1. Standard forum for general use allows the most unrestricted use of Moodle forums and students may create and post however many topics or comments they wish;


2. Single simple discussion is a very focused discussion with one topic;


3. Each person posts one discussion allows each student to post one topic and no more;


4. Q & A forum requires students to first post an answer to a question or topic before they can view other students' replies. NOTE: Typically the instructor should be the one posting the original question/topic; and


5. (New) Standard forum displayed in a blog like format with responses displayed in reverse chronological order (latest post appears first).

Uses for Teaching, Learning and Research

• Foster conversation: The forum is a place where instructors can get conversations started with individual students and for groups. The instructor can monitor the conversations to see the nature of the discussion, participating as appropriate.


• Organize conversations: The forum allows for topics to appear in an organized manner. Responses can appear in a variety of formats depending on the preference of the instructor.


• Display replies flat shows all of the posts with the newest or oldest first and does not indent replies;


• Display replies in nested form shows all posts on the same page with replies displayed and indented; and


• Display replies in threaded form shows posts indented, but only displays links to replies.


• Track participation: Instructors may choose to have students respond to questions ahead of class time to check for comprehension and/or completion related to course content.


• Collaborative space: The forum is an excellent tool where students can engage in a common task and construct shared meanings, experiences, and concepts. One example is to use the forum as a place where students contribute "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQs) about the course and concepts.

• As stated in the description, the forum is limited to asynchronous communication. Real-time responses depend on the availability of the instructor and/or the notification settings used by the instructor in the forum.


• Time limits. The default time for one to respond to a forum is 30 minutes unless changed. The frequency of notifications (emails) from Moodle can be changed. Instructor may recommend to the students to change the default setting there from Complete to No Digest, since that will help them to stay most up-to-date with the course progress. Details can be found here: Frequency of Email from a Forum: http://www.oit.umn.edu/moodle/instructor-manual/frequency/index.htm.

Related Tools

• UThink Blogs


• Moodle 2.0 Dialogue

Research

In terms of the communities of inquiry model, in which the article is grounded, for me Chris' comment was a "triggering event," or a starting point for practical inquiry where "an issue, dilemma or problem that emerges from experience is identified or recognized." Or rather, when I hear someone say "they're so excited" in conversations about teaching, that phrase is a triggering event that causes me to reflect on what happened in a different way. Students' excitement (or engagement or enthusiasm) might be more of a milestone than an end, or perhaps a beginning of rather than a sign of success. A lively discussion is energizing, but what happens after that? How do we know what insights, if any, students have gained from that discussion, especially when everything is moving so fast? Do students engaged in a lively discussion now know how to use those insights as they move towards higher order learning outcomes? And what about the quiet student who does not appear to be engaged? Is that student reflecting on what is said, or is that student tuned out? Is that student shy, or perhaps not as quick, or perhaps not confident about their language skills, and therefore more hesitant to jump in? While online, asynchronous discussions may not be as exciting as a face-to-face discussion, they do present many advantages. More reflective students, or students who for different reasons may not feel confident enough to speak up in class have more opportunities to participate. All students, as well as the instructor, can take the time to compose more thoughtful responses and feedback. And as everyone involved in discussion develops their ideas, they can refer back to what has been written online.

As Garrison, et. al. explain, the "triggering event," is only the first of four phases of inquiry, followed by exploration, integration and resolution. Once the issue to explore or problem to be solved has been identified and defined, students and teachers together brainstorm ideas, share information, and ask questions. Integration involves testing the applicability of ideas, identifying misconceptions, revising ideas. In the final, resolution phase, those involved implement solutions to problems or perhaps test a hypothesis. In their research on online classroom discussions, Garrison, et. al. found that students were most active in the exploration phase, and hardly active at all during the resolution phase. I wonder if they would have produced the same results in an investigation of face-to-face discussion, and if the excitement of discussion happens mainly during the exploration phase. After all, it's much easier--and much more fun--to brainstorm, and to bounce ideas off of each other. Evaluating and critically examining those ideas and formulating some kind of solution to a common problem is much more difficult, and much more work. What can teachers do to make sure students are successful throughout the full process of inquiry, and how do they know their students have succeeded?

Moreover, how might technology be integrated into successful practical inquiry during a course? What kinds of tools, what kinds of learning activities and what strategies might be most useful to students as they further develop, test and apply their ideas?

Garrison, D. Randy, Terry Anderson and Walter Archer. "Critical Thinking, Cognitive Presence and Computer Conferencing in Distance Education." (2001) American Journal of Distance Education.

While these are intriguing numbers, we should spend more time investigating the specific uses of social media. The Babson survey reports, "Nearly two-thirds of all faculty have used social media during a class session, and 30% have posted content for students to view or read outside class. Over 40% of faculty have required students to read or view social media as part of a course assignment, and 20% have assigned students to comment on or post to social media sites. Online video is by far the most common type of social media used in class, posted outside class, or assigned to students to view, with 80% of faculty reporting some form of class use of online video."

The survey report further suggests that faculty are concerned about the "lack of integrity of student submissions" to social media, and student privacy issues. This reinforces the importance of helping instructors and students understand the complexity of these issues. This might be challenging since despite the rosy picture the graphic paints, only 19% of faculty disagreed with the statement that "Social networks take more time than they are worth" (p.14).

(Thanks to Christopher Brooks for tweeting the info-graphic.)

Addendum: For a reflective post on one instructor's attempt to use social media in the classroom, see the 3-part series, Using Twitter to Teach.

Courtesy of: Schools.com

Keith: So to 'fess up right up front, I don't own a cell phone, smart phone, iPod or any other mobile device. I use a laptop (owned by the U) but seldom use it out of the office except at meetings.

On the practical side, I really see small format mobile devices as great for consuming information, but perhaps not as practical for producing things. Finding if my flight is on time on the mobile device is much different from writing the app to do that using a mobile device. Or, think of emails written from a phone versus emails written from a computer with a keyboard. In my experience, one or two line responses on a mobile device would be pretty long. I definitely wouldn't write an email in response to your question on mobiles with this much detail on a mobile device. If we're looking for interactivity and active learning, devices that don't make it easy to create, as opposed to consume, may limit their usefulness in education. I believe there is a niche for them, but we'll have to be creative.

Paul: I guess I'm in agreement with a lot of what Keith has said. Currently, it seems like mobile really works best for consuming content and potentially for interacting in specific ways--delivering feedback like a clicker, creating a backchannel such as Twitter, taking cursory notes on an iPad.

But I also think there will be major advances in particular disciplines depending upon how a course is taught. For instance, I think we'll develop really strong apps for using mobile in identifying features of natural objects--planets, plants, rocks, etc.--in their natural setting. An app that can give even a cursory translation of a foreign language text could really advance reading skills, particularly for lazy language learners like me who hate looking up every other word in the French or Spanish dictionary. While finding information on natural objects or looking up words in a dictionary involve consumption of information, we might also put those actions in the context of solving natural problems in an authentic, real-world environment.

In the end, I think we'll probably discard the idea of "mobile learning" and return to concepts like problem based learning that happen to use mobile devices. That is, I think we'll take "mobile" and connectivity for granted very soon, at least on campuses with expanding wireless access. But that will probably be after the singularity when all of us have given up any hope of winning a round on Jeopardy against our mobile overlords.

Parry's piece makes clear the conceptual hurdles that may exist for any number of us--especially those of us rapidly approaching geezerhood--attempting to reach "mobile literacy." Preparing to teach and learn in a mobile world will mean learning to think in very different ways, to imagine differently how we might use the capacity of mobility to achieve specific learning outcomes.

I am still concerned on some practical levels. How will the University ensure some form of mobile equity? Will all students have access to web-enabled mobile devices? There are still inequalities among devices themselves. For example, not all mobile devices have Java and Flash capabilities, or high-resolution cameras. There will be design challenges for creating assignments.

Nonetheless, there will be no turning back. In the past, early adopters did cool stuff but few others knew about it. Today, the channels of communication are much better and sharing is much more a part of the culture. So for me, the challenge is getting up to speed enough to consider how we might approach faculty development in this area, as well as considering how to help faculty prepare their students to use mobile devices in ways that may be new to them.

Mobiles have been a topic of conversation within OIT's faculty development team. We talk about the potential of mobiles in higher education, and of course how we might help faculty, staff and students prepare to use mobiles in teaching, research and work at the University of Minnesota. I asked educational technology consultants to share their thoughts, which will appear in subsequent posts.

In higher education, one of the pressing questions will be how might this change in reading affect the textbook market? Will students and instructors embrace digital texts? The social learning platform Xplana projects that by the end of 2011, 3% of the total textbook market will be digital and that growth will be explosive over the next five years. By the end of 2016, they expect the total sales of digital textbooks to reach 26% of all new textbooks.

The advent of new reading platforms suggests the possibility to develop new ways of interacting with learning material. While some publishers might simply settle to replicate a print product in a digital form, other more innovative developers might embed assessments or opportunities for reflection within the text. User-controlled multimedia might help students replay presentations or simulate experiments. Books that are built for collaboration might help students jointly annotate a text or read annotations by their own instructor. There are many ways a new textbook could evolve, and let's hope that with such stunning sales figures and projections, publishers and authors seize this moment to reinvent rather than replicate the text.

(I learned about this article via the Digital Campus Facebook feed, an excellent source of news on education and technology.)

It was important that she be able to hand-draw diagrams and write out equations that the remote student could view as they talked. One low-cost solution (proof-of-concept hack?) involves clipping a webcam to a desk lamp, aimed down on a writing pad. Using Skype, writing or diagrams on the page were adequately viewable. A newer webcam such as the Hue HD (huehd.com, $40), still inexpensive, should yield better images (and lose the DIY flavor).

Click here to see how it's set up

An exciting development in mobile learning is Purdue University's DoubleTake, an authenticated mobile video system that allows professors and students to shoot, share and critique video using a smart phone or computer. An article in today's Chronicle explains how DoubleTake is being used in some classes at Purdue.

What I've learned so far: my colleagues read widely, and we read some of the same blogs. Some delve more deeply into specific subjects, others are more dilettantish. We read news and reports, and sometimes are involved in online communities of interest. And now I know why my colleagues are so knowledgeable: those long lists of resources show that we not only read widely, we are motivated to learn.

How do you learn about technology?

Stross worries about quality, while Texas governor Rick Perry's recent statement about online learning is connected to lowering the cost of tuition and improving efficiencies. In his State of the State address, Perry issued a "challenge" to colleges and universities to create bachelor's degrees that cost no more than $10,000, including textbooks:

As families continue to struggle with the cost of higher education, I am renewing my call for a four-year tuition freeze, locking in tuition rates at or below the freshman level for four years.

As leaders like Senator Zaffirini search for more low-cost pathways to a degree, it's time for a bold, Texas-style solution to this challenge, that I'm sure the brightest minds in our universities can devise. Today, I'm challenging our institutions of higher education to develop bachelor's degrees that cost no more than $10,000, including textbooks.

Let's leverage web-based instruction, innovative teaching techniques and aggressive efficiency measures to reach that goal. Imagine the potential impact on affordability and graduation rates, and the number of skilled workers it would send into our economy.

While Stross and Perry do not likely share perspectives on education, they both reinforce some myths about online education. Following are comments from the faculty development team about Perry's speech:

Paul Baepler: Research shows that hybrid learning--not purely online learning--seems to have learning benefits when done properly. Moreover, online learning isn't equally good for all people in all stages of cognitive and affective development.

Lauren Marsh: Good teaching, whether it takes place face-to-face or online, never is simply the transfer of knowledge. The skills, practices and values that professors wish to instill in their students can't simply be downloaded from a website. Effective online learning environments are highly complex to create and facilitate--they should be learner centered, knowledge centered, assessment centered, community centered. Offering online education as a low-cost alternative ignores the complexity of the endeavor and the transformative potential of higher education and transforms education into a fast food experience.

Kim Wilcox: Teaching online isn't any easier or less time-consuming than teaching face-to-face. It's an old myth that instructors can teach many more students online than face-to-face, with the same effort.

Now that the educational technology consultants have weighed in, what are your thoughts on Perry's proposal for higher education? What do you think about Stross' characterizations of and concerns about online learning?

- Kurtis Scaletta

• The only freely available application with which to write on the iPad is the stock Notes application that is pre-loaded on the device. While the Notes application is designed to allow users to take notes (as belied by its legal pad interface) rather than write and edit large amounts of text, I found it to be a bit awkward, if not cumbersome, to work on manuscripts. The touch computing aspect of moving the cursor to a desired field is a nice feature, but does not compensate for the ability to easily edit, move, or delete text without undesired consequences. I took the iPad to several meetings, however, where I used it as a paperless note-taking device and it worked rather splendidly.

• The touch sensitive keyboard was a bit awkward and unforgiving of typographical errors at first. However, as I got used to it (or it got used to me), typing became considerably easier, but still allowed for errors to be made that would not otherwise be made using an actual keyboard.

• Transferring notes to a computer proved not difficult, but annoying, as I had to email it to myself, then transfer and format the text into a Word document. This, of course, meant that I had to set up the iPad to recognize my email address - a one-time task, but a time consuming one, nonetheless. To be fair, the (relatively) new app - Dropbox - makes this process considerably easier.

• As I tend to be productive writing in places other than a cubicle, I used the iPad outdoors several times. In doing so, I found out that an iPad can actually overheat and automatically shut itself down to cool. It gives you a VERY brief warning that it is doing so before it shuts down. And when it did shut down, I lost about 30 minutes worth of work.

In July 2010, Alex Golub published a very frank assessment of potential for iPads in higher education on Inside Higher Ed entitled "The iPad for Academics" (http://z.umn.edu/2bt). It is a very good article that will be of use to those tasked with evaluating the potential for iPads at the University of Minnesota (and elsewhere). While I agree with most of what is written in the piece, one quote encapsulates my general assessment of the device:

When it comes to weaning professors off of traditional computers, the iPad fails. It is simply not a good device for people who do serious productive work, whether that be reading, writing, or working with multimedia.

A more recent post over at Hack Education (http://z.umn.edu/2br) suggests similarly that as a tool for consumption, the iPad is excellent (a position with which I completely agree). However, "when it comes to writing essays and creating multimedia and other technical projects, the iPad is cumbersome, if not useless."