SITE Webinar:“What is a Virtual Classroom? Creative Ways to Use Synchronous

Learning to Personalize Distance/Flexible Education”

October 7, 2015, 2:00 pm, Eastern TimeTopic: Synchronous Tools in Teaching and Learning

Peggy Semingson, Ph.D.Dana Owens, Ph.D.

The University of Texas at Arlington

Introduction• Synchronous learning (such as videoconferencing),

although it has been used across many contexts, is fairly new to use in distance education (teacher-student and student-students).

• This webinar session provides high-interest, research-based strategies so that participants in the webinar can incorporate synchronous learning (real-time learning) in both individual and group settings in their own courses.

• We will also provide concrete tips drawing on our experiences as distance educators in literacy teacher education courses.

Background of Presenters

• Both presenters have extensive experience designing and teaching online courses in Literacy Students to pre-service and in-service teachers. Our Master’s degree program in Literacy studies is 100% online.

• We are active and regular presenters of research and best practices at SITE conferences.

• Both have participated in University-sponsored Professional Learning Communities related to technology integration.

Dr. Peggy SemingsonDr. Peggy Semingson is Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction in The College of Education at the University of Texas at Arlington where she has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in Literacy Studies since 2008. Dr. Semingson taught bilingual students as a classroom teacher and a reading specialist for eight years in both Southern California and Texas. She received her M.Ed. in Reading Education from Texas State University, San Marcos in 2004 and her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Language and Literacy Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2008. In higher education, she is the recipient of the UTA President’s Award for Excellence in Distance Education Teaching (2010). Most recently she was awarded the prestigious Platinum level – Best Practices Award for Excellence in Distance Learning Teaching from the United States Distance Learning Association (2013). In 2013 she was the recipient of the prestigious Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award from the UT System.

Dr. Dana OwensDr. Dana Owens is a clinical assistant professor in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Texas at Arlington where she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Educational Technology and Literacy Studies. Dr. Owens taught elementary education for twelve years. She has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in Literacy and Educational Technology since 1998. Dr. Owens received her Ph.D. in Reading Education with a specialization in Computer Education and Cognitive Systems from the University of North Texas in 2000.

Poll: Your Experience

Question #1• Do you have experience with:• Synchronous learning? (Yes/no)Question #2• Do you have experience with:• Digital mentoring via videoconference or chat

(live)

Brief Overview-Highlights of Research

• Very brief overview of highlights of recent research regarding synchronous learning, with focus on its importance and role in distance teaching and learning in higher education will be shared.

• Definition and scope of synchronous learning will be shared.

• Examples of classification of different types of synchronous learning.

Research Highlights

• “In technology-enhanced learning environments, learners’ expectations toward e-learning have been growing toward on-demand, anytime/anywhere and high-quality instruction (Ely, 2003; Khan, 2005).”

• Technical quality is very important to the synchronous experience; audio quality is essential. Students felt positive about experience. (Grant & Cheon, 2007)

• Transactional distance theory (Moore & Kearsley, 1996) • Community of Inquiry framework (e.g., Garrison,

Anderson, & Archer, 2000; Garrison & Arbaugh, 2007).

Annotated Bibliography & For Further Reading

• Research articles and practical “how to get started” resources

• Clay, C. (2012). Great webinars: create interactive learning that is captivating, informative and fun. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.

• Finkelstein, J. (2006). Learning in Real Time: Synchronous teaching and learning online. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

• Murphy, K. L., Mahoney, S. E., Chen, C. Y., Mendoza-Diaz, N.V., & Yang, X. (2005). A constructivist model of mentoring, coaching, and facilitating online discussions. Distance education, 26(3), 341-366. doi: 1475-019.

• Garrison, D. R. (2015). Thinking collaboratively: Learning in a community of inquiry. London: Routledge/Taylor and Francis.

Defining Digital Mentoring

Context:• a) synchronous learning • b) digital mentoring in “real

time”/synchronous learning either with teacher and student or a student meeting with another student (or students) in “real time”/synchronous learning.

Several vignettes or examples

• Ways I have implemented digital mentoring with graduate students 1-on-1 in a 100% online Master’s program in Literacy Studies will be shared and discussed.

• Tips for implementing this practice and how to get started.

Screenshot of 1-on-1 conference session

Guiding Student in Research in Real-Time

• P: Have you gotten on the library databases yet for the library website?S: Yes. It’s a lot of information on a website. I’ve looked up. Which one was it. It was one of them. Oh here it goes…You had recommended scholarly literary journals. I looked up the Journal of Literacy and… The Reading Teacher. [student pulls out printed handout sent in a previous email]

• P: Oh, ok. I’m going to share my desktop and go to the library. This is another neat thing. [I pull up my desktop and start desktop sharing]

• S: Oh neat.• P: I can share my internet.• S: Cool.• P: Yeah, I can go to the library. So you said you did E-Journals?

S: Yeah I did the e-Journals. I looked up three of them. I really liked that you bolded three which you like best. I started with three of those first. [student referring to her printed documents of the printed out handout and is looking at those while talking to me.]

• P: Ok

Guiding Student Toward Research Tools in Real-Time

• S: I found some articles I think I would like but I’m still having trouble with them;

• P: Ok I’ll show you the databases. [I am on the university library home page now] So what you did was you looked up some E-journals. That’s actually a good way to find articles because you know they’re going to be literacy-related and if you know that’s a pretty good journal you know it’s peer reviewed and they publish prominent scholars. But databases are a good way too. The library databases you just access them from the main page and click on databases. There’s two I’m going to show you right now. Have you used any of these before? [I click on the next page and lead her through the databases using desktop sharing]S: No. They don’t look familiar.

Questions to Consider for Yourself

• What are your thoughts on the types of mentoring shared today?

• What applications do you see in your own work?• What would you need to change or adapt towards

your own teaching?• What do you still want to know about digital

mentoring?• How is digital mentoring “good teaching”? What

is still needed?

Talk from Dana Owens

• This segment will present key ideas of using synchronous learning.

• Key ideas of managing group instruction and engaging learners in the virtual classroom will be presented.

Plan Ahead

• Give your students a webinar schedule as early as possible. – It’s good to include the schedule in the syllabus if

possible.– Webinars may be needed more at the beginning

of the course to clarify information.

Tech Support

• Tech support information should be included with the rest of the information.– They need to know phone numbers– They need to have access to the tech support page

listing several ways to initiate contact– Support for webinars may be different from the

regular LMS system

Focus

• The focus of the first webinar may be the syllabus

• A focus on assignments is also helpful• Q&A sessions – This may be a number of minutes set aside for

Q&A or the whole focus of a webinar

Flexibility

• It helps to vary the nights of the week on which the webinars are held.– Some students may be enrolled in face-to-face

courses that meets the same night as the webinar– Post the recording so others can go back and

listen.

Our Contact Info

• Dr. Peggy Semingson• peggys@uta.edu • I am on Twitter: @PeggySemingson• Subscribe to my YouTube channel!

• Dr. Dana Owens• dana.owens@uta.edu