Creating a Sense of Community: Online Student Unions, Chats, Discussion Boards

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Creating a Sense of Community Online Student
Unions, Chats, Discussion Boards

• Presenter
• Landon K. Pirius
• Director of Enrollment Services/Registrar
• Inver Hills Community College

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The Presenter
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Questions from Last Week

• What do you do to promote a sense of community
  both online and on-campus?
• Do your students feel a connection to your
  institution and to others at your institution?
• Other burning questions from last week.

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Introduction

• Developed from multiple perspectives
• UofM student
• Former online university employee
• MnOnline Peer Reviewer
• MSU, Mankato Distance Learning Taskforce Member
• Proponent of technology
• Not institution specific

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Presentation Layout

• Broad discussion of community building
• Includes web links
• Includes
• Bringing the campus to the student
• Innovate tools to promote community
• Accessibility
• Commonly asked questions

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Understanding Your Students

• Institutions must understand who their students
  are in order to provide appropriate services.
• Digital Native vs. Digital Immigrants
• Traditional vs. Non-Traditional Students
• Generations X, Y, and Z vs. Baby Boomers and the
  Silent Generation

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Digital Native vs. Digital Immigrant

• Use of computers, the Internet, and advanced
  technology
• According to the Pew Internet and American Life
  Project (2005), The number of teenagers using
  the internet has grown 24 in the past four years
  and 87 of those between the ages of 12 and 17
  are online. Compared to four years ago, teens
  use of the internet has intensified and broadened
  as they log on more often and do more things when
  they are online.  Among other things, there has
  been significant growth over the past four years
  in the number of teens who play games on the
  internet, get news, shop online, and get health
  information.

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Traditional vs. Non-Traditional

• Traditional students (18-24) are becoming
  non-traditional
• Non-traditional students can be defined as
• Over 25
• Mid-career
• Ethnically diverse
• Having families
• Possessing less free time
• More non-traditional students are seeking an
  education that fits their needs and their
  schedules versus having to adapt to the
  institutions needs or schedules

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Generations X, Y, and soon Z

• Email is essential form of communication
• Internet is about choice it is what they want,
  when they want it
• Interaction is essential
• Need attractive, hip, and well-designed websites
• http//www.google.com/
• http//www.yahoo.com/
• How will we handle a generation taught by
  computers and artificial intelligence?

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The New Environment

• The student population is more mixed now than
  ever before.
• Digital natives mix with digital immigrants
• Generations X and Y mingle with baby boomers and
  their parents
• Traditional students coexist with non-traditional
  students
• What does this mean for institutions?

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What Does this Mean for You?

• A single approach to administering services is no
  longer viable or appropriate
• Increased demand for accessible services.
• Increasing competition from other institutions,
  particularly online institutions.

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Keep in Mind

• Always keep the student in mind
• Our obligation.

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Question Break 1

• I will take 5 minutes to answer questions at this
  point. I will have breaks throughout the
  presentation and at the end of the presentation.

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Do You Fit In?

• What would make you feel comfortable?
• Personal contact?
• Physical presence?
• Auditory cues?
• Body language?
• Verbal discussion?
• None of this is present in a virtual, text-based
  environment!!

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Creating a Sense of Community (SoC) Introduction

• According to WCET, it is essential that The
  institution recognizes that a sense of community
  is important to the success of many students, and
  that an ongoing, long-term relationship is
  beneficial to both student and institution.
• Schools spend thousands or millions a year
  on-campus
• Schools spend little to nothing online
• Invest in online communitysuccess in recruitment
  and retention
• No investment in online communityfailure and
  loss of students to competitors

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Do We Need an Online SoC?

• In short, yes.
• In the academic year, 2000-2001, over 3 million
  students at 2- and 4-year institutions
  participated in online courses.  48 of these
  students studied at 2-year public institutions
  31 studied at 4-year public institutions and
  19 studied at 4-year private institutions.
• The lines of distinction are blurring because
  both online AND on-campus students are online.

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SoC Basic Concepts

• Minimize isolationincreased retention and
  satisfaction
• Formal learning is not the only way students
  learn.
• Interactions
• Informal and non-formal
• Face-to-face and online differences
• In a face-to-face environment, there are many
  opportunities to connect.
• In a face-to-face environment, there is sight
  (body language), sound (words), touch, and taste.
• In an online environment, there is no physical
  connection (yet) everything is virtual.

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Getting Started Bring the Campus to the Students

• Provide informational materials and newsletters
  online
• Provide all on-campus services online
• Pictures and biographies of faculty and staff
• Student government/online elections
• Email as the official means of communication

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Getting Started Bring the Campus to the Students
Cont.

• Chat rooms, weblogs (blogs), and discussion
  boards
• http//www.ctl.mnscu.edu/iteach/interactive/index.
  html
• Commencement
• Web casts
• Sporting events
• Presentations
• Speakers
• Clubs and support groups

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Innovative Strategies

• Online student unions
• Facebook
• Portfolios
• Portals
• Virtual world

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Online Student Unions

• Student run, administrator oversight
• Best examples are in the UK
• Include
• Discussion boards, chat rooms, and blogs
• Online elections
• Event news
• Pictures
• Items for sale (including textbooks)
• Weather, news, sports
• Entertainment (bars, clubs, etc)

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Online Student Unions Cont.

• Good online student unions
• http//www.susu.org/
• http//www.upsu.net/
• http//www.uclu.org/

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Online Student Unions Cont.

• Others sites to visit
• http//www.ausu.org/
• http//www.citsu.ie/
• http//www.udsu.co.uk

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Question Break 2

• I will answer questions for approximately 5
  minutes.

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Facebook

• Founded in 2004
• Facebook connects people to social networks at
  colleges and universities
• A new version was recently released for high
  schools
• Anyone with a school email address can join
• Extensive social web
• You can be friends with anyone, anywhere

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Facebook Cont.

• Incredibly addicting
• Yes, it has its perks. You can join groups,
  advertise parties and connect with people from
  class. But students constantly find themselves
  pausing in the middle of homework and refreshing
  their home page on Facebook just to see if they
  have pending group or friend confirmations, pokes
  or notes
• There are some potential drawbacks to Facebook
• http//www.facebook.com/

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Portfolios

• Student centered tools
• Ties the student to the institution because it
  shows a history and profile of that student at
  your institution
• Being used in higher education as well as K-12
• Information follows the student, so a student
  could present part or all of their K-12 portfolio
  as part of their college application.

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Portfolios Cont.

• Can include
• Collection of student academic work
• For storage
• For sharing
• For assessment
• Pictures
• Data files
• Personal information
• Links to important services and functions

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Portfolios Cont.

• Can be used by
• Students
• Faculty
• Life-long learners
• Sample portfolios
• https//wesep.wesleyan.edu/cgi-perl/session.cgi
  (student)
• http//www.ags.uci.edu/cfaustin/ (faculty)
• https//portfolio.umn.edu/portfolio/index.jsp
  (student)

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Portals

• Portals can be the same or different from
  portfolios and unions.
• A portal is a gateway.
• Single password entry.
• Allows students to access anything and everything
  once logged in.

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Portals Cont.

• Good examples of portals
• https//www.myu.umn.edu/metadot/index.pl
• http//my.wisc.edu/portal/index.jsp
• https//my.nottingham.ac.uk/media/uk/ac/nottingham
  /compass/layout/public/help_guestlogins.jsp

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Portals Cont.

• Other sites to visit
• https//portal.mnsu.edu/Default.aspx
• http//my.gwu.edu/

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Question Break 3

• I will answer questions for approximately 5
  minutes.

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Virtual Worlds

• A virtual world is a world that exists entirely
  online.
• The virtual avatar (user) interacts with other
  virtual avatars and the virtual world.
• Is this the future of colleges and universities?
• Flow-Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

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Virtual Worlds Cont.

• MMORPGs
• Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
• Virtual worlds within MMORPGs already create a
  sense of community.
• The most popular MMORPG (Everquest) has tens of
  thousands of people interacting within a virtual
  world at any given point.
• Everquests virtual world (Norath) is the 77th
  richest country in the real world. The average
  hourly wage is 3.42 and the GDP is 135 million
  (equal to that of Bulgaria).

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Virtual Worlds Cont.

• Why do I mention MMORPGs?
• An educational MMORPG could be created in which
  students learn, interact, and feel part of the
  college/university.
• Sample MMORPGs
• http//secondlife.com/
• http//eqlive.station.sony.com/
• http//www.eagames.com/official/thesims/thesimsonl
  ine/us/nai/index.jsp

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Are Your Services Accessible

• Who is using your services?
• Who is NOT using your services and why?
• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• ADA compliant website
• http//www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/
• http//bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp

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Questions to Ask Yourself

• What strategies and practices are implemented by
  my institution to involve distant students as
  part of an academic community?
• By their statements and actions, do our
  administrators and participating faculty members
  communicate a belief that a sense of academic
  community is important?

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Questions to Ask Yourself Cont.

• How are the learning needs of students enrolled
  in electronically offered programs identified,
  addressed, and linked to educational objectives
  and learning outcomes, particularly within the
  context of my institutions definition of itself
  as a learning community?
• Do representative students feel that they are
  part of a community, or that they are entirely on
  their own?

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Resources

• Western Cooperative for Educational
  Telecommunications (WCET)
• http//www.wcet.info/
• http//www.wcet.info/resources/publications/guide/
  guide.htm
• Center for Transforming Student Services
• http//www.centss.org
• Other web sources as listed throughout the
  presentation

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Questions?

• The remainder of the time will be spent answering
  questions.
• Any remaining questions will be answered within a
  week of this presentation.

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Session 3 Online Orientation

• November 17
• What is an online orientation?
• Types of online orientations
• 4 types
• Examples of all 4 types

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Session 3 Online Orientation

• Think about
• How do you currently orient your students? Your
  online students?
• If you have an online orientation, how does it
  compare to your on-campus orientation?
• Email your thoughts and any burning questions to
  patricia_at_academicimpressions.com by Monday,
  November 14th.

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Presenter Information

• Landon K. Pirius
• lpirius_at_inverhills.edu