SMS for student support

link to website

Using SMS as a way of providing connection and community for first year students
Louise Horstmanshof
Griffith Institute for Higher Education
Griffith University
Abstract:
"Technology provides one means of meeting the challenge of providing for frequent and meaningful interaction amongst students and staff which underpins students' feel ... read more

Communication dynamics: Discussion boards, weblogs and the development of communities of inquiry in online learning environments

link to website

Communication dynamics: Discussion boards, weblogs and the development of communities of inquiry in online learning environments
[11 Oct 04 Updates: Small edits & hyperlinked references]
Online learning environments (OLEs) are now critical to teaching and learning across Australian higher education. Their influence impacts on the availability of ... read more

Research Insights into Interactivity

link to website
By Brent Muirhead

"Introduction
Interactivity research studies involving online classes reveal that students value their opportunities to communicate with their peers and instructors. The author will briefly highlight student expectations for their online classes, discuss important findings from interaction studies and recommend several instructional ideas to enhance the quality of interaction in today’s distance education classes."

Books

link to website

Leadership Coaching : A Practical Guide

ISBN: 1741031958
Publication Date: August, 2003
Author(s): Kirsty Hayes
Edition: 1st
Number of Pages: 112
Binding Type: Paperback
RRP: $32.95

Exploring locality: The impact of context on Indigenous vocational education and training aspirations and outcomes

link to website
by Susan Gelade, Tom Stehlik
The impact of urban, regional, and remote location on Indigenous vocational education and training (VET) students' aspirations and outcomes is examined in this report. It finds the availability of desired courses, teaching staff, and community attitudes to learning in the various locations influence the success of outcomes of Indigenous students.
However, successful outcomes other than those rela ... read more

The Value of Debriefing Learning Experiences

elearnspace

by George Siemens
"For learners, a negative experience is catalogued as a "I can't do that" statement...and if not questioned, it is perceived as a fact in future encounters. We need to actively promote debriefing in all learning xperiences...particularly negative ones. It can help to prevent the formation of erroneous impressions of learner competence."

Groupboard Free Demo

link to website

Free Groupboard Registration
By filling in this form you will be able to put a free Groupboard onto your web page.
The only limitations on this version are that you cannot resize the Whiteboard, the number of users logged on and pictures/messages saved are limited. The full version, which has fewer limitations and does not have any advertising banners, costs from $99 per year (or $9.99 per month). For more information, go to the licensing page.

Recommendations for teaching in a distributed learning environment: The students' perspective

link to pdf file

By:
Geraldine Lefoe, University of Wollongong
Cathy Gunn, University of Auckland
John Hedberg, University of Wollongong

Abstract: "The University of Wollongong opened a new campus and two new access centres on the
south coast of NSW, Australia, in 2000. The combination of distance with limited funding,
after seed funding was expended, has provided opportunities to rethink teaching and learning strategies. Competition from traditional distance education providers in ... read more

Reaching the disengaged and disenchanted

pdf file

LSDA - UK

"New ways of motivating adults to become active learners are needed if the goal of getting more
people involved in education or training is to be achieved, says a new report from the Learning
and Skills Development Agency (LSDA). The report, which draws together work by LSDA on
widening adult participation over the past six years, sets out to identify the key factors that
motivate people to learn, the barriers th ... read more

Wimba

Wimba - Tools

Voice Direct
Wimba Voice Direct is vocal communication in real-time. It's like a conference call through a computer, without fear of firewalls. Voice Direct can be used for interactive discussions or

Effective Online Facilitation

This Quick Guide looks at effective online facilitation and its importance in online
teaching and learning.
From the Flexible Learning Framework

Weblogs

::: XPLANA.COM ::: Exploring how we can learn and teach with technology

JAMES FARMER
09.09.03 10:07PM

Subverting the Discussion Board

I like things that I can use in a whole ton of ways. I don’t like things that tell me exactly how I should use them. Take, for example, your average discussion board… really the key learning tool in most major online learning environments (BTW I’m not coun ... read more

Learner Support Services for Online Students: Scaffolding for Success

IRRODL: Learner Support Services for Online Students: Scaffolding for Success

Stacey Ludwig-Hardman
Western Governors University, USA
Joanna C. Dunlap
University of Colorado at Denver, USA
Abstract
"A critical component of an effective retention program for online students is a learner support services program. While many factors contribute to attrition, at the top of the list are level of interact ... read more

Models of Collaboration

Models of Collaboration

By Timothy Butler and David Coleman

"In this guest editorial we examine five models for collaboration that vary from barely interactive to intensely interactive. Granted the CS definition for collaboration requires some level of interaction by two or more people, and in the past we have said that reciprocal data access (such as you would find in a library or repository) is not collaboration, we have also sai ... read more

Motivating Learners Online

link to website

"So, how do we motivate our online participants? Keep this list in mind when designing your online courses and interacting with your learners and you may be amazed at what a difference a little motivation makes."

Tips for Online facilitation

LearnScope

Frankie Forsyth - Thu, 7 Aug 2003, 10:40

Welcome to the discussion about the high and low lights of online facilitation.
List of tips in no particular order here

Blogging Across the Curriculum

Blogging Across the Curriculum

Quoting Alan(?): "From Quinnipiac University comes this gem: Blogging Across the Curriculum. Pattie Belle Hastings from the Interactive Design Department shares this resource that rose from her 2002 experiments on using student weblogs as alternatives to paper design jounrals. Her site provides a nice overview of blogging, how to blog, the role of blogs in teaching, lots of resources, and links to the student projects. A good ideas is the Bibliograp ... read more

Addressing drop out rates for e-learning

LearnScope Resource Centre article

Elearning has an unacceptably high drop-out rate, says this article. So George Siemens organised a group of online educators put themselves through a (non) course of discussion to address the problem. They created this resource or “collage” of their thoughts.

The article focusses on “preparing students for elearning”, and is organised under the following headings.

Introduction, Preparation Ecosystem, Preparing Students for Elearning ... read more

Online Access Centre Stats

Tasmanian Communities Online

As at Oct 30 2002 there are:

1. Currently 345,000 Tasmanians living outside the Hobart / Glenorchy / Clarence metropolitan areas have easy access to an Online Access Centre located in their community. This represents about 75% of all Tasmanians.

2. Approximately 47,300 Tasmanians are registered users of the Centres.

3. Slightly more females (51%) than males (49%) use Online Access Centres

4. About (22%) o ... read more

Learnline - NTU's Online Learning Community

Learnline - NTU's Online Learning Community

Links to:
Learner's Toolbox - Information for students studying off campus.

Study Skills online - Information about study skills strategies.

Info Smart - Develops information literacy skills.

Also
Teaching and Learning Support Division for Staff here

Asynchronous Discussions

Learning through Asynchronous Discussions
Experiences from using a discussion board in a large undergraduate class in Hong Kong

By Narasimha Bolloju, Dept of Information Systems, City University of Hong Kong, and Robert Davison, Dept of Information Systems, City University of Hong Kong

Outlines different phases online discussions should go through and also implications of their experiences.

"as we demonstrate in this article, the technology can enable significant lea ... read more

Virtual Cafes

Virtual Cafes
This pdf describes a learners experience of a "virtual cafe" used in a uni course. This includes the ways in which the process was facilitated.