Being Present in an Online Environment

Presence is an important component of any course or training, whether it be face-to-face or online.  Purposefully integrating presence, however, is often overlooked in online settings. What comes so easily in a traditional in-person setting needs to be purposefully integrated into an online environment.

Instructional designers  are likely familiar with the Community of Inquiry (Noland-Grant, 2019), but artfully integrating it into online training and courses takes planning and preparation.

Basically, all training or courses (whether face-to-face or fully online) need social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence to engage the learners. 

I view this as learners need to 

• interact with the facilitator (which may or may not be the instructional designer for the course or training), 
• interact with one another, and 
• interact with the content. 

This is particularly true with the current "remote" learning which can be often be a mishmash of approaches as teachers are trying to cope without ever having been trained in good remote instruction.

It is up to instructional designers to make spaces for this to happen.

I've been teaching at a distance for quite some time - since the mid 1990s actually - and remember the frustration we faced trying to engage and retain our learners - and other faculty to persuade them to try distance learning. This means we were teaching at a distance before we really knew what that meant and what was necessary to engage learners! In 2006, online courses often had a 10% to 20% higher failed retention rate than traditional classroom environments (Herbert). Couple this with 40% to 80% of online students dropping out of online classes (Smith, 2010), and we see some definite issues!  Review of existing literature indicates that online courses have several social, technological, and motivational issues existing from both the learners’ and the faculty’s perspectives.

(Keep in mind, these were college students and adult learners, and the current issue of remote learning retention in K-12 has not really been examined.)

Enter the Community of Inquiry and the research indicating the need for teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence....all leading to enhanced interaction, enhanced learning, and more engaged students!

Interacting with the Facilitator

Why?   Why do learners need to interact with the course or training facilitator? and what IS a "facilitator"?

 

I'll start with the term "facilitator." In good fully online learning there IS no teacher as the students are presented with a variety of ways to teach themselves, resulting in course facilitators, rather than teachers. Sometimes, the person designing the course is the course facilitator, but not necessarily, so both facilitators and instructional designers need to understand and incorporate all best practices of online instruction. 

 

Student-instructor (i.e., facilitator) interaction has long been linked to retention in both face-to-face (Tinto, 1975, 1982, 1987, 1988, 1997) and online learning (Li, et.al, 2021; O'Leary & Quinlan, 2007; Yuan & Kim, 2014). In the case of online learning, such interaction is not limited to instructional communication (i.e., email, video) but may also include off-line communication and personal dialogue through the telephone.

Learners often report feel isolated and disconnected in their online courses (Collins, et al, 2019) which frequently results in poor grades and an increased likelihood of dropout. Distance learners want to see the instructor, to hear the instructor, to feel connected with that instructor in some way. This very connection increases retention AND engagement.

video-conferencing with a student

I use a variety of methods to interact with students, such as individual video-conferencing and  feedback,  but I also try to integrate videos throughout the course or training, allowing students to hear me talk about a topic. The individual videoconferencing for onboarding has been invaluable in creating a sense of community, and the narrated grading videos allow me to talk to students as I grade, suggesting a conversation of types.

I tend to combine feedback techniques: written with video ... using several layers of feedback.

Huh?

Perhaps I should provide a wee bit of my feedback/grading history.

Originally I taught English courses and writing, and even though my curricular assignments have changed over the years, I often find myself still teaching writing...or some component of writing.  One of the constant concerns - and I do not believe this one has been solved yet - is that students seldom carry over learning from one course to another - with regards to writing. I would start with college freshmen who could not form cohesive paragraphs and by the end of a course they not only wrote well-developed paragraphs, but they could write the vestigial 5-paragraph essay, well-developed and with few punctuation errors. Second semester the same students signed up for part 2 of the course, and we were back at the beginning!

I knew they knew better!

THEY knew they knew better!

hmmmmm... obviously what I thought was working wasn't....  so... time for a change.... All English courses at that institution were organized the same way, using a multiple draft approach with multiple revisions and per feedback as well as instructor feedback.  Students left those classes well prepared to write well.

Yet, they didn't.

It was as though they had never ever written a paper, had never taken an English course.... everything was forgotten.

The issue was one of transfer of knowledge.  Students had a difficult time transferring what they learned in one course to another. A history faculty member and I hit upon a plan: we would co-teach an American history course that required formal papers. He taught the history, and together we reviewed the paper requirements, and we applied the revision/multiple draft approach that all English faculty used....   Students would receive two grades on their paper - one in history on the content, and one from me on the writing. Each paper was graded twice, and many earned A/D or A/C...great history content, not-so-great on the writing skills.  So I asked them why. Their response: "It was a history class.  Writing doesn't matter in a history class."

I have yet to solve this issue because students still do not often take the learning with them, not the writing learning..... so .... I still play with feedback methods, hoping to eventually hit upon the right combination. keeping in mind the need to continue to connect with students

Time to return to where I was: I have begun combining feedback techniques: written with video ... using several layers of feedback, breaking the feedback down into chunks. Snagit and Camtasia help me create this feedback, referred to as screencasting (Seror, 2012).


Let's suppose I have a paper/written assignment to grade.

          Step 1:  I read the paper from beginning to end, making no marks, just  to gain a sense of the submission...and to decide where to go from there.

          Step 2: Then I begin making comments on the paper.  Currently, I pull the paper up directly in the gradebook in CANVAS and insert comments there..but there is more to it than this..I note patterns of errors. Writing errors tend to fall into groups, creating a pattern of errors. A person may have trouble, for example, with commas, and an instructor looking carefully at those comma errors will notice a pattern of the same type of mistake being made repeatedly. When looked at individually, one error could be made  a dozen times, looking overwhelming to the student. Once a student understands he or she  really only made ONE error, not 20, the student is in a better place to learn how to correct that one error. So the first time that error is made, I highlight it in a specific color,  and insert a comment giving the name of the error and a url reference. The next time I see that error, I highlight it again in the same color. (More to come!) I use other tools provided through CANVAS - comments, text, and strikeout.  As I reach other errors - perhaps a sentence structure or clarity issue - I circle or highlight them, making a brief notation in the comment box.

         Step 3: Once I have done this with the entire paper, I pull up the video capture function in SnagIt. Jing would also work although videos are limited to 5 minutes. Screencast-o-matic is another good tool for screencapture and narrated grading videos....as is Zoom.  I wanted a feature that allows me to do a video capture of the screen as I talk through the feedback process, making comments and explaining comments in more detail - holding a conversation of sorts (albeit one-sided) ....much like having students look over my shoulder as I grade. Students receive a pdf of their annotated paper and a copy of their video file.

Following is an excerpt from one of my feedback videos:

Students have told me how much they appreciate these videos and feel as though I really took time to "talk" to them, and that they matter. AS to whether this type of feedback improves learning, I am not sure....but it does help to create instructor-to-student interaction.

Interacting with one another...and  a little content...perhaps the facilitator?

Best practices of engagement also suggest that students need to interact with one another to decrease that feeling of social isolation...aka social presence (Noland-Grant, 2019).

Although synchronous group work would increase social presence, it is often not very practical for my students who tend to work 40 hours a week while balancing a variety of other roles: parent/grandparent/child/spouse/partner, student, community member, and possibly more. Instead of increasing engagement, it may increase stress as adult learners now have to balance one more item in their daily juggling act. So, the few times I do offer this opportunity, I make it optional, allowing learners to choose whether or not to team up.

Although I enjoy the safety of forums (i.e., they can be kept private within our LMS), I grow tired of using them and often wonder if students do as well. The following activity is from The Adult Learner and incorporates a padlet, a video, and a forum:

introduction within the forum

Next... students watched the following video about adult learners:

 And now, on to the next component of the task:

The conclusion of the activity

This activity followed an icebreaker forum where they introduced themselves  to one another by creating videos. Now that they know each other a little better, it was time to introduce them to some thinking about course content (Wait!  isn't that Cognitive presence, too?)

YES! Sometimes one activity can foster several types of presence.

In this instance, students 

1. ponder a topic (cognitive presence/interacting with content) and 
2. post their thoughts on a padlet where they could also 
3. interact with one another (social presence/interacting with each other)
4. watch a video about the content
5. complete remaining activities in the Welcome Module (cognitive presence/interacting with content)
   
6. consider any changes to their perceptions with regards to adult learners (cognitive presence/interacting with content), then
   
7. post to the forum
8. reply to at least two classmates (cognitive presence/interacting with content AND social presence/interacting with one another), 
9. I then interact with each original post, drawing  ideas together and posing questions (cognitive presence/interacting with content AND teaching presence/interacting with the facilitator)

Yes, technically that one set of tasks covered all three type of presences, but I do not really think of my comments as adding much, other than they know I read each one and responded.

Interacting with content

I realize I have already covered this above, but I wanted to share one of my favorite ways to encourage interacting with content (along with each other).

I love VoiceThread for this!

Here is a Voice Thread from EDU 654 2019:

 

VoiceThread allows learners to present content and to interact through text, audio, or videos.

Now, let's break this task down into its individual components:

1.  I crafted a list of tools that designers could use to share content, but I wanted them to explore these tools on their own to consider their usability, then share with one another. Key to this activity is the need for learners to look for these tools, play with them a little and consider how they might prove useful....all on their own...first. the purpose was not for me to suggest how they might use, but for them to come around to that on their own (cognitive presence):

Learner preparation for the activity

Learners review those topics and tools online AND review how VoiceThread works so they know how to post for the next part of this activity:

 

So....students interact with the content, reflect, and make decisions (cognitive presence); they interact with one another (social presence), and I then add my comments to theirs on the VoiceThread (teaching presence)....all in one activity.

Designers do not need to provide three activities for every piece of content....as long as they plan ahead, and plan well, keeping in mind the importance of integrating these three types of presence through each lesson or unit.

 Happy design!

 

References

Collins, K., Groff, S., Mathena, C., & Kupczynski, L. (2019). Asynchronous video and the development of instructor social presence and student engagement. The Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 20(1), 53-70.

Herbert, M. (2006). Staying the course: A study in online student satisfaction and retention. Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 9(4). Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/winter94/herbert94.htm

Li, Y., Nishimura, N., Yagami, H., & Park, H. (2021). An empirical study on online learners’ continuance intentions in China.  Sustainability, 13(889), 889-1007.

Noland-Grant, C. R. (2019). The community of inquiry framework as learning design model: A case study in online postgraduate education. Research in Learning Technology, 27, 1-15.

O'Leary, P., & Quinlan, T. (2007).  Learner-instructor telephone interaction: Effects on satisfaction and achievement of online students. American Journal of Distance Education, 21(3), 133-143.

Seror, J. (2012). In the classroom: Show me! Enhanced feedback through screencasting technology.  TESL Canada Journal, 30(1), 104-111.

Smith, B. (2010). E-learning technologies: A comparative study of adult learners enrolled on blended and online campuses engaging in a virtual classroom (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database.

Tinto, V. (1975). Dropout from higher education: A theoretical synthesis of recent research. Review of Educational Research, 45(1), 89-125.

Tinto, V. (1982). Defining dropout: A matter of perspective. In E. T. Pascarella (Ed.), Studying student attrition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Tinto, V. (1987). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press.

Tinto, V. (1988). Stages of student departure: Reflections on the longitudinal character of student leaving. Journal of Higher Education, 59(4), 438-455.

Tinto, V. (1993). Leaving college: Rethinking the causes and cures of student attrition, (2nd ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Tinto, V. (1997). Classrooms as communities: Exploring the educational character of student persistence. The Journal of Higher Education, 68(6), 599-623.

Yuan, J.,  & Kim, C. (2014). Guidelines for facilitating the development of learning communities  in online courses. Journal of Computer-Assisted Learning, 30(3), 220-232.

Any Time, Any Place/All Together Now

Quality teaching online requires knowledge of synchronous facilitation and asynchronous facilitation techniques and the wisdom to know when to use each....to meet the needs of your learners.

Both approaches have their place in fully online learning...but it all returns to audience.

 Asynchronous facilitation: Anytime, any place

Asynchronous facilitation is the "any time, any where" approach, allowing for full learner flexibility. I have had learners whose workplace transferred them to Japan in the middle of the semester.  I have had learners in the military who were stationed on a submarine and could only access the internet when in port. Others  worked a night shift, leaving them to sleep during the day. Some have had rotating shifts where one week they worked days, then the next week afternoon/evenings, then the third week nights - then the rotation begins again. There were prisoners whose access varied per day according to lockdowns. Then, of course, I have had a more "traditional" student who worked  during the day, leaving evenings  and weekends for family time and community events. 

This describes my learners, and asynchronous facilitation meets the majority of their needs.

 Asynchronous in action

I teach asynchronously 95% of the time and have learned this type of facilitation requires a great deal of organization and communication skills, as well as the ability to chunk and scaffold material. Good asynchronous components must be able to stand on their own without needing any further illumination from the instructor (Vai & Sosulski, 2016).

After all, asynchronous implies any time, anywhere, so learners need a course or training that communicates so clearly and directly that they do not need clarification whether they access the materials at 3 am or 3 pm (Davis, 2015; Kinshuk, 2016; Vai & Sosulski, 2016).

To me, this means I write out conversations as I try to think ahead as to what a learner might need to know when I am away from my computer. When I include a google doc, I always share with "anyone with this link can view." This way when Iearners access a document when I am not online, they can be assured of being able to actually access it.  There is nothing more frustrating than to click on link to something you need to read only to find out you are denied access because the poster did not carefully review the setting first! For most adult learners, time is scarce, and they access a course or training when it is convenient for them...and waiting to be approved to review a link simply is disrespectful and time-wasting.

The following video demonstrates asynchronous facilitation for the Unit Game On:

Using tabs in Canvas to  foster asynchronous presentation of content

sample module from EDU 654 in 2019

Instructors new to online design often struggle with balancing the length of content pages and the length of the Modules page. When pages are too long, learners often feel overwhelmed when pondering how long it will take to read and complete all of that material.Rather than have a s, magazines, and newspapers!). One response is to break up long pages into several smaller pages, but then the Modules page can become very long and generate a different kind of overwhelming feeling (so many choices!). The graphic to the right depicts the learner view of a module from EDU 654in 2019.

Using TABS helps the instructor present all information while managing it better  - for both the learner and the instructor! Check oout the screencapture blow to see how this same information looks when using tabs:

 

Same Module, with Tabs, in 2021

Where to start?  You will likely notice that there is no Tabs command in Canvas....because we use html to create them. I created my own template and copy this page into every Canvas course. 

Want to create your own tabbed page that looks like this?

1. Access this google doc   for the html.

2. Highlight the html on this page and use CTRL C to copy.

3. Open a blank page in your Canvas and title it Sample Page with Tabs. This will become your personal template  that you can copy and use as needed later.

Step 4

4. In the Edit mode, click on View, then </> HTML editor (see graphic at right).  Now, paste the html you copied in step 2 (CTRL V) directly into this window. This creates the actual template that you will be able to use repeatedly.

5. When you hit SAVE, you should see the sample page depicted in the graphic above.

6. Simply carefully type in your content. Until you feel comfortable working in html, you will want to make careful changes to your page in the Rich Content Editor.

My university paid for a Canvas plug in that makes tabs just a click away, but this template works well.  Once you become comfortable in html, you can create templates with more tabs.

Synchronous learning: All together now

Think of synchronous learning as same time-same place learning, i.e., learners and instructor are in the same place at the same time.  This includes in-person classes as well as live online meetings using Zoom, WebEx, or Adobe Connect when the whole class or smaller groups get together. COVID19 has forced all instructors into synchronous facilitation whether or not they have been trained for it.

Most of them have not.

Effective synchronous learning is NOT the instructor talking non-stop while learners sit passively. Instead, good synchronous learning requires the instructor to plan ahead, reconceptualizing their courses.  Instead of a typical lecture providing content, the synchronous session should facilitate conversation, and discussions, with learners taking the responsibility to complete some prep work themselves prior to the synchronous session.

I teach asynchronously 95% of the time.  I have tried to incorporate synchronous meetings, but they just were not convenient for the students who had to rearrange an evening with childcare or weekend activities to attend.  If they are going to rearrange their lives to attend this session, then I better make it worth their while to do so....and not use it to lecture but to enrich their learning.

Forty-five years of teaching have given me the perspective of seeing patterns. Teaching fully online for the last 11 of those years has afforded me a glimpse into adult learner fears and concerns.  It's all about the tech!

Even though my students tend to range in age from 22 up into their 60s, not all are comfortable with the technology.  They know they need a master's degree and that online provides the flexibility they need, but they sometimes fear the tech.  TI am not just referring to older learners, however.  Some of the younger ones are also not as tech-savvy as one would assume, and sometimes that are unaware that they don't know what we expect them to know.

In one of my University positions we offered a group Onboarding where all new doctoral students were invited to learn more about their courses and how to navigate online. One facilitator led students through logging in to Blackboard and accessing the various modules in their courses, along with how to send messages and submit work. 

This sounds great, doesn't it?  Learners met  each other informally online, see each other and all course instructors and learn about navigating Blackboard. What I realized the first week of classes was that learners who attended those sessions were not asking questions...and as I developed a rapport with them, I realized they were afraid to ask questions, thinking that everyone else already knew the answer, and they didn't want to feel "stupid." 

Hmmmmm...  To me, this means a more individualized approach is needed.

EDU 658 Onboarding Module

This brings me to my Onboarding modules created for every single class I design. I have found that making sure students can navigate an online course as early as possible increases their livelihood of success in the course. 

I individualize Onboarding for every single student in every single class, guiding them through their Canvas course site to make sure they can access everything....in the safety of meeting one-on-one rather risking feeling embarrassed in front of a group. 

Yes, this takes a lot of time.  Instead of one one-hour Onboarding per class, I may have anywhere from 10-25 individual meetings....for one course. It seems to be what works best for my learners, though, allowing them to interact with the site and me in a more comfortable manner.  They select the day and time that best fits within their schedules...AND I get to meet them face-to-face and begin to develop the rapport so necessary to developing social presence (Akyol, 2019; Shackelford & Maxwell, 2012).  Seeing what each other looks like helps to engage learners and makes them feel connected (Lehman & Conceicao, 2010).

To reinforce the idea of student responsibility, I require all students to complete a series of steps, to review a variety of items, and to meet with me virtually during the first week of class. They must review the syllabus and assignments, click around the course, and come prepared with questions. Notice this Onboarding Module from EDU 653:

EDU 653 Onboarding Module

Meanwhile, I have my own agenda: Let the students do the driving. Letting them drive tells me what they need to know to be successful in this course. These meetings last anywhere from 15 minutes to a full hour...depending upon learner needs.

I can certainly ask them if they have questions, answer those questions, and wave good-bye.....but I need to make sure they know how to navigate the course first.  They may not know what they don't know!  

Zoom allows us to share screens, so after finding out a little about the learner, I ask them to share their screen. Then I direct them around the site...as they click and access information. We pause to discuss how the major assignments fit within the class....and even explore tasks such as how to access each module, how to use the Calendar function within Canvas, sometimes even how to respond to their first forum!

Using Zoom

My university uses ZOOM, but that is a relatively new event. I was using Zoom for these meetings before the university adopted it.  Anyone can have a free Zoom account that allows them to  meet with one per5son for an extended amount of time and with more than one person for 40 minutes.  Since I meet individually, free  meets my needs.

1. All one needs is an email account to sign up for Zoom (https://zoom.us/). 

2. Once in, clicking on host a meeting allows you to schedule. This generates an email invitation that allows recipients to login in through a variety of devices, but I require students to use a laptop so they can then share their screens.

3. During the session you will need to give an attendee permission to share their screen. This is a new  twist thanks to the "Zoom Bombing" that occurred during the early days of COVID necessitating in the mass move to use ZOOM to video conference.  Once in Zoom, the instructor will need to hover their cursor over the bottom of the Zoom window until the green Share Screen button appear.  Then hover on the caret to the right and click on "Multiple participants can share simultaneously."

4. Once you have granted permission to share, the attendee will then see the green Share Screen button and can click it.

5. The attendee will then see several choices, so I ask them to select a specific window, then open the course in Canvas.

Once they are in in Canvas, the Onboarding begins as we talk through to course splash page and start clicking around.

 

Any time, any place or All Together now - your choice depends on your audience, your content,  and your goal!

Have fun  designing!

 References

Akyol, Z. (2019). The development of a community of inquiry over time in an online course: Understanding the progression and integration of social, cognitive and teaching presence.  Online Learning, 12(3/4), 3-22.

Davis, T. (2015). Visual design for online learning. New York: Jossey-Bass.

Kinshuk. (2016). Designing adaptive and personalized environments. NY: Routledge. 

Lehman, R., & Conceicao, S. (2010). Creating a sense of presence in online teaching. NY: Routledge.

Shackelford, J., & Maxwell, M. (2012). Contribution of learner-instructor interaction to sense of community in graduate online education. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 8(4), 248-260.

Vai, M., & Sosulski, K. (2016). Essentials of online course design. NY: Routledge. 

Meeting your learners' needs

 I teach adults in four different graduate programs, and each adult  brings to each course a plethora of experience and knowledge. Best practices in teaching adult learners suggest the content must be meaningful, and they must be able to connect to their jobs (Knowles, 1984).

 After all, most graduate students are balancing jobs, families, relationships, school, and other commitments...and who has time to complete a task that they don't see as being useful?

That what Andragogy is all - about - making learning relevant to adult learners!

Unfortunately, most courses for adults are developed using pedagogy rather than andragogy.  The graphic below helps visually explain the difference:

Pedagogy (the method used when we were all in public school....and in most undergrad courses) is all about the "sage-on-the-stage" approach...one person providing knowledge to all...the SAME knowledge to all.  In Andragogy  the instructor serves more as a facilitator with all learning being much more student centered. and problem-centered, rather than content-centered.  All learning needs to be relevant immediately (not as in, yes, you will one day use algebra :-)  and should take into consideration what the learner already knows (The Principles of Adult Learning: How to Apply Them to E-Learning, N. D.)

My conundrum

One course I love to teach is EDU 604, a type of introduction to the community college where students learn about all facets of the community college, helping them move out of their tunnel vision of seeing the organization just from the lens of their job within the community college.

After working in a community college setting for 18 I have learned the value of knowing more about the CC than just my area....and wanted to pass that knowledge on to my students.  This issue, however, is that some students come to EDU 604 with at least 10 years of experience.  Others are in their first year.  Some have worked in multiple parts of a community college campus.  Others have been in their one location only.

How then, do I adjust a course to respect the needs of all learners while making sure everyone meets the same learning outcomes, whether they have working in a community college for 1 year or for 10? How do I make a course relevant to all learners enrolled?

How do I personalize a course  for all students on all topics?

I created a survey! 

Pappas (2014) suggests using a survey to analyze audience knowledge in a specific area..... I then used those results to guide content presented and activities.  In this particular case, I am using survey results to personalize a course to individual students.

The survey

 I call this XPs for Experience. All students MUST complete it as part of their Onboarding module, and I use the results to tailor readings and tasks.  To make it easier for students to complete, I embed the survey directly into Canvas so they do not have to leave the site to go to this google form.

Take a look:

 Notice that these are open-ended questions, not yes/no questions.  This encourages the students to provie as much information as they can demonstrate their experience and knowledge of each of 14 different topics.Responses are scored with either a 3,2, or 1, with the 3 for those who demonstrate a great deal of knowledge and experience in that area, a 2 for those who know something, and a 1 for those who report knowing nothing about the topic.

Course topics include the following...and every student is assessed on every topic:

 

Using the survey results

My thought process was to assess content and experience in each topic the class covers and adjust readings and activities accordingly.

Let's take closer look at one of the topics in  EDU 604: Community College Students. The following video explains my process:

 Keep in mind that I individualize EDU 604 for every student based on my knowledge of best practices inn online instruction for adult learners.

Does this take a lot of time?  Yes, but it is worth it for the students. I usually spend approximately 3o minutes reviewing and scoring the pre-assessment.  Then I have to go into Canvas and add specific students to specific pages.  I used to have everyone complete the same readings and other tasks, but now this individualized approach has been very effective. 

Will this work in all courses or trainings?   It depends.

If you are teaching skills, you can  pre-assess students to determine  their skills.  You can pre-assess to identify content knowledge as well.  If you are dealing with 40 learners in a training or course, you might have to break the pre-assessment down into chunks, or group learners another way.

Knowing your audience will allow you to create the best online learning experience possible!

References

Knowles, M. (1984). Andragogy in Action. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Pappas, C. (2014).  Six key questions to effectively analyze your e-learning course audiences. Retrieved from: https://elearningindustry.com/6-key-questions-to-effectively-analyze-your-elearning-course-audiences

The Principles of Adult Learning: How to Apply Them to E-Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved http://articulate-heroes-authoring.s3.amazonaws.com/Nicole/Demos/Rise/principles-adult-learning/principles-2/content/index.html#/list/uIlebJ49Ii6bXjORgrIJGiHFTWnBHkCR?_k=ww98vk

Why I close-caption my videos

I spend a lot of time making videos for my fully online graduate level courses....a LOT of time.... While I may spend 5 minutes in recording (assuming I only need one take of the video and not several), that five minutes turns into an additional hour for editing the video, more time for adding annotations and special effects to make the video for interactive and engaging...THEN I close caption...every...single...video.... A five-minute video, then, may really take me several hours to make it ready for viewing.

As I was close captioning a video for an upcoming course, it occured to me that not everyone may be familiar with the process or understand why we NEED to close caption.
 

What is close captioning?

Closed captioning displays text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional  information for the viewer.

Close captioning is NOT the same as subtitling. Basically, subtitles assume an audience can hear the audio, but need the dialogue provided in text form as well. Meanwhile, closed captioning assumes an audience cannot hear the audio and needs a text description of what they would otherwise be hearing. 

Why should we close caption every video?

Erroneously, we often tend to think of close captioning as only for the hearing challenged...a way to make sure we are 508 compliant.

But...this is not the only reason to close caption our videos.

We learn in a variety of ways - by seeing, hearing, and touching....   And close captioning allows learners who hear without any difficulty to have another way to reinforce learning by reading and seeing while they are hearing.  

Another reason for close captioning includes viewing environment. Adults are not always in the privacy of their homes when they are are viewing a video, but may be in a public place.  Close captioning your video allows them to watch your video wherever they may be. They do not need to wait until they reach home and locate their headset. Instead, they can watch a video at their convenience because you have close-captioned it.

What about hose learners who may have an undiagnosed hearing loss? Some of us may not even realize we have a partial loss of hearing...or may not want to admit it. Using close-captioning can help those adults better follow the video.


Although we try to produce a video where we have clearly enunciated each word and without distracting background noises, unless we have a specially designed recording room with expensive microphones and sound proofing, we may well have some audio  issues that may not bother us, but could be problematic for others.  Close-captioning can negate those issues.

This is not only true for educational videos but for training videos or work-related videos. Viewers may be in a cubicle without a headset, there may be a lot of ambient noise that impacts hearing a video, or the employees may not be aware of hearing issues.Close-captioning training just makes sense in a workplace setting.

Personally, I have a difficult time finding a comfortable headset, one that doesn't hurt my ears.... and I have no hearing problems.  I often tend to use close captioning to save my ears when viewing someone else's video.

Transcription 

Providing a transcript can also be beneficial for your viewers, but should not take the place of the close-captioning which appears on the screen at the exact point of content in a slide.  A transcript does provide a great review.


Tools for thought


I use Camtasia to record videos and close caption during the editing process...but youtube also can assist with close captioning... as can most of the video recording software. Check with I.T. at your organization to see what tools they provide.  If they do not provide any tools, then familiarize yourself with what is available.



Think of close captioning as being respectful to our adult learners who learn in a variety of manners and in a variety of locations....NOT as only a matter of 508 compliance.

Why Partner?

Why should HIED and business /non-profit organizations partner to create micro-credentialing opportunities?

I suppose my response is Why not?

The previous blog post explored the use of micro-credentials along with the research supporting them and the benefits for employees, employers, and HIED organizations. Employees receive targeted training that provides them with a specific skill set to help them sucedd on the job.  Employers, in return, get better trained employees.

Sounds perfect!

The reality is, however, that few businesses and non profits possess the instructional design staff necessary to  design quality engaging micro-credentialing training for their employees.

Why not, then, consider partnering with a higher education institution to provide such training?

1, Universities understand adult learners.

This is what universities do. They work with a variety of student populations, and those with graduate-level programming  understand the unique needs of the adult learner who is trying to balance workplace commitments, family commitments, community commitments, and educational commitments.

Adult learners have different motivations behind their learning and different educational needs.  Universities have experience in meeting those needs and in designing learning experiences that cater to this group.

2, Instructional designers are trained in designing quality online learning experiences.

Face-to-face training has its place: so does online training.

The increase in online instruction in universities has necessitated their having faculty and staff who are trained as instructional designers able to provide quality online learning experiences.

Instructional Designers are education professionals whose job is to identify the performance, skills, knowledge, information, and attitude gaps of a targeted audience and create, select and/or suggest learning experiences to fill this gap.

This is not the same as dumping content into PowerPoint slides or pasting text to read: instructional designers do far more than that.   If this is all your organization needs, then you do not need an instructional designer or a university.

An instructional designer knows how people learn and how  to design engaging learning activities to connect the organization's training to the necessary real life skills..

Trained in best practices in online delivery, an instructional designer can help change employee behavior as a result of training, along with designing engaging ways of delivering content and assessing employee mastery of the content.

Instructional designers often consult with subject matter experts (SMEs), either on-campus or off, depending on the content they are trying to deliver.

3. Businesses and non-profits can work with universities to serve as subject-matter experts.

SMEs play a critical role in the instructional design process. The SME is an expert in a particular content area, often with either an advanced degree in this subject or work experience in the field. 

The first step in designing a new training  starts with the instructional designer who performs a training needs analysis to identify skills, behaviors, and knowledge gaps in the organization. This helps them identify which training courses  - or micro-credentials - need to be developed, and what the learning objectives will be.

The very next step, though, involves the SME. The SME (or a group of them) is responsible for mapping a path backward from the training goal to the training content. They’ll work with the instructional designer and decide on the best ways to achieve the required learning, such as which activities are best suited to each objective,.

In the case of micro-credentialing, this would be the time to identify clusters of skills and content needed, along with a hierarchy. Allowing the instructional designer to work with SMEs from the university as well as organization could help to provide a better quality online training. .

What should an organization look for in choosing a higher education partner?

Organizations might want to consider higher education institutions who have already designed micro credentials, whether for their own use or for other galvanization.  This insures they already understand the actual practice of micro-credential designs so their instructional designer can better assist your SMEs in content determination.

Because micro credentials are small chunks of content designed as performance based assessment, the instructional designer will need to already know how to take the SME material and break it down according to micro-credentialing best practices.

There also needs to be some sort of hosting system for the training, perhaps using the institution's Learning Management System or LMS. This will insure any proprietary content will not not be available to the entire internet while affording employees some manner of confidentiality as they progress through their training. An LMS is also likely to be more user-friendly for the employee to navigate simply due to design.

Finding someone local is not a necessity with the increased availability of video conferences for meetings with the SMEs, but accessibility to the instructional designers and to the LMS will be vital.

Including SMEs who work in education can greatly enhance the design process as they likely understand both content and instructional design..  For example, if an organization wanted to create a series of micro-credentials in conflict management training, then having access to a university  employee with conflict management training to assist the organization's SME could streamline the process.

Next steps

Investing in one's employees can provide organizations with a better workforce, one that is engaged and wants to produce.  Consider providing micro-credentialing training by partnering with an institution in higher education.

This can be a win-win for all!

Thinking about micro-credentialing

Yes, I am still gamifying courses (more on that in a later post), but now I am intrigued by the idea of micro-credentialing...and how we might utilize them in a higher education setting.

What are micro-credentials?

Micro-credentials are a competency-based digital form of certification that can be issued for formal and informal professional learning experiences. They prove competence in one specific skill at a time, via a portfolio of evidence, created through worksite and, in this case, online training practice. This evidence - these digital badges - can be shared with supervisors and prospective employers, serving to document specific skills central to their jobs. 

Think of micro-credentials as mini-qualifications that demonstrate skills, knowledge, and/or experience in a given subject area or capability. Sometimes known as nano-degrees, micro-credentials tend to be narrower in range than traditional qualifications such as diplomas or degrees. However, they can also be broad in focus rather than specific. For example, institutions can offer a micro-credential for something as broad as Fundraising  while offering a another micro-credential focusing specifically on how to empower others in the workplace.

The increasing interest in micro-credentialing is, in part, due the need for workplaces to remain competitive by ensuring employees continue to develop new capabilities. Micro-credentialing provides a way to map employee career paths and quantify any types of skill.


Earning a micro-credential can involve completing activities, assessments, and projects, with the employee earning a digital certificate or badge as evidence of attaining this new credential. The micro-credential could be a "one-off" qualification, or it could be part of an employer-mandated training pathway leading to a final overall qualification for the employee.

Think "professional development." 

Think "chunking" of information. 

Think developing "skill sets." 

Think "degree alternative."

Think self-paced.

Think student-centered.

Think flexibility.

Think cost-effective.

.....all of those items that appeal to adult learners who want training and education in areas to help them advance in their job, but not necessarily a degree.

So what? Why should we consider offering them? 

I have long been a fan of online instruction- good online instruction, that is.  I can be a fan of micro- credentialing, if it can be structured following best practices of online instruction and if it can truly be performance-based.... and if it can be supported by the research.

Research suggests that micro-credentialing can be a viable option for adult learners.

Let's start with "digital form of certification," aka badges,

Badges and motivation

A badge from our MSOTID practicum course

Digital badges have been connected with instructional design as a form of motivation and engagement. As a component of game mechanics (Kim, 2015; Robson, et al., 2015), badges serve several purposes.

Possibly the most obvious function of badges is as a  aa goal-setting device: goals keep us focused on what we need to achieve, and badges challenge us - i.e., give us the extra motivation  - to complete the action.  Goal-setting is most effective when learners can see their progress toward the goal.

Research suggests setting goals helps motivate us to achieve them, and, in fact, it is often thought that the fun and interest of goal-seeking is the reward, rather than the earned badge.

I would think, then, that earning a badge - in this instance a digital certificate - a competency-based digital form of certification  that proves learners have specific skill would serve as a motivating factor.

From badges to micro-credentials

Badges, while more often associated with gaming, have also been used in micro-credentialing.

Initially micro-credentials were merely digital badges that were first established in online forums and other social media platforms as a way to differentiate average users from advanced users (Wu, Whiteley, & Sass, 2015). However, their purpose has moved beyond demonstrating differences among users into a method of demonstrating skills and abilities thus becoming micro-credentials. This evolution of micro-credentialing now provides learners with the ability to engage in a performance-based assessment that is a less expensive and faster method than acquiring a traditional degree (Fong, Janzow, & Peck, 2016; Wu, Whiteley, & Sass, 2015). 

Example of a Law & Ethics in Instructional Design Badge

Today micro-credentials are represented by icons or graphics that serve as badges to indicate a learner has successfully completed the learning experience in an accredited institution (Kerver & Riksen, 2016). The badges are created through metadata (Gamrat, et al., 2014). Metadata is data connecting to other data; it is “descriptive markers placed in a stream of data, which informs a machine about contents” (Gibson et al., 2015, p. 407). The metadata is embedded with relationships between the issuer, standards, activities, artifacts created, experiences, and quality of evidence (Gamart et al., 2014; Gibson et al., 2015). As micro-credentials are successfully completed, based on the metadata, learners can earn a digital badge and move to the next chosen badge.

What's in this for employees and their employers?

Micro-credentials offer numerous benefits for both employees and employers.

 
When well-designed, micro-credentials can be flexible, portable, and cost-effective for the employee, Often available for much less of a financial investment than a full degree, micro-credentials can allow employees to pick and choose  among possible skill sets, and, when done so in conjunction with their supervisor, micro-credential attainment could be directly connected to an employee performance plan.

Micro-credentials offer employees the chance to focus on one single area, personalizing their professional development training.  Clusters of micro-credentials  could assist employees in meeting  their career goals and responsibilities.

Allowing employees to "show what they know" is a strong alternative to reviewing transcripts and generic coursework that may not be as current as is necessary in the business world.

Micro-credentials could help to boost employee engagement and support an employer in accurately tracking employee  development. The digital certification aspect of these credentials would allow employers to truly ascertain what skills their employees have gained.

 What's in this for HIED?

Higher education institutions have started to view micro-credentials as not only an effective learning tool but also as a way to increase revenue by providing an array of cost-effective learning experiences to adult learners who are seeking additional skills.


Perdue University and Carnegie Mellon University recognize the benefits of offering micro-credentials and have created opportunities for adult learners to earn micro-credentials (Hurst, 2015). HIED that offer micro-credentials reported that micro-credentials are responsible for 81% of their unit or enrolled user revenue (Fong, Janzow, & Peck, 2016). Also, 97% of a baccalaureate college’s unit revenue comes from micro-credential course offerings which are “significantly higher than doctorate-granting universities (75%), master’s colleges or universities (77%), and community colleges (86%)” (Fong, Janzow, & Peck, 2016, p. 7).

HIED and Employers? As Partners?

While some organizations are large enough to house employees in-house with the necessary skills to  design such trainings, not all businesses and non-profits may be able to do so. They might want to consider  looking outside of their organization for such expertise.


What if....businesses and non-profits could partner with an HIED to develop personalized training?

Up next..... Why Organizations should partner with HIED in micro-credential design

References

Fong, J., Janzow, P., & Peck, K. (2016). Demographic shifts in educational demand and the rise of
alternative credentials [PDF Pearson Education and UPCEA]. Retrieved from http://upcea.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Demographic-Shifts-in-Educational-Demand-and-the-Rise-of-Alternative-Credentials.pdf

Gamrat, C., Zimmerman, H. T., Dudek, J., & Peck, K. (2014). Personalized workplace learning: An exploratory study on digital badging within a teacher professional development program. British journal of Educational Technology, 45(6), 1136-1148.

Gibson, D., Ostashewski, N., Flintoff, K., Grant, S., & Knight, E. (2015). Digital badges in  educatiion, Education and Information Technologies, 20(2), 403-410.

Hurst, E. J. (2015). Digital badges: Beyond learning incentives. Journal of Electronic Resources in Medical Libraries, 12(3), 182-189.

Kerver, B. & Riksen, D. (2016). Whitepaper on open badges and micro-credentials [PDF document]. Retrieved from https://www.surf.nl/binaries/content/assets/surf/en/ knowledgebase/2016/whitepaper-on-open-badges-en-micro-credentials.pdf 

Kim, B. (2015). Designing gamification in the right way. Library Technology Reports 51(2), 29-35. 

Robson, K., Plangger, K., Kietzmann, J. H., McCarthy, I., & Pitt, P. (2015). Is it all a game? Understanding the principles of gamification. Business Horizons, 58, 411-420.

Wu, M., Whiteley, D., & Sass, M. (2015). From girl scout to grown up: Emerging applications of
digital badges in higher education. The Online Journal of Distance Education and E-learning, 3(2), 48-52.

Gamifying a course, phase 11: Game Over

Tasks are submitted and graded, badges collected, job interviews completed, and life at Mountain View Community College is on hold now until January 2019.

Time to reflect and regroup.

Technology, Gaming, and You

Students completed an in-course assessment exploring their experience with games, technology, and their attitudes toward learning.

Student age ranged from 36 to 57, with a mean age of 47. All were employed full time, and they reported having regular access to a computer both at home and in their office. They accessed Canvas through both their computers and their smartphones. They did not report a history of game play, either on their cell phones or through their computers, with the exception of "a little Candy Crush."Although one student was familiar with virtual worlds such as Second Life or Mindcraft, the others were not.

They were familiar with more traditional games such as crossword puzzles, word searches, Jeopardy,

Tetris, board games, chess, checkers, Scrabble, jigsaw puzzles, and video games

They reported feeling strongly connected to one another and felt supported in this course, appreciating timely feedback.

Other Tidbits

All students earned all badges, spending anywhere between 55 and  60  hours in Canvas. (NOTE: I logged 326 hours to create, tweak, grade, and problem-solve in this course, so we all spent  a lot of time in Canvas. Interesting to note, students in other courses sent far more time in Canvas that same semester, ranging from 29 hours to 133, with  mean of  75.3 hours.)

All submissions were on time (all 57 of them!) as compared to a more traditional online course with 18 submissions, where 75% of students had at least one late submission.

The final project at Mountain View Community College  was a one-hour interview for their dream job....with their interview responses integrating what they had learned throughout their time as  visiting staff member. Students seemed to enjoy this type of final project (I know that I did) as a change from a written submission...but they did have to think fast on their feet in their interview responses.

Students also participated in a final forum where they identified three pieces of new information and why they this information was important to them....one last chance for them to reflect together and to explore course learning.

 For Further Reflection... and MVCC 2.1

Mobile access.  MVCC 1.0 was not designed for mobile use, but for PC access. I was not deliberately omitting that group, I simply did not design the course to be mobile friendly. The next iteration, then, will need to become mobile friendly...which means I need to become Canvas mobile app savvy.

Motivation.  These students were highly motivated and well matched spending equal mounts of time within Canvas, then branching out on their own to work on MVCC tasks. I am unable to determine however, whether this is connected to the gamified design, a strong sense of classroom community,  or to personal attitudes and behaviors. They all "strongly agreed"  with statements such as, "It  is important to me to be a good student," "I expect to work at studying in college," "I am committed to being an active participant in my college studies," "I find learning to be fulfilling, " "I allow sufficient time for studying," and "I feel really motivated to be successful in my college career." The connection between gamifying a course and motivation needs further exploration, so I plan to increase class size the next time this course is offered.

Pacing. This course required a lot of work on the students' parts, so I tried to be mindful of their time and build in some breathing spaces where they could work on their Experiences Paper and Video...but I evidently did not do a good job of explaining that to students as several remarked about uneven  pacing.  I will definitely look into this to see what I can do to improve pacing in MVCC 2.1.

Student interaction and sharing. The quality of the work I was reading was so good that I wanted them to share it with one another to increase opportunities for learning.  To do that, however, means requiring an additional assignment where they post and  share.  While useful in theory as a learning task, do I really want to increase the number of required tasks?  After all, they had 57 submissions in  the 15-week course. Perhaps I could add one final forum where they share an item they created during the semester, an item that makes them the most proud.

Experiences paper/video.  In this assignment students interviewed a faculty member teaching in  a transfer course,  a vocational-technical faculty member, and a staff member, shadowing all three and comparing and contrasting their experiences in working with students. Each student said they learned  a lot from this assignment and to be sure to include it....but next time I want to do  better job of integrating it within the specific modules.  I thought I did so this time, but I am sure this could always be done better. While the video quality was good, it was not as creative as I had hoped, so I want to delve into that area a little more.

Module design.  Module design is still little clunky to me and clutters up Canvas for the student.  Lacking the ability to create a module-within -a module  is somewhat problematic when trying to give students assignment choices and connect them to the gradebook and/or provide badges based on specific tasks, but I believe I have figured out a work around (playing with it this summer).  If it works as planned, I will log about this later.
 
I have truly enjoyed this journey into gamifying a class...and have already started gamifying another course for the upcoming fall and will begin tweaking MVCC 2.1 later this summer.

Game on!