University of Michigan - Flint

Office of Extended Learning

February 2008

Save the date: April 4

Sharing Learning in an Information-saturated World

Internationally known game master and University of Michigan Professor of Education Emeritus Fred Goodman will head up a faculty professional development day April 4 on the Flint campus. OEL and the Thompson Center for Learning and Teaching will co-host this event for faculty of all persuasions (i.e. online AND face-to-face) to inspire educators in engaging learners in an information-saturated, Internet-savvy world.

Since 1984, he has been involved with UM's Interactive Communications & Simulations program, devoted to connecting schools around the world for intensive, semester-long exercises. He has designed a wide variety of academic games, including some computerized games.

As an instructional gamer, his goal is to provide inventive means for managing conflicting views and adapting to our environment. One of Goodman’s well-known games is “They Shoot Marbles, Don’t They?” originally created for the Highland Park school system in response to the 1967 civil disturbances in Detroit. He has sold thousands of copies to educators worldwide.

Goodman was the chief consultant to the U.S. Office of Education in the '60s, and was responsible for the design of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC). He guided the development of the Interactive Communications & Simulations (ICS) Program at University of Michigan's School of Education, and has lectured worldwide on gaming.

Thinking of Teaching Online?

Our next session of the Intensive Course Development begins March 10. This is fully online and instructor-led! At the end of the six-week session, you will have developed the structure of the course you intend to teach online, as well as at least two complete weeks of content. Prerequisites are Intro to Blackboard (unless you’ve used Blackboard already) and Intro to Online Teaching, a quick, self-paced, online module. To register, contact Deb White. The last session of the academic year will begin in May and will include face-to-face sessions.

Incorporating Sound Into Student Feedback

With no special equipment, some faculty are incorporating sound into student feedback, moving from low to high paralinguistic features typically missing in text-based online learning. Four education researchers from the University of North Carolina Charlotte, West Virginia University and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University conducted a study on the inclusion of an auditory element in online courses. They found that audio feedback strengthens both the sense of community and the instructor’s ability to affect more personalized communication with students.

• The most frequently expressed theme was the ability to detect nuance and inflection in the audio commenting, and gain a little more insight into what the instructor was attempting to convey.
• Audio feedback was associated with feelings of increased involvement and enhanced learning community interactions, reinforcing the perception of “being there.”
• Audio improved retention of content. Document analysis revealed that students were three times more likely to apply content for which audio comments were provided compared to text-based comments. Coding of documents revealed that students were far more likely to apply higher order thinking and problem solving skills (Synthesis and Evaluation in Bloom’s Taxonomy).
• With audio feedback, students believed the instructor cared more about the student’s learning.

The study incorporated unsolicited feedback, end-of-course surveys, post course individual interviews and document analysis.

The study also found that it took instructors less time to create an audio file than to provide text. The mean feedback volume for text feedback was 129.75 words (SD = 57.43) and 331.39 (SD = 89.31) for audio. The mean time required for the instructor to provide feedback was 13.43 minutes (SD = 4.53) for text-based feedback and 3.81 minutes (SD = 0.76) for audio.

Since the study, these instructors have provided audio feedback for another 450 students. Approximately one third of their students have submitted unsolicited feedback expressing a strong preference for this technique over text based feedback. Instructors also found that the audio process is slightly faster than text-based feedback.

[Source: Using Asynchronous Audio Feedback to Enhance Teaching Presence and Students’ Sense of Community, on reserve in the UM-Flint Library under the course title Online Learning]

In case you missed it:
What Web 2.0 Can Teach Us About Learning

What does Web 2.0 mean? Educator Edward Maloney sees "a new focus on innovation, creation, and collaboration, and an emphasis on collective knowledge over static information delivery, knowledge management over content management, and social interaction over isolated surfing...a more active, participatory role for users. Georgetown University has launced the Digital Notebook project, an online space for students to use interconnected Web 2.0 services while creating a detailed portfolio. It is just one model, he says, for thinking about how technology can enhance teaching and learning.

Edward J. Maloney is director of research and learning technologies at Georgetown University's Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship.

[Source: Chronicle of Higher Education, Section: Information Technology, Volume 53, Issue 18, Page B26, http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i18/18b02601.htm]

Anti-cheating Crusader Turnitin Wins First Round

It appears the plagiarism detection company Turnitin has prevailed in a lawsuit challenging its stance on intellectual property. Last month, Judge Claude M. Hilton of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued a summary judgment removing the case from the trial calendar. The judge has not yet released a decision explaining the ruling, so it is not yet clear whether he was swayed by Turnitin's fair-use argument, or whether the six student plaintiffs lost on a technicality. Robert A. Vanderhye, a retired lawyer in Virginia who took on the case pro bono, has said he will appeal if the ruling finds that Turnitin's storage of student papers qualifies as fair use. The students had claimed that their work was inherently copyrighted and could not be legally retained in the Turnitin database without their consent.

[Source: Read, Brock, Chronicle of Higher Education, “Anti-cheating Crusader Vexes Some Professors,” February 29, 2008.]

Blackboard Updates

At the end of this semester, Blackboard will be upgraded to a newer version (7.3). The changes for users appear to be minor, but OEL will conduct extensive testing and staff training to ensure that that the newer version is supported fully at launch.

After 7.3, the next version, 8.0, will offer significant changes. Kettering University is using it now, but we will wait to install it between fall 2008 and winter 2009 semesters.

What are the enhancements in 7.3?

Discussion Board Enhancements: http://www.viewletcentral.com/vc/viewlet.html?id=48389415

• “Tree” view showing post titles and relationships to replies
• Subscribe and Unsubscribe options for forums (previously only available for threads)
• Reply option that includes a quote from the previous post
• New tagging options
• Collection views that allow users to reply, quote, and mark as unread
• Thread detail page with Subscribe/Unsubscribe, Mark Read/Unread and Quote controls

Archive/Restore: Starting with Release 7.3, we will have the back-up option to include materials stored in the Blackboard Content System™ in the course archive. This makes courses with shared content more portable, and lets us make a complete backup of a critical course at a specific moment in time.

Recycle Bin: Like the recycle bin on your computer, the Recycle Bin in the Blackboard Content System provides you with a way to un-delete materials you want to recover. Recycle Bins can be searched and items can be renamed and restored.

• Unique ID for Content Items: Each item in the Blackboard Content System will be assigned a unique ID, which permits movement of items within the system without losing links which were made previously. Thus, if you move item Z from Folder A to Folder B, all the references to item Z will still be intact.

Office of Extended Learning 241 French Hall