teachers, students, cohesion and community in online interaction stephen tschudi nflrc summer...

Teachers, Students, Cohesion and Community

in Online Interaction

Stephen TschudiNFLRC Summer Institute 2008

With thanks to CALICO study co-authors David Hiple and Dorothy Chun

Teaching and learning in a technology-mediated environment

Slow down the learning experience Make thinking visible Create a culture and context of reflective

practice Virtual communities of practice

Bass (2000)

From David’s presentation Day 1:

Virtual communities of practice: Roles and behaviors

Teacher: online and in the classroom Designer Director / choreographer / guide / mentor Participant Evaluator

Students Participant Peer leader (?) (Self-)evaluator

Language production

project

Further online

activities

Virtual communities of practice: Two models

Online stimulus +

report

“Cultura model”

Online intercultural discussion

In-class processing

and summary

Journaling (self-

reflection)

In-class reactions


Online stimulus +

report

“Cultura model”


In-class processing

and summary

Journaling (self-

reflection)

In-class reactions Language

production project

Further online

activitiesTeacher as designer


Online stimulus +

report

“Cultura model”


In-class processing

and summary

Journaling (self-

reflection)


production project

Further online

activitiesTeacher as designer

Teacher as guide


Online stimulus +

report

“Cultura model”


In-class processing

and summary

Journaling (self-

reflection)


production project

Further online

activitiesTeacher as participant


Online stimulus +

report

“Cultura model”


In-class processing

and summary

Journaling (self-

reflection)


production project

Further online


Teacher as evaluator

Online reactions

(?)


Online stimulus +

report

“All-online model”


Online processing

and summary

Online journaling

(?)

Language production online?

Further online

activitiesGoing “all-online” requires adaptive design and special attention to online behaviors

Online reactions

(?)


Online stimulus +

report



Online processing

and summary

Online journaling

(?)


Further online

activities

Teacher as guide

Teacher as designer

Online reactions

(?)


Online stimulus +

report



Online processing

and summary

Online journaling

(?)


Further online


Teacher as evaluator

In an online environment…

The teacher must set tasks that are… relevant/personally important

clearly defined with clear outcome

The teacher must participate online:

“Priming the pump” – encouraging interaction

Sharing responsibility/management

Nurturing the online community of practice

Share opinions and feelings

Develop knowledge as a group

Cohesion - Wenger reference to other postings low redundancy

Chinese 332: the course

Chinese 332: the study

High number of postings, high referenceSmall Group # 1 2 3 4 5 6

Number of postings 12 7 7 17 11 6

Mean postings per active participant (teacher postings not counted)

2.40 1.75 1.75 4.00 3.33 2.50

Total word count(excluding teacher postings)

550 (550) 331 (331) 238 (238) 800 (730) 735 (682) 221 (197)

Mean length of utterance 11.22 10.68 10.82 10.13 10.07 12.28

Rate of ref to other participants/number of postings

.17 .43 .14 1.12 1.45 .67

Rate of ref to other postings/number of postings

.75 .57 .86 1.06 .91 .67

Lots of turns per student!

Lots of reference to other people!Lots of

reference to other

postings!


What caused greater interaction?•Higher personal interest in topic

• “Topic drift” towards actual favorite restaurants in Honolulu

How did the teacher respond?

• “Go with the flow” and exploit the students’increased interest

Unit 2: Group 4 transcriptHannah Let’s have Taiwan cuisine today! I have never had authentic Taiwanese cuisine before. I’ve heard

that Taiwan cuisine is very distinctive. What do you all think?

Wendy Okay! (rep) What restaurant do you want to go to? I have also never eaten authentic Taiwanese cuisine. Do you know what dishes from Taiwan are good?

Flora I have also never eaten Taiwanese cuisine. I’ve heard their snacks are very good. I have only ever had Cantonese cuisine. I would also like to try Sichuan cuisine because I like spicy food. But it doesn’t really matter. I can eat anything, whatever you like.

Robert I think Taiwan cuisine is delicious. Their beef noodles are the best. And their snacks are very popular too. So let’s have Taiwan cuisine, OK?

Wendy I know that many people are of the opinion that Taiwan’s snacks are delicious. So I would like to eat with you guys. Doesn’t the "Hometown Diner" specialize in Taiwan cuisine? We could go there to eat. How about it?

Qin_laoshi Wendy, where is the "Hometown Diner"? Have you have noticed that during the last lesson Tsu-hou said that the restaurant his parents run, the K.C. Kitchen, is a Taiwan-style diner and their food is delicious! Besides these two, what other places are there?

Flora I am not quite sure where there might be a Taiwan restaurant, because I have never eaten Taiwan cuisine. So wherever you all decide to go, I will go with you.

Hannah O.K., so we’ll go have Taiwan cuisine. I think K.C.'s beef noodles are good. I heard that there was another Taiwan-style diner in the Cultural Plaza called "Elegant Orchid" that also serves Taiwan snacks. Have you all ever been there? …


Student behavior – leader emerges in Group 4•A student naturally assumed a leadership role, and consistently made conversational moves to “shepherd” other students in the group towards task closure

•This communication style fits “active participation paradigm” of persuasive communication (Burgoon & Miller, 1985)

•Active participation by one such student may mean the difference between success and failure for a group

•Such students not categorically the best performers; other students may even contribute more, but these leaders focus and energize the discussion in a distinct way

Unit 2: Group 4 transcriptHannah Let’s have Taiwan cuisine today! I have never had authentic Taiwanese cuisine before. I’ve heard

that Taiwan cuisine is very distinctive. What do you all think?

Wendy Okay! (rep) What restaurant do you want to go to? I have also never eaten authentic Taiwanese cuisine. Do you know what dishes from Taiwan are good?

Flora I have also never eaten Taiwanese cuisine. I’ve heard their snacks are very good. I have only ever had Cantonese cuisine. I would also like to try Sichuan cuisine because I like spicy food. But it doesn’t really matter. I can eat anything, whatever you like.

Robert I think Taiwan cuisine is delicious. Their beef noodles are the best. And their snacks are very popular too. So let’s have Taiwan cuisine, OK?

Wendy I know that many people are of the opinion that Taiwan’s snacks are delicious. So I would like to eat with you guys. Doesn’t the "Hometown Diner" specialize in Taiwan cuisine? We could go there to eat. How about it?

Qin_laoshi Wendy, where is the "Hometown Diner"? Have you have noticed that during the last lesson Tsu-hou said that the restaurant his parents run, the K.C. Kitchen, is a Taiwan-style diner and their food is delicious! Besides these two, what other places are there?

Flora I am not quite sure where there might be a Taiwan restaurant, because I have never eaten Taiwan cuisine. So wherever you all decide to go, I will go with you.

Hannah O.K., so we’ll go have Taiwan cuisine. I think K.C.'s beef noodles are good. I heard that there was another Taiwan-style diner in the Cultural Plaza called "Elegant Orchid" that also serves Taiwan snacks. Have you all ever been there? …

Unit 2: Group 4 transcript

Wendy The "Hometown Diner" is in Chinatown. I have not been to the K.C. Kitchen, but if you all want to go, then I will go with you. When do you all want to go?

Robert Which of the three -- the "Hometown Diner", the "Elegant Orchid", and K.C. Kitchen – have you all been to? Which one has the best beef noodles? I can go anytime.

Flora I have also heard that the Taiwanese restaurant inside the Cultural Plaza is very good. When you all decide, just tell me what time to go.

Hannah I think K.C. Kitchen and the "Elegant Orchid" both have good beef noodles. So it does not really matter which one we go to. Which one do you all want to eat at? You decide.

Flora It doesn’t really matter to me either; I can go to whichever. So if you say that you have been to both restaurants, then we’ll go to whichever one that you think is best, OK?

Hannah Since Robert said he likes to eat beef noodles, let’s go to K.C. Kitchen to try their Taiwan snacks. How about it, you all?

Flora Good! I have no problem with that! I have been wanting to try Taiwan cuisine for a long time now! So when are we going?

Robert Where is the K.C. Kitchen? Can anyone go with me?

Hannah K.C. Kitchen is in the Cultural Plaza in Chinatown. Do you know where that is?


Low numbers… low community & cohesion?

Small Group # 1 2 3 4

Number of postings 7 10 9 9

Mean postings per active participant (teacher postings not counted)

1.50 2.00 1.60 1.80

Total word count 910 538 465 535

Mean length of utterance 19.78 13.79 10.29 14.86

Low word

count!

Short postings!


Unit 6 Group 3 thread list

Splintered threads! No

replies!

Wrong topic!


What caused poor cohesion and lack of community?

•Poor cohesion when students failed to participate in a single thread

•Highly redundant content of postings showed students not paying attention to others’ postings low group cohesion

•Instructions not clear enough – students did not divide labor as teacher had hoped; instead, “each did all”


Was the teacher’s response effective?•Teacher “rescue” strategy: create new thread with subject line only (no content):

“Students, please make your postings together in one thread!”

Pedagogical guidelines from the study

Pattern 1 from the study,

increase of participation, direct interaction, and personal involvement when the topic is closely related to students’ daily lives,

points to two important principles:

(a) instructor flexibility, and

(b) fostering of connections to students’ lives and interests.



the emergence of a student leader,

suggests that instructors should

(a) promote leadership in the group, and

(b) provide guidelines for interaction among students.



the decrease in interaction and cohesion,

points to the importance of

(a) clear instructions for the task,

(b) sustained leadership from the teacher, and

(c) clear definitions of task completion.

Bass, R. (2000). Hyperactivity and underconstruction: Learning culture in a wired world. http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/bassr/hauc3-00_files/v3_document.htm

Tschudi, S., Chun, D., & Hiple, D. (2008). Fostering community and cohesion in asynchronous online courses. In I. Lancashire (Ed.), Teaching Literature and Language Online. Options for Teaching series. New York: Modern Language Association.

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bibliography

teachers, students, cohesion and community in online interaction stephen tschudi nflrc summer...

Documents

online reactions

online environment

online behaviors

online activities teacher

summary online journaling

class processing

participant teacher

designer teacher