003). The sequential analysis of group interaction and critical thinking in online threaded discussions. The American Journal of Distance Education, 17(1), 25-43.

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© 2006 MarylandOnline, Inc. www.QualityMatters.org 9/9/06 19 Ludwig-Hardman, S., and Dunlap, J. (2003). Learner Support Services for Online Students: Scaffolding for Success. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 4(1). Retrieved May 3, 2005 from http://www.irrodl.org/content/v4.1/dunlap.html.

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Muirhead, B. (200?). Practical strategies for teaching computer-mediated classes. US Distance Learning Association Journal, 15 (5). Retrieved November 8, 2003 from http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/May01_Issue/article02.html

Murphy, K., Mahoney, S. & Harvell, T. (2000). Role of Contracts in Enhancing Community Building in Web Courses. Educational Technology & Society, 3 (3) [Electronic version]. Retrieved December 20, 2002 from http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_3_2000/e03.pdf

Neuhauser, C. (2002). Learning style and effectiveness of online and face-to-face instruction. American Journal of Distance Education, 16(2), 99-113.

Nicol, D., Littlejohn, A., and Grierson, H. (2005). The importance of structuring information and resources within shared workspaces during collaborative design learning. Open Learning, 20(1), 31-49.

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Pawan, F., Paulus, T. M., Yalcin, S., & Chang. C. (2003). Online learning: Patterns of engagement and interaction among in-service teachers. Language Learning and Technology, 7(3), 119-140.

Perrin, K. M.& Mayhew, D.(2002, Winter). The reality of designing and implementing an Internet-based course. Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 3 (4).

Phipps, R. & Merisotis, J. (2000, April). Quality on the line: Benchmarks for success in Internet-based distance education. Report from The Institute for Higher Education Policy, Washington, D.C. Retrieved September 2000, from http://www.ihep.com/Pubs/PDF/Quality.pdf

Poscente, K. R. & Fahy, P. J. (2003). Investigating triggers in CMC text transcripts. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 4(2). Retrieved April 21, 2005, from http://www.irrodl.org/content/v4.2/poscente_fahy.html

Ragoonaden, K. & Bordeleau, P. (2000). Collaborative Learning via the Internet. Educational Technology & Society, 3 (3) [Online]. Retrieved 12/20/2002 from the World Wide Web: http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_3_2000/d11.pdf

Richardson, J., and Swan, K. (2001). An examination of social presence in online learning: students’ perceived learning and satisfaction. Seattle, WA: Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, 2001.

Roblyer, M. D. &. Ekhaml, L. (2000, Spring). How interactive are YOUR distance courses? A rubric for assessing interaction in distance learning. Online Journal of Distance Education Administration, 3(2). Retrieved October 25, 2000, from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/roblyer32.html.

Roblyer, M. D. & Wiencke, W. R. (2003). Design and use of a rubric to assess and encourage interactive qualities in distance courses. The American Journal of Distance Education, 17(2), 77-98.

Rogers, J. (2000). Communities of Practice: A framework for fostering coherence in virtual learning communities. Educational Technology & Society, 3 (3) [Online]. Retrieved 12/20/2002 from the World Wide Web: http://ifets.ieee.org/periodical/vol_3_2000/e01.pdf

Rourke, L., Anderson, T., Garrison, D. R. & Archer,W. (2001). Assessing Social Presence in Asynchronous Text-based Computer Conferencing. Journal of Distance Education, 14(2), 50-71. Retrieved December 20, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://cade.athabascau.ca/vol14.2/rourke_et_al.html

Rowland, C., Burgstahler, S., Smith, J., & Coombs, N. (2004). Issues in accessing distance education technologies for individuals with disabilities. White paper for National Summit on Disability & Distance Education, Washington, DC, May 11-12. Retrieved November 22, 2005 from http://www.ncdae.org/activities/papers/technology.htm

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Schwartz, L. M. (2004). XXXII: Using internet audio to enhance online accessibility. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 5(2). Retrieved April 21, 2005 from http://www.irrodl.org/content/v5.2/technote2.html

Sener, J. (2001). Bringing ALN into the mainstream: NVCC case studies. In Bourne, J., and Moore, J. (Eds.), On-Line Education, Volume 2: Learning Effectiveness, Faculty Satisfaction, and Cost Effectiveness. (pp.7-29). Needham, MA: Sloan Center for OnLine Education.

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Shea, P., Swan, K., Fredericksen, E., and Pickett, A. (2002). Student satisfaction and reported learning in the SUNY learning network. In Bourne, J., and Moore, J. (Eds.), Elements of Quality Online Education. (pp.145-56). Needham, MA: Sloan Center for OnLine Education.

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Sonwalkar, N. (2001, December). The sharp edge of the cube: Pedagogically driven instructional design for online education. Syllabus. Retrieved June 13, 2002, from http://www.syllabus.com/syllabusmagazine/article.asp?id=5858

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Swan, K., (2003). Learning effectiveness: what the research tells us. In Bourne, J., and Moore, J. (Eds.), Elements of Quality Online Education: Practice and Direction. (pp.13-46). Needham, MA: Sloan- C.

Swan, K., Shea, P., Fredericksen, E.E., Pickett, A.M. & Pelz, W.E. (2000). Course Design Factors Influencing the Success of Online Learning. Retrieved June 13, 2003, from www.ericit.org/fulltext/IR020523.pdf

Thurmond, V., Wambach, K., Connors, H., and Frey, B. (2002). Evaluation of student satisfaction: determining the impact of a web-based environment by controlling for student characteristics. The American Journal of Distance Education, 16 (3), 169-89.

Trigano, P. C. & Pacurar-Giacomino, E. (2004). Toward a web based environment for evaluation and design of pedagogical hypermedia. Educational Technology & Society, 7(3), 21-37.

Tuzum, H. (n.d.). Guidelines for converting existing courses into web-based format. ERIC Clearinghourse on Inforamtion and Technology. Retrieved April 25, 2003, from www.distanc- education.com/dnews/?name=News&file=article&sid=8924

Vandergrift, K. (2002, July). The anatomy of a distance education course: a case study analysis, Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 6 (1). Retrieved October 15, 2002, from http://www.aln.org/publications/jaln/v6n1/v6n1_vandergrift.asp

Visser, L. & Visser, Y. L. (2000). Perceived and actual student support needs in distance education. The Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 1 (2), 109-117.

Vrasidas, C. & McIsaac, M. S. (1999). Factors influencing interaction in an online course. The American Journal of Distance Education, 13 (3), 2-35.

Weir, L. (2005, May). Raising the awareness of online accessibility. THE: Journal, 30 – 33.

Williams, P. E. (2000). Defining distance education roles and competencies for higher education institutions: A computer-mediated delphi study [Electronic Version] (Doctoral Dissertation, Texas A & M, 2000) Dissertation Abstracts International (UMI No. AAT9969029).

Wisher, R. A., Curnow, C. K., & Seidel, R.,J. (2001). Knowledge retention as a latent outcome measure in distance learning. The American Journal of Distance Education, 15(3), 20-35.

Wu, D., &Hiltz, S. (2004). Predicting learning from asynchronous online discussions. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 8(2). Retrieved May 3, 2005 from http://www.sloan- c.org/publications/jaln/v8n2/v8n2_wu.asp.

Yeung, D. (2002 ,summer). Toward and effective quality assurance model of web-based learning: The perspective of academic staff. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 5 (2). Retrieved March 19, 2003, from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/summer52/yeung52.htm

Youngblood, P., Trede, F., & DeCorpo, S. (2001). Facilitating online learning: A descriptive study. Distance Education, 22(2), 264-284.

Zhang, D. (2005). Interactive multimedia-based e-learning: A study of effectiveness. The American Journal of Distance Education, 19(3), 149-162.

American Council on Education (ACE) Distance Learning Principles No longer available online, but available from ACE in book form – see http://www.acenet.edu/bookstore/pubInfo.cfm?pubID=110, retrieved May 20, 2005.) The ACE Distance Learning Principles are very broad statements of five principles; each of which is detailed by a set of “sub-principles.” Principles in three areas, Learning Design (LD), Learning Outcomes (LO), and Technology (T), are referenced to the QM rubric.

Example reference: ACE LD 6 = Learning Design Principle, Sub-principle 6 (“Learning outcomes address both content mastery and increased learning skills.”)

American Distance Education Consortium (ADEC) Guiding Principles for Distance Learning (http://www.adec.edu/admin/papers/distance-learning_principles.html). Four very broadly worded statements comprise the ADEC Guiding Principles for Distance Learning. The first principle, “Design for active and effective learning,” is referenced to the QM rubric.

Example reference: ADEC Principle 1

NEA/IHEP Quality Benchmarks as found in the report “Quality On the Line: Benchmarks for Success in Internet-Based Distance Education” http://www.ihep.org/Pubs/PDF/Quality.pdf. This report contains a set of 24 quality benchmarks related to various areas of providing quality online education. Several Course Development Benchmarks (CDB), Teaching/Learning Benchmarks (T/LB), and Course Structure Benchmarks (CSB) are referenced to the QM rubric.

Example reference: NEA/IHEP T/LB 2 = the second Teaching/Learning Benchmark listed (“Feedback to student assignments and questions is constructive and provided in a timely manner.”)

Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB) Electronic Campus Principles of Good Practice (PGP) (http://www.electroniccampus.org/student/srecinfo/publications/principles.asp) Broad set of principles adopted from ones originally developed by WICHE. Principles related to Curriculum and Instruction (CI), Resources for Learning (RL), and Evaluation and Assessment (EA) are referenced to the QM rubric.

Example reference: SREB PGP RL 1 = the first Resources for Learning principle listed (“The program or course ensures that appropriate learning resources are available to students.”)

SREB Criteria for Evaluating Online Courses (http://www.evalutech.sreb.org/criteria/online.asp). SREB also has a list of criteria for evaluating online courses. Although geared to the K-12 environment, many of the criteria related to Teaching Site (TS), Student Site (SS), Course Content (CC), and Teacher Interaction (TI) are relevant to higher education online courses and thus referenced to the QM rubric.

Example reference: SREB CEOC CC = one or more criteria related to Course Content (e.g., “Assignments are clear and understandable to the student […].”)

Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education (WICHE) Best Practices for Electronically Offered Degree and Certificate Programs (download at http://www.wiche.edu/Telecom/Article1.htm) Also adapted by the Middle States Commission (MSC). Two components (Component 2e and 5f) are referenced to the QM rubric.

Example reference: WICHE/MSC 2e

Intro to Social Software Flickr Social Software With Flickr

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Intro to Social Software with Flickr Chris Lott Abstract:

A general introduction to social soft ware— concepts, characteristics, and aff ordances— using the Flickr photo sharing web service as an exemplar.

Table of Contents

What is Social Soft ware? ...... RegistrationPhotos and Tags ...... Tags and Folksonomies ...... Comments and Discussion ...... Blogging with Flickr ...... Notes/Annotations ...... Sets and Slideshows ...... Flickr Groups ...... Feeds and Syndication ...... Creative Commons ...... Th ird Party Applications ...... Conclusion and Further Resources ......

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What is Social Software?

Social soft ware is an umbrella term for a range of soft ware applications centered around communication and sharing of information and resources. It has been variously charac- terized as:

[Soft ware that] enables people to rendezvous, connect or collaborate through computer-mediated communication and to form online communities. —Wikipedia ...a particular sub-class of soft ware-prosthesis that concerns itself with the augmentation of human social and/or collaborative abili- ties through structured mediation (this mediation may be distributed or centalised, top-down or bottom-up/emergent). —Tom Coates Any arbitrary collection of algorithms, protocols and metadata that allows friendless agoraphobics to pretend otherwise. —Clay Shirky But my favorite, and one that is both funny and completely accurate at capturing the essence of social soft ware is simply this:

Stuff that can get spammed. —Clay Shirky Simply put, social soft ware is that which not only allows communication, but also outside contributions, all in service of creating and sustaining a community. Th ose contributions must matter or there’d be no point in “spamming” the site or service (nor anyone reading it to care).

In this article we will examine more closely the concepts and characteristics common to most social soft ware applications and the aff ordances they provide for educators using fl ickr, a popular popular photo sharing web service.

Th is is not a general guide to using fl ickr and photo sharing, so it doesn’t address many issues such as digital formats and photo resolution, nor does it detail many interesting fl ickr technical features, such as automatic resizing.

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Registration

If you don’t already have one, you can get your own free fl ickr account by following the Sign Up link on the front page. Anyone ready for this tutorial has signed up for a web- based service before, so I’m not going to go into the details.

For our purposes, the free account level is more than adequate. If you become a regular fl ickr user, particularly for multiple classes, you might start to chafe at the limitations on how much you can upload per month and how many “sets” of photos you can maintain. In this case you might consider a diff erent fl ickr account for each class or simply upgrading to the practically unlimited Pro account for a reasonable yearly fee. Photos and Tags

In its basic functionality, fl ickr resembles many other web-based photo album packages. Using the Upload link at the top of the page allows you to upload multiple images from your computer. However, unlike many applications the fi rst piece of information you are asked to provide for the photos isn’t a title or description, but tags.

Tags function a bit like ad-hoc, unlimited categories for your photos. In the example I’ve tagged the new photo with four tags:

• monkey • clips • ITS Because I am creating these “categories” on the fl y for my personal use, it’s perfectly acceptable to use tags that probably only make sense to me in my particular context, such as ITS.

Figure 1. Uploading Photos

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Photos and Tags

Only aft er submitting the photos to my account do I get a chance to add the more traditionally descriptive title and description.

Figure 2. Title, Description, Tag Modiﬁ cation

Once fi nished, uploaded photos appear on the main Photos page.

Figure 3. Flickr Photos Page Tags and Folksonomies

A major characteristic that identifi es Flickr as social soft ware rather than just a photo gallery application is the use of tags for organizing photos. As opposed to controlled vocabularies, taxonomies, and other pre-defi ned hierarchies that are established from the top-down and within which units of information (in this case, photos) are categorized, tags are bottom-up descriptors created on-the-fl y to meet individual needs. Used in this way, tagging systems are oft en referred to as folksonomies.

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Tags and Folksonomies

If this sounds like a recipe for chaos and imprecision, you’re right. Th e power of folksonomies are in their simplicity, ease of use, and personalization-- which all combine to make tagging something people are more likely to use than formal methods of organization (though there is no reason that any particular item can’t exist in both systems). It is a fuzzy, inexact system where some information is lost and some unrelated information is intermixed... but as you will see it is also powerful, ubiquitous, and fun!

Look at an individual photo page in fl ickr and on the right-hand you’ll see the tags that have been assigned to that photo.

Figure 4. Flickr Individual Photo Page

Selecting the tag name itself will show you all photos in that account using that tag. For example, clicking on the tag monkey shows all monkey photos

Figure 5. Flickr Individual Tag Page

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Tags and Folksonomies

Similarly, clicking on the small globe icon next to a tag (or following the “See all public photos” link highlighted in red above) will show you all public photos in fl ickr that are tagged monkey:

Figure 6. Flickr All Tag Page

Simply browsing tags can be interesting and enlightening, but it’s not particularly effi cient. A second characteristic of many kinds of social soft ware is that it recognizes the activity of users in relation to the units of information (photos) and uses that activity data to identify items that are more likely to be relevant. Th e assumption is that photos which have more individual views, comments, and links by users are more likely to be relevant. Th is selection of items might be referred to as popular, notable, hot, or in fl ickr’s case interesting, as you can see by following the “Most Interesting” link on the global tags page (Figure 6, “Flickr All Tag Page”):

Th e concept of “inter- estingness” is useful, to really take advantage of a folksonomy there must also be a system for handling multiple kinds of similarity.

As you will see browsing around on fl ickr, there will be many diff erent kinds of photos with similar content, but diff erent tags, such as: Figure 7. Flickr Interesting Tag Page

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Tags and Folksonomies

chimpanzee, monkeys (plural), monkee (possibly a misspelling, also a pop-culture reference), spidermonkey, etc. Th is is tag similarity.

At the same time, you might stumble across photos that use similar tags to label diff erent content. In our case, the tag monkey will reveal photos of the animal, pieces of art that involve monkeys, “sock-monkey” puppets, clothing, kitchenware, and more. Th is is conceptual similarity.

Finally, photos that share a tag-similarity might also have other tags in common... for instance, many items tagged monkey are also tagged graffi ti and/or art and/or painting (which might, themselves, exhibit tag-similarity), creating a potential group based on relational similarity.

All of this leads us to another characteristic of social soft ware: the algorithmic association of similarity, or as fl ickr calls it, clustering. Following the “Clusters” link on the left -hand side of a tag page (Figure 7, “Flickr Interesting Tag Page”, yellow highlight) allows us to browse using these diff erent notions of similarity:

Figure 8. Flickr Interesting Tag Page

As you can see, organizing information with tags is a fl exible and powerful system that is particularly apt for computer-based interpretation. Tags provide a simple, direct route to information one seeks; the individual nature of tags and tag clustering provide a more circuitous route that allows for conceptual groupings that you won’t see in more rigid systems, not to mention invaluable moments of serendipity and juxtaposition.

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Comments and Discussion

Continuing our examination of social soft ware features in fl ickr, we now come to one of the most obvious: user contributions. Although not a full-fl edged message board or blogging tool in itself, by default every individual photo page is available for comments by any fl ickr user. While browsing I decided to comment on this photo (lower left , highlighted):

Once the comment is saved it is available for everyone Figure 9. Commenting on a Photo to see and, if they wish, respond. In this way, each fl ickr photo is essentially a miniature bulletin board (a classic example of social soft ware). Because social soft ware puts an emphasis on this kind of interaction, each contribution has a permalink associated with it, which allows one to link directly to that entry when referring to it in other resources, such as one’s blog:

Figure 10. Photo with Comments and Permalink

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Blogging with Flickr

Speaking of blogs-- the quintessential current example of social soft ware-- it’s a good mo- ment to note that fl ickr has been designed to integrate directly with them in a couple of ways.

A fl ickr badge allows you to embed a group of recent pictures from your fl ickr account directly into your blog. You create the badge by choosing a format, color scheme, and source (all public photos, a particular tag, set, etc) for the photos and embedding the resulting code directly in your blog. Your “badge” is updated automatically everytime you add new pictures to fl ickr. For example, on the right-hand side of this educational blog you can see a “badge” showing the most recent student photos: Figure 11. Example of a Flickr “Badge”

Th e automated “badge” is great for keeping a blog fresh, but you might want to use specifi c pictures in a blog with associated thoughts and commentary... in other words, use a fl ickr photo as part of a traditional blog entry. Fortunately, fl ickr makes this quite easy. On the individual photo page of any public photo you’ve probably noticed the photo toolbar: Figure 12. Flickr Photo Toolbar Assuming you have set up one or more blogs on your fl ickr account page, you can use the toolbar to automatically create a blog entry, including the photo, in whichever blog you choose. Begin by pressing the Blog Th is toolbar button and selecting the blog you wish to post to: Figure 13. Photo Blogging: Choose Blog

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Blogging with Flickr

Using the fi elds provided enter a title and the text for your blog post.

Figure 14. Photo Blogging: Create Post

Press the Post Entry button and wait for the posting to be generated and sent to your blog. Th is might take a few seconds depending on the connection speed between fl ickr and your blog. When the post is complete you will be shown a confi rmation screen with a link to view your post.:

Figure 15. Photo Blogging: Conﬁ rmation

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Blogging with Flickr

You can use the Visit Your Blog link to view your blog entry. If you use tags, categories, and other post-specifi c features you may need to edit the post further, but the hard work has been done for you!

Figure 16. Photo Blogging: Viewing Blog

Notes/Annotations

One of the oft en unnoticed social features in fl ickr is the ability to add multiple notes (annotations) directly to specifi c regions of an image. Th is kind of direct image annotation is practically impossible in a typical blog, wiki, or discussion forum. By default, the owner of a photo can add notes as can any of the owner’s established contacts. Th e ability to make notes can be expanded to any fl ickr user or narrowed to an even more specifi c audience such as friends and family, or no one else at all.

Adding notes is simple. If you have the level of access needed to do so, an Add Note button will appear in the photo’s toolbar. Press it, drag and size the square marquee, and type your note.

Figure 17. Adding an Annotation

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Notes/Annotations

Once saved, your notes fi eld— along with any others —are visible by hovering over the individual note area on the photo itself.

Figure 18. Viewing Annotations A good example of using fl ickr notes (and comments) in an educational setting can be seen in this photo of Th e Merode Altarpiece. On the picture you can see educational notes from the instructor as well as notes from students. Th e comments thread beneath contains more contributions from students, questions, and answers. Sets and Slideshows

Making an ever-growing photo collection comprehensible and navigable to users other than yourself is an important part in encouraging user interaction. Flickr photo sets are simply groups of images that can be viewed and navigated apart from the rest of one’s photo collection. Note that photos in sets still exist in the main collection and in the chronologi- cal stream of photos-- they are not actually moved. Th is means when you update the main photo it is also updated in the photo set(s) it is part of; if you delete the main photo it is likewise deleted from the photo set(s) it occurs in.

Adding photos to a set is easy: use the Add to Set button on the photo toolbar and select the set you wish to add the photo to (or create a new one).

Figure 19. Adding Photo to a Set

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Sets and Slideshows

Aft er adding a new photo to a set (or choosing a set from the list of sets on the left -hand side of any main fl ickr photo page), you will be taken to the Set View where you see a representa- tive photo from the set, notes about the set as a whole, and thumbnails of all pictures in the set for navigation.

Figure 20. Viewing a Photo Set

If you are viewing one of your own sets, you will have some tools available in Set View for manipulating and changing all of the photos that belong to a set. How- ever, if you own the set there is a much more powerful and intuitive interface available from the navigation bar of any page on fl ickr... the Organizer:

Figure 21. The Flickr Organizer

Th e Organizer provides a rich visual interface for viewing, searching, managing, manipulating, rearranging, and editing all of your photos and photo sets, making it easy to gener- ate sets for diff erent purposes. Remember, though, that the free fl ickr account level only allows for three photo sets at any one time.

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Sets and Slideshows

Using the View as Slideshow link at the top right of a Set page allows you to create an instant slideshow presentation using that set’s photos. You can control the speed and basic formatting of the slideshow:

Figure 22. Viewing a Slideshow

Slideshows are not only a fun and visually compelling way to browse a set, but it can be used as the basis for portable presentations accessible with just a browser, no powerpoint needed. For example, view this presentation oriented slide set on Donlin Creek Mine Development as a slideshow. Flickr Groups

Good social soft ware not only allows users to interact with other users’ information and resources, but also allows them to interact with one another. Flickr Groups allow fl ickr users with shared interests of various kinds to create a common pool of photos, notes, and discussion threads. Some groups are run by the fl ickr organization, but most are created and run by fl ickr users. Any user can create a group, and that group can be open to all or by invitation only.

Th e fl ickr “Coff ee Group” is a typical example.

Figure 23. Flickr “Coﬀ ee” Group

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Flickr Groups

As you can see in the illustration, the main Group view shows the latest photos added to the group, the most recent discussion threads, and links to all the photos, discussions, and members. Group members add photos to the pool using

their own photo tool bar: Figure 24. Adding a Photo to a Group

Th ere are groups of all kinds in fl ickr, from coff ee affi cionadoes to lovers of black and white photos, educational users to ugly postcards and food porn. Find a few you like and start your own! Feeds and Syndication

Now we come to another central, defi ning characteristic of social soft ware: the presence of syndication feeds for site content. a feed is a machine-readable list of new and updated content on a web site. Th roughout fl ickr you will see links at the bottom of photo streams, group photo listings, tag pages, and cluster pages that say “Feeds for x available as RSS 2.0 and Atom”. I’ll go into detail in a further guide, but RSS and Atom are the two most common formats for making syndicated information available. Depending on the application, the feed might contain blog posts, discussion entries, audio fi les (podcasts), video fi les, or whatever has been added. In this case the feeds will contain photos.

What does this mean for you as a user? It means you can easily subscribe to, keep track of, and repurpose fl ickr information. Let’s look at a few examples. For various reasons I am always on the lookout for good monkey photos. Using a simple Firefox browser plugin, I can view the most recently added pictures for any group, user, or tag without going to fl ickr at all.

Figure 25. Viewing RSS Feed in Firefox Sidebar

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Feeds and Syndication

Th ere are various free dedicated feed readers that have advanced capabilities for searching feed items, storing and fi ling items, blogging about items, automating and collecting items based on keywords, and much more. Here is an example of a subscription to a friend’s photos in a popular dedicated feed reader called FeedDemon:

Figure 26. Viewing RSS Feed in Dedicated Feed Reader

If you travel a lot or work from different computers-- particularly those with slower connections, inadequate memory, etc.-- then a web-based feed reader, making syndicated content available to you wherever you can access the net in the most streamlined manner possible, might be a good solution. Here is an example viewing a subscriotion to all photos tagged archaeology using the Bloglines web-based feed reader:

Figure 27. Viewing RSS Feed in Web-Based Feed Reader

Th e power of syndication must not be overlooked by the savvy educator. Feed readers are oft en called “aggregators” and for good reason-- they are not only a convenient way to access particular, changing information, but also a way to bring many disparate pieces of information together. You might have a single class in which 20+ students are using their blogs and fl ickr for refl ective activities, projects, peer review, etc. You will probably discover at least that many more sites about education and your particular area of con-

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Feeds and Syndication

tent expertise. You will probably start noticing that dozens of web sites you keep up with (or try to keep up with), such as newspapers, magazines, book reviews, literary journals, scientifi c publications off er these feeds. If you participate in discussion boards, they might provide feeds.

Without syndication and aggregation you will either have to spend an inordinate amount of time surfi ng the web in a conventional manner (only to fi nd much of that time wasted when nothing has been updated on many of the sites), or you can use the feeds and a feed-reader to let that content come to you. When a new photo has been posted to fl ickr, something new added to a blog, a new story in your favorite media outlet, or a new article in your favorite online publication, you will be instantly notifi ed. You can read the material right in the feed reader, save it, trash it, blog about it, or share it without ever wasting time fruitlessly fi ghting your way through the crowded traditional web routes. Creative Commons

Th e philosophy of social soft ware places great value in collaboration and sharing--and not just in planned, expected ways. For this reason, many social soft ware applications will allow the application of Creative Commons license to the content they contain. Creative Com- mons (CC) licenses are an easy way to explicitly declare how your original material may be used by others. By applying the appropriate CC license, other users can make use of your work in approved ways without having to adhere to much more restrictive conventional copyright regulations and without having to track you down to ask permission fi rst. You can learn more about Creative Commons in the forthcoming Creative Commons Guide.

In Flickr, you can set a default license for uploaded photos. Th is license will apply to all photos uploaded from that point on. From that same licensing page you can also choose to change the license on earlier photos as a batch.

Th e license for individual photos can be seen (and changed) from the Additional Information block on the main photo page.

Figure 28. Additional Photo Information and License

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Creative Commons

If you follow the Change link to the photo’s privacy page you should see a Creative Com- mons logo with a “modify” link:

Figure 29. Creative Commons License Change Link

Finally, you can choose which license you would like to apply (if any-- you can also reserve all rights as defi ned by United States copyright law by choosing “none”).

Figure 30. Choosing a Speciﬁ c License

Th e Creative Commons licenses involve diff erent combinations of who can use the photo, what they can do with it, whether it can be used for commercial purposes or not, whether they have to attribute the photo back to you, and whether they are required to share their product in the same way you have shared yours. Further explanation of the license types can be found in the Creative Commons Guide Third Party Applications

Th e last aspect of social soft ware we will be looking at is not readily apparent while using fl ickr. As you have probably started to realize, the real value of a social soft ware application goes beyond its functionality to include the information and exchanges by its users. “It’s the data, stupid!” might well be a mantra for aspiring social soft ware application developers. Flickr has spawned a great number of third party applications because it has purposefully focused on having transparent, open access to the data in a multitude of ways that are suitable to many kinds of developers. A few examples of interesting third party applications built on fl ickr data are:

• Th e Flickr Color Picker (http://krazydad.com/colorfi elds/) - allows you to browse fl ickr photos by color and saturation using simpe selectors and sliders.

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Third Party Applications

• Retrievr (http://labs.systemone.at/retrievr/) - lets you search fl ickr photos by drawing a quick sketch of what you are looking for. • Flappr (http://bcdef.org/fl appr/) - provides a completely fl ash-based fl ickr browser

Dozens of interesting applications are gathered at fd’s Flickr Toys http://fl agrantdisregard. com/fl ickr/, from a mosaic maker to a badge generator, photo fortune generator to trading card maker...

Clearly, the developers at fl ickr couldn’t have conceived of-- much less created-- all of these “remixed” applications. But by making the fl ickr data readily available and being friendly to developers they have created a healthy community on both sides of the application: the visible side and the data side.

For teachers of all kinds, the availability of these many apps provide many more tools in the online “toolobox.” If you happen to teach a technical class (programming, web design, web development, etc) then fl ickr is an excellent (and fun) foundation for teaching basic skills and a valuable resource for useable images. Conclusion and Further Resources

In this brief article we have looked at a few of the ways that fl ickr exemplifi es connecting to other users and pictures, and annotation/set features make it a great application when images are needed for online activities, whether it be a few images for a specifi c activity or complex sets used for art history or microscopy labs.

Th ere are many kinds of social soft ware that can be particularly useful for educational and/or professional purposes:

• Social Bookmarking services such as del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us/) and furl (http:// furl.net/) facilitate management and storing of web bookmarks and links combined with powerful social soft ware features for sharing and discovering relevant resources with and by others. • Weblog tools such as Blogger (http://www.blogger.com/), WordPress (http://wordpress.org), MovableType (http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/), and others make it easy for anyone to be their own web publisher not just for a site, but for a community. • Wikis are simple, collaboration based sites that anyone (or anyone in a selected group) can edit by simply following a link and editing the simple, plain-text based content. Th e most famous public wiki is Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page), with

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Conclusion and Further Resources

more than than 1.1 million publically created articles in the English version alone. Other wiki services include WikiSpaces (http://www.wikispaces.com/), Wikia (http://www. wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page)(formerly WikiCities), and soft ware you can run on your own server such as PmWiki (http://www.pmwiki.org/) • Hopefully this guide will help you catch the excitement of the social soft ware revolu- tion that is currently engulfi ng the old web and creating a new, participatory Read/Write Web and allow you to fi nd unique and innovative uses for your classes.

Legal Notice

Th is material is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Sha- reAlike 3.0 License. Terms and conditions for distribution can be found at Creative Com- mons (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 144 Weblogs in Education

Weblogs in Education What Are They?

Weblogs, or blogs, have been around since the 90s and are as diverse as their authors. Over the years the features and functionality of blogs have developed along with the changing technologies of the web, but they all share the basic characteristic of reverse-chronologically displayed posts.

Th e appeal of blogs is their ease of use as they don’t require any previous skill to get started. Every blog is diff erent and can be implemented in a number of ways to suit the needs of their users. Th ey can have a single author or a community of authors and those authors may allow other people, not affi liated with the blog, to comment on posts. An author may also decide that only certain people can access the blog such as friends or family, or a small group where privacy is a concern.

Th e range of blog topics is as diverse as their authors and blogging style can be just as unique. People create and maintain blogs as personal places to share insight and original thought, while others re-blog content they fi nd on other blogs. Blogs are used to track their progress toward a goal, to rant, or to promote consumer brands. Photo blogs (photos) and Vlogs (videos) are used as visual journals, Still other blogs serve up reviews and interviews. Whatever you’re looking for it seems there is a blog for it. When is a Blog the Right Tool?

Blogs can be very fl exible and have many features, when it is a more appropriate tool over a discussion board? Th e answer to this question could fi ll a book, but Lee Lefever from CommonCraft (http://www.commoncraft .com/archives/000768.html) has created a matrix that will help get you thinking about what may be most appropriate for your situation:

Blogs are centrally controlled by an individual or small group. New topics are introduced only by the individual or small group. Others may comment on these new topics, but it is not required.

Discussion Boards are decentralized and share control of the discussion equally among participants. New topics can be introduced by anyone in the group and anyone can replay to any of the topics - so it is the group that determines the direction of the discussion.

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Educational Uses for Weblogs

Naturally, weblogs can serve many purposes in an educational setting depending on how you choose to use them. Here are some examples: Log Reflective Writing

Individual students can use weblogs to create and collect refl ective exercises such as journals, assignment responses, or directed writing exercises. Using a weblog, instructors don’t have to collect, sort, and archive email messages or bulletin board entries. Because weblog entries are “published” rather than simply sent to an individual, it highlights and rein- forced the idea of semi-formal discourse. If the weblogs are made public (or shared with just the rest of the class), then the student will gain practice writing for others. Create a Class Community

A single weblog can be maintained by a group of authors. Creating a single weblog instance in which all students in a course become authors is a natural method for creating a class community. Like a discussion board, each instructor will need to facilitate the fl ow of posts, model good blogging behaviors, and defi ne expectations for what students can (and should) post. A class weblog might be simply topical or it might be assignment driven. Th is kind of community weblog can be particularly useful in the distance education setting, to combat “the loneliness of the long-distance learner.” Create a Collaborative Resource

A weblog can be used to create a collaborative resource. Having students collaboratively build a weblog around a specifi c topic is not only a good exercise in research and writing, but may well result in a genuinely useful resource to the world at large. Weblog soft ware lowers the barriers to entry to allow for this kind of collaboration at a distance. Create a Class Information Site

In a distance education setting, timely and effi cient information dissemination is critical. Weblogs are easy to maintain and post, and most weblog tools allow for diff erent streams of information that can be syndicated and picked up by students in a variety of diff erent ways. Th is is more visible than discussion board posts or posting such information as course documents, while allowing for room to expand on topics and posts that are not easily handled by the “Announcements” section of a Learning Management System.

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Th e important concepts here-- beyond issues of mere convenience-- is to create critical conversation and connections in the learning experience. Weblogs enable more than just a personal writing space, but they invite users to participate in a larger community, to take their place in the information ecology, to learn how to participate in and perform (not just learn about): critical thinking, creating a narrative, formal and informal discourse, research and attribution, linking, write for others, take creative risks, collaborate with others, participate in a variety of conversations, and much more. Getting Started

For sophisticated, technically inclined users, there are a plethora of options for setting up a weblog on your own server or using your own web space (see the Weblog Soft ware links below for pointers to some of the best). However, getting started demands little or no expertise... just a few minutes of time to get registered with a weblog host and start publishing! Blogger.Com, the original hosted blog service (now owned by Google) is a good place to begin. Resources and Links Weblogs in Education

• weblogg-ed : Using RSS and Weblogs in Education http://www.weblogg-ed.com/ • Blogging in the Classroom: • Part 1 http://www.mcgeesmusings.net/2002/10/10.html#a2491 • Part 2 http://www.mcgeesmusings.net/2002/10/16.html#a2503 • Part 3 http://www.mcgeesmusings.net/2002/10/19.html#a2529 • Part 4 http://www.mcgeesmusings.net/2002/10/23.html#a2598 • Personal Knowledge Publishing and Its Uses in Research http://radio.weblogs.com/0110772/stories/2002/10/03/personalKnowledgePublishin- gAndItsUsesInResearch.html • LearnTechLearn... Repeat http://www.tabulas.com/~rocky/content/2035.html

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Educational Blog Samples

• Some schools/educational institutions/classes using weblogs http://alterego.manilasites.com/stories/storyReader$212 • Infi nite Th inking Machine (technology in education) http://www.infi nitethinking.org/ • Dangerously Irrelevant (technology, leadership, and the future of schools) http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/ • Mr. Fjelstrom’s Geometry Blog (geometry classroom resource) http://mrfsgeometry.wordpress.com/ Weblog History

• Weblogs: A History and Perspective http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html • Th e History of Weblogs http://newhome.weblogs.com/historyOfWeblogs Weblog Hosts, Software, Desktop Clients Hosted Services

Th ese services provide the soft ware and hosting in one package.

• Blogger (free) http://www.blogger.com/ • TypePad ($4.95/mo and up, uses Movable Type) http://www.typepad.com/ • LiveJournal (free + paid accounts with extra services) http://www.livejournal.com/ • Radio Userland ($39.95/yr, desktop client) http://radio.userland.com/ • Pitas - http://www.pitas.com/ • Vox - http://www.vox.com/

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Software

Weblog soft ware you can run on your server or hosted space. Non-geeks, please excuse the cryptic notes.

• Movable Type (Perl) - http://www.movabletype.org/ • WordPress (PHP) - http://www.wordpress.org/ • TextPattern (PHP) - http://www.textpattern.com/ • Drupal (PHP) - http://www.drupal.org Desktop Clients

Desktop clients run on your computer and provide a diff erent, non-web-based interface for posting to your weblog. Th is provides convenience and, oft en, an enhanced interface for formatting posts. Not all weblog soft ware can accept posts from these clients, and not all clients work with all weblogs!

• Zempt (Windows) http://www.zempt.com/ • Ecto (Mac/Windows) http://www.kung-foo.tv/ecto/ • w.bloggar (Windows) http://www.wbloggar.com/ • BlogApp (Mac OS X) http://www.objectivelabs.com/blogapp.php • Chronicle (Windows/Mac/Linux) http://chronicle.caff einatedbliss.com/lite/index.php • Azure (Palm PDA/Cell Phone) http://web.vee.net/projects/azure/ • ScribFire (Firefox extension) https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fi refox/addon/1730

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Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 152 Google Blogger

Getting Started With Blogger

Google’s blogging platform, Blogger, is an online service that allows you to cut your blogging baby teeth painlessly. Th e following are instructions for creating your fi rst Blogger blog.

To begin, you will need a Google account. If you do not have one Blogger will help you create one in just a few moments. Just follow the orange arrow.

www.blogger.com

Enter your information in the form. Be sure to use an email address you currently have access to when creating this account. You will use this email whenever you need to log into Blogger or any of Google’s services.

When you are fi nished with the form, follow the orange arrow.

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If you already have a Google account, log into Google with your email address (your username) and your password and then go to Blogger.com. You will then be signed in for that site.

You can now begin to create your blog. First, you will need to provide a title for the blog. It will be the title that shows at the top (the banner area) of each page.

Next, you must decide on the address for your blog. Th is will be the address that people will use to view your blog. It make take a few tries to fi nd a name that is available. Once you have found one, be sure to write it down.

Follow the orange arrow when you are fi nished.

Select a template for your blog. Some of the styles have additional variations you can preview by clicking the diff erent radio buttons. You can browse around and view the diff erent templates. Once you have found one you like, follow the orange arrow to save your selection.

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You now offi cially have a blog and can begin posting right away by following the orange arrow. Posting to Your Blog

To create your fi rst post add a title and begin typing the body of your post in the large textbox. Th ere are formatting tools available at the top of the posting window that allow you to create hyperlinks, add images, change your text alignment, and change your font style. Th ese tools work similar to the formatting tools in Microsoft Word.

If you are savvy with HTML you can edit it directly from the HTML tab in the upper right corner of the textbox.

When you have fi nished with your post select the orange PUBLISH button to save your post and to publish it to your live blog.

If you want to save your work and come back to it late, just click the SAVE AS DRAFT button. Your post will be saved, but not displayed live on the blog.

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To change the commenting options for the post click on the POST OPTIONS link. Th is specifi es if comments are allowed.

You can also change the date your post will appear to be created using the POST TIME AND DATE fi elds.

Th at is it! You have created your blog and added your fi rst post. Follow the VIEW BLOG link to see what your blog looks like to everyone else.

VOILA!

Th is is how your blog loos to the rest of the world.

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Configuring Your Settings

Now that you’re a blogging pro you can start tweaking your settings to be sure the blog is doing what you need it to do. Use the SETTINGS tab to access all of the settings for your blog.

On the BASIC settings page you are able to re-title your blog and add a description. Th e description will appear as a tagline in your blog banner.

Note that at the bottom of the page you are able to delete your blog. If you use this button your blog will be gone forever.

Th e settings on the FORMAT- TING page will help you format how posts appear on your blog. You can set how many posts you would like to appear on your front page in the SHOW fi eld. You can also set your date display format and time zone from this page.

Th e ARCHIVING page will allow you to choose which type of archive you would like for your blog. Unless you are a prolifi c blogger, choose Monthly or Weekly.

Enable Post Pages to if you want each post to have its own page. Th is is good if you want to link directly to your posts.

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Th e SITE FEED page will allow you to confi gure how your feed displays in feed readers.

By switching to AD- VANCED MODE you can turn off /on the feed for your posts, for comments, and for individual post comment feeds.

Mail-to-Blogger allows you to create an email address that you can use to post to your blog. Be sure the email address you chose is not easy to guess. Once you have set your address, send an email to that address when you want to post to your blog.

Th e PERMISSIONS page will allow you to add more authors to your blog. It may be that you have a TA or a guest speaker you would like to invite to contribute to your class blog. Adding that person as an author will allow you to do just that.

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Customizing Your Template

Change the look of your blog by using the TEMPLATE tab.

Th e PAGE ELEMENTS page allows you reorganize and add content on your blog template, such as link lists, pictures, profi le information, an RSS feed, and/or HTML/Javascript if you would like to create your own element.

Be sure and SAVE your changes.

Th e FONTS AND COLORS page lets you changes the colors in your template for the page background, link colors and text colors based on location on the page.

Th e blog window in the bottom area of the screen will let you preview what your changes look like before you apply them.

Don’t forget to SAVE your changes when you have fi nished selecting your new colors.

If you are good with HTML and CSS the EDIT HTML tab gives you access some of the code of your blog if you’re interested in making some advanced changes.

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You can also change the look of your blog by selecting a totally new template from the PICK NEW TEMPLATE page. Th is is the same page you used to set the look of your blog when you fi rst set it up.

To change a template just click on a radio button for a new template and save your changes.

Keep in mind that all aspects of your blog can be changed at any time, so if you fi nd you have made a change you don’t like you will be able to change it back to the way it was, or to something totally diff erent. Th at being said, don’t confuse your readers. Th ey may have diffi culty fi nding your content if you change the template too frequently. Content is king.

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Aggregation & Feeds

With so much information available online it is now too time consuming to visit all of the websites you want to follow, especially if your students all have their own blogs. Aggrega- tion is an effi cient way to gather all the news/information/content you want into one place, saving you time. RSS Feeds

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” or “Rich Site Summary”, depending on who you talk to. RSS feeds make it possible for people to make content available online for anyone to “pull” down whenever they want it.

Sites that employ feeds enable others to access their content through their own set of preferred tools. Feeds are written according to a machine-readable standard that allows content to be portable. Th is means that a web site that publishes a feed can be read by anything that understands the standard. In turn, the feed can read by a person who might remix the content with their own and in turn, reuse that content. How Do I Find A Feed?

Subscribing to an RSS feed of a web site you want to follow allows you to access the site content without actually going to the web site. To subscribe, look for an orange icon like the one to the right. Th ere are a few other icons that also indicate a feed is available. Depending on the web browser you use you can fi nd available feeds:

Firefox feed icon Internet Explorer feed icon

Flock feed icon Netscape feed icon

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Feed Readers

Feed readers, sometimes called news aggregators, are soft ware clients that collect the feeds you want to “subscribe” to. Th e reader then gathers all the latest news and posts from the sites you are subscribed to and allows you to read them all in one place. Th is is the part that saves you time because you don’t have to go to each site and search to fi nd the latest news. Th e reader searches for you and “pulls” the new content for you to read.

Th ere are numerous readers available to use for free: Web-based

• Google Reader - http://www.google.com/reader • BlogLines - http://www.bloglines.com • PageFlakes - http://www.pagefl akes.com • NetVibes - http://www.netvibes.com Client Software

• BlogBridge - http://blogbridge.com/ • More clients can be found at the Open Directory Project: http://dmoz.org/Computers/Soft ware/Internet/Clients/WWW/Feed_Readers/ Hybrid

• Firefox Extensions (web browser) - http://www.getfi refox.com Sage - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fi refox/addon/77 BlogRovr - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fi refox/addon/4689 Wizz RSS NEws Reader - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fi refox/addon/424 • Th underBird (email) - http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/

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Google Reader

Google has an online feed reader called Google Reader (http://www.google.com/reader). To get started with Reader, go to the URL and sign in with your Google account (the same account we used to sign up for Blogger).

Aft er logging in you will see the Reader interface. If this is your fi rst time in Reader you will not see any feeds in your left sidebar.

Subscribe to a feed

1. Copy the feed URL from the web site you want to subscribe to 2. In Google Reader, paste the feed URL in the text box and press Enter. 3. You feed is added

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Google Reader

Managing Feeds

Aft er subscribing to a few sites you may benefi t from organizing the feeds you’re subscribed to. To manage your feeds in Google Reader use the MANAGE SUB- SCRIPTIONS link at the bottom of the left sidebar.

Subscriptions are assigned tags so that they are easier to fi nd and so that feeds with similar content can be sorted together. Use the drop-down box to add a new tag if the tag you want to use is not already there. Select that tag and assign it to a subscription.

Subscriptions can also be sorted by folders. Th e drop-down box on the right of each subscription entry allows you to select a folder, or folders to assign. You can also add a new folder from here.

When you are fi nished managing your subscriptions use the BACK TO GOOGLE READER link.

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Google Reader

Reading Subscriptions

Your subscriptions are all displayed (or are sorted) in the left sidebar of the Google Reader interface. To read them you can either click on a subscription to see all unred content in the feed, or click on a folder to see all of the unread content in the entire folder.

While reading there are a few features to be aware of.

Clicking on the title of a post or the gray arrow beside it takes you to the original source of the article. Th is is particularly useful if a feed only part of the article.

As you read through your feeds items can be marked as being read. In list view, items are marked as read when you click on them. In expanded view, items are marked as read when you scroll past them. Uncheck the mark-as- read box to leave the item unread. Sharing

Th ere are two ways to share what you are reading in Reader - Th e Share button and email. Use the Share button to add an item to your public page. Your public page is an easy way to share items of interest with your friends and family. Th e Email button allows you to email the item to a specifi c person.

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Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 168 Social Bookmarking Social Bookmarking

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Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking is the act of saving bookmarks online and sharing them with others. Bookmarks are “tagged” with keywords provided by the user. Th e creator of a bookmark saves the bookmark and tags it with meaningful words that make the link easy to fi nd later. Social bookmarking allows you to overcome the limitations of the traditional (old- school) bookmarking you do in your web browser.

Tagging is a non-heirarchical way of organizing. In this context it is an informal and personal process where a user assigns a meaningful word or set of words to describe information so that it may be found again by searching on the tags. Th e vocabulary used to tag information is created by the user, and is therefore referred to as a folksonomy - or user-generated taxonomy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folksonomy). Folksonomies create opportunities for serendipitous discoveries of information tagged by others using words you interpret as being relevant.

While the use of folksonomies is a defi nite advantage to social bookmarking sites, it is also a drawback due to personalized meaning, unclear context, and no defi ned standard for the tag structure Advantages of Social Bookmarking

• Access to bookmarks online even while away from your regular computer • Organize bookmarks using tags • Share bookmarks with others • Follow what others are reading and linking to • Discover resources from other users by searching tags • Search bookmarks quickly Bookmarking for the Classroom

• Use tags to create a set of bookmarks as a class resource • Conduct research and interact with peers • Follow group work and track student progress with tags • Set up a group tag so everyone can share found resources • Use tag feeds to integrate bookmarks into online resources

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Social Bookmark Sites

del.icio.us - http://del.icio.us

spurl - http://www.spurl.net/

furl - http://www.furl.net/

ma.gnolia.com - http://ma.gnolia.com/ More Information

Tag - You’re Delicious: http://www.pbs.org/teachers/learning.now/2006/05/tag_youre_delicious.html

Top 5 Social Bookmarking Services: http://www.pandia.com/sew/327-social-bookmarking.html

Social Tagging @ Harvard: Part I: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/mediaberkman/2007/03/30/social-tagging-harvard-part-i/

Social Taggin @ Harvard: Part II: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/mediaberkman/2007/03/30/social-tagging-harvard-part-ii/

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Getting Started With del.icio.us

del.icio.us is a social bookmarking tool that will get you started tagging in just a few moments. To begin, you will need a del. icio.us account.

If you don’t have a del.icio.us account, you will need to create one. Before you begin, be sure you have access to an active email account to complete the registration process. If you’re not already using Firefox now is a good time to start. You can do more with del.icio.us in Firefox.

Fill out the registration form with the appropriate information and click the REGISTER button.

An email will be sent to the address you provided. You will have to open that email and click the link inside to verify your new account.

Once you have registered you will be taken to a page that will help you install icons in your browser to enable you to tag pages. Th e icon on the left that looks like a checkerboard will take you to your saved links. Th e “tag” icon on the right is the button you will use to tag pages.

When you see the icons in your browser’s toolbar, you’re ready to go.

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Start Bookmarking

When you are on a page you want to tag (bookmark) simply click the “tag” icon.

A new window will open. Here you can add a name for the link as well as a short description and some tags. If you want to use multiple tags, separate them with a space. When you’re fi nished, click SAVE and your link will be saved to your del.icio.us links.

Your link is displayed at the top of your links in del.icio.us, as the most recently added link. You are also able to see how many others have linked to that same page.

Your tags will display in the sidebar of your del.icio.us page (http://del.icio.us/username/) as you create and use them. You can then browse your links by clicking on any tag or by using the search feature at the top right of the page. Tag Intersections

To search tags related to a tag you are currently searching you can reference the “related tags” listed in the sidebar of the page. Notice there is a “+” sign in front of the related tags. By clicking the “+” you create what is called a tag intersection.

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In the screen shot on the left you see the intersection of a search for architecture + prefab. del.icio. usis displaying all of the links this user has tagged with the words “architecture” and “prefab”. Notice the URL at the top of the page - http://del.icio.us/iconolith/ architecture+prefab

It is possible to search links from all users that have been tagged with both “architecture” and “prefab” by simply changing the username in the URL in the above example to the word “tag” so that it reads like this - http://del.icio.us/tag/architecture+prefab.

Tag intersections allow you fi lter information to create specifi c views and see relationships. Th ey also enable you to create topi-specifi c feeds of people in your network or every Th is is a good way to follow what people are bookmarking on specifi c topics on del.icio.us. Sharing del.icio.us makes it easy to share. Begin by sending your friends, co-workers, or students links to your bookmarks or tags.

• Th e link to all your bookmarks is - http://del.icio.us/username/ • Links to your tags will follow this convention - http://del.icio.us/username/tagname/ Your Network

If you discover a person with interesting bookmarks, you can add them to your network to make it easy to follow their links in the future. Your network con- nects you to other del.icio.us users whether they be friends, family, coworkers, even new people you run across while exploring del.icio.us. It is a people-aggre- gator, collecting your favorite users’ latest bookmarks in one place for you to view and enjoy.

To manage Your Network use the YOUR NETWORK link at the top of the screen. To add someone to your network just type their name into the box in the

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 175 Social Bookmarking

upper left of the screen and click ADD. You may also start getting fans. Your fans is your reverse network: a list of people who have added you to their network and who are following what you link to.

You can also share links directly with people in your network by clicking on their username (under your network) or by typing in the tag for:username. Th at user (or users) will receive the link you send on their “Links for You” page. Feeds

Feeds are available for your bookmarks. Th ey are also available for your network, any username, any tag, or tag intersection, To fi nd the RSS feed look for the icon near the bottom of the link results of the page you are viewing. Th ese feeds also make it possible to share your links on a web site. Resources

Th irdparty tools for del.icio.us - http://del.icio.us/help/thirdpartytools

Firefox del.icio.us extensions - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fi refox/search?q=del.icio.us&status=4

Send your links to your blog - https://secure.del.icio.us/settings/iconolith/blogging/posting

Send daily links to your blog - http://del.icio.us/help/linkrolls

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 176 Social Bookmarking

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 177 Social Bookmarking

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 178 Classroom Management

Classroom Communication and Management Technology Readiness

When teaching online you must be ready to serve as the fi rst level of technical support for your students. Primarily this means realizing that each level of technology that is needed places demands on your time, particularly at the beginning of a semester or the start of a new class.

If you are using Blackboard, have an assignment that helps the students learn the system before they start trying to learn and perform. We recommend a method successfully used throughout UAA: the Blackboard Scavenger Hunt (see Teaching Tip: http://distance.uaf. edu/lib/research/teaching-tips-23.pdf).

If you are using a synchronous tool for class sessions or offi ce hours, make at least the fi rst session mandatory and plan to spend that session helping students get into and learn to use the basic functionality of the tool.

If you are requiring particular soft ware tools and techniques (Word revision tracking, equation editing, spreadsheet creation) link your students to existing resources for help and provide some documentation to help them get started.

Each new tool you introduce (discussion board, mailing list, weblog) will create some amount of initial time to implement and some management time and responsibilities to your schedule. Response Time and Consistency

Regardless of the means of communication that you promote or require your students to utilize, it is critical that you manage expectations of—and provide consistency in—your response times. Each student should know how long they can expect to wait if they send you an email or when they will be able to interact with you during your next session of offi ce hours.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 179 Classroom Management

Email is the bedrock communication means in online distance education. It can be enhanced—but never replaced—by a plethora of tools, some of which are discussed here. Using email eff ectively, as well as dealing with the demands of high-volumes of important email, are important skills for any online instructor.

See:

• Handling Email Overload [pdf] http://distance.uaf.edu/lib/research/teaching-tips-21.pdf • and the accompanying resources http://distance.uaf.edu/archives/sub-research/teaching-tips-email-overload-resources.php Daily, Weekly, and on Demand

Regular communication between student and instructor is vital to student success. Ex- perience consistently shows that those students with whom an instructor has the earliest contact, and those students with whom there is the most communication, will have the highest rates of course completion. It is easier to just do your part to facilitate this communication than to attempt to solve the chicken-and-egg statistical conundrum inherent in the experience!

Every online instructor should plan time in their schedule for daily contact with selected students, weekly contact with the class, and on-demand responses:

• Daily Email includes responses to questions and assignments and, most importantly, proactive communications with students to reassure them that you are there and that you are paying attention to their progress. Sending an email or two (depending on class size) means you will have some contact with even the most reluctant learners every few weeks. Th ere is an added benefi t in helping you learn more about—and remember—your individual students without the benefi t of regular face-to-face interaction. • Weekly Email should be sent your entire class. If you are teaching a semester-based or cohort class, then this can include information about upcoming material and assignments. If you are teaching a radically asynchronous class, this message should at least include contact information, information about offi ce hours, and a personal message to your students of some kind.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 180 Classroom Management

• On-Demand Email is that which is sent in response to student queries and assignment submissions. You will want to set aside a couple of regular weekly time to process this kind of email. Unless you are traveling or otherwise unable to access email for logistical reasons (students should, of course, be made aware of this), email shouldn’t sit without response for more than 3-5 days. Your students should be made aware of this response time so they don’t have to fret over whether the mail arrived, if they asked a ‘stupid’ question, if their assignment was lost, if you are ignoring them, etc. Email Accounts

Attempting to deal with (multiple) online classes, work, and personal email with just one account can be problematic. It can be hard to distinguish class email from other traffi c, and if you archive email throughout a semester your account will quickly reach its quota of stored message. UAF Department of Computing and Communication will provide you with separate, individual accounts for each of your classes.

UAF email accounts are generally reliable, but they do serve a very broad population. For this reason some features that are potentially useful for instructors dealing with large amounts of email are unavailable on the UAF system. Sometimes it’s worthwhile to pay $10- $20 per month for an external email host that will provide some of these features such as:

• Much higher storage space to archive messages for longer-terms (and all outgoing email) and receive large attachments • Virtually unlimited accounts for short-term purposes • Email fi ltering to greatly reduce spam email traffi c • Server-side email processing to automatically route email to particular accounts or using particular tags into folders Protocols

Many instructors are still using venerable POP3 technology which downloads email to the user’s computer for processing. IMAP is a newer, faster technology allowing you to access and store your mail on the remote system. Th is provides the considerable advantage that all of your email is accessible from anywhere you might be. No more messages lost “somewhere else” when you need them! Almost any modern email client can be confi g- ured to utilize IMAP. One potential disadvantage to IMAP is that—because it stores your email in folders on the server—you can easily fi nd yourself bumping up against the quota of storage space available to your account. For this reason, you will want to request the maximum storage available and make use of an offl ine archive on whatever computer you use most.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 181 Classroom Management

Clients

A simple method to better mail management is to adopt—and then fully learn to use—a capable email client that provides mechanisms for template responses, fi lters, folder management, etc. Webmail is only for emergencies! Some common clients that provide plenty of functionality with minimal risks to security are: Mozilla Mail, Th underbird, Outlook Express, Eudora, and Apple Mail (OS X).

Learn how your client will allow you to create and use a sensible folder structure (for each class you might have a current inbox of material awaiting response, an archive of material that you have seen/graded/responded to, and an archive of sent-mail for that class), how to create and use message templates and other “canned text” for common responses, how to create and use an address list for all of your students using the Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) functions to preserve student email confi dentiality, how to fi lter out spam mail, etc. Archiving

No matter what client you use, keeping an archive of email for past semesters is important in case of disputes later on. Th ese don’t have to be immediately at-hand in your email client, but you do need them! Remember to archive not only email from students but also email that you send to them. If you are using separate email accounts for class purposes, collecting the appropriate “sent-mail” messages will be easier. Traditional Mailing Lists

A traditional mailing list is a service to which you and your students “subscribe” and then all messages sent to the mailing list address are automatically distributed to the students. Like discussion boards, some students will take well to this medium and others will need more coaxing. Th e advantage of the mailing list is that it provides another simple means of promoting and creating class community within an interface and application that all students will be familiar with. Modern mailing list managers will also provide some kind of archive of messages and a web-based facility for reading—and sometimes posting—new messages to the group. A small, but nice, side-benefi t is that mailing list soft ware will automatically provide a subject “tag” which you can use to automatically fi le list messages.

UAF does provide limited mailing list services (http://www.uaf.edu/listowners/listform. html), but you might fi nd that you want more fl exibility and services, in which case we have made some suggestions below:

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 182 Classroom Management

Office Hours

• Yahoo Groups: http://groups.yahoo.com/ • Google Groups: http://groups-beta.google.com/ Offi ce hours are an important time for individual and small-group communication as well as reassuring your students that, even in a distance education setting, you are available to help them outside of regular class sessions. You are likely to discover that offi ce hours are more oft en used for socialization than assistance, particularly if you provide an open area for group interaction in addition to a private channel to communicate with individual students. Th is social aspect of the medium is a good thing for sustaining the learning community in your classroom… don’t discourage it!

On the class syllabus and web site, list your offi ce hours and time-zone. You should set aside at least two periods per week during which you will be available. Multiple short blocks of varying times (e.g. one in the aft ernoon, one in the evening, one on a weekend day) will likely be more eff ective than a few long sessions. If you are using audioconfer- ence, or another metered technology to hold offi ce hours, make your students aware that you will wait on the line for a set amount of time for students to join the conference.

For online classes, there are a variety of low-bandwidth web-based tools that can be used to hold offi ce hours:

• Instant Messenger (IM) is a common, synchronous technology that will already be familiar to many students through personal use. With IM, you can have a real-time text conversation with a student (multiple students can be included in the same conversation or you can have multiple conversation windows open, each with a single student). Th ere are a variety of IM clients that students might already be used to from their personal use of the web. A multi-client tool like Trillian, Miranda, or Fire can be used to allow you to interact with students using diff erent tools. However, these multi-clients do not generally support the more advanced features that might be found in the dedicated IM client, such as fi le transfers, shared whiteboard, two-way audio, shared web browsing, or basic application sharing. • MSN Instant Messenger http://messenger.msn.com/ • Yahoo Instant Messenger http://messenger.yahoo.com/ • ICQ http://www.icq.com/ • Trillian Unifi ed Client for Windows

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 183 Classroom Management

Office Hours

http://www.trillian.cc/ • Miranda Unifi ed Client for Windows http://www.miranda-im.org/ • Fire Unifi ed Client for Mac http://fi re.sourceforge.net/ • Meebo (http://www.meebo.com/) is a web-based multi-protocol IM program that can be used to talk to students using various IM programs without even needing to install a client. • Th e Blackboard Virtual Classroom (BbVC) (http://classes.uaf.edu/) is a Java-based synchronous class tool that provides synchronous text-chat and a rudimentary shared whiteboard to which an instructor can post images which can be collaboratively marked up or which can be written on using basic drawing tools. Th e BbVC has been used successfully for group conversations, offi ce hours, and as a supplement for classes in which a visual component can be particularly useful for explanation, such as basic algebra. Like IRC, the BbVC is best for small group or class discussions in which conversations are meant to be shared with all participants. • Elluminate Live (http://elive.uaf.edu/) is a full-fl edged synchronous class session tool which provides facilities for sharing PowerPoint presentations, text chat, two-way Internet audio, polling, shared whiteboard and even application sharing. With these features come increased technology and bandwidth demands. Each user must have a relatively modern computer running the latest version of Java and—if using two-way audio—headphones, microphone, and relatively stable Internet connection. If you are not planning on using features beyond two-way chat and/or simple audio, then would probably be better served with a less demanding application such as some of those mentioned earlier. • Skype (http://www.skype.com/) is an increasingly popular service for two-way audio and IM that is unobtrusive and of relatively high quality. As a mechanism for two-way (and small group!) audio it works quite well and it has the advantage of being relatively common in the “real” world. Assignments and Deadlines Assignment Transmission

Handling the fl ow of assignments, corrections, and revisions can be a surprisingly diffi cult process. You will need to identify a few functional paths for your students to use and explicitly disallow using other methods except under exceptional, pre-approved circum-

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 184 Classroom Management

Assigments and Deadlines

stances. If you are planning to rely on transmission of fi les (word processor, PDF, image, application fi les, etc) rather than just plain text, there is an extra level of management to consider.

For UAF online instructors there will be a few primary mechanisms:

• Email is the tried and true method for collecting and sending assignments. If you take advantage of some of the methods described in the email section you will be able to handle larger volumes of assignments without undue anxiety • Th e Blackboard Digital Drop Box allows you to transfer fi les to and from students within Blackboard. Th is is a convenience, particularly because you can archive a number of fi les in Blackboard for distribution at any time in the future. However, because Blackboard doesn’t notify you (or students) when new material has been transferred, this service is most oft en used to distribute planned material (accompanied by an announcement) or following a request by a student. If you use the drop box, you must remember to check for new materials at least every few days. Posting to the drop box from slow, remote connections can also be quite slow for large fi les. • Th e Assignment content type in Blackboard is intended to replace the digital drop box. Assignments have a few important advantages over the drop box as a mechanism for homework and other document intake: items are directly refl ected in the grade book for purposes of tracking and grading, and students have pre-defi ned mechanism for assignment submission that is within the fl ow of the content organization. • Mailing Lists/Bb Discussion Boards both allow (assuming local confi guration doesn’t disallow it) attachments in addition to the plain text, and thus can be used for assignment submission. Obviously, since these are generally public forums, you would only want to do this if you wish the students to share their work with others or as part of a peer review process. • Paper Mail/Fax are still valid alternatives, particularly if you are doing work in the math/sciences where you need to capture symbols or other work processes that are hard to create using word processors or via plain text. If you are using fax, we highly recommend a fax-email service such as eFax (http://www.efax.com/), which allows you to receive faxes to your email, send faxes from the web, and fax from any application that you can print from.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 185 Classroom Management

File Formats

UAF students are not included in the UA licensing for Microsoft Offi ce and other standard applications we might use as educators. If you want to take advantage of Microsoft Word Revision tracking, for example, you will need to ensure that your student population has access to Microsoft Word or is informed about a free alternative such as Open Offi ce (http://www.openoffi ce.org/). PDF contains great markup and commentary tools but these are only partially accessible to students who have only the free Acrobat Reader product (and they will not be able to create PDF fi les for you).

Diff erent curriculum has diff erent demands, and there are successful classes that demand Word (or Open Offi ce), Excel, some kind of Equation Editor, etc. but you have to make a conscious choice and understand the implications for your students (not just in obtaining the soft ware, but in learning to use it and the time it might take to do so). Timing and Deadlines

Distance education has become a popular option for students in part because of its fl exibility with regards to time and performance. Online instructors have to seek a personal balance between creating an expectation of time-based performance and providing the fl exibility that is needed for their oft en non-traditional learners to succeed.

Your students need to know what the deadlines are (these may be based on discrete dates or, in the case of open-entry classes, performance periods) and when they can expect grades and evaluative feedback. And of course, you must respect the deadlines too!

Radically asynchronous courses have to be based on performance periods beginning with a student’s entry into the class. Provide duration guidelines (by Week X, by X weeks from enrollment) for these students and, as part of your regular email contacts, help the students assess their performance. Don’t let the prospect of managing these details deter you from providing this feedback that might be most critical in ensuring student success. Additionally, make use of online grade books, announcements, and entry points when facilitating online discussions to reiterate expectations and document progress (or lack thereof).

At the same time that you are creating a professional educational environment you want to remain fl exible and adaptable to the needs of your students. In addition to all the “normal” hindrances and obstructions faced by students, online learners may encounter unexpected technical diffi culties. It can be more diffi cult to evaluate truthfulness when faced with an

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 186 Classroom Management

Academic Honesty and Assessment Integrity

excuse proff ered by a distance student, and no instructor has time to grade large chunks of course material turned in late and/or at the last minute, so exceptions to deadlines and performance goals should be clearly exceptions in your students’ minds rather than an expectation.

Cheating happens, and there is research that the rate is rising on college campuses across the country… particularly in the form of plagiarism. Th e online educational environment is not necessarily worse than the face-to-face classroom, but the lack of proximity and a traditional reliance on conventional, selected response assessment methods has made many educators more aware of the issues than they would be otherwise.

Th ere are a few basic ways to cheat, and for each there are strategies for remediation:

Plagiarism is the most common form of cheating and can be combated in a number of ways:

• Emphasize the art of citation… don’t assume that your students already know how to cite properly and integrate external resources into their products, and don’t allow them to feel bad if they don’t! • Utilize process writing techniques in which students need to produce multiple draft s • Utilize refl ective exercises where students have to engage in meta-cognitive thought about their performance Assignment Sharing entails any number of versions of the age-old “steal a copy of the test” routine that has been happening since the days of Professor Fred Flintstone. Some remediation strategies are to:

• Create new assessments • Rotate and randomize assessment questions from question pools • “Reveal” the test for a limited amount of time • Put time limits on the assessment • Require a proctored testing environment Paper Mills provide a ready resource for plagiarizing entire documents, but you can oft en detect such papers with additional strategies such as:

• Careful reading and evaluation of the paper along with citation spot-checking • Familiarize yourself with common paper mill web sites and their products • Using Google to search for suspicious phrases (awkward fi t, extraordinarily advanced, citation pointing to rare material)

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 187 Classroom Management

Academic Honesty and Assessment Integrity

• Use a service like Turn-it-In (currently being beta-tested as a potential University- wide sponsored service) which will scan papers and match them against a database of paper mill products and search results As an educator you will do well to place an emphasis on more “authentic” assessment techniques involving performance over time, personalization, and current events which are not only oft en more eff ective indicators of understanding, but also make cheating more diffi cult. Look at the possibility of cheating as an opportunity to reconsider your assessment strategy, your use of self-assessment and other formative assessments, and to implement new techniques for communication that are enabled through technology.

Every class syllabus and web site should have a clear institutional statement regarding academic honesty. More importantly, each class you teach should contain a personal statement from you detailing why you care and the fundamental reasons the students should care as well!

Also see the Assessment Integrity Teaching Tip (http://distance.uaf.edu/lib/research/ teaching-tips-16.pdf) and associated resources (http://distance.uaf.edu/archives/sub-research/teaching-tips-integrity-resources.php) for more information and links to policies, tools, personal statements, and other resources. Web Research, Knowledge Management, Currency

No time to do this today, but the key terms are: RSS, Bloglines, Furl, del.icio.us as tools for capturing information, keeping current, and sharing with others to try to keep current with trends in online teaching, selected technologies, and your discipline!

See:

• RSS for Educators [word] http://www.lo.redjupiter.com/gems/weblogged/RSSFAQ2.doc • Blogging and RSS for Educators http://www.infotoday.com/MMSchools/jan04/richardson.shtml • Google Feed Reader - http://www.google.com/reader/ • Del.icio.us Social Bookmark Manager: http://del.icio.us/ • Furl Web Bookmark Storage: http://www.furl.net/ Fair Use principles for the online classroom are not signifi cantly diff erent from those

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 188 Classroom Management

in the face-to-face classroom, but the scrutiny in such situations is oft en much higher. Common practices that are in the gray areas of the law (or outright contradict it), such as using the same photocopies from a newsmagazine each semester, are more exposed in the online environment, where you must build curriculum materials well ahead of time.

In addition, the authoring environment for online materials and the wealth of resources available on the Web make it ever easier to cut, paste, copy, and duplicate information.

Th e bottom line is, if you wish to use material created by others, and you want to use more than 10% or 1000 words of a longer article, multiple illustrations or tables, complete short articles, you really should obtain permission to do so.

You do not need permission to link to any publicly available resource, given that you do not frame the content in a misleading way nor copy the material to another server or location.

For more information see:

• Copyright and Distance Education Teaching Tip http://distance.uaf.edu/lib/research/teaching-tips-08.pdf • Questions and Answers on Copyright for the Campus Community http://www.nacs.org/public/copyright/ Share and Share Alike

On the fl ip-side of the copyright issue is that of how to share your material in a protected, productive way. Th ere are many ways to share course materials with your colleagues, from making it available using your UAF Faculty web space to formally packaging material up into a technically correct “learning object.” Most learning object repositories accept submissions of all kinds of materials, including Word/PDF documents, image fi les, multimedia fi les, HTML pages or links to existing web sites. Contributing in this way helps create a healthy information ecology.

Th ere is a developing school of thought that—thanks to the oversized infl uence of con- glomerate media companies—copyright restrictions and durations have become greatly exaggerated and onerous. Aft er one change in 100 years of service, copyright protection has since been changed many times, extending protection to 98 years and granting automatic registration and extensions. Ironically, the companies that have been most persuasive in their lobbying to extend and enhance copyright protection—such as Dis- ney—would not exist were it not for the public domain which they seek to obliterate.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 189 Classroom Management

Share and Share Alike

When making material available to the public, you have the option to use a less restrictive Creative Commons (CC) license (see http://creativecommons.org/) which allows you to select your protections in terms of whether or not you require attribution, whether you allow modifi cation, and whether or not you allow commercial uses of your work. Select your options and you will have a tested, legal license that you can affi x to your work. In addition, digital media can be given specifi c “metadata tags” which can be searched and used by special search engines to create a search facility for CC licensed material, a vital fi rst step towards rehabilitating the public domain that our intellectual foundation rests upon.

See:

• Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig clearly (and entertainingly, believe it or not) lays out the deep problems in our copyright system and the gutting of the public domain on which our artistic and intellectual strengths lie. Freely available in many format at: http://free- culture.org/freecontent/ or purchase a copy at your local bookstore • “Th e Progress of Science and Useful Arts: Why Copyright Today Th reatens Intellec- tual Freedom” http://www.fepproject.org/policyreports/copyright2dexsum.html • Th e Value of the Public Domain http://homepages.law.asu.edu/~dkarjala/OpposingCopyrightExtension/public- domain.html • Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/ The Weekly Routine

Rather than provide a sample schedule, it might be useful to just recap some of the important actions that you may need to accommodate in your weekly online teaching routine (not counting traditional activities):

• Daily email check, responses • Daily gradebook updating • Twice weekly automated quiz check • Twice weekly discussion forum post and check • Th rice weekly digital drop box check • Weekly pro-active email • Weekly (min) synchronous offi ce hours • Regular announcement postings, updated, content updates

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 190 Wikis What is a Wiki?

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 192 What is a Wiki?

Wikis What Is a Wiki?

According to the Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page), the term wiki is used to “identify either a specifi c type of hypertext document collection or the collaborative soft ware used to create it.” Being itself an example of a wiki in both sense of the word, the Wikipedia is a good place to examine this kind of collaborative application in the real world.

Th e essential characteristics of a wiki are that it provides an environment using only a web browser to create collectively authored and radically connected hypertext documents using a simple structured text markup language. collectively authored

Anyone with access can author pages and link/create new pages, generally without review or intermediate approval. highly connected

Links between pages in a wiki are not only easily created, but there is an automatic mechanism to link documents and create new linked pages, emphasizing a true “web” of materials. structured text

Structured text uses a simple and intuitive markup (compared to HTML/XHTML/XML and other complex languages) akin to that we naturally use when creating text for email and other applications. For instance, to create a list item with a bullet in HTML, you would write:

A List Item

In a typical wiki you would just put an asterisk before the item:

* A List Item

Th e ease of creating, editing, and immediately publishing pages by anyone in the community or-- more commonly-- anyone with a browser by simply clicking the “Edit Th is Page” link on any page, is also a hallmark that distinguishes wikis from other web publishing technologies.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 193 What is a Wiki?

Incidentally, the word wiki is Hawaiian for “quick” and wiki users oft en refer to a wiki collectively as a WikiWikiWeb (or WWW, cute eh?). A Wiki in Action

Let’s take a look at a wiki in action to see what this actually means. In this sample I will start with the stock index page that comes with a wiki “out of the box.” I have highlighted the edit page link that occurs on every page of a wiki:

Clicking on this link gives us a form for editing the page with the current page contents (this would be blank if we chose a new page as we’ll see later) in place. You can see in the example (highlighted text) the structured text in action with ---- to create a horizontal rule and * to create bulleted list items:

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 194 What is a Wiki?

Below the form are some quick hints for creating structured text and a link to more comprehensive help:

Since the stock text is no longer needed, let’s delete that text and replace it with some of our own:

At the bottom of the edit form are buttons to Preview and, when I am satisfi ed Save my changes. Since anyone can edit pages, it is helpful to put some kind of name in the box:

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 195 What is a Wiki?

Upon submission you will be back viewing the page with the new content in place. Note how the structured text markup is translated into headers, horizontal rules, bold and italic text, and-- most importantly-- the two types of links, here indicated by a ? symbol:

There are two types of wiki links

Working with the two types of wiki links

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 196 What is a Wiki?

Th e methods for linking are particularly important in a wiki. Th ere are typically two ways to create links: WikiWords and Free Links. A WikiWord is two or more words starting with a capital with the space removed. Unless indicated otherwise, any words on a page like this are automatically turned into links. Free links use a special markup (in this case, text between a pair of angle brackets {{}}).

Either way, when you create a link it will either automatically link to the existing page for that link or, as seen in the example, it will create a link that allows you to create a new page for the destination. So, to continue the example, let’s click on the ? for the WikiWord LinkTypes, which gives us a new editing form that I will put some sample text in:

In this new page I have created a link back to the homepage by just using the WikiWord HomePage... since the home page already exists, the link is created automatically: Using Wikis in Education

As can be seen from this short example, using a wiki is exceedingly easy. Real-world examples showing wikis at work abound on the web, and we have provided links to some good examples in the resources section at the end of this document.

Wikis provide a simple means for asynchronous collaboration, a highly desirable characteristic for distance education. Some examples of ways that wikis might be used in the classroom include:

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 197 What is a Wiki?

Using Wikis in Education Class Communication Site

A wiki can serve as the primary class web site or in conjunction with a Learning Man- agement System like Blackboard as a secondary resource. Th e quick and easy free-form editing and linking features put a wiki in a distinct class as opposed to simplifi ed class announcement systems or relatively static, threaded class discussion forums. Collaborative Class Site/Knowledge Base

A wiki can be used as the focal point for a topical community related to your class content. Th is could mean a general site about a topic, or a focused resource containing material, links, and writing created through student research. Assignments/Portfolios

Assignments can be posted to a wiki, which provides an additional potential benefi t of allowing for peer review. Students can use the wiki to create a portfolio of selected work as well as an archive of transitional work. Process Writing Archive

As alluded to in previous ideas, a wiki is a natural tool for process writing since it handles revisions internally allowing for easy viewing of changing, reversion to earlier versions, commenting and review, and built-in process documentation. Class Book/Collaborative Authoring

As the WikiBooks project makes clear, professional books can be easily authored using a wiki. Th ere are even business cropping up that will professionally print and bind a wiki site to create a paper book and/or Adobe PDF version. But on a smaller scale, an entire class (or selected groups) of students can collaboratively author materials using a wiki. Th e process of distribution, editing, and archiving is greatly simplifi ed compared to sharing potentially incompatible documents using email or a discussion board and trying to communicate and reconcile versions.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 198 What is a Wiki?

Group Projects

Given the characteristics of wiki building and collaboration, it is a natural environment for group work of various kinds-- an elusive learning activity in the distance education environment. Handling Wiki Revisions

One of the fi rst questions that comes to mind when seeing a wiki for the fi rst time is: “If anyone can edit pages, what’s to stop someone from vandalizing or deleting pages?” In short, there is no technical mechanism to restrict this possibility (though some wiki soft - ware does allow for password protection, locking a resource down in this manner is not considered to be in the spirit of the “wiki way”). Instead it is left up to the wiki community to keep a wiki in good shape.

Luckily, wiki soft ware provides simple mechanisms for dealing with these kinds of problems. A “recent changes” page is always available showing all changes to a site. Any pge that has been altered, defaced, or deleted can be reverted back to any previous version at the click of a link. In rare cases, repeat off enders can be banned based on the address of the computer they work from. Most wiki systems also include RSS capabilities, allowing users to subscribe to see recent changes and new content.

In practice, it is far more laborious to vandalize a wiki than it is to restore the good versions of a page, so such vandalism rarely happens and is even more rarely a sustained eff ort.

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Handling Wiki Revisions

Th is completely open, instant editing and linking environment with an emphasis on collaboration and a non-linear approach to content creation-- collectively known as “the wiki way” can take some getting used to. A little time in such an environment, however, can quickly make a convert out of users who may fi nd themselves chafi ng at the restrictions inherent in other linear, more directed environments. The Revision System in Action

On any wiki page is a link to view the Page History. Clicking this link shows revisions that have been made to this page:

In the sample screenshot we can see two recent revisions (all revisions back to the birth of the document are available). Th e yellow indicates what the text was while the green indicates the revision. Below the revision is a Restore link. Simply select that link and the older version will be restored. Th is revision is itself stored so that a malicious user can’t restore an early version of the document and permanently trash more recent changes.

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Other Useful Wiki Features

Th ere are many diff erent wiki systems available (our examples are using PMWiki, an actively developed and featureful wiki system written in the PHP programming language), each of which have their own enhancements, feature set, and-- more distressingly-- variations in the syntax of the structured text used for content entry). However, a number of useful features are common to most wiki systems:

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Other Useful Wiki Features

Built-In Search

Th e highly-linked, non-linear environment of a wiki creates a true web of documents. A search facility is vital. All wikis have built-in full-text searching.

Th e search facility is even more useful than it fi rst appears, since it also provides a kind of site map. All pages in a wiki can be listed:

As well as all pages in a specifi c section: Print View

Every page in a wiki provides a simplifi ed view suitable for printing:

Recent Changes

Th e recent changes page mentioned earlier provides an overview of all changes to a wiki or a selected section:

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 202 What is a Wiki?

Th ere are free wiki sites available that anyone can use to set up a site. Patrick Michaud, author of PMWiki, has graciously allowed users to use his wiki for demonstration and experi- mentation purposes. To get started, simply go to the Sandbox Page which is used for experi- ments. Select Edit Page. In the editing form make a WikiWord link for your new section. We are going to use a special form of link to create our own subgroup, using the same WikiWord twice separated by a slash. For example, DistanceEd/DistanceEd (or JohnDoe/JohnDoe or TestClass/TestClass etc):

When you submit the page (or you can just preview the page-- the point is just to gain access to the ? link to edit your new page for the fi rst time) you will have a link to edit your new group homepage:

Submit your changes and you have a wiki area to experiment with to your heart’s content. Th e example wiki set up for this example can be found at: http://www.pmichaud.com/wiki/DistanceEd

If you’d like to use a wiki for your UAF class, DLS would be happy to set you up with one of your very own. Just drop Chris Lott an email! Resources Exemplary Wikis

• WikiPedia - Collaboratively Created Encyclopedia (255,500+ articles) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page • WikiQuote - Collaborative Quotations Resource http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Main_Page • WikiBooks - Collaboratively Created Free Books http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page • Neal Stephenson Metaweb http://www.metaweb.com/wiki/wiki.phtml?title=Main_Page • WikiTravel (Travel Guides) http://wikitravel.org/en/article/Main_Page • EmacsWiki (Soft ware Support) http://www.emacswiki.org/

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Classroom Wikis

• Blogs and Wikis http://ferret.bemidjistate.edu/~morgan/cgi-bin/blogsandwiki.pl?Entry_Point • Matt Barton’s Rhetorical Classroom Wiki http://www.mattbarton.net/tavi/ • English 3301 - Principles of Professional and Report Writing http://english.tamucc.edu/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Loudermilk3301/Home Wikis in Education

• Th e EdTechWiki - About Learning and Technology http://edtech.coedit.net/EdTechWiki • EdTechPost Resources http://www.edtechpost.ca/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/EdTechPost/HomePage • Micro-Wikipedia (A Wiki Lesson Plan) http://radio.weblogs.com/0120501/categories/incorporatedSubversionTh eBook/2004/03/03. html#a571 • TeachingWiki (for college level faculty) http://teachingwiki.org/ Papers, Articles, Weblog Entries

• Wikipedia Entry: Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki • NPR Commentary on Wikis and Social Soft ware http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/feature_1344426.html • What’s a Wiki? (PC Magazine) http://www.pcmag.com/print_article/0,1761,a=41446,00.asp • What’s a Wiki? Tap Into the Quickest, Easiest Way to Publish on the Web (Brian Lamb) http://www.e-strategy.ubc.ca/news/update0401/040121-wiki.html • Five Winning Ways People Are Using Wikis Across UBC (Brian Lamb) http://www.e-strategy.ubc.ca/news/update0403/040324-wikis.html • Blogs and Wikis: Environments for On-line Collaboration http://llt.msu.edu/vol7num2/emerging/default.html

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 204 What is a Wiki?

• Th e Wiki Phenomenon http://www.schwall.de/thewikiphenomenon/index.php • Mike’s Digital Laboratory: Wikis in Education http://www.mikeaxelrod.com/archives/2003/05/wikis_in_educat.html • Wikis, Graffi ti, and Process (Clay Shirky) http://www.corante.com/many/20030801.shtml#50187 • Wiki as a PIM and Collaborative Content Tool http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/apr03/mattison.shtml • Beyond Adoption to Invention: Teacher-Created Collaborative Activities in Higher Education [PDF] http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu:8888/csl/uploads/24/CoWeb-fi nal-Jan01.pdf • A Catalog of CoWeb [wiki] Uses [PDF] http://guzdial.cc.gatech.edu/squeakers/coweb-catalog.pdf • When Collaboration Doesn’t Work http://coweb.cc.gatech.edu:8888/csl/uploads/24/CMCI-ICLS-fi nal.pdf

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Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 205

Podcasting Podcasting

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 208 Podcasting

Podcasting Abstract

Podcasting is a combination of weblogs, audio, radio, and TiVo. It involves downloading MP3 audio fi les to a digital device and listening to the program at the time and place of your choosing. Although the favorite audio device of our time is Apple’s iPod, the word ‘podcasting’ is actually miscast because we don’t need an iPod to listen. You can for instance listen to podcasts on your mobile phone or other MP3 player.

We are all familiar with radio. However, when you want to listen to a whole radio program you have to listen to its beginning, middle, and end in that order. Digital audio frees us from these constraints however because it allows us to listen to programs or parts of programs whenever we wish.

Moreover, podcasting transforms mass media by allowing average people to participate. Anyone who wants to be a creator, not just a consumer, can be. It’s a new sphere in what many have called the read-write Web, a place where we can write content almost as easily as we can read it. And we can do this because the cost of the hardware and soft ware needed to make high-quality content is dropping fast, while the power and ease of use grows. Listening to Podcasts

You can already fi nd and listen to podcasts using the tools you have now. Moreover, with thousands of podcasts to choose from, covering a wide variety of topics, you are likely to fi nd something you’ll like. In this section you’ll learn how to listen to and subscribe to podcasts, and fi nd the right podcasts using directories.

To get introduced to the idea of podcasting go to podcast websites and click on one of the podcast links. Here are some interesting podcast websites to get you started:

Humanist Network News (http://ihs.libsyn.com/) A philosophy podcast.

Insta Spanish Lessons (http://www.podcastingnews.com/details/www.spanish.ms/podcasts/podcast2.xml/view.htm) Interactive weekly podcast contains listening comprehension exercises and grammar lessons for students of all levels.

English One Podcast (http://smcminn.blogmatrix.com/) An English language podcast.

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Listening To Podcasts

Engineering Works (http://engineeringworks.tamu.edu/) A weekly look at the whimsical, unusual, or just little-known sides of engineering.

Science Friday (http://www.sciencefriday.com/feed/) Weekly science talk show.

MathGrad (http://www.mathgrad.com/) Math podcast about the mathematics behind real life topics in a way that even the worst mathphobe will gain some insight.

Engadget (http://podcasts.engadget.com/) Cool gadgets podcast.

Museum of Modern Art Podcast (http://www.learnoutloud.com/Podcast-Directory/Arts- and-Entertainment/Painting_-Architecture_-and-Sculpture/Museum-of-Modern-Art- Podcast/7244) Hear artists, curators, and others discuss works of modern and contemporary art at Th e Museum of Modern Art.

When you surf to any of the sites listed above you’ll see a sort of blog with links to audio fi les, usually an MP3. For example, on the Humanist Network News website you see a blog entry with the word ‘pod’ next to the title of the entry. If you click on that word ‘pod’ you will automatically download and listen to that podcast. At the English One Podcast site you will see links with an image below them that says ‘play audio’. Basically look for links to audio fi les.

Each browser plays audio fi les diff erently. For example, Mozilla Firefox opens audio fi les right in the browser and plays them with your default audio player (such as Quicktime). Internet Explorer will play MP3 fi les by opening up a download dialog allowing you to save the MP3 fi le somewhere on your computer. When the download is fi nished you simply need to click the ‘Open’ button to open your default MP3 player.

You can listen to podcasts in your favorite MP3 players such as Windows Media Player, Quicktime, Real Audio, or WinAmp. Just right-click the link that points to the audio fi le in your browser and use the context menu to copy the URL. Th en use the URL playback feature of your favorite media application. In most players, this option is located in the File menu with a title such as Open URL.

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Searching the Podcastosphere

You can search the world of podcasts using the Pod Razor website (http://www.podrazor. com/). Th is engine catalogs the text portions of the podcasts’ Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds. You can search this catalog using a search box like Google’s.

A newer service called Podscope (http://www.podscope.com/) “listens” to podcasts and indexes them based on what it hears. Simply enter the phrase you are looking for into the search box and it will search the index to fi nd any podcasts that match. Podcatching with iTunes

Once you’ve found the shows you want to listen to you’ll need to subscribe to the RSS feed in order to listen to it on a regular basis. Some will publish new content daily while some might be more random. Th e RSS feeds for each podcast lists the recent shows, their date of publication, a title, some part of the text of the blog entry, and the URL of the podcast MP3.

iTunes off ers an easy way to subscribe to podcasts and have them downloaded to your iPod. Download the latest version of iTunes at Apple’s website (http://www.apple.com/ itunes/download/).

Once you’ve installed iTunes, click on the podcast icon to see your podcast subscription list. For example, in the image below you can see I’ve subscribed to two podcasts.

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To fi nd out what podcasts are available, click on the Podcast Directory link at the bottom of the window. Th is will take you to a special section of the iTunes music store as seen in the picture below.

Click around to see what’s available and then click the Subscribe button on any of the podcasts that appeal to you. Th ese podcasts will be added to your podcast subscription list and will update automatically as oft en as you like.

You can alter how oft en iTunes checks for new episodes and how many episodes are saved by clicking on the Settings button when you have a podcast subscription selected. Th e settings dialog is shown in the picture below.

Podcasts can be very large in size, oft en ranging between 10 and 40 megabytes, so you should set the podcasting subscription to save only as many episodes as you think you will have time to listen to. With a dozen or so subscriptions, you can easily consume several gigabytes of your disk and iPod space if you keep all downloaded episodes.

If you have your own podcast you should use the Publish a Podcast link in the iTunes Music Store podcast directory to add your podcast to the Apple directory.

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Using Podcast Directories

Several directories of podcasts are available for fi nding podcasts that interest you:

iPodder (http://iPodder.org/) Th is is the original podcast directory. It has a comprehensive list of all the directories.

iPodderX (http://iPodderX.com/) Very up-to-date directory of podcasts.

Podcast Alley (http://podcastalley.com/) Comprehensive listing of podcasts. You can also vote on your favorite podcasts. Th ere is a list of the top 10 podcasts as well as the top 50. Podcasting Resources Podcast Client

iTunes: Win/OS X – Free: http://www.apple.com/itunes/download RSS Aggregators

Bloglines: http://www.bloglines.com

Radio Userland: http://radio.userland.com/newsagg

Google Reader: http://www.google.com/reader

Books

Podcasting the Do It Yourself Guide, by Todd Cochrane.

Podcasting, which has taken the online world by storm, involves recording a broadcast and embedding it in an RSS feed so listeners can download it to their PCs, iPods, MP3 players, or even their cell phones. Written by one of the fi rst and most popular podcasters, this cutting-edge book will have readers not only fi nding, downloading, and listening to podcasts, but creating and broadcasting their own Shows how to fi nd podcasts to subscribe to; use podcasting soft ware including ipodder, doppler, and more; create a podcast

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with just a PC or Mac; or build a professional studio for recording podcasts Addresses copyright issues and music ownership and off ers helpful advice on understanding the “”geeky stuff ”” RSS, XML, and Enclosures Mainstream media, including MSNBC and Time magazine, have recently started advertising on podcasts Papers/Whitepapers

Podcasting and Vodcasting: A Whitepaper (Peter Meng) http://edmarketing.apple.com/adcinstitute/wp-content/Missouri_Podcasting_White_Pa- per.pdf Both of these technologies are evolving rapidly and will become signifi cant players in media distribution. As the tools to capture content become more prevalent and easier to use, variations on the theme will occur at a surprising pace. Already variations are occurring.

Exploiting the Educational Potential of Podcasting (Dave Jobbings) htt p://www.recap.ltd.uk/articles/podguide Th is article has been written for teachers and senior leadership teams in schools. It provides a brief overview of podcasting and how to create and listen to podcasts available on the Internet. Th e main section is devoted to exploring the potential of podcasting activities and scenarios for pupils and young people in schools, with reference to the National Curriculum for ICT. Th e use of podcasting as an alternative teaching approach and for personalized learning is also discussed. Consideration is given to issues of copyright and licenses. A range of sources for further information about podcasting is also provided. Articles/Entries

WikiPedia/podcasting http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting “Podcasting” is a portmanteau, combing “broadcasting” with the name of Apple Comput- er’s iPod audio player (although podcasting was not invented by Apple, nor do podcasts require a portable player or Apple soft ware).

A podcasting example (Margaret Maag) http://blog.educause.edu/maagusfcaedu/archive/2005/04/15/1093.aspx Matt has encouraged me to blog about my recent use of the iPod photo (60 GB) and Grif- fi n lapel microphone attached to the Griffi n iTalk for recording my lectures at the U of San Francisco. Th e fi les are automatically saved as wave fi les in iTunes and then I use sound- grinder to convert them to MP3 fi les. Th en I transfer them over to my server via fetch for

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the students to pull onto their iTunes and MP3 players. Needless to say they are happy campers because they have the lecture on their players and I can listen to myself to see where I need to improve upon my presentations.

Podcasting for Education (D’Arcy Norman) http://www.darcynorman.net/2004/10/30/podcasting-for-education “Th e various bits that make up podcasting have been around forever (digital audio, internet distribution, RSS syndication), but the combination of the three makes for a system that approximates a personalized radio station.”

Th e Textbook is Audio (Doug Kaye) http://www.blogarithms.com/index.php/archives/2004/11/02/the-textbook-is-audio/ Th e textbook is audio. It contains a series of .mp3 fi les of panel discussions from conferences sponsored by ITConversations and other audio fi les. Th e topics of this course change so rapidly that no traditional textbook adequately fi lls the need.

Podcast class example (podcast + PowerPoint + PDF) (Steve Sloane) http://weblog.edupodder.com/2004/11/i-podcast-class.html

Odvard Egil Dyrli on Podcasting (District Administration Magazine) http://www.districtadministration.com/page.cfm?p=970 Podcasting is so new that educators and students are essentially writing the book on bringing the technology to teaching and learning.

Presentations

Emerging Technology: Podcasting in Education (Steve Sloan) http://weblog.edupodder.com/2005/05/emerging-technology-podcasting-in.html Directories

• Podcast.net: http://www.podcast.net/ • Podcasting Tools: http://www.podcasting-tools.com/ • LearnOutLoud: http://www.learnoutloud.com/Podcast-Directory • Yahoo! Podcast Directory: http://podcasts.yahoo.com/ • Th e Education Podcast Network: http://epnweb.org/

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Blogs/Bloggers

• Steve Sloan – Edupodder: http://www.edupodder.com/ • D’Arcy Norman: http://www.darcynorman.net/ • Will Richardson - Weblogg-ed: http://www.weblogg-ed.com/ Discussion Boards/Forums

• Podcasting-Education (Yahoo): http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Podcasting-Education • Podcast Alley: http://www.podcastalley.com/phpBB2/index.php Educational Uses of Podcasts

From Steve Sloan (http://www.edupodder.com/)

• for distance learning • to facilitate self-paced learning • for re-mediation of slower learners • to allow faculty to off er advanced and or highly motivated learners extra content • for helping students with reading and/or other disabilities • for multi-lingual education • to provide the ability for educators to feature guest speakers from remote locations • to allow guest speakers the ability to present once to many sections and classes • to allow educators to escape the tedium of lecturing • to off er a richer learning environment

From D’Arcy Norman (http://www.darcynorman.net/)

• Lectures. Imagine students being able to subscribe to an RSS feed, and have recordings of every lecture automatically stored on their hard drive or iPod or whatnot for review. Th is would remove the need for the dozens of recorders at the front of a large lecture hall, all getting crappy and redundant audio. Why not produce a single quality feed, and let everyone use it? (On a related note - why not share a single high quality set of notes, rather than making lectures a speed-writing test…) • Interviews with external resources - an instructor could interview a scientist, or someone practicing whatever the subject is, and adds that recording to the RSS feed for

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the class - making it available to all students. Something like a Campus iTunes Music Store could do something similar, but everyone would have to go to it and grab the fi les, rather than have them quasi-pushed out to them.

With Irreverence and an iPod, Recreating the Museum Tour (Remixing MoMa) New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/28/arts/design/28podc.html?ex=1274 932800&en=db1ced6873dcc4b6&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss)

Th e creators of this guide, David Gilbert, a professor of communication at Marymount Manhattan College, and a group of his students, describe it on their Web site as a way to “hack the gallery experience” or “remix MoMa,” which they do with a distinctly collegiate blend of irony, pop music and heavy breathing. It is one of the newest adaptations in the world of podcasting - downloading radio shows, music and kitchen-sink audio to an MP3 player.

Specifi cally, these museum guides are an outgrowth of a recent podcasting trend called “sound seeing,” in which people record narrations of their travels - walking on the beach, wandering through the French Quarter - and upload them onto the Internet for others to enjoy.

From Peter Meng

• Record and distribute news broadcasts. • Students can record and upload their foreign language lessons to their instructor’s Web site. Th e instructor can then listen to the lessons on their MP3 player at their convenience. • Audio / video recruiting development brochures with personalized messages. • Recorded teacher’s notes • Recorded lectures distributed directly to student’s MP3 players. • Recorded meeting and conference notes. • Student projects and project support interviews. • Oral history archiving and on-demand distribution. • Sport event distribution. • Audio recordings of textbook text, made available for students by the chapter, would

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allow students to “read” or review texts while walking or driving to class. It could also be a signifi cant aid to auditory learners. • Students could record and post project audio and video interviews which could be automatically downloaded to an instructor’s laptop or MP3 player for review. Th is would be an enhanced version of what is currently being done in the J-School). • Th e same could be done for language lessons where students forward audio of their pronunciation dialogues. • Th ey could even swap these with peers for peer review before turning in the fi nal form to the instructor. • Oral reports recorded and archived. • Musical résumé’s. Music critique. • Libraries of bird sounds that the budding ornithologist could receive via seasonal subscription and take with them to the ﬁ eld. • Downloadable library of high resolution heart sounds for medical students.

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Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 218 Digital Imaging Social Bookmarking

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 220 Social Bookmarking Digital Imaging

Images for use on the web have their own special set of considerations for display. The biggest consideration is the connection speed of your users' Internet connection. Using too many images, or poorly optimized images causes pages to load slowly. Optimizing an image for the web reduces it's file size which decreases it's download time. This means pages display faster your viewers. Not everyone has a high-speed connection, in fact, may users still have a dial-up connection. This is why it is good to know who your audience is. If your are building a web site for an audience who mainly uses a dial-up connection, your layout should use small images, which load quickly.

Raster and Vector Images Raster The raster data model, or bitmap as it is commonly referred to as, represents an image as a grid of rectangles. The quality of a raster image depends on the amount of information stored with the rectangles (pixels). Manipulation of a raster image causes loss of the original image quality because the data stored in each pixel on the original image is finite. The majority of images on the web are raster. Illustration 1: Raster graphics handle photos well because of the methods of data Common raster formats include JPEG, GIF, PNG, compression they employ TIFF, and BMP.

Vector Vector images are rendered mathematically by formats that utilize lines, curves and polygons to display image information. Because these images are mathematically based, they can be scaled, rotated and skewed larger or smaller without losing image quality. You will most commonly encounter vector images when using clipart, working with CAD or 3D imaging software.

Common vector formats include EPS, AI, and SVG. Illustration 2: Vectors are rendered as lines and curves File Formats: GIF, JPEG, PNG mathematically Optimizing images can be subjective, but the object is to get the file size of an image as small as possible without butchering the quality of the image. There are a few guidelines that can help. First of all, use an image editor to optimize images. They offer control over the different features of each image type. Depending on the type of image file tweaking certain features

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will optimize the file further.

Web browsers support a few image file types, but this document deals with the most common and the most compatible. They are GIF, JPEG, and PNG

GIF GIF images have different features that JPEGs. GIF is an indexed color file format and it only accommodates 256 colors or less. GIF optimization is lossless, and image quality is degraded when colors begin to be dropped from the file. By removing colors from the color palette the size of the image can be manipulated. There are two different types of GIF file:

GIF87a – Graphics Interchange Format (tm), released in 1987 is an image standard developed by Compuserve that provides the capability for lossless compression using the LZW compression method (Lempel- Ziv Welch algorithm - which is owned by Unisys). It is limited to only 8-bit (256) color images, and is suitable for images with few distinctive colors. Best results can be gotten with clipart or images with large areas of similar color and no subtle gradients.

GIF89a – Released in 1989, this format is fairly similar to GIF87a, but supports the capability for transparent graphics. Transparent graphics allow color of the page beneath the graphic to show through as the background color of the graphic itself. It also supports multiple images encoded within a single files, which offers the ability to animate.

JPEG JPEG is an acronym for Joint Photographic Experts Group. This file format uses lossy compression to store information. It is effective because it takes advantage of limitations in the human vision system to achieve high rates of compression. The JPEG format achieves best results when used for photo realistic images or images containing gradients.

If the file is a JPEG, the quality of the image can be adjusted to decrease file size. Because JPEGs use lossy compression, a lower quality image begins to look blurry and solid areas of color begin to develop artifacts, or small bits of off-color pixels when an image is over manipulated.

PNG The PNG, or Portable Network Graphic, was developed in response to the licensing issues of the GIF format as they apply to application developers. PNG is patent-free technology. It also offers lossless compression and the capability for transparent graphics, but has three main advantages over GIF: alpha channels (variable transparency), gamma correction (cross- platform control of image brightness), and two-dimensional interlacing (a method of progressive display). It also supports up to 48-bit true color or 16-bit grayscale. New application support for the PNG format is ubiquitous, however, there are legacy browsers that do not support it.

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Resolution Image resolution refers to the amount of data stored within each pixel of an image. Web images generally should be no more or less the 72 dpi. This resolution is the accepted/rendered standard for image display for the Internet. A larger image resolution will result in a larger file size and a lower image resolution becomes too difficult for the human eye to distinguish.

DPI is short for dots per inch, with the dots/pixels being counted horizontally across each inch. When referring to image resolution it is more accurate to use PPI (points per inch) but for all practical purposes DPI and PPI are used interchangeably.

Display Resolution Image resolution should not be confused with display resolution. Display resolution refers to the number of pixels that a screen, such as a monitor, can display. The display settings on your monitor allow you to adjust your display settings from resolutions ranging anywhere from 800 x 600 to 1280 x 1024 (some monitors go even higher). The higher your display resolution is the smaller things appear on your monitor screen and the more space the screen appears to have. This is because there are more pixels being displayed per inch.

For this reason web measurements are described in pixels and not inches because what looks like an inch on your monitor may look larger or smaller on somebody else's depending on how their monitor is set up.

Illustration 3: This is a screen display set to 800 x 600. This window occupied the entire screen.

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Illustration 4: This is a screen display set to 1680 x 1050. Notice how much more screen there appears to be

Color Computers monitors render color with light in the RGB (red, green, blue) color system as opposed to color systems often used in print such as CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, [Black]) and the Pantone matching system. For this reason, all images on the web rendered by the RGB color system.

RGB is a 24-bit system where each of the three color channels is allotted 8-bits for data. Monitors typically display 24-bit color – also referred to as true color. Older displays were limited to 16 bit and 8-bit (256 colors) color displays. When colors from the 24-bit color space are rendered in 8-bit browser many colors are approximated because they simply do not exist in the 8-bit color space. This phenomena creates an effect called dithering which cases an image to look speckled or blocky.

Scanning Preparing the scanner: The following steps assume the scanner has already been connected and configured to your computer and that you will be using the software that came with your scanner to scan your images and documents.

Begin by placing the page you want to scan into the scanner with the page facing the scanning platform (glass surface). Around the scanning platform there should be some sort of visual cue as to where the point of origin is for your scanner. This point will be in one of the corners of the scanning platform and will be where the scanner begins scanning and measuring documents. Documents you are scanning should be placed in that corner each time you prepare to scan. See the illustration below:

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 224 Social Bookmarking

Illustration 5: This document is face-down on the scanning platform and properly aligned with the corner that is the point of origin for the scanner. All we need to do now is lower the scanner cover and begin scanning

Beginning the Scan On your computer, open the program that came with your scanner. If you are unable to locate the software on your computer, you can try pressing the Scan button on your scanner. This will usually launch the software automatically.

Configuring and Scanning: The scanning process varies from scanner to scanner, so it is difficult to predict the exact scan options you might have.. The goal when scanning images for the web is to create an image with a resolution of 72dpi and that uses the RGB color model. Your scanner software will allow you to specify what resolution to scan your document at and which color profile to use. There are three features you need to identify and configure to create a successful scan for the web:

1. Ensure the scanner scans to 72dpi 2. Check the color space is set to RGB 3. Make sure you know where to find your file once it has been scanned.

You have the option of previewing your scan before you do the actual scan to ensure the document is straight and to allow you to select a smaller portion of the scan area if your document is smaller than the scanning platform. To select a smaller area (while in preview mode) click on the preview and drag across the area you want scanned.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 225 Social Bookmarking

You're ready to scan your image. Click the Scan button and the scanner will complete the final scan. Be sure to note where you save the image so you can work with it later.

Scanning Text If you want to scan a document with text, the process is similar to the steps outlined above, with some minor differences:

1. Ensure the scanner scans at a resolution of 200 dpi 2. Check that the color space is grayscale 3. Be sure to note where your file is saved to so you can work with it later

Scanning text documents at a higher resolution ensures the text is legible. Scans of text documents will create large file sizes so it is good to keep them to a minimum as much as possible as they take significantly longer to download. If you have a large number of documents to distribute, consider making them available as PDF, a much more efficient way to share documents.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Page 226 Creating PDFs

Creating PDFs Create a PDF File With PDF995

Print a document from any application choosing the PDF995 as the printer from the printer dialog. You will be prompted to enter a name for the PDF fi le you are about to create. Th e PDF will be automatically launched in Acrobat (pdfEdit995 may be used to confi gure this option).

Th e free version of PDF995 will display a sponsor page in your web browser each time you create a PDF fi le. If you would prefer not to see sponsor pages, you will have to purchase a license key for $9.95. Edit a PDF & Configure With PDFEdit995

PdfEdit995 is available for download at www.pdf995.com/pdfedit.html. With pdfEdit995 you can customize your pdf995 output with an easy-to-use utility:

• Turn Off Auto-launch - Open pdfEdit995 and go to the AutoLaunch tab and uncheck the checkbox to turn of the auto launch feature. • Preview and Email Documents - In the AutoLaunch tab check the auto launch and auto attach to email checkboxes • Insert Bookmarks - While your PDF is closed, go to the Bookmark tab in pdfEdit995. Insert the page number and title for each bookmark. One you have listed the bookmarks to be added to the PDF click the Add Bookmarks to the Last PDF Created button • Add Links - While your PDF is closed, in the Links tab type the text from your PDF that you want to be linked into the Text textbox and the URL to create the link in the URL textbox. Click the Convert Text to Links button when you are done. To convert URL text already on your PDF directly to links simply click the Auto-Convert URLs to Links button • Add Comments - While your PDFs is closed, open the Comment tab and add text for the title and content of your comment and specify the page on which you want your comment to appear. Your comment will be inserted into the last document you have printed to PDF. • Combine Files - Use the Combine/Extract tab to combine existing PDFs into one document. Click the Combine Existing PDFs button and then click the Add PDF button to browse to the PDFs on your hard drive to add. Combine PDFs using the Combine PDFs button. • Change Page Orientation - You can rotate the orientation of the last PDF created

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning Creating PDFs

using the Rotate tab. You can rotate more than one page at a time by specifying a range of pages as well as specify the degrees of rotation of those pages. Clicking the Rotate button will rotate the selected pages. • Optimize PDFs for the Web - While your PDF is closed, use the Web View tab to optimize your PDF for web viewing or compress your PDF. Optimize the last PDF converted by clicking the Optimize the Lst PDF Created with PDF995 button. Select your compression preference and the fi le you wish to compress. Click the Compress button to fi nish. Add a Digital Signature or Encrypt a PDF

Signature995 is a free tool available for download at www.signature995.com. Signature995 uses Microsoft Cryptographic technologies to give you 128-bit DES encryption, off ering a high level of protection for all your Internet communications, including legal documents and fi nancial transactions. It can be used to restrict printing, modifying, copying text and images for PDF documents. Encrypting a PDF With Signature995

Specify the fi le you wish to encrypt. Select the restrictions you wish to impose on the PDF. You may optionally password protect the document. Click Encrypt the document button. An encrypted PDF will be created and displayed in your PDF viewer. Th e pdf is a secure version of your PDF. Your original PDF is left unchanged.

You may select auto-name and the PDF will be named c:\pdf995\output\encrypted.pdf. Alternatively, you may specify the encrypted fi le name with a Save As dialog. You may not overwrite the original PDF.

Center for Distance Education & Independent Learning