Get Your Students Hired
Amer,
The frequency in our input/feedback to students is important. We do also have to make sure the students can use the technology, otherwise communication and projects will not be completed. Thanks!
I believe that the three most important things would be:
1)Punctuality of the instructor in responding back to students' concerns and questions.
2)Availability of the tech support team.
3)Affordability of the software/hardware materials.
Sarah,
If the students are not comfortable with the technology, they will either not use it or be very frustrated. This does not make for a good learning environment. And, the technology does have to match what we want done - the goal. Nice job.
Thanks for bringing this up.
To me, the three most important technology considerations are the comfort level of the student, whether it is accomplishing the goal you set out to achieve, and whether issues can be resolved quickly. If students aren't comfortable with the technology, they won't want to participate in the technology, and if issues aren't addressed quickly, then students/faculty will run into problems that cannot be quickly resolved. Furthermore, if the technology isn't accomplishing its goal, what's the point of having it, anyway?
Terry,
Ha! Everything can be a loaded question. ;-) There's a paradox everywhere we turn in education. Thanks for the resources in this post. I think join.me can be an asset for many reading this. Thanks!
This is or can be a loaded question! When assessing tools for my students, I typically try them out for myself first. For example: Join.me is a fantastic and free program that I use for desktop sharing. The program is small in size, is free and easy enough for a first time learner to install and use. I typically download both the PC version and the MAC version for the schools that don't use programs such as gotomeeting or Adobe Connect.
The second area of importance perhaps is beyond my control and that is the dedication of the student and how willing they are to try something new when it comes to technology. In one of my classes where I teach Marketing with Social Media, I still have students that don't fully understand social media let alone all it has to offer. They're bombarded with the fears that their privacy will be violated.
My final area when it comes to assessing the use of technology is the ability to have someone available, such as tech support when things go awry such as the use of Adobe Connect. When this was first introduced into our school's platform - there were continuing sound issues and server lag times. I do feel that if a university is spending large sums of money for a program - that it should be flawless to enhance student and instructor interactions. Also, this type of technology should not be limited to a specific platform. For example: I can run Adobe Connect on my MAC Lion but not on Maverick which are varying operating systems. Because of this issue - I am limited as to what updates I can install on my own system.
Geri,
And, it's essential to help students understand the expectations and help them achieve the learning outcomes. Nice job.
Tone, clarity, and directions are needed for the student to understand the expectations.
Antonio,
We all have to learn new software and we learn about ourselves and how to handle transition. Thanks for sharing.
I am currently using Collaborate in my classrooms to do our Lab hours. The transition from Webex to Collaborate has brought new tools and challanges.
1. As a instructor, my challanges were learning an interactive system. The system resembles everything I used to do on ground with the Smartboards. This is fine for me, but the instructor has to become more technology savvy in order to properly use it.
2. Giving the students enough training in order for them to use the features that are available. Students do complain that they are not able to connect. Most of the time, it is user error, but our tech support handles theses issues for us.
3. Biggest challange has been, the actual teleconference system that we use. It has not always been as reliable as we wished.
Stacy,
It's hard many times to figure out all of the questions to ask, but you've hit the nail on the head. We have to understand what the students can do with technology, move them forward if they are lacking, and give them opportunities to communication through the tools effectively. Thanks!
When assessing the use of technology, I believe that is important to consider:
1) How comfortable students are with the technology. While it is important that students are familiar with the technology, it is difficult to maintain a level of professionalism if the students are "too comfortable" with a forum such as Facebook.
2) Students appear to fall into two groups: technologically-savvy students and students who are very unfamiliar with technology. Once primary concern is a student's ability to obtain and utilize the technology.
3) Asynchronous or synchronous. Determining whether to utilize technology that is asynchronous or synchronous to effectively communicate the information is of utmost concern.
Sheila,
True - this is a good trio: learning, instructor and content. The technology and the comfort level is essential for all. Thanks!
It is important to consider the learner, the instructor and the content when determining what online tools you wish to use. It is first important to understand the course content. Depending on the content and structure of the course, your communication needs will be different. Furthermore, depending on your learner, you may not be able to use certain tools. What are their skills? What type of access do they have? How do they like to communicate? Finally, you must look at the instructor. What is their comfort with technology tools? How much time are they able to commit to the course? How accessible do they want to be? The use of technology communication tools is a delicate balance in online education.
Kimberly,
Excellent. If the students can use the system or navigate easily, they won't use the system. Without that use, how can the learn the material. The support provided can be of great help. Thanks!
The three things I consider vital in a virtual learning environment took are:
1) How easily a system can be accessed. Is it user friend? - If a system/tool is not easily accessed and is not user friendly the students can quickly become discouraged and not participate.
2) Is it well known and well used? Tools that are not well established can make finding support and solutions hard.
3) 24 hour tech support to aid students when trouble arises. Students who attend online classes often do so because of their schedule and flexibility is very important.
Kim C
Sandra,
It's good to think about all types of communication as you noted - I2S, S2I, and S2S. Thanks for bringing that into the conversation in this forum.
Dr. Crews:
When assessing the use of technology communication tools in a virtual learning environment, the three most important things that I think that need to be considered are:
1. Is the technology tool appropriate to the task that I want to accomplish?
2. Does the technology tool enhance good communication I2S,S2I, S2S?
3. How does the technology tool impact the communication process?
In the virtual classroom, I want my students to feel that they are heard and responded to in an effective manner. To do so encourages engagement in the learning process and ultimately their success with online learning.
Using appropriate technology tools can make this happen as long as the tool matches the task at hand and both the instructor and the student feel confident and comfortable with the tools.
Sandra S.
Eric ,
Great list. Access is very important. Without it, the others will not happen.
Thanks!
When using different technology tools in an instructive environment the three things I believe are most important to consider are:
1) Access. Can the student easily and regularly use the tool that is being considered? At our school, students are provided with laptops and access to the school wifi, so checking with them through our web portal is reasonable, since we've provided them the tools to do so.
2) Ease of use/design. How a tool looks or feels, combined with the layout of it's functions is important. If a chat tool is very versatile, but the buttons are hard to use or find, then even the best tool might frustrate students.
3) Constructive Feedback. How easy is it for the instructor to correct a student through the proposed tool? Are those messages easy to find/receive? Engagement with students is necessary to ensure that the right message is being received!
-Eric-