DE Oracle @ UMUC

Transcript - Question 3

CSI Staff

Staff Writer

Center for Support of Instruction

Category: » Online-pedagogy » Teaching-strategies

Q3: How do you help students get started using WebTycho in the F2F class setting?

Participants: Dr. Maggie Elgin and Dr. Ted Field

Maggie: One of the ways I use [the WebTycho classroom] that supports the students using it is that I never go in there and do anything for the class that I don’t tell them about what I’m doing. I always start in the class announcement area and tell them there’s a conference that they need to participate in between now and a certain date — the next week of the class, for example. Or there’s some additional information that’s been posted in the course content area.

So, I think supporting the students through [giving] a lot of information in the class announcement area, letting them know what else is in WebTycho for the class, is very useful to them.

Ted: I use the announcements in the same way. And I also build some redundancy into the classroom. If I did an announcement, sometimes I’ll also send a shorter announcement by [the WebTycho class list] email, just to let students know where to find things, what to expect. Particularly for the new students who are also learning their way through this, I find that helps tremendously. So, I guess as I’ve been supported, this has enabled me to be supportive of students in meeting the objectives of the course.

Maggie: Yes. When we first started using WebTycho to supplement our face-to-face classes, I remember talking to the students and kind of trying to help them ease into it. I teach a research and statistics course, and students are always scared to death when they arrive in the course. They want a lot of handholding, they want to see me and be around me. I think that they feel that is coming across as supportive. So, I talk to them [about the WebTycho component]. I actually send them an email before the class starts and talk to them about the fact that it is WebTycho-enhanced and I give them some examples of what that means. And then we talk about that on the first night of class.

And they have a schedule... What I’ve done in the past is have three of my 14 or 15 classes fully online [midterm and final exams and one session that lends itself well to online discussion]. They know about that well in advance. I always ask them how many have had experience with online WebTycho learning. I’ve been asking them that question now for over three years. Semester by semester I’m seeing more and more people, more and more students that now are familiar with WebTycho.

Ted: So, you’re seeing less and less resistance to the use of WebTycho?

Maggie: Less total resistance. But I almost always have one student who says, “I thought I purchased a face-to-face class and that’s what I want.” But I do remind them that it is a requirement of the Graduate School that all classes be web-enhanced and that I think they will see a lot of me — maybe more than they want! — and that they will see that the WebTycho really does supplement and enhance the course, and that it is really very user-friendly.

Ted: I do that and I give some very specific pointers to them: One, developing the expertise of being able to do something online looks awfully good on a resume. And it really helps in terms of their jobs; they can learn how to manage an online team, for example. And quite a few of the students pick up on that.

Another point, it sounds like a little thing, but it’s not a little thing: When the weather turns bad and you teach at night, sometimes if you could do something online rather than have to drive or get caught in the traffic; many of the students are very appreciative of that.

And the third point is the library. I’m getting more use of and better use of library resources through the link in the classroom.

So, [I point out] some very pragmatic [advantages of WebTycho]: not having to drive in every night, particularly as the weather gets bad; it’ll enhance their careers; they can add it as a skill that they’re developing; and, again, I think it’s enhancing their intellectual abilities through the use of the library. This approach works well.

Maggie: Yes, I agree.

One of the things I consider one of my challenges right now, as an online/face-to-face instructor, is how can I show students online the support that I show them in the realtime classroom? How can I communicate that level of support? I’m right there for them in an online version; one of the ways to [demonstrate] that that is really simple: check into the WebTycho classroom and get back to people quickly, so that when they send out a message they don’t feel like it’s gone into a black hole. [When] students get a pretty quick response, they know you’re there and that you’re available through the WebTycho communication.

Ted: Absolutely. I go online every day, but some days, I’m just checking, it’s for a very short period of time. But it enables me to put up an announcement, respond to a [question], and simply say "I’m available for you." (Students also have an office phone number they could call [to get] an immediate response from me.) It makes a very big difference and it doesn’t cut into my time. It enables me, again, to establish that really special relationship that an educator has with a student, to establish it in a virtual environment in a way that I can still keep their focus on the course objectives. And it doesn’t take that much time.

Maggie: One of the things the Graduate School shared — they did some research in online learning and teaching — one of the things they shared with us at faculty meeting that I found really helpful was the whole idea of "leaving tracks."

Ted: Yes.

Maggie: I think it’s really easy to go into [the WebTycho classroom], and [if] the students, (hopefully) are caught up in a conference between themselves, [not to interrupt]. It's always great to see [the student-student communication]. But you’ve got to jump in there from time to time. When the students are going back and forth with one another, you don’t have to respond to everybody at that point. But, I think getting in there and showing them that I’m following this discussion and adding my own two cents shows them, again, that this course online doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The instructor's right there. She’s looking in. The students are in there talking to one another and we are honestly meeting between classes online.

Ted: Yes. One of the very nice things about that is to be able to participate as a peer with the students.

Maggie: Absolutely. They do a lot of great teaching of one another, which is, I think one of the reasons I love teaching in the graduate program.

Ted: Yes. As we’re being taught by the DE coordinators and our peers, we’re able to take that over into [our interactions with] our e-students and do it there. Ultimately, it’s a very satisfying experience.