cets 2011, eric sanders, slides for training via online discussions
TRANSCRIPT
Chicagoland eLearning & Technology Showcase
Facilitated by Eric Sanders
August 16, 2011
Objectives At the end of this session, you will be able to
Set up effective on-line discussions
Facilitate those evolving discussions
Who is our audience?
Lindeman, as quoted in Knowles (1978, pp, 10-11).
“This stream was launched in 1926 with the publication of Eduard C. Lindeman's The Meaning of Adult Education, in which appear such insightful statements as these: .. . the approach to adult education will be via the route of situations, not subjects. Our academic system has grown in reverse order: subjects and teachers constitute the starting-point, students are secondary. In conventional education the student is required to adjust himself to an established curriculum; in adult education the curriculum is built around the student's needs and interests. Every adult person finds himself in specific situations with respect to his work, his recreation, his family-life, his community-life, et cetera-situations which call for adjustments. Adult education begins at this point.”
". . . the resource of highest value in adult education is the learner's experience. If education is life, then life is also education. Too much of learning consists of various substitutions of someone else's experience and knowledge. Psychology is teaching us, however, that we learn what we do, and that therefore all genuine education will keep doing and thinking together. . . Experience is the adult learner's living textbook."5 "Authoritative teaching, examinations which preclude original thinking, rigid pedagogical formulae-all these have no place in adult education. . . [aspiring adults] who are led in the discussion by teachers who are also searchers after wisdom and not oracles: this constitutes the setting for adult education, the modern quest for life's meaning.”
Reference: Knowles, Malcolm S. (1978) Andragogy: Adult Learning Theory in Perspective. Community College Review, 5: 9.
What do adult learners need?
It’s about THEM! Connecting learning to life
Storytelling
Soliciting examples
Commenting on those examples
In the classroom
AND in on-line discussions
How do you write a good discussion question?
How do you write a good discussion question?
Relate it directly to the current course materials
Keep it open enough to solicit various responses
Make it direct enough to steer them in a particular direction
Make sure it ties to THEIR personal experience
Example discussion question Course: Strategies for Change
Topic: Overcoming Resistance to Change
Reading Assignment: Cummings & Worley (2009), Chapter 10, Leading & Managing Change
Discussion question
Motivating change requires 'readiness' and ability to 'overcome resistance' to change. What does this mean for you in your organization?
What are some of your discussion questions?
What do you require of participants?
My core requirements:
Answer the question
Come to a conclusion (make a point)
Good writing mechanics (spelling, grammar, citations)
Good Netiquette (see next slide)
On Netiquette…
Treat others as you would want to be treated
Respect a diversity of opinions
Discuss the ideas, not the individuals Don’t “flame” each other
“Listen” carefully and reflect on the message before responding
Review your response (twice!) before posting it to the community
Label all posts with the key point you wish to make
Joining in the discussion –as facilitator
Post 10-20% of the total number of posts (not too much, not too little)
Reinforce critical points that participants have made
Add rigor to participant experiences by adding outside material as appropriate
I see this as one of our key roles in on-line discussions
Encourage them to do likewise!
How have you posted to discussions?
How does on-line discussion compliment your other materials? In a typical on-line only course:
Webinars
Links to readings, videos and other materials
Individual papers
Group projects
In a traditional classroom course:
Readings and class discussion
Team building activities
What else?
What forums host these discussions?
LMS
LinkedIn Groups
John Kelly’s forum: http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=785287&type=member&item=64902700&qid=eb4f82a4-ecb7-4c21-8e63-f340684df307&trk=group_most_popular-0-b-ttl&goback=%2Egmp_785287
Others?
What forums host these discussions?
Discussion on LinkedIn
Let’s play! Watch the video
What discussion questions might we ask?
What additional materials might we reference in our posts to get participants more engaged?
What would you hope participants might add?
What questions might I ask?
