Discussions without walls

This entry continues my series of posts on building and teaching a comics class without walls. You can read part one here.

Rio Salado uses a custom LMS for delivering its course content. RioLearn is a wonderful system. It is reliable, consistent, and cleanly organized; however, at the time I designed ENH280, it did not allow for rich media discussions. I knew from the start that I wanted a discussion rich course and also knew that since we were discussing images, that discussions needed to be image-rich.

Despite this, I also knew that one of the biggest challenges of an open entry class involves creating meaningful discussions. 

The open entry debacle

Let's say a course begins on November 14. At that time, 5 students start the course and receive their 15 week schedule. Let's say that two students roll into the course on the subsequent Monday. Their schedules would automatically adjust to a 15 week schedule. Then, we reach November 28... one lone student rolls into the course and gets her schedule. Each student starts working on their lessons and assignments following their respective schedule.

Then the students find that it's time to discuss with their peers. A fine discussion can happen with a group of five students and an instructor. A pretty good discussion can happen with two students and an instructor. But what about the lone wolf student who rolled in alone? Sure, she and I could talk about the issues of the week, but there's something missing there. It would be like walking into an empty classroom where there's evidence of past excitement, but being late for the party. 

Three solutions came to mind during the initial planning phase. Of course, the easiest (no discussions at all) was not an option for me. We would be reading some rich texts... silence would not work.

1. Have rolling discussions. Set up a structure where a student starts a discussion in lesson one, and then returns and ammends their initial thoughts in lesson three. 

• Pro: There's a level of scaffolding here that is attractive. Can happen in the LMS without any add-ons.
• Con: Students who read the week three posts first might feel discouraged from posting their more raw, initial thoughts.

2. Have public discussions. Set up an area where members of a larger community can contribute to the discussions in addition to the students from the class.

• Pro: There are many folks in the comics community who love to discuss comics and others locally who are interested in the class, but have no interest in traditional credit. These multiple voices could contribute to a richer discussion, regardless when someone rolls in.
• Con: Needs to be held outside of the LMS due to acces issues. 

3. Hold guest discussions. Get in known speakers to discuss the material and engage students with a value added experience that is not tied to a start/end date.

• Pro: Again, the multiplicity of voices would make for a richer cource.
• Con: It would need to happen outside an LMS. Speakers may expect payment!

Adding to my technology tooklit

Weighing the pros and cons, I knew the discussions would have to happen off-site, but I wanted a seamless experience for students. I opted for Ning, after experimenting with similar tools. While Ning is pricey (they do have a free option branded with Pearson that would work for more traditional courses), I chose it for convenience and was lucky to have a grant to help defray technology costs. As the course designer (and one who is not a skilled programmer!), I knew that I needed a platform with a lot of the technology built in. Ning's forums were the most pleasing aesthetically, but also because of the options.

Not only can students "like" posts (which can be a cue to me what ones might be working better than others), but they can share them through their social networks. I can do the same. An especially rich discussion might get shared through my Twitter or Facebook. Perhaps a discussion with an interesting guest can get fed through The Comics Grid's feeds or their MetaGrid feature. Students can post rich contributions including media, links, and images. 

On the back-end, I can get an emailed alert when a student posts, which can be filed with my student emails and archive a record of participation. Alternately, I can go to a student's "My Page" and get a snapshot of their contributions.

Because comics are an image-rich medium, I also opted to use VoiceThread because it allows students and instructors to actively engage the images up for discussion. These can be embedded into pages on Ning and in the LMS content to create a more seamless experience for students. In the screenshot below, you can see me on a video lecture with two test students. As I talk through the manterial, I am using a red marker (part of VoiceThread's interface) to highlight what I'm saying in real time on the images. The students can also use this tool as they respond, and comments can be made in text, audio-only, or video. VoiceThread has a mobile app as well as a universal, ADA compilant site option. All of these options make it an attractive tool since my students are not required to have a webcam, and many use their phone to access class materials.

While I initially thought of VoiceThread as an enhanced lecture delivery system, it soon became clear that this could do more. In ENH280, one giest speaker will lecture over VoiceThread and then use the embed code to share the thread in his classroom. His university students can connect with my communuty college students many thousands of miles away. In another experiment, I will be making some of my own lectures open for sharing. Anyone who wants to share a VoiceThread with my class can use one of my threads for their class. Finally, I have other assignments where this tool becomes, in essence, an interactive white board where students are asked to discuss a set of images. When the thread becomes too clunky, I can archive it and refresh it with new images for further discussions.

Now, let's return to my lone-wolf student who happens to be the only entrant in one of the open entry start dates for my class. She comes to the VoiceThread above where there are other people speaking in their real voices. These students may have exited the activity a couple of weeks ago, but unlike a flat traditional discussion, this provides a sense of presence. There's activity here... the party, so to speak, is still in full swing. Even the Ning forums, with their image rich capabilities, and the ability to engage people from outside the class lend a sense of presence that moves beyond the type of class activities that can happen in the "shell" of an LMS. 

The class launches on 9 January, 2012. I will be curious to see how well students respond to these two add-ons and what adding these two technologies does for my workload! More to come...