An Educational Community in the Classroom: Using Layers of Technology and an Integrated Team Approac

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An Educational Community in the ClassroomUsing
Layers of Technology and an Integrated Team
Approachto Engage Learners in and out of the
Classroom

• Tim Pychyl, Flavia Renon Chris Motz
• Carleton University
• Ontario Library Association Superconference
• Saturday, February 4, 2006
• Toronto, Ontario

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Purpose and Process

• Describe the evolution of the course to a rich
  community with layers of people and technology
• Provide a framework for you to think about the
  implementation of this approach
• Move from our experiences to your own
  implementation plans

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About Us our context

• Course Context
• Second year survey course in Personality
  Psychology with 120 in-class students and approx
  300 students registered to watch a cable
  broadcast of the lectures

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Student expectations
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Student expectations

• Anonymous Feedback
• I feel more eager to participate in the class
  knowing that a ton of effort has been put into
  the organization of this course even though I am
  only in the CUTV section. Seeing all the efforts
  of "team personality" makes me want to put in the
  effort.
• Anonymous Feedback
• The concern of your team for the class is
  apparent always. Even though I have never
  attended a class lecture, I find myself saying
  "We talked about...in class today. Usually I
  would say "the instructor talked about..." It is
  very important to me to feel part of the class,
  and I do.

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Where does the Library fit into the whole scheme
of things?
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VISION OF THE POSSIBLE(library component)
The assignment in PSYC2600

• Some IL learning objectives
• Facilitate access to the needed information (the
  class assignment) effectively and efficiently
• Assist students in understanding the value of
  different information sources (popular vs
  academic)

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Worksheet break Questions

• Its time to focus on what your vision of the
  possible might be and your overall learning
  objectives for the term ahead.

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GOALS PRACTICAL CHALLENGES(library component)

• How can I reach as many students as possible?
• How can I go beyond a simple search and retrieve
  exercise (BI vs IL)?
• How can I cater to students different
• learning styles?
• How can I provide just in time learning support?

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Solutions for the practical

• Answer to these questions
• Provide various contact options
• Focus on process rather than skills
• Use different media to enhance learning for a
  variety of learning styles
• Make learning support resources available 24/7
  (i.e. make yourself virtually available 24/7)

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Barriers and Facilitating factors

• Some barriers
• IL was a goal of the assignment, but not a focus
  of the course content (Chris)
• Time to learn about the technology being
• used in the course (Flavia)
• Where will we find the time to plan this and
  coordinate the assignment? (Tim)
• Can I give up control enough to make this a real
  partnership? (Tim)

• Some facilitating factors
• Existing web site streaming capabilities, a
  librarian who could take control of part of this
  learning (Chris)
• The WebCt course
• webpage provided an infrastructure that
  facilitated access to various learning resources
  (Flavia)

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Worksheet break Questions

• Identify barriers and facilitating factors on
  your own campus

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SOLUTIONS FOR THE PRACTICAL(library component)
Layers of People - a team approach

• Professor/Instructor
• Librarian
• Video technician
• Web technician
• Private-sector partner
• PASS facilitator
• Peer Mentors
• Teaching Assistant

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Technology
Layers of Technology (some examples)

• Video stream of in class presentation
• outlining the Library research process
• Video stream tutorial explaining how to do this
  assignment (simulated discussion)
• Power Point tutorials on WebCT
• E-mails using screen captures (Snag It)

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The WebCT web site for Introduction to the Study
of Personality
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Psyc 2600
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Worksheet break Questions

• Technical needs and possible solutions to your
  own barriers?

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The Research Assignment

• Our plan for the pedagogical
• The goals of this assignment are to
• learn how to research the social-scientific
  literature related to a
• topic in personality as presented in the popular
  press,
• link the research discussed in the popular
  literature to the topics and domains of knowledge
  in the text,
• summarize the background and activities of the
  research
• psychologist who generated the knowledge claims
  that were
• presented in the popular press, and
• locate a published journal article (an academic
  article) by this
• author that relates to the topic from the
  popular press.

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• 1. Finding an article in the popular press
• 7. Conducting a web-based search for
  biographical information about the psychology
  researcher
• 8. Searching for a journal article
• Note copy of complete research assignment is
  available in
• handout

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The bigger picture
This assignment

• taught students information
• literacy skills
• gave students insight into the academic culture

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Research Assignment on WebCT
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(No Transcript)
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Archived video streaming of lecture 3a
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Lecture 3a Library Presentation
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Insert slide screencapture of multiple streaming
segments
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Emphasis is on PROCESS rather than just on SKILLS
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Worksheet break Questions

• Sketch out issues related to your own planning

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Understanding the social

• Some examples
• Mature students face to face meetings
• Distance students reliant on technology

Students had preferences when it came to
selecting learning support options
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Student questions

• I would like to set up an appointment with you
  to discuss getting an article for the assignment.
  I am not an avid newspaper reader. I do recall
  you saying something during your presentation of
  being able to access newspaper articles on-line
  and actually being able to narrow down the search
  for those that are relevant to personality.
  Although I am taking in a lot of new information
  lately and I could have misunderstood. My
  computer skills are quite lacking, actually they
  quite suck...
• Thank you,  Sandra.

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Understanding the socialother possible future
scenarios(library component)
Getting to know your community of users

• Collecting statistics
• WebCT
• MSN messaging
• More active participation in discussion groups
• Reviewing e-mail, course evaluation sheets, for
  student feedback/comments

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Insight into practical

• unanticipated problems

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Student response

• Hello Flavia,
• I'm a student in psych 2600 and I need some
  help in regards to the research assignment. I
  have found an article from pop culture about a
  psychologist that I think will fit in nicely with
  this course, but I could not find anything
  written by him in PsycInfo. Could you help me.
• Thank you,
• Ashlee

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Student questions

• Hello FlaviaI am doing my research assignment
  for Dr. Pychyl's Psych 2600 class.  I have
  completed all of the steps, and right now I am
  trying to access the article from a peer reviewed
  journal.
•  
• I have been trying to access the online article
  from home, but I cant seem to get it to come up
  over the internet, through the library website. 
• It seems other articles are available to read
  online, so I am not sure if I am just doing
  something wrong!  If you could email me back and
  let me know how to go about finding this article.
• Thanks a lot,
• Victoria

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Possible future solutions to the
practical(library component)

• Podcasting
• msn messaging
• WebCT has a chat room you can prearrange
  times where you will be available (in order to
  control the amount of time you spend in a chat
  room)
• Camtasia Studio Screen Recorder or other video
  streaming software with screen capture and voice
  over narration capability

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Key issues for implementation(library component)

• Embrace technology
• Seek out partnerships/become part of a learning
  community
• Quite often we are already surrounded by these
  partners
• Use IL standards as a framework
• Constantly seek feedback/refine your approach

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Strive to enhance student participation and
engagement in the classroom through principles of
good practices supported by the judicious use of
technology and a team approach
In Other words
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Vision of the possible A summary

• This course design
• Encouraged faculty-student contact
• Encouraged cooperation among students
• Encouraged active learning
• Gave prompt feedback
• Emphasized time on task
• Communicated high expectations
• Respected diverse talents and ways of learning
• Seven Principles of Good Practice According to
  Chickering
• and Gamson (1987)

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Where can we learn more(library component)

• Information Literacy Competency Standards for
  Higher Education
• http//www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/informa
  tionliteracycompetency.htm
• National Forum on Information Literacy
• http//www.infolit.org/related_sites/
• Enhancing the classroom experience with learning
  technology teams
• http//www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eqm0334.pd
  f

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Where to find us

• Dr. Timothy A. Pychyl
• tpychyl_at_ccs.carleton.ca
• Chris Motz
• cpmotz_at_connect.carleton.ca
• Flavia Renon
• flavia_renon_at_carleton.ca

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One last word on

• Advice for those new to video media

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Some tips/lessons learned from teaching an ITV
course

• Get advice/sit in on a videoconference
• Carefully design your Power Point presentation by
  factoring in
• area for video (bottom right side of screen)
• font size/color
• Regularly look at the camera to engage home
  audience
• Ensure proper positioning of microphone
• Try not to pace/move around too much
• Give students time to ponder questions
• Summarize/paraphrase questions posed by students
  before answering
• Pause, smile, relax and enjoy

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More lessons learned
Use your video appearance to

• closely evaluate/revisit your teaching style
• share with colleagues samples of
• your teaching technique (the good/the bad/the
  ugly)