37
In this section we’ll focus on examples for connecting content to community activities.
As you design an activity, make sure to include:
- What you expect the activity to accomplish.
- How you’ll describe the activity to students.
Let’s see how that might look.
Examples of Content-Based Community Activities
Example 1: Peer review activity
A nursing instructor wants to accomplish two things:
- She wants to assess how well her students understand the medical conditions covered in the text each week.
- She wants to assess how well her students can communicate the highly technical jargon associated with those conditions in a way that patients (laymen) can understand.
The instructor breaks her course into groups of four students each and, for each group, sets up a blog. (Blogs are a good choice for informal peer review activities.) Each week, students choose one of four medical conditions and create a blog posting describing that condition (for example, what it is and how it can be managed) in layman terms. Later in the week, students read their groupmates’ blog posts and provide feedback using specific criteria. Link to real-life example similar to the one we’re hoping you can create. 
Example 2: Group project activity
A social work instructor wants to accomplish three things:
- He wants to assess how well his students understand the mental conditions covered in the text each week—to what extent they can identify and describe each.
- He wants to assess how well his students can apply the theory they’re learning to a novel case study.
- He wants to give his students practice working together collaboratively to apply professional criteria to create specific documents (something they will be required to do after graduation, as professionals).
The instructor breaks his course into groups of two each and, for each group, sets up a Blackboard wiki (Blackboard wikis and Google Docs are both good options for collaborative document creation and submission). Students work together—either via email, phone, Google Hangouts, or any other option they agree on—to discuss the case study. Then they contribute to their group’s Blackboard wiki. When they’re finished, each student attaches a comment to his or her own group wiki signifying acceptance with the collaborative work. Link to real-life example similar to the one we’re hoping you create.
Example 3: Informal peer review activity
A communications instructor wants students to accomplish two things:
- Create an “elevator speech” based on criteria she provides.
- Practice giving their short speech and to get feedback. She could ask students to post the text of their elevator speeches to a discussion board, but because this type of speech is usually delivered in person—and is practiced in-person in her face-to-face courses—she would like a more authentic delivery approach.
The instructor decides to create a free VoiceThread that gives students instructions and examples. (VoiceThread is a good choice for performance assessments and informal peer reviews). Students record themselves giving their elevator speech (via webcam or microphone) and are encouraged to (but not required to) listen to each other’s work. The instructor listens to the recordings and manually grades each student’s effort in the Blackboard gradebook. Link to real-life screenshot of VoiceThread
Example 4: Discussion activity.
A nursing instructor wants to her students to accomplish four things:
- Find and present currently published articles that apply to topics covered in each week’s textbook readings.
- Discuss the connections between the current articles and textbook theory.
- Exercise Internet literacy (i.e., she wants students to practice searching for and vetting online articles and realize they must post links instead of copying and pasting copyrighted articles).
- Practice discussion facilitation skills (something they’ll need to be familiar with in their field).
The instructor decides to break her course into groups and sets up a Blackboard discussion board for each group (Blackboard discussion boards are a good choice for basic class and group discussions). She creates a discussion board prompt
that presents expectations for participation, including the facilitation role.
Example 5: Content review (study guide) activity
A physics instructor wants to accomplish the following things:
- He wants students to review the concepts introduced in the course materials.
- He wants to assess how well his students can apply the principles they are learning to problems that vary slightly from the examples presented.
- He wants to provide a venue where students work together to construct a shared understanding of astronomical concepts.
The instructor decides to reuse the study guide questions he provided to students in his on-campus course for a group activity. Here is a link to the Astronomy and Astrophysics – content review questions
Maintaining Community
Much of the establishment of an online learning community happens at the beginning of the course, but, like a garden, community needs to be tended. The following table provides some ideas for building community before and during an online course. Note that many of these elements will help you fulfill Quality Matters standards.
| Strategy | Description | Where and When |
|---|---|---|
| Share contact information (doing so meets Quality Matters standard 1.8) | Provide your office number with area code and your email address. The snail-mail address and mail stop are also helpful. As desired, share your cell phone number, Skype number, Twitter account, etc. if you are OK with students reaching you with those means, but mention time frames that are acceptable, e.g., “I only take calls between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. MT.” | Share your information in the syllabus and on a page accessible from the main menu such as Faculty Information page; keep it available throughout the course. |
| Provide an instructor bio/welcome page and/or video (QM 1.8) | A bit about your family, hobbies, and research interests (especially why you have those interests) is enough to make yourself human, but you needn’t overshare personal details. | Provide the welcome on a page accessible from the main menu, such as the Faculty Information page; make it available the week before the class begins (Module 00). |
| Create icebreakers (QM 1.9) | Ask students to introduce themselves to the rest of the class. What they share is up to you – perhaps their name, major (if undergrad), where they live, hobbies, and goals. Encourage students to post their photos as well (but be lenient on those who may have privacy concerns). | Set up a discussion forum that is available the week before class begins (Module 00); require replies. |
| Communicate through email, announcements (QM 1.2, 5.3 | Set an upbeat tone for course communication through announcements posted at least weekly and emails sent regularly to provide individual feedback. Let students know how often they may expect to hear from you, including the time frame to respond to emails or questions posted in discussion forums (e.g., within 24 hours). | Inform students of your communication plan via the syllabus and/or the welcome piece; use the built-in announcement and email tools to carry out the plan. Consider creating video announcements by recording yourself in Google Hangout, Blackboard Collaborate, Camtasia Relay, or a program such as Jing. |
| Provide virtual office hours (QM 5.3) | Use web-conferencing software such as Google Hangout to set up periodic office hours that would operate much like face-to-face office hours. Be sure to provide all the details students will need to use the software in terms of their computer setup. | Inform students of your office hours via the syllabus, welcome piece, and/or within a module; remind students at least 24 hours ahead, via announcements or email. |
| Keep students informed (QM 1.4) | Let students know in advance if your computer time will be limited, such as if you are attending a conference or moving your mother-in-law to Omaha. In another sense, keep yourself real by telling students what you learned at a conference, or share about current events in the field that interest you. | Use the announcement and email tools to inform students of your absence, at least 48 hours in advance where possible. Share newsy information as desired via announcements or a virtual cafe-type discussion forum. |
| Provide a discussion forum for course questions | In the online course template that we will apply to a course shell for you, we include a forum titled Course Questions & Suggestions. It is meant to work just like the forum similarly named in this seminar, providing a place for students to ask questions about the logistics of doing assignments, fuzzy concepts, etc. | Let students know about the forum constantly (!) via the syllabus, welcome piece, announcements, emails, and in the content itself. Use the Subscribe feature so that you can receive emails as soon as new posts go up. |
| Provide a discussion forum for socializing (QM 5.3) | Like students socializing before/after class in a face-to-face course, a “virtual cafe” forum is an open discussion board for students to informally chat with one another. In this seminar, we call ours the Faculty Lounge; in the online course template that will be applied to your course shell, the forum is called the Cybercafe. Consider making this the forum where students post their introductions and discuss non-course-related topics such as current events, etc. | Let students know about the forum via the syllabus, welcome piece, and announcements. Drop in to the forum yourself now and then (especially so you can be sure that posts are appropriate). |
As we work to develop community in our courses, we’ll often find that the courses are not just more effective for students, but more satisfying for both students and instructors.
