Teaching with Moodle: Engaging Learners through Online Discussions
Creating highly engaging online discussions to support sustainable formative learning
description
Transcript of Creating highly engaging online discussions to support sustainable formative learning
Creating highly engaging online discussions to support sustainable formative learning
Brant Knutzen
Learning DesignerFaculty of EducationUniversity of Hong Kong
Overview
Social ConstructivismTransactivityBuilding engagementAssessment methodsParticipation ratingMeasuring engagement
Computer-mediated ConferencingCMC : Computer-mediated
Conferencing Synchronous : “chat”, or instant
messaging Asynchronous : “discussion forum”
Asynchronous Participants take turns posting Minutes, hours, or days apart More time to digest, research, compose
response
Learning Interactions using CMC
Social ConstructivismThe effective construction of
knowledge is a product of a functional collaborative group producing artifacts for public display and use
Efficacy has been found to be linked to the process that learners utilize in working on the task together (Fischer et al 2002)
Process: social negotiation of arguments and argument sequences (Leitão 2000; Voss & Dyke 2001)
Social Constructivism
John Biggs captured the educational value of discussion when he stated:
"Good dialogue elicits those activities that shape, elaborate,
and deepen understanding“ (Biggs 1999 p. 5)
Transactivity
Transactivity: the method by which students build on the contributions of their fellow learners
(Berkowitz & Gibbs 1983)
Transactive online discussionsTransactive communication:
Participants respond to and build on each other’s contributions
Peer exchange of information and ideas Social negotiation of knowledge Each participant brings their own
experiences to apply to a common educational goal
Transactivity
A key theoretical construct for measuring collaboration
How can we formulate the instructional design conditions which consistently result in more productive and transactive learning activities?
How can we describe it in easily grasped ways? Quantitative Qualitative
Online discussion – the potentialAn online discussion is a great
formative learning activity for building depth of student understanding, or supporting project work
Highest potential for social construction of knowledge and transactive collaboration
Unfortunately, this activity is also the most likely to FAIL! Why?
Study #1 – 2007 – Building Engagement
Case study of one course (Knutzen, 2007)
▪ International school in Hong Kong – secondary level
▪ 1-to-1 laptop blended learning environment▪ Introduction to Psychology course▪ Sample size = 24
Investigation of instructional design conditions to achieve a highly productive online discussion
At start of study, average student production in optional online discussions = 1 post
Productive Communication
Four conditions to achieve productive online discussions:1. Teacher facilitated social formation of small
groups2. Class time to initiate oral and online discussion
interaction3. Setting open-ended, challenging topic
questions that encourage discussion and debate
4. Assessment system that reinforces production and peer interaction
At end of study, average studentproduction: over 10 posts per discussion!
Extensive use of discussion designOver the past six years:
Extensive use of the online discussion design
Full-time instruction of secondary students▪ 1-to-1 laptop environment▪ IT classes▪ Psychology
Implemented at University of Hong Kong: 2009▪ MSc IT in Education course on eLearning
Implemented in 12 courses at Lingnan Univ : 2010▪ Business, History, Social Studies, Philosophy,
EnglishDesign continues to result in good
production
Designing discussion topic questionsOne to three questions around one topic
or area of content / conceptsAdvantage of multiple questions:
Instructor can design a “gradient” of difficulty which can elicit a range of student answers▪ From basic knowledge -> higher-order thinking
skills (HOTS)▪ Use a taxonomy of active verbs to specify the
levels of understanding expected in answers (Blooms Revised, SOLO)
▪ Examples: Multi-structural (list, describe, classify)Relational (compare/contrast, explain, analyze, relate)Extended Abstract (hypothesize, generate, reflect)
Designing discussion topic questionsObjective of multiple questions:
Make discussion accessible to all students Challenge the advanced students
Other topic question gradients found to be useful: Concrete facts -> abstract concepts Textbook context -> personal context
(unique answers!)
Designing discussion topic questionsExample of a Topic Question gradient:
Can you demonstrate what you have learned in your study of the Porter management models?
1. Can you list and describe the Porter models? (Basic understanding ).
2. How can you compare Porter's models? (Relational understanding)Can you relate these models to each other in several ways, or on several dimensions?.
3. Based on these models, can you create your own model?
What factors do you theorize are important, and why? (Extended abstract understanding)
Discussion marking schemes
Traditional – teacher-assessed subjective marking Review contributions by each student Award mark based on:
▪ Participation – any contribution to discussion▪ Interaction - responding and seeking feedback▪ Transaction – sharing / exchanging useful information and
resources▪ Transformation – perspective change due to interaction
with others
Best method for summative assessment
Should a discussion be a summative activity?
Using a Rubric for assessmentCriteria examples:
▪ Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media
▪ Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media
▪ Develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures
▪ Contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problemsSource: ISTE NETS for Students
Problems with teacher assessmentA highly productive discussion can
easily produce over 200 posts a week!
A teacher can become a victim of their own success How much time can they devote to
quantitative marking? How much time remains for qualitative
feedback?
Peer-assessment
Desired graduate attributes: Critical thinking skills Excellent cooperative skills
▪ Integrity▪ Personal responsibility
Subjective peer-assessment can directly address the development of these attributes Requires student training Requires review and evaluation by
teacher
Peer-assessment - SubjectivePossible problems:
Revenge grading : 報復▪ “you gave me a low grade, I will give you a low
grade”
Back-scratching : 賄賂 ▪ “If you give me a high grade, I will give you a
high grade “
Sustainable forum assessment?
Teacher evaluation of forums: time intensive
Peer evaluation of forums: requires monitoring
Subjective evaluation of formative work tends to distort student learning
Optional forums do not get sufficient participation to create viable discussions
Leveraging the power of the LMSMy solution: automate the rating based
on participation No subjective judgment, just rating using a
systematic method:
Moodle can automatically average these grades!
Rating based on Participation
Moodle averages the ratings Grades produced by participation:
▪ One post = 6 -> D-▪ Two posts = 8 -> B-▪ Three posts = 8.6 -> B▪ Four posts = 9 -> A-▪ Five posts = 9.2 -> A-▪ Six posts = 9.33 -> A▪ Seven posts = 9.42 -> A▪ Eight posts = 9.5 etc
More Q&A participation = higher grade
More participation -> higher grade
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 210
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Number of posts -> Forum Grade
Number of discussion posts
Forum Grade
A foundation of participationThis assessment method for
assessing a forum creates a foundation of participation: on average over 90% of students will engage
As always, the teacher’s role is to create the educational value of the activity: Set up challenging topic questions to
guide exploration Maintain a “visible presence” in the
forum activity Successfully moderate the discussion
Discussion moderation techniquesSalmon’s 5-stage
model ofeModeration
Teacher guidesstudents upthe levelstowardknowledgedevelopment Source: http://www.atimod.com/e-moderating/5stage.shtml
Participation-based forum gradeThe Moodle LMS handles the awarding
of quantitative marks for participation
Teacher can focus on quality: Monitor progress Guide the discussion Challenge students Time for thoughtful qualitative
feedback▪ Minimum: 30 mins to 1 hour each week per
discussion
Motivating students to engageMotivation on three levels:
1. Constructive alignment between formative discussions and summative final assignmentsExamples:
▪ Reflective posts build towards a Learning Portfolio blog
▪ Group collaboration on final project development
2. Social Constructivism: a sense of social obligation to support the group
3. Quantified Participation: each contribution is counted as participation towards a forum grade
The Participation ForumAutomates the awarding of
participation points Reduces technical requirements
(modifying roles) No need to train the students No need to monitor rating accuracy No need to motivate student ratings of
posts Finished development and testing in Dec
2011 Currently in trials at HKU
Planned release as open-source project soon
Measures of discussion activity
Quantitative:▪ Production = Total number of discussion posts / n▪ Interactivity = Total number of feedback posts / n▪ Group Activity = Total number of discussion posts
/ # topics▪ Transactivity = Production × Interactivity
Qualitative: a new type of graphical representation – the “Participation Map” Developed at Lingnan University in 2011 Continued development as open source
project
The Participation MapNew Moodle plug-in automates the
production of the map of discussion activity: Quantitative statistics Qualitative graphic display: a “data portrait”
Useful for displaying discussion activity Feedback to students in the class (who is
working?) Feedback to teacher (what approach is
working?) Anonymous mode for reporting research
results
Example Participation Map
Student profile picturesStudents can interact in multiple groups
Tim
e sc
ale
from
Day
1 to
Day
14
Red line shows rating cutoff
Group comparison stats
Overall discussion statistics
Quantitative Data
Quantitative ratings of overall discussion
Participation Map is a teacher toolAfter install on Moodle server, this
plugin is only available to those with Teacher roles
New option on CourseAdministration block
Participation Map operationSelect the
forum, andthen plot type: Normal plot
for feedbackto teacher andstudents
Anonymousfor reportingresults outside
Questions and DiscussionCurrently setting up a website to make
these open source projects available to the Moodle educational community: Brant.Knutzen.se
Goal is to release both as free open source plugins for Moodle 2 by Sep 2012
Q & A ?? My email is [email protected]