Breaking the Ice with a Collaborative Google Prez!

This is the first week of my online History of Photography class.  I am gently guiding my students into our class which is peppered with emerging technologies including Google Apps, Ning, and VoiceThread.  To get them started this week, I have a fun, simple activity that they engage in.

The activity is titled My Favorite Photograph and the objectives are:

1. To help students get to know their peers on a personal level and start to form the early threads of community.
2. To examine the subjective and personal nature of the meaning of a photographic image.

I created a presentation using Google Docs (click Create and select Presentation, create the presentation, change the share settings to "Anyone with a link" and "Can edit.").  A copy of the presentation is embedded below so you can take a close look at the precise instructions and sample I have provided them with.  I used this activity last semester and had zero questions -- so I'm pretty excited about it!

Click here for a larger view.

Here's how it works.  

Week 1:

• Students click on the link that takes them out to the Google Presentation (exactly like the one you see below but the one they see includes dozens of blank pages, each titled with a student's name).
• They read the instructions on slide two and, if necessary, view the video embedded on slide three (which shows the steps for editing the presentation that are explained in text on slide two).
• They view the sample slide I created for them.
• Then they locate the slide with their name on it and upload their photograph and text (explaining why it's their favorite photograph).

Week 2:

• I embed the completed Google Presentation in our Ning network (which is private and open only to my students).
• The students are instructed to review the entire presentation, reflect on the images and the justifications the students wrote for why they selected the image.  This is really more empowering than it sounds, as students share some very compelling images including loved ones who are away at war, deceased family members, picturesque scenes of nature, artistic masterpieces, and beloved family pets.  All in all, they're learning how diverse "photography" can be.
• Then before the week is over, they write their first blog post which is an analysis of what they learned from participating in and viewing the collaborative presentation.  They are asked to reflect on what they learned about the nature of photographic meaning, as well as to select one photograph from the presentation that stands out in their mind and explain why.
• As the blog posts come in, students read each others' posts.  Many see their contributions referenced and can read what their image means to their peer, some find a peer who references the same photo they selected, or see an entirely new perspective that they hadn't considered.

Pearson+Google vs Blackboard = An Interesting LMS Frontier

After a two year reprieve, I begun teaching with Blackboard again in August.  In '09 I was using Blackboard 8.0 and now I'm teaching with Blackboard 9.1.  Yes, some things have changed but, in essence, all the frustration and rigidity that restricts my ability to employ pedagogical creativity within Blackboard remains.  And, to me, the more I teach with Blackboard, the better hacker I become.    That's not right and the rigidity and bugginess of Blackboard is, undoubtedly, frustrating faculty and making creative teachers give up on experimentation which is not a good thing in the context of 21st century teaching and learning.  Can anyone out there relate to that feeling?

So, this morning when I read the news about Pearson (which has been funding Ning Minis for educators in North America for more than a year now, including two I use for professional development and community college teaching) and Google joining forces to launch a new, free, social learning management system called OpenClass, I was intrigued.  Still in beta, the description sounds intriguing.  What I'm foreseeing is an opportunity for OpenClass to engage faculty who are experimental, early adopters, attempting to force Blackboard to "accept" and "tolerate" Google Apps, VoiceThread, Twitter widgets, and other web 2.0 and social media infusions into its system -- with not a whole lot of success.  But institutions will shake their head and remain skeptical about supporting OpenClass, especially the institutions that have adopted Blackboard across systems.

This could be a turning point.  One that will truly separate those committed to a "learning" paradigm and those invested, still, in an outdated "teaching" paradigm (Barr and Tagg, 1995 - PDF).  While I have yet to even see OpenClass, I am sensing that the future of college learning just got a lot more interesting. 

Which path are you on?

Hey Prof, Wanna Hang Out in Google+

The potential that Google+ holds for college teaching and learning is a hot topic.  If you haven't yet participated in Google+ but want to learn a little more about its super-charged collaboration features -- and highly customizable privacy layers -- errr, "circles" -- I invite you to read my latest GETInsight blog post.

Click here to read: Hey Prof, Wanna Hang Out in Google+?

Join Me! Increasing Student Success with Google Sites - free webinar

Hey Professors, 

Would you like to increase the number of prepared students on your roster?  Do you dream about a class students who, on day one, are informed and know what to expect from your class?  

Did you know there are more than 10,000,000 student comments shared on RateMyProfessors.com, a site your students use to learn about you and your class?  Wouldn't you prefer to harness the potential of this web 2.0 wave to introduce yourself to your students and get them prepared for your class?


You will learn how to use an existing Professor Website Template on Google Sites to start building your site today!

Join me this Wed, 10/13 at 12:00 PST for the @One Desktop Seminar: Increasing Student Success with Google Sites. 

Register here -- yes, it's free!

Use Google Sites to Increase Online Success and Retention

As an online instructor, I always felt that one of my goals should be to strive to ensure all the students enrolled on day one are students who are informed about the class requirements.  When we teach in a classroom, there are always students who attend day one, read the syllabus, and then decide, for a range of reasons, the class simply doesn't work for them.  These reasons could range from, "I'll take this next semester when I have a lighter load," "just too much work,"  "I'll take it with someone else," "don't like this instructor," "sounds like a bore."  How do I know?  Because I used to do it as a college student too (come on, fess up). While budget cuts may naturally be forcing students to stay enrolled in classes they don't "prefer," I believe all students should be informed ahead of time about what to expect in their learning experience.  This strategy is an effective and realistic way to foster a culture of student success in a class and, even more powerfully, at an entire institution.

Improving retention and success in "offline" classes is important too.  But I am focusing on the online learning environment because our online classes in higher education have consistently trailed in success and retention rates.  And the demand for online classes continues to go through the roof.  I would regularly turn away up to 40 pleading students in each online class, unable to accommodate their desire to enroll.  And then in the first week of class, a flock of students would drop, leaving me feel frustrated and disappointed about all the students I turned away.  Sound familiar anyone?

Offline?  The situation wasn't nearly so bad.  Sloan-C recently cited tracked our nation's overall higher ed enrollment growth was at around 2% (including offline and online enrollments in both 2 and 4 year institutions) and our online enrollment growth was about 17% (22% in community colleges alone). Our students are naturally leaving the offline classroom in search of more online learning opportunities.  So, let's prepare them ahead of time so the learning can begin on day one. 

Here's a simple strategy to try.  Create a Google Site, using one of their new and improved templates, and use it to share a video introduction, detail course requirements and clear expectations, and upload a class syllabus. The key is to weave the site into your enrollment process so students find it.  How about creating a link in your online class schedule, connecting your class description to your Google Site?

So, students...would this help you succeed?  Instructors, what are your thoughts?  Here is my sample Google Site (which was used in this way, only in an older and less aesthetically pleasing Google Site template) to demonstrate the idea.

Note: I am no longer employed at Sierra College and I use the materials on my sample Google Site in an effort to share my own course strategies to help other online instructors improve their instructional approaches.