ISTE part 2

More on my desktop videoconferenced class. During the class, I showed them You Tube videos and a Microsoft Word document, just as I would have done in a face-to-face class. They responded to a question by typing on the online whiteboard, providing me with a way to summarize their ideas in one place. I didn’t use powerpoint slides, but I’m not using powerpoint in this class. If I was, I could have shown the slides and talked through them just as I would during a face-to-face class.

Most of the students agreed that the discussions were richer and that they felt more comfortable participating without feeling that they were being judged in some way. They also felt that it was ok to provide shorter answers than they would have felt comfortable providing in a face-to-face class section. In general, they felt that there was a lot of benefit to synchronous, online learning. They were less certain about asynchronous learning—although these students have a technology bent, most felt that having live interaction was important for their learning.

As the instructor, I found that I needed to “call on” the students more often than I would have during class, since I didn’t have the visual confirmation of when they looked like they wanted to say something (the students didn’t use audio or video, except for the student who presented using audio.) I often felt like I was babbling, since I couldn’t see head nodding. When the students typed things like, “ok” or “I agree” or “uh huh” while I was talking, I felt like I was getting feedback--I need to remember to suggest this when I teach again this way.

I didn’t do one thing that I wish now that I had done—I didn’t record the session. However, I’m not certain if the students would have participated in the same way had I done so.

I’d be happy to speak in more depth with anyone who would like to try doing this with their class. I think that this technology will work with any sized class—I’ll know more in the fall when I try it with my large intro course.