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08Blended Learning Fellowship

WORKSHOP TWOFinalising and Preparing Your Course

08Blended Learning Fellowship

© McIntyre, Watson, Bennett 2008. COFA Online, College of Fine Arts, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia 2WORKSHOP TWO 2008

BLENDED LEARNING WORKSHOP TWO AGENDA

STuDENT PANEL (10:00 - 10:30Am)

- Students from each of the Schools to give feedback and answer questions about their current learning experiences in courses, and what they think of online integration

ASSISTANCE WITH VIDEO RESOuRCES mARK FOSTER & TOm CAVDAROVSKI (10:30 - 10:50Am)

- What help is available for staff wishing to integrate video into their blended courses?

- Description of services

- Who to contact for more information

uNSW LIBRARY SERVICES AND SuPPORT JAmES PAuLL (10:50 - 11:20Am)

- Library resourcing in an online context - what help and services are out there?

- Research consultations for staff

- Copyright questions and answers

Coffee Break - refreshments provided

DISCuSSION OF ISSuES ARISING FROm ONLINE DISCuSSIONS (11:20 - 11:40Am)

- Discuss any key issues that have arisen

- Questions and answers

REVIEW OF DEVELOPmENT TASKS (11:40Am - 12:00Pm)

- Program Coordinators summary of contextual alignment meetings (Task 1.1)

- Key information lists (Task 1.2)

- Course images for web sites (Task 1.4)

SIGNPOSTING YOuR ONLINE ENVIRONmENT (12:00 - 12:20Pm) - Signposting your own course site (Simon McIntyre)

- Practical ‘how to’ tutorial in individual course sites

BALANCING TYPES OF LEARNING AND TEACHING INTERACTION (12:20 - 12:30Pm)

- Anderson’s ‘Theoretical Rationale for Interaction’ (Simon McIntyre)

REVIEW COuRSE STRuCTuRES BREAK INTO GROuPS (12:30 - 1:00Pm)

- Break into groups to discuss individual course structures

- Examine course structures in relation to web site functions

OVERVIEW OF DEVELOPmENT TASKS FOR WORKSHOP 3 (JuNE 27 - BRIEFS ONLINE)

ALL COuRSE DEVELOPERS TO COmPLETE:- Signposting of your own course site

- Begin upload of lecture material

- Begin upload of resources and links


STuDENT PANEL - FEEDBACK ON EXISTING COuRSES

Improving the UNSW student learning experience is one of the key aims and proposed outcomes for the Blended Learning Fellowship Program. This will be monitored through a rigorous student and staff evaluation process and data analysis of the pilot studies both before and after the blended courses have run.

The student evaluation process will occur in 3 stages:

STAGE 1 (INITIAL STuDENT IDEAS AND SuGGESTIONS)A small panel of students will provide general, non-course specific feedback on their learning experience at COFA and provide input and suggestion for possible improvements regarding:

- Levels of Support (resources, access to teachers, peer support)

- Feedback on Student Work

- Participation in class

This will be in the form of an electronic survey, and participation at an informal discussion at this Blended Learning Workshop.

The list of students for the panel will be provided by Program Coordinators, and represent a typical cross section of students (eg male/female; local/international) throughout the courses involved.

STAGE 2 (before participation in a blended learning version of their courses)All students enrolled in the pilot study courses will participate in the anonymous survey. The surveys will be completed anonymously during lecture/class time, during Week 0 (Orientation Week)

STAGE 3 (after participation in a Blended Learning version of their courses)All students enrolled in the pilot study course to participate in the anonymous survey online.

Overleaf is the Stage 1 questionnaire that was emailed to students for completion. The intention is to initiate dialogue between students and teachers, and to provide input form students at the initial planning stage for the teachers of their courses.


QuESTIONNAIRE ISSuED TO STuDENT PANEL

NameType full name here

COFA SCHOOL1. Which COFA school are you enrolled in: - School of Design - School of Media Arts - School of Art History and Art Education

2. Generally, what parts of the courses do you think worked well, and what components didn’t work so well?

LEVELS OF SUPPORT IN YOUR COURSES3. Resources (Readers, books, weblinks, etc): How would you describe the quality (current, relevance, usefulness) of the resources, and were they

readily available and easy to access?

4. Teaching Do you believe you had sufficient contact time and access to your teacher/tutor? Was this time

mainly in a group environment/ one-on-one or both?

5. Peer Support How aware/familiar were you with the work of the other students in your class? Did you have

opportunities for peer discussions in class, and if yes, were these useful?

FEEDBACK ON YOUR WORK6. How did your teacher/tutor provide feedback on your work (written, verbal, etc)?

7. Was feedback on your work timely and effective? Please substantiate.

8. Did you receive any peer feedback? If yes, how was this presented (verbal, formally/informally, written)?

BLENDED LEARNING9. Do you know what ‘Blended Learning’ is? Please elaborate on what you do/do not know about it.

10. Do you think introducing some online components to supplement and support your face-to-face courses would be a useful addition to student learning? Why/why not?

11. Have you done any courses incorporating Blended Learning before? If yes, where did you do it, and what was your experience of it?

12. Do you think it would be useful to have lectures presented online? Please substantiate.

PARTICIPATION13. Do you interact (ask questions, join in on class discussions, provide suggestions) during class time?

If not, what would be your reason for not interacting?


ASSISTANCE WITH VIDEO AND DIGITAL RESOuRCES

CREATIVE DEVELOPmENT - LEARNING AND TEACHING @ uNSWMr Mark FosterManager, Creative Development 9385 3164 [email protected]

Mr Tom CavdarovskiMedia Producer 9385 3894/3907 [email protected]

Web site: http://learningandteaching.unsw.edu.au/content/creative/creative_welcome.cfm?ss=3Location: Goodsell Building, Lower ground

(Text taken from the Creative Development section of the UNSW Learning and Teaching web site)

“The Creative Development team within Learning & Teaching @ UNSW is comprised of web, media and interactive media producers who work with the UNSW academic community and other Learning & Teaching staff to create digital resources in support of academic programs.

Our approach is to work holistically and collaboratively to develop projects that meet defined educational needs and support consistent improvement to UNSW’s learning initiatives.

Our approach is two fold in that we provide full digital production services but we also offer professional development programs to enable self empowerment.

We encourage the ambitious and excitable.”

Contact the Creative Development team if you need help with:

- video or audio production

- animation or graphics

- podcasting

- other media related design and development

uNSW LIBRARY SERVICES AND SuPPORT

Mr James PaullCOFA Outreach Librarian 9385 2675 0411 103 195 [email protected]

The Outreach Librarian provides a single point of contact for academic staff and postgraduate library needs.

The UNSW Library has a philosophy of equity of access to Library resources and services for all users. The development of online learning and other off campus scholarly activities have resulted in the rapid development of electronic resources, 24x7 access and an emphasis on Information Literacy.

http://learningandteaching.unsw.edu.au/content/creative/creative_welcome.cfm?ss=3


LIBRARY ImPACT CONSuLTATIONTo ensure that all these issues are covered when considering new courses, the Library requires consultation between the course proposer and the UNSW Librarian, before the new course proposal reaches FEC (Faculty Education Committee). The consultation is a two way process designed to ensure that additional resources can be provided if required and that the course proposer is aware of resources and services already available such as electronic databases, e-journals and subject guides. The Library is attempting to provide relevant Subject Guides for all courses, and increasingly this involves incorporation of resources or links provided by academic staff.

The Library Impact Consultation includes:

- Discussion about the course - new/revised, delivery mode, on campus/distance, expected enrolments;

- A review of existing print and online resources, including monographs, serials, multimedia, reference and identification of any gaps;

- A list of new materials required and consideration of costs (there may be budget implications);

- Information and discussion on whether course materials should be placed in COFA Reserve, digitised into MyCourse, linked into MyCourse;

- Discussion on the need for a new Subject Guide or referral to the existing Guide;

- Discussion about Information Literacy needs of the students and in some cases of the academics teaching the course;

- Information on Research Consultancies;

- Information about relevant UNSW Library policies such as the Off Campus Users policy, and THE online help service, Ask libraryinfo@UNSW

- Specific discussion on the need for web based course material and Information Literacy when new or revised COFA Online courses are being brought to FEC.

Please make an appointment with the UNSW library by booking an individual Research Consultation online at http://www.altarama.com.au/LibraryInfoUNSW/reft100.aspx?key=ResCon. The booking MUST be done through this web site, and then you are required to follow up with a COFA Services Librarian with a copy of your initial resource list by email prior to your appointment.

HELPFuL LIBRARY RESOuRCESBelow is a collation of important and helpful UNSW Library links that will help you in the development of your blended course, and your students in their study. The PDF version of these notes (found in the Resources section of the Blended Learning online Community) contains active hyperlinks to the web sites listed below.

mY COuRSELearning materials supporting UNSW courses including full text digitised course readings, study kits and previous UNSW exam papers.http://info.library.unsw.edu.au/osd/services/reserve.html

Library Catalogue LRDUNSW Library catalogue including books, journals, videos and electronic resources.http://lrd.library.unsw.edu.au/F

SIRIuSGateway to electronic resources including databases, library catalogues, electronic journals and electronic reference resources such as dictionaries, encyclopaedias, maps, patents standards, statistics,

http://www.altarama.com.au/LibraryInfoUNSW/reft100.aspx?key=ResCon

http://info.library.unsw.edu.au/osd/services/reserve.html

http://lrd.library.unsw.edu.au/F


handbooks, subject guides, search engines and internet sites.sirius.library.unsw.edu.au

NEW BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY - RSS ALERTSUNSW Library RSS Feeds will alert you to new content in the Library’s physical collection. You can select updates which are relevant to your own field of research or study. The feeds are categorised according to the Research Fields, Courses and Disciplines (RFCD) classifications.

SuBJECT GuIDESGuides, created by UNSW Library staff, to key resources in subject areashttp://info.library.unsw.edu.au/web/guides/resources/guides.html

SERVICESOFF CAmPuS SERVICESOff Campus services are provided for staff and students who do not attend COFA or any UNSW campus in person. Any students who are not undertaking any on campus courses would fall into this category, and are therefore eligible for the service.http://info.library.unsw.edu.au/external/services/externals.html

uNIVERSITY LIBRARIES AuSTRALIAUNSW staff and students can apply for borrowing rights at other university libraries in Australia. Staff and students of UNSW should apply DIRECTLY to the university library they are intending to borrow from. Registration is for the current calendar year and will expire on February 28 of the following year. Proof of continued enrolment/employment will be required to renew your registration each year. Registration is free for staff and costs $50 for students. http://info.library.unsw.edu.au/usd/using/reciprocalunsw.html

EDuCATION AND TRAININGUNSW Library provides education and training services and resources to improve the information skills of staff & students.

ONLINE TRAININGLOIS (Library Online Skills Tutorial) provides online guidance for information literacy. It has been designed to help students learn more about searching for Information to complete assignments/projects and self-directed learning. http://info.library.unsw.edu.au/skills/tutorials/InfoSkills/index.htm

POSTGRADuATE ELISE (enabling library information skills for everyone) has been designed to assist students in developing graduate skills in scholarly enquiry, including the skills to locate, evaluate and use relevant information. pgelise.library.unsw.edu.au

ENDNOTE TuTORIALEndnote allows you to create your own personal database of references. Various online help sheets and guides are available from the following web page.http://info.library.unsw.edu.au/skills/endnote.html

http://info.library.unsw.edu.au/web/guides/resources/guides.html

http://info.library.unsw.edu.au/external/services/externals.html

http://info.library.unsw.edu.au/usd/using/reciprocalunsw.html

http://info.library.unsw.edu.au/skills/tutorials/InfoSkills/index.htm

http://pgelise.library.unsw.edu.au

http://info.library.unsw.edu.au/skills/endnote.html


OTHER INFORmATIONTHE LEARNING CENTREThe Learning Centre provides a wide range of academic skills support services to students enrolled at the University. It has an extensive online academic skills library on topics such as referencing, writing an essay, writing a report, doing a seminar presentation, and studying for exams. http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au

COPYRIGHT - uNSW LEGAL OFFICEWhen submitting material to be digitized for My Course, the library will ensure that it is compliant with copyright regulations. For more copyright information, please refer to the UNSW Copyright Guidelines and the Responsible Copyright Practices web page.http://www.legal.unsw.edu.au/ ASK LIBRARYINFO@uNSWIs the UNSW Library’s online information service for UNSW staff and students. It is answered hourly during the Library’s opening hours.http://info.library.unsw.edu.au/web/help/help.html

ADDITIONAL LIBRARY SERVICESIn addition to the UNSW Library’s online information service for UNSW staff and students are the following services:

Phone Number9385 2650 Main Library9385 0713 COFA Library

TIER 2 LIBRARY ASSISTANCEAssistance with reference enquiries are provided at the Loans and Information Desk of COFA Library and the Main Library.

HDR mENTORING SERVICEThe HDR Mentoring Service provides active library mentoring for Higher Degree Research (HDR) students to support their research and information-related activities throughout their higher degree program until completion at UNSW. For more information, please contact the Outreach Librarian.

http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au

http://www.legal.unsw.edu.au/

http://info.library.unsw.edu.au/web/help/help.html


BALANCING TYPES OFLEARNING AND TEACHING INTERACTION One of the biggest topics of conversation within the last workshop, was about how having an online component alongside your face-to-face course would impact upon workload for both students and teachers.

The answer to this question is not black and white, and could indeed go either way. It depends upon several factors, the most important of which is careful planning about how students will interact with each other, learning content and the teacher.

One useful framework to begin to examine how you can integrate the online components of your course with your face-to-face teaching, is Terry Anderson’s ‘theoretical rationale for interaction’ - Anderson, T. (2003). Getting the Mix Right Again: An Updated and Theoretical Rationale for Interaction. 2003, 4(2).

Anderson is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Distance Education at Athabasca University in Canada, and a well respected researcher and author on issues of learning and teaching, particularly distance and online learning.

I have included the aforementioned paper in the Resources area of the Blended Learning Fellowship site for your reference. I strongly recommend reading it, although I will summarise its main points here for you to think about while developing your own integrated blended tasks – particularly when it comes to thinking about tasks and activities.

(Rather than paraphrase, the following are segments taken from Anderson’s paper as referenced above, retrieved May 27 2008 from http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/viewArticle/149)

mODES OF INTERACTION“Anderson and Garrison (1998) described the three more common types of interaction discussed in the distance education literature involving students (student-student; student-teacher; student-content), and extended the discussion to the other three types of interaction (teacher-teacher; teacher-content; content-content) as shown in Figure 1. In Anderson (2003), I discussed the various costs, benefits, and research questions associated with each of these modes of interaction. I also suggested that due to the increasing computational power and storage capacity of computers (Moore’s Law), their increase in functionality when networked (Metcalfe’s Law), and related geometric increases in a host of technical developments (Kurzweil, 1999), there is pressure and opportunity to transform student-teacher and student-student interaction into enhanced forms of student-content interaction. Further, the development of programming tools and environments will continue to make this transformation easier and, in some cases, within the technical domain of non-programming teachers and subject matter experts. However, I have not clearly articulated a theoretical basis for judging the appropriate amounts of each of the various forms of possible interaction.”


Figure 1. Modes of Interaction in Distance Education from Anderson and Garrison, (1998).

EQuIVALENCY OF INTERACTION“Over the years, in my own distance teaching, I have been informally polling students about the relative advantage and disadvantage of various forms of mediated and face-to-face, synchronous and asynchronous, educational activities. From these polls, I conclude that there is a wide range of need and preference for different combinations of paced and un-paced, synchronous and asynchronous activity, and also a strong desire for variety and exposure to different modes and modularities of educational provision and activity.

From these observations and from the literature debate, I have developed an equivalency theorem as follows.”

Deep and meaningful formal learning is supported as long as one of the three forms of interaction (student–teacher; student-student; student-content) is at a high level. The other two may be offered at minimal levels, or even eliminated, without degrading the educational experience.

High levels of more than one of these three modes will likely provide a more satisfying educational experience, though these experiences may not be as cost or time effective as less interactive learning sequences.

“This theorem implies that an instructional designer can substitute one type of interaction for one of the others (at the same level) with little loss in educational effectiveness – thus the label of an equivalency theory. There are a number of other corollaries and implications based on the current post-industrial education context that can be drawn from this theorem, and I have attempted to provide a start at this process in the following lists.

STuDENT INTERACTION- Quality educational programming requires high levels of interaction by students in at least

one area, and can substitute for minimal to no interaction in the other two.


- Student-teacher interaction currently has the highest perceived value amongst students, and thus commands highest market value.

- Some student-teacher interactions can be automated, and thus substituted in whole or part, through the development and use of content resources, and especially those utilizing autonomous teacher agents. This practice migrates Net based forms of student-teacher interaction (emails, conferencing discussion, etc.) to student-content interactions (teacher videos, virtual labs, personalized FAQs, etc.).

- Most forms of student-content interaction can be recorded and displayed asynchronously to substitute for student-student interaction by time or technology bound students.

- Student-student interaction is critical for learning designs based upon constructivist learning theories, but less critical to cognitive and behaviorist learning theory based approaches.

- Student-student interaction is critical for skill proficiency needed for collaborative or cooperative tasks. Thus, most effective learning to reach these goals maximizes student-student interaction.

- Student-content interaction is most accessible, and most readily adapted, via individualized “student portfolios,” that can influence design, assessment, or delivery customizations (mass customization).

TEACHER INTERACTION- Traditional approaches to teaching of each discipline, biases teachers towards different

mixes of interaction.

- Teacher-student interaction is generally the least scaleable type of interaction, and thus is usually substituted for by student-content interaction in mass education systems.

- Teacher agents can perform many of the functions that currently consume teacher time, especially those of a bookkeeping, clerical, or organizational nature, thus migrating teacher-student and teacher-content interaction to content-student and content-content interaction.

- Some teacher interaction can be transformed into learning objects (videos, animations, assessment programs etc.), thus migrating student-teacher interaction to student-content interaction.

- As professional students of their discipline, teachers, need professional development and knowledge building opportunities throughout their careers. Deep and meaningful learning to a professional, requires high levels of interaction in at least one of teacher-teacher; teacher-learner; teacher-content domains. High levels of one, allow for reductions in the other two.

- Teacher-teacher collaboration is critical to the current model of university based research production and evaluation.

CONTENT INTERACTION- Content, having only volition ascribed to it by humans, is the most flexible of actors, ‘willing’

to undertake any combination and quantity of interaction.

- The cost and restrictions on value of content interaction is falling much faster than interaction involving the other two forms of interaction (Moore’s and Metcalfe’s Laws), and thus is expanding in all areas, putting a premium value and cost on human based interaction: student-student, student-teacher, and teacher-teacher.

- The semantic Web (Berners-Lee, 1998) provides an environment in which content can be formalized and manipulated, stored, searched, and computed automatically through autonomous agent technologies. Such capacity will allow development of much more useful teacher and learner agents, encouraging migration to content-based forms of interaction.

- The value of the content is dependent on the extent to which it engages students or teachers in interaction, leading to relevant knowledge construction. There is also a direct


relationship between this capacity for interaction and resulting engagement, mindfulness, and motivation. ”

ASSESSING THE LEVEL OF INTERACTIVITYDifferentiating between high and low levels of interactivity is largely a quantitative exercise in which a researcher, developer, or the participants themselves, count the number of times they are actively engaged with the other participants or content. There is some evidence to suggest value in “vicarious interaction,” in which non-active participants gain from observing and empathizing with active participants (Sutton, 2001; Fulford and Zhang, 1993). However, high levels of interaction generally require the actors to be personally active and engaged in the interaction. Although there will be qualitative differences in the extent of individual involvement in the interaction, these differences are largely individualized and difficult to prescribe or assess across the large numbers of participants typically found in current education systems.

Thus, for planning or development purposes, designers are encouraged to build into their programs strategic amounts of each type of interaction, and to develop activities that will encourage this amount of interaction.

NOTE: References in full paper available in Resources area of Blended Learning Fellowship site.


SIGNPOSTING YOuR ONLINE ENVIRONmENT

THE STuDENT POINT OF VIEWWhen students first enter your course, most will be unfamiliar with layout of the online system. It is imperative that you take the time to ‘set up’ your course so as to be welcoming and informative for the student as they become familiar with the site.

Remember that you will have had months to become familiar with the online learning environment, but it is never a good idea to assume that a student has an understanding of the online environment in which they find themselves. Think back to your first experience online, and how you were unsure of where to go and what to do.

You have to welcome and assure the student that they are in the right place, leaving messages everywhere that they are likely to wander, to help steer them in the right direction, and to reduce confusion. This is called signposting.

Overleaf is a diagram and checklist of what you have uploaded and ready for the student when they arrive, along with example posts you can modify for your own course and use in each area. This is to help you get a feel of the layout of the Omnium system and let you see how you can use it to your advantage for your course.

SuGGESTED SIGNPOSTING mESSAGESThis is a recommendation from our experience teaching online over the last few years, but you should feel free to modify these examples based on how you have structured your assessable tasks and activities, and on how you intended to use the online component within your course.

You have each been issued with an ‘empty’ course interface. These have example messages in all of the different areas that you can use as a basis for writing your own. The example messages are also repeated in the text on the following pages for reference.

NOTE: The text following and in your own course interfaces is for example only. You should rewrite them to give your own voice to the students, otherwise the students will see exactly the same message in every course they are involved with and quickly learn not to pay attention!


WHAT TO HAVE uPLOADED READY FOR START OF SESSION

The diagram below is an indication of the types and locations of messages you should have prepared for when the students first encounter your course web site. Not everyone will be using all of the features listed here, so use this diagram as a guide for you when preparing your course. Examples of messages for each area, and a checklist of what you should have prepared follow on subsequent pages.

ONLINE AREA SUGGESTED SIGNPOSTING

TEAM TALK AND FEEDBACK

PIN-UP WALLS

LIVE CHAT

BRIEFS 6 BRIEF - Filling in your personal profile / introductory task+ any other briefs relevant to the start of the course

NEWS 2 Welcome message explaining how to get started

LECTURES7 Lecture one - if this feature is utilised, should be active and ready for students, possibly with Talking point directingthem to Message Board

4 A Pin-up Wall for the intro task if relevant

FILE SHARING5 An image or file that may be linked to introductory task,plus any other large working files or files for distribution

TEACHING STAFF 8 Your own profile and image, refer students here for example in their introductory / profile task

USEFUL LINKS 9 Any relevant starting links, OHS info, school links etc

IMAGE GALLERIES 10 An example Gallery or Galleries. Some teachers use thisas a space to show process or examples of past student work

MESSAGE BOARD11 A ‘Welcome Message’ thread- explaining what area is for12 TALKING POINT - discussion from first Reading thread13 An introductory task thread if appropriate, plus any otherthreads relevant to week 1

TEAMS

WELCOME 1 A Welcome message and your course icon will be present.

3 Welcome message explaining what all team functions are, what this area is for and where to go to get started in course


EXAmPLE SIGNPOSTING

2 NEWS - WELCOmE AND HOW TO GET STARTED mESSAGEThe News area will usually be the first place students are taken to when they log in. Points to note:

- Your inital message must help to give students a sense of where they should go to begin the online component of the course.

- Use this message to establish how the area will always work within the course.

- Always post an image in this area.

Example initial NEWS message

Hello and welcome to The Language of Interactivity! We will all be working collaboratively with one another over the next semester, so it is important to make sure that you log on as often as you can to keep the online community rolling along. 15 minutes every couple of days is all it takes.

This News area is always used to announce important messages – such as when a new Brief or Lecture is posted online, so make sure you make this your first stop when you log in.

COURSE OUTLINEYou will find a Course Outline in the Resources area of the site (click the button called Re-sources on the left of your screen). Make sure that you read this document carefully, it con-tains important information about the structure and timing of the course, expectations of your participation and other vital information.

INTRODUCTORY TASK/PERSONAL PROFILETo get started, take a look in the Briefs section for a small Introductory Task, and instructions about filling in your personal profile on the site. These tasks need to be completed by the end of the first week, do make sure you read the briefs and get started.

MESSAGE BOARD TASKSCheck out the Message Board by clicking the button on the left on the screen. There are some introductory threads for you to fill in over the first week. This is a great way to get to know each other, so I am looking forward to seeing your contributions soon!

I very much look forward to working with you all this session. It should be great fun.

NOTE: You should be posting a News item every time some thing major happens in the course - general announcements, new brief released, feedback given etc. It is like your first announcements when you enter a face to face classroom.

3 TEAmS - TEAm TALK AND FEEDBACK (EXPLANATION mESSAGE)It is never a good idea to leave an area empty where a student may wander. Imagine that the online environment is like a series of rooms. If there is no signage or explanation of what each ‘room’ is used for, students can wander aimlessly and feel unsure, isolated and confused.

You should leave a message briefly explaining what the discussion and feedback area is for, and also directing them to the correct place to get started, and to join the rest of the online community.


Example talk and Feedback MessageWELCOME TO YOUR TEAM’S TALK AND FEEDBACK AREA!This is where you will work together and/or discuss ideas privately as a team. Only team members and your lecturer can view this area.

YOUR TEAM AREA HAS THE FOLLOWING FEATURESAll of which are available by choosing from the FEATURE drop down menu above:

TALK AND FEEDBACKYou are here now. This is where you can have discussions with only members of your own team. You will usually be directed to use this area in your project Briefs. Discussions in this area are divided into different threads, or categories, which are usually set up by the lecturer for each project or particular discussion.

FILE SHARING Your team also has an area where you can upload many different file types to share with your fellow team members. This is perfect for collaborative projects where you need to work on the same word documents, Photoshop or Illustrator files for example.

PIN-UP WALLThis area is where you submit files for final presentation from your own Portfolio click the My Profile button on the left). The lecturer will make new Walls for each project for you when submissions are due.

MEET THE REST OF YOUR TEAMYou can meet the other students in your team by looking at their Profiles. Select the student profile you wish to see from the PEOPLE drop down menu above. Each profile contains a personal description, email and other details to help you get to know your team.

TIME TO BEGIN THE COURSETo begin your course however, please make sure that you have read the welcome message in the News area, which will tell you all you need to know to get started.

4 TEAmS - PIN-uP WALLS (CREATE WALL FOR INTRODuCTORY TASK IF RELEVANT)Students cannot create their own Pin-up Walls. Therefore, you must create new walls for each assessment, so that the students can submit their work for marking and peer review. If you have an introductory task that requires students to bring images of files into the course for discussion, you should create a new wall for them to submit to. Your introductory task brief must have instructions about how to upload to the wall.

5 TEAmS - FILE SHARINGThis is a good place to distribute large or specialist files to students as part of an introductory task, or as resources for other projects etc. This area can handle just about any file type including PSD etc, and the file sizes can be quite large. By making students access this area in the first week, you are helping familiarise them with its use.

6 BRIEFS - INTRODuCTION/PERSONAL PROFILE BRIEFSYou should have a brief explaining exactly how to complete your introductory task and another describing how to fill in their own personal profile – it is always good to refer them to your own profile as an example. Please refer to the Fellowship web site Briefs to see how to create these instructions for your students.


7 LECTuRES (LECTuRE ONE)You should have your first lecture uploaded, active and ready for the students to begin browsing the content. If you are utilising online discussions, then students who get started early can begin to participate through the connected Talking Point in the Message Board.

8 TEACHING STAFF (YOuR OWN PROFILE)You must introduce yourself to the students, so you should have your own profile ready for them to look at. You should have an image of yourself in your profile. Write your profile as an example of how you would like the students to complete theirs. You should refer students to look at your own profile in the grief instructing them how to fill in their own.

Example ProfileThe last decade of professional practice has seen me designing, producing and teaching digital and interactive media. More recently, my teaching practice has included writing and facilitating classes in an online environment. My speciality of interactivity and user interaction led me to work collaboratively with colleagues on several online projects, and in 2003 I joined the newly formed COFA Online unit at UNSW as a full time member of academic staff.

Interactivity has a particular interest for me, as I enjoy designing interactive interfaces in a multimedia context. This course is an interesting opportunity to explore the notions of what interactivity actually is, and how to best harness this knowledge in design applications.

SKILLS- design- photoshop- illustrator- illustration- director/programming

9 uSEFuL LINKS (ANY RELEVANT STARTING)You will have common links already in this section set up by COFA Online, such as Library link sand other UNSW services. However, you should also take the opportunity to set up your own set of course relevant links for students to access. You may then add more as you progress through the course, but always make sure you announce this in your News area.

NOTE: Students can also ‘suugest’ links of their own in this area, so they can contribute to your range of web resources.

10 ImAGE GALLERIES (AN EXAmPLE GALLERY OR GALLERIES IF RELEVANT)You could have a gallery of images that relate to your course ready and waiting for your students when they arrive. These images would give a good sense of what the course is about, and could also be related to your introductory task or discussions. You can make one gallery a feature gallery, meaning that the images appear on the course log in page.

11 mESSAGE BOARD (WELCOmE mESSAGE)You should have a brief message waiting in this area for students who wander in. It should describe how the Message Board area will be used through the course, and guide them to the correct place to begin the course. Always title your message threads clearly and consistently.


Example ‘Welcome’ thread in Message BoardThis Message Board area is where you will all interact as a large group. You use this area to participate in discussions raised from the lectures in the Lectures area, to ask questions about projects, and to give each other feedback on your work.

For more private group discussions when working on your collaborative projects, you use the Team Talk and Feedback area. Only myself and members of your team can see this area, whereas the Message Board is viewable by everyone.

The Image Galleries area is where your work will be displayed to the entire class, and even to the public. You can check out examples of last semester’s work in the Image Galleries now to give you an idea of what to expect.

Please spend some time posting a response to the other ‘threads’ on this Message Board at the moment, where you can state your expectations of the course and let everyone know what computer you will be using.

IMPORTANT ADVICE - GET THE MOST OUT OF THIS COURSE!As stressed in the welcome email you received, it is important that you participate regularly in the course, just as you would attend the face to face component of this course every week.

Projects--------------------Each project is posted after the previous one has been completed. You will receive notification that a new Project has been posted by a notice on your News page. This is where all announcements about the course will occur, so keep your eye out for new notices.

Team Work-------------------------Some elements of your projects will be individual, some will be collaborative with other members in your Team. It is important when working on projects to actively participate with your team in the Team Talk and Feedback area (click on the Teams button then choose Discussion and Feedback from the Team Features drop down menu.)

Course Outline-------------------------------Don’t forget to download the course outline from the Resources section so you can plan ahead in terms of due dates for projects etc.

-----------------------------------------------------------------If you haven’t already done so, read the message on your News page (click the teams button). This will tell you how to get started with this course.

12 mESSAGE BOARD (WHAT DO YOu EXPECT FROm THIS COuRSE?)It is good to gauge students’ expectations at the beginning so that you can establish the boundaries and goals of the course. It is also a good way to get to know your students, and for them to get to know each other.


Example ‘What do you expect from this course?’ threadTo start the Message Board area, I would like to understand what each of you ex-pects to gain from undertaking this particular course. My own aims are as follows:

- To build a strong and active community amongst us all- To engage in interesting collaborations concerning aspects of Interactivity- To introduce you to a conceptual and intellectual approach to forming images - To learn from you as much as you learn from me

To help me tailor the course to what you all expect, then the more replies to this thread the better. I expect that each person shall make one response to this thread.

13 mESSAGE BOARD (TALKING POINT FROm LECTuRE ONE)You can have a Talking Point from your first Lecture set up and ready for students to begin a discussion. This is especially good for early students, so they have something to do while waiting for others to contribute.

Example ‘Talking Point’ threadDigest LECTURE 1 from the Lectures section, look at the Talking Point at the conclusion of the lecture and respond here. This is an area where topics raised in the lecture are open for discussion and debate. Remember that participation in the discussions is essential, and your contributions count towards your mark.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone thinks of the Talking Point. Debate and disagreement is encouraged! We want you to bring your own experience to the course, and if you disagree with anyone, including your tutors, then say so - but be prepared to back it up with an argument.

We want to create a constructive collaborative environment, and encourage active debate, but politeness and respect is of required in all posts from everyone.

---------------------------------------------------------------Your post is due by the end of week 2 - Friday March 10

-----------------------------------------------IMPORTANT - Talking Points Advice-----------------------------------------------It is expected that you will make multiple contributions to these threads to help generate discussion, and not just state your own opinion and never post again. Debate or discussion is essential for a good understanding of the issue - and it is essential that you read the Lectures prior to posting your thoughts. The lectures and discussions are designed to help you in your projects, and marks are allocated to your participation in them. There is a due date for participation in each discussion, stated in the beginning of each thread.

14 mESSAGE BOARD (INTRODuCTORY TASK THREAD - IF RELEVANT)Your introductory task should encourage discussion amongst the students to introduce them to the topic of your course, and to also get them used to discussing their ideas. This is an important opportunity for you to be able to set the tone of discussions for the rest of the course.

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