EDUC 761 – Collaborative Communities

Dr. Maryruth Hicks3 credit hours

Instructor:     Maryruth W. Hicks, Ph.D.

Telephone:     813-661-8971

Email:             hicksma@uwstout.edu

 

Welcome!

In this course, you will

Course Description

This course is designed for technical college and community college instructors, K-12 educators, university instructors, curriculum consultants, and corporate trainers who want to facilitate online learning in hybrid or fully online courses.

Course activities include hands-on practice using asynchronous communication technologies. You will actively facilitate and explore questioning skills, conflict resolution, netiquette, and collaborative learning through problem-solving scenarios, simulations, and online discussions. You will investigate time management strategies and pitfalls to avoid when designing and facilitating online class activities and explore various assessment tools to analyze and evaluate student participation in online discussions.

Paperbacks to Purchase

Software

Microsoft Word files are required if you are sharing attached documents on the Discussion Board and when submitting assignments for assessment.

Office 365

Office 365 Education for Students is available free of charge to UW-Stout students. Office 365 is accessed using a student's UW-Stout email address and password. This plan allows students to use online versions of or install Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, and Access on up to 5 PCs or Macs and Office apps on other mobile devices including Android, iPad®, and Windows tablets. The plan also includes 1TB of OneDrive storage and students can edit and collaborate using Office Online, Yammer, and SharePoint sites.

If the file is created using Google Docs or Apple .pages, convert the file to a Word document (.doc or .docx) before uploading to the Discussion Board or as an Assignment. If you are sharing attached documents during peer collaboration projects, please convert all files to Word so that everyone has access to viewing a universally compatible format.

Useful Tutorials

University Email

Checking your university email daily is recommended.

Mobile Phone Access to Your Email
 You may configure your mobile device to receive your university email automatically. Directions are provided at:  https://kb.uwstout.edu/page.php?id=56145

Click on the appropriate link for directions that match your device.
If you need assistance, please call 715-232-5000.

Course Objectives

  1. Develop a personal philosophy that reflects learning theory and guides online instruction that creates an environment for reflection, critical thinking, and collaboration.
  2. Analyze the role of the online facilitator and develop strategies to implement, encourage and manage interaction in the online classroom.
  3. Demonstrate appropriate planning considerations, guidelines and procedures to establish a productive, engaging e-learning environment.
  4. Frame critical thinking questions and design discussion prompts that lead to effective learning in the online classroom.
  5. Apply understanding of learner differences when facilitating an online community of practice.
  6. Evaluate application ideas for online discussions using recognized criteria and professional references and apply current research about successful teaching strategies to guide students before, during and after case scenarios, brainstorming, role-playing, and reaction postings.
  7. Create a facilitation eportfolio of useful tools, tips, and facilitation techniques as well as the beginnings of 70-30 course preparation developed during the course.

Course Outline

Course Information

  1. Help desk
  2. Course schedule
  3. Syllabus/books
  4. Contact information
  5. FAQ's
  6. Grading, late policy, and rubrics
  7. Academic Expectations and Honesty Policy

Module One:  Course Introduction (Ko & Rossen, Ch. 1 & 7); (Johnson, Ch. 1 & 13)

  1. Key terms
  2. On-line Community development
    1. Ice breaker
    2. Large group discussion: Good practices
  3. Expectations for Discussions
    1. Course Policy and Assessment Page
    2. Discussion Rubric
  4. Syllabus Quiz
  5. Personal Survey (Bond or Bourne)
  6. Portfolio
    1. Creation of contact list (add a commentary to the top of this page)
    2. Create a weekly reflections page that includes a journal for Module One

Module Two: Learning Theories and Facilitation (Ko & Rossen, Ch. 3, 4, & 7);     (Johnson, Ch. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, & 8)

  1. Social constructivism and adult learning theories
  2. Group Discussions
    1. Small Group: Online personality inventory
    2. Small Group Project: Plan Tip Sheet to be presented during Week 6
    3. Large Group:  SoCo (Social Constructivism)
  3. Portfolio
    1. Create a Tip Sheet page
      1. Update the tip sheet page with journaling notes (do this weekly).
      2. Include a commentary at the top of the tip sheet page
    2. Add comments to the Weekly Reflections page for Module Two.

Module Three: Good facilitation (Ko & Rossen, Ch. 10, 11, 13, & 15); (Johnson, Ch. 5, 6, & 12).

  1. Role of facilitator
  2. Group Discussions
    1. Small Groups: Practice Facilitation
    2. Large Group:  Scenarios, Simulations, Role Playing
  3. Portfolio
    1. Create a new page for the PLN representation (add a commentary to the top of this page)
    2. Update your Weekly Reflections Journal
    3. Update your Tip Sheet planning/creation progress

Module Four:  Types of Interaction (Ko & Rossen, Ch. 4, 9, 11, & 12); (Johnson, Ch., 9, 10, & 11).

  1. Learner to Facilitator Interactions
  2. Learner to Learner Interactions
  3. Learner to Content Interactions
  4. Good conflict vs. Bad Conflict
  5. Prompts for Facilitation
  6. Large Group Discussion: Web 2.0 Tools
  7. Small Group Discussion:  Why Connections are Important
  8. Portfolio
    1. Create a Community Matrix (Table or List format); include a commentary at the top of this page
    2. Update the Weekly Reflection page with a journal for Module 4
    3. Update the Tip Sheet page with plans, progress, challenges, solutions

Module Five:  The 70 – 30/80 - 20 Rule (Ko & Rossen, Ch. 10, 11); (Johnson, Ch. 1, 2, 3, 5).

  1. 70 – 30/80 – 20 Rules - Preparation
  2. 70% - Pre-course and first week: Preparation and communication; building community with ice breakers
  3. 30% - Maintaining interest and engagement
  4. Group Discussions – Small Group: Scenarios
  5. Portfolio
    1. Developing rapport the first week:  Create a First Week page
    2. Write a first-week introduction that requires a response from future students
    3. Write your response to the introduction
    4. Write a welcome email that will be sent to your students a few days before the course’s start date
    5. Create a commentary for the First Week page
    6. Update the Tip Sheet page with plans, progress, challenges, solutions
    7. Update the Weekly Reflections page with a journal for Module Five</ol>

Module Six:  Facilitation techniques and tips (Johnson, Ch. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)

  1. Tip Sheet collaborative project
  2. How to set up collaborative opportunities
  3. Managing people and information online
    1. Best practices for instructors for learners
    2. Best practices for managing information
  4. Group Discussions:
    1. Large Group:  New Facilitation Tips and Techniques (Face to Face/Online)
    2. Small Group:  Facilitation – Discussion Prompts; Finalize Tip Sheet
  5. Portfolio
    1. Submit final Tip Sheet collaborative project; all members must submit the same tip sheet
    2. Add a final commentary to the Tip Sheet page
    3. Update the Weekly Reflections page with a journal for Module Six

Module Seven:  Development of Critical Thinking (Ko & Rossen, Ch. 3, 7, 11, 12);
(Johnson, Ch. 12)  

  1. Techniques to deepen thinking
  2. Benjamin Bloom, Original/Modified--Higher Order Thinking Skills
  3. Synchronous chat
  4. Deepening response
    1. Prompts
    2. Extenders
    3. Redirection
  5. Group Discussions:
    1. Large Group: Formulate a set of prompts, extenders, and redirections for a course that you might be teaching or plan to teach
      1. Ensure that you demonstrate the use of higher-order thinking verbs/critical-thinking skills in your prompts, extenders, and redirections.
      2. Provide meaningful feedback to your peers
    2. Small Group: Conduct a synchronous chat session
      1. Select a conferencing tool to conduct a synchronous chat with your group (all members must be present and participate).
      2. Use the live chats debrief section to respond to three questions listed in Activity 2.
  6. Portfolio
    1. Create a Critical Thinking Page; add a commentary
    2. Present a simple lesson that uses lower level thinking skills/objectives
      1. Identify at least five different lower-level skills/objectives
      2. Provide a brief synopsis explaining lower level skills/objectives
    3. Rewrite the same lesson to include five critical thinking/higher order thinking skills as suggested by Bloom’s Taxonomy (revised)
    4. Migrate the same lesson from face-to-face learning to e-learning.
      1. Identify and distinguish the difference between the lesson for face-to-face and e-learning (color coding might be helpful)
      2. For each objective, include a brief synopsis explaining techniques/strategies used to revise the original lesson from lower-level to higher-level objectives.
      3. For each objective, include a brief synopsis explaining techniques/strategies used to migrate the face-to-face lesson to e-learning.
    5. Update your Weekly Reflections with a journal for Week 7

Module Eight:  Course Management (Ko & Rossen, Ch. 6, 8, 9, 12, & 15);     (Johnson, Ch. 16).

  1. Systems for managing and organizing course materials and information flow
  2. Web 2.0 resources for managing course work
  3. Group Discussions:
    1. Large Group:  Share ideas about managing incoming emails, grouping students that you have never met, and other issues related to course management.
      1. Locate and share new Web 2.0 tools (do not use those listed within the course or any discussed during the earlier modules).
        1. Focus on facilitation, building community, course management/administration
    2. Small Group:  There is no small group discussion for Module Eight.
  4. Portfolio
    1. Revise all portfolio items with reflective commentary (as you have done weekly).
      1. Your commentary should focus on: 1) what you learned since the item was created; 2) what was revised; 3) reason for the revision;
    2. Ensure that you have updated your weekly portfolio submissions to meet/comply with recommendations from the professor;
    3. Update your Weekly Reflections page with a journal for Module Eight.
    4. Complete the Course Survey

Instructor-Student Communication

The primary methods for communicating with students with be via...

As we complete each activity, you are encouraged to share your discoveries and successes with other participants and collaborate during team problem solving. Participants may share drafts of works-in-progress for peer feedback and discuss ideas and suggestions before submitting the final project.

Each participant brings unique needs and resources to the group. Our sharing will provide a broader base of experience as we discover the solutions to each other's design needs and challenges.

Since our diverse groups are usually in many different time zones feel free to use the following aid to determine what time it is in your classmates' countries and/or cities. This will help when setting up real-time chats with your learning partner during collaborative projects.

The World Clock - Time Zones

Discussion Participation

This course is delivered in an asynchronous environment; however, it is a course that relies on collaboration between members of the group. Therefore, there are stringent participation requirements. To earn a Proficient or higher score for discussion participation postings must be made on more than three separate days during the week. Discussions open on the first day of the module; your original response to the discussion prompt is due by Wednesday.

Discussions are made of two elements that could be labeled (1) You and (2) Colleagues. Keep in mind that online discussions in this course are meant to be equivalent to the level of discourse in a face-to-face graduate-level class.

The You portion is (a) your own original response to the discussion prompt and (b) your replies to people who respond to your original message. Note that you must return to the discussion after allowing time for your colleagues to reply to your original message if you are to reply to them. This means you cannot fulfill the expectations for the You part of the discussion if you log in at the last hour on the last day of the week. Your colleagues would not have time to reply to your message, nor would you have time to then reply back to them. You must log in more than once during the week to fulfill the expectations. Participating at the last minute in a discussion is the equivalent of showing up in a face-to-face class with five minutes left in the class period and expecting to get full credit for participation.

Below is an example to help you understand the You parts of a discussion. The You parts are in blue.

Original response: My thoughts on this question are supported by our readings... 
Colleague replies: I disagree, I wonder if you have you thought about ...

Your reply to the colleague: Great question, I based my answer on my experiences and on the textbook which states...


The Colleague portion of the discussion is when you reply to the original responses to the discussion prompt made by your fellow students. For this to be a true graduate-level discussion your replies need to take the discussion deeper, further, or in a new direction and your reply should be meaningful to many people in the class, not just the original author. You CAN fulfill this expectation by asking questions, playing Devil's advocate, offering suggestions, providing new resources, etc. You CANNOT fulfill this expectation by answering "Great job!" or "Thank you!" or "I agree." These "rah-rah" types of answers will not take the discussion deeper, and they are meant only for the original author. Below is an example of the Colleague portion of the discussion. The Colleague portion that you would write is in purple.

Colleague's original response to the prompt: My thinking on this topic changed as I read the textbook and considered how...

Your reply: As your thinking continues to evolve, consider reading this recently published article...


Keep in mind you must log in throughout the week to participate in the discussion in order to fulfill the expectations as stated above.

Evaluation

The main point of assignments at this level of education is to improve your own professional practices and show an application of the course concepts. The needs for each student's professional practice will vary greatly. Ttherefore, the assessment language is designed to be very elastic to allow for a variety of assignment types depending on the student's needs. Assignments generally earn full credit unless they are incomplete or off-target . These are formative assignments and earn few points at this stage. If an assignment earns partial or no credit, I will not re-grade it and award a new score. I will, however, provide feedback.

The majority of points are for the final portfolio, the summative assessment, due at the end of the course. You are expected to use our feedback to improve every formative assignment before submitting it as part of the final summative assessment.

Criteria Exemplary, Proficient Plus, Proficient, Basic, Incomplete
Timeliness and Quality of Written Text Assignment submitted on time.
Free of grammatical, spelling, or punctuation errors and the writing is clear and concise.
Organization Assignment fully responds to the prompt and includes all required elements.
Content Assignment shows an application of the concepts from the current and previous modules.
Reflective Commentary Assignments include visible reflective commentary (icon, slogan, attention-getting headliner) that adds meaning to the purpose of the assignment.


Course Portfolio

All assignments have been designed to become a part of your course portfolio. Assignments will be evaluated formatively with instructor feedback and through a completion assessment system. Every portfolio assignment will be revised for the final submission in Module Eight to include your reflections on your learning within that module. The reflections are to be included on the same page as the revisions.

This ePortfolio should prove valuable when designing and facilitating courses in the future. In many cases, assignment drafts will be shared with the group. This allows everyone in the group to learn from each other.

Grading Scale

POINT RANGE PERCENTAGE RANGE LETTER GRADE
495 - 527  94 – 100% A  
480 - 494 91 – 93% A-
454 - 479 88 – 90% B+
443 - 453 84 – 87% B  
427 - 442 81 – 83% B-
411 - 426 78 – 80% C+
388 - 410 73 – 77% C  
    0 - 387  0 – 73% F  

 

Weighted Grades

Assignments Points % of Final Grade
Weekly Discussions (Large and Small Group Collaboration) (20 points per discussion) 270
 51%
E-Portfoio (Application:  Weekly Assignments, Reflections/Journal, Commentaries 252
 48%
Quizzes     5
    1%
TOTAL
 527
 100%

 

University Grading System and Incomplete Grade Policy

Successful completion with a GPA of 3.0 (B) or higher in each course within the Elearning and Online Teaching Certificate sequence is required for registration in the next class.

Graduate School Policies — University of Wisconsin-Stout

The class is highly interactive with a significant discussion component. All projects/assignments will be presented via the online discussion board or via an Assignment page. Instructor/peer comments will be available through discussion groups or sent by email.

Participation in the course is defined in the rubrics you will find throughout the course.

The following categories are used to assess participation in this course.

As "student online facilitators" each participant will receive extensive feedback both from peers and the instructors (formative scoring) on each stage of portfolio development.  This feedback is designed for growth, progress, and most importantly, revision and reflection.  Summative grades will be issued in the final module.

Late Policy

Regular, timely feedback to classmates via the discussion board makes this class vital, and prompt submission of assignments for assessment allows the instructor to give you the guidance you deserve to receive. Due dates for each module are published on the course calendar at the start of the class. Work turned in by midnight on the due date will be considered on time and will receive full credit.

Life can bring emergencies which may prevent timely submission of assignments. If you have an emergency which interferes with your coursework contact the instructor as soon as possible. Emergencies are defined as serious events which are not planned. Emergencies cannot be written on the calendar in advance. Examples of emergencies are heart attacks, car accidents, serious health crises of the student or in the student's immediate family. Examples of non-emergencies are family weddings, vacations, or any other event which can be planned around. If the family calendar looks busy at a particular time, plan to work ahead on your coursework.

Excused Makeup Work - If the late submission has been requested and approved in advance of the due date, there will be no deduction of points from the grade. An email to the instructor requesting an extension of the due date must be sent. The instructor will inform you if late submission is allowed.

Unless previously excused by the instructor, work submitted after the close of a module will be penalized 10%. In other words, you need to be on time to earn 100%. You will only one week to make up late work. Late work will not be accepted after one week unless previously approved by the instructor.

Please contact the instructor if you have any questions about the late policy.

Accommodations

If you believe the course requirements create a conflict with your observance of religious holidays, please notify the instructor within the first two weeks of the semester so that appropriate alternative options can be arranged.

Student Services

Accessibility

UW-Stout strives for an inclusive learning environment. If you anticipate or experience any barriers related to the format or requirements of this course, contact the instructor to discuss ways to ensure full access.

If you determine that additional disability-related accommodations are necessary, contact the Disability Services office for assistance 715-232-2995 or contact the staff via email at Disability Services.

Resource People to Assist You

Contact information for Student Business Services, Registration and Records, Financial Aid, and Veterans Services.

Academic Honesty and Misconduct

Students are responsible for the honest completion and representation of their work, for the appropriate citation of sources, and for respect of others' academic endeavors. Students who violate these standards must be confronted and must accept the consequences of their actions. The disciplinary procedures can be found on the Student Academic Misconduct/Academic Discipline Procedure website.

Citations

In course discussions, reflection papers, or any other learning artifacts created for the course, you are expected to include APA citations when using or quoting the published work of others.

Refer to these Tips for documenting direct quotes in a discussion posting or paper.

See: "short quotations" and "long quotations" and "summary or paraphrase."


Technology Requirements and Assistance


Library Services

important!

The UW-Stout Library offers many resources to assist you.
NOTE: All of these links will open in a new window. Close the window to return to this page.

Ann Vogl, Stout's distance learning librarian, will be happy to answer any library-related questions you might have. Ann's contact info is: https://www.uwstout.edu/directory/voglan