Plagiarism in the Online Environment

·  What plagiarism detection software is available to online instructors?

In my experience, unfortunately, online students DO cheat.  There are many software companies that specialize in creating programs that will help detect plagiarism.  For example, Turnitin.com looks online through search engines and can even populate results within its own database in a company for all papers scanned previously.  Another is EVE (Essay Verification Engine), but it is not as widely used.  Another way to search for academic dishonesty is to just do a free Google search.  Copy and paste in parts that seem suspicious and see what Google brings up (Jacoy & DiBiase, 2006)

·  How can the design of assessments help prevent academic dishonesty?

Assessments need to use higher order thinking questions in order to avoid academic dishonesty.  When you have students recalling information from the content only, you are running the risk of them Googling the answers.  If you have them writing their opinions and then providing evidence from the content to back up their responses, it is harder for them to cheat.  Also, creating questions that are new and somewhat different from time-to-time keeps the students on their toes and never able to find the definitive answer.

·  What facilitation strategies do you propose to use as a current or future online instructor?

In the video presentation, it was suggested that we create collaborative assignments, which will help negate “cheating” in the technical sense (Palloff & Pratt).  However, I think that I would just rather include instruction on plagiarism up front to my students to help prevent it.  According to the study performed by Jocoy and DiBiase (2006), though, it didn’t seem to reduce plagiarism significantly.  I think I will create a short quiz/survey, like they did, to assess student understanding to see if they understand the basics though.

·  What additional considerations for online teaching should be made to help detect or prevent cheating and plagiarism?

I think that instructors need to keep in mind that students do cheat – even in the online sector.  Even though we do not SEE it in person, we have to understand how readily information can be found on the Internet.  We always need to keep on top of all the new technologies our students are using (like Yahoo! Answers) and report when we can to remove this information.  We are on the front line battling online plagiarism and must not only educate, but remove poor sources.

Resources

Jocoy, C., & DiBiase, D. (2006). Plagiarism by adult learners online: A case study in detection and remediation. International Review of Research in Open & Distance Learning, 7(1), 1–15.

Video: “Plagiarism and Cheating” (approximate length: 10 minutes).
Dr. Palloff and Pratt discuss effective methods for dealing with plagiarism in distance education.

Technology and Online Learning Environments

• What impact does technology and multimedia have on online learning environments?

Technology and multimedia are making online learning environments more interactive.  They are helping to build a sense of community through discussion boards, exposing learners to speakers they would otherwise never meet through multimedia, and overall teaching students how to navigate in a web-driven world (Boettcher & Conrad, 2010).

• What are the most important considerations an online instructor should make before implementing technology?

I think a major consideration is that an instructor should not overestimate the knowledge of their students.  In the video from this week’s learning resources, it was interesting that they asked to a group of professionals if they knew what a wiki was – and not many did.  They bring up an interesting point of that we just expect people to know what these technologies are because they’re so prominent in our lives, but that we cannot just assume that our students know what they are and how to use them (Palloff & Pratt).  It is our responsibility to teach the new technologies and provide activities that allow students to become more familiar with the Web 2.0 tools. 

• What implications do usability and accessibility of technology tools have for online teaching?

Basically, if the student cannot use or access the technology – it is not helpful.  There are very few other ways to really explain this.  We are responsible for making sure that the students have access to the technologies on our site.  For example, we need to check the links on various web browsers to make sure they are accessible – and this is important for each time the course is run.  Web links change daily.  I experienced this recently when I made an online course.  Within a week of the course running, an online survey I was using from another person changed and I had to modify my turn-in form.  The usability is also important because we do not want our students to struggle with the technology.  The technology should complement the content and not take over.

• What technology tools are most appealing to you for online teaching as you move forward in your career in instructional design?

To me, I’m most excited about wikis.  I think that the collaboration involved in creating a “living document” is intriguing.  Also, I really like the idea of an app for the online course management system.  I think that students should have complete access to their work and in any format they deem suitable.  For students to use mobile technologies, which they are most familiar with, to do their course work, I see as an asset.  Using any tool to motivate students to do their work is essential.

• Synthesis of thoughts with regards to the significance of technology in an online learning environment.

All in all, I learned so much that would help me implement effective online instruction through these chapters.  I’m about to start my second online teaching job with Florida Virtual School tomorrow and I’ve learned so much about how to management my CMS.  We use Elluminate as our synchronous chat and I plan to actually use them this time so that I can help my students “live.”  I will be giving them a Google Voice number so they can text me their questions, as well (Boettcher & Conrad, 2010).  Mostly, as you can see, I’ve learned the importance of feedback in an online learning environment and I plan on trying to find ways to provide quick and meaningful feedback to my students.

Setting Up an Online Experience

Knowing the Technology

It is vital to know the technology available to you as an online instructor.  When I worked for Polk Virtual School, they sent us to a special franchise training course through Florida Virtual School.  The two day training taught us how to work virtually, of course, but mostly spent time on the ins and outs of the CMS.  One suggestion from our text is one that I noticed they mentioned quite a bit in our training: make sure to only add tools one at a time and only when you feel comfortable (Boettcher & Conrad, 2010).  One of the tips they suggested for us was to create the bulletin board slides in advance and then they also added to put in other information – like tips the kids needed to work on as a whole.  I tried, but couldn’t successfully add those each week, but I did put the kids who were “on track” on the bulletin board slide.  This helped with keeping the kids motivated because they wanted to see their names on the front page of the course every time they logged in.  However, I hope to – in the future – add in more synchronous chat sessions so they can ask more questions face-to-face, but I know that I have to add tools over time instead of all at once.

Clear Expectations

Chapter 5 in the text is all about how to create clear expectations for students.  However, I see very little difference in this requirement from teaching face-to-face to teaching online.  I think it is vital that we create an atmosphere where students know exactly what they are expected to do from the start of a course or assignment.  Models should be provided for discussion boards, for example, so that students know what level of posting they should be creating.  Rubrics should be present for every assignment and with clearly defined parameters.   Not only does this help the student when crafting the response, but it also helps the instructor with the grading and creating a fair environment.  The creation of a “living” syllabus is essential to help establish and maintain these expectations.  It is the faculty’s responsibility to make sure to have well defined and stated expectations that are upheld throughout the course (Boettcher & Conrad, 2010).

Additional Considerations

One additional consideration that needs to be taken into account when setting up an online learning experience is the role of the instructor.  The instructor must establish a social presence that is very regular and timely.  Research shows that students feel more satisfied when they see their instructor interacting within the course (Boettcher & Conrad, 2010).  Therefore, an instructor must consider ways to become involved.  They can e-mail students, chat with them through various programs, set up synchronous sessions, or even add to the discussion boards.  The getting acquainted posting, like the ones we have been working on for our course applications, are essential in establishing the rapport you have with your students.  This posting helps connect with your students and really adds to the online learning experience.  The more I feel I know about my professor, the more I can see that he/she is human and really does care about my education – rather than just hitting in a few grades.

Synthesis
I think that there are quite a few things I would do in the future when I work as a virtual instructor.  For one, I will make sure to create clear expectations and to have a social presence within my course.  I think the initial posting will really be helpful - like the one we are working on for this course.  I learned about how to get to know the students individually and remember doing that when I taught online briefly.  Even if it was just asking about their guitar lessons, I noticed they were more likely to work for me because they saw I cared about them on a level other than grades.

I apologize for this post being a day late... I've been in NYC monitoring a school spring break trip and it's a very tiring schedule.

Online Learning Communities

For this post, we were asked to watch the video “Online Learning Communities,” where Dr. Rena Palloff and Dr. Keith Pratt define communities and talk about how to sustain them.  I found the video to be very beneficial because it shared a variety of experiences from all different fields.

• How do online learning communities significantly impact both student learning and satisfaction within online courses?

I think that students feel more satisfaction when other students validate their opinions and analysis postings.  We learn more when our posts are challenged, as well.  I learn so much when other students reply to my posts with something more than “hey, great post!”  When they pose questions are ask for more elaboration, I feel that I’m actually involved in a discussion rather than just writing to the World Wide Web, which can seem dark and lonely.

• What are the essential elements of online community building?

According to Dr. Palloff & Dr. Pratt…

1.    You must have people and must be able to interact and connect within each other.  They have to have a social presence.

2.    You must have a purpose.

3.    The process must be functional.

• How can online learning communities be sustained?

I feel that the facilitator helps with building community.  When they post replies that link two or more participant postings together, it develops collaboration within the group.  In the video, they mention that it’s not just the faculty that is responsible for creating this community though – it’s every person’s participation that sustains the structure.  However, an engaged professor can really make a huge difference in a successful or unsuccessful course.

• What is the relationship between community building and effective online instruction?

I think they are very similar.  You must have a community in order to bridge the gap to create effective online instruction.  If we were just running correspondence schools, it would be different.  However, online learning is collaborative and that’s why it works.  We gain a higher perception of learning because of the reflective nature of the courses.  Also, students gain virtual social skills through effective online instruction!

Online Instructional Strategies

Welcome to my blog for Online Instructional Strategies!  My name is Christin and I've been teaching for 6 years.  I'm very excited about completing this certificate from Walden University in Online Teaching.  I hope to one day become an online instructor for Florida Virtual School, but until then - I teach high school TV Productions.    I hope you enjoy my blog!  :)

End of Course Reflection

            I hope that the perceptions of distance learning will continue to remain accepted.  In the video featuring George Siemens, he mentions that it sort of makes the world seems smaller because we can talk to anyone at any time.  The acceptance of distance learning is becoming comfortable because we are so used to online communication.  We are less and less secluded because of online technology, according to Mr. Siemens, and I agree.

            In ten years, I can see every American student participating in at least one fully online course in addition to his or her face-to-face studies.  In 20 years, I can see most of education being delivered online.  Mr. Siemens mentions that courses will become more complex in the future and this will, most certainly, be to motivate our students that are essentially in the most technologically driven world to date.

            As an instructional designer, I feel that I am responsible for always pushing forward the boundaries of distance education.  My classmates and myself will be the new “faces” of the online world.  By building classes that are efficient, well designed, and interactive, we are maintaining and upping the bar for distance education.  We need to not be afraid to try something new and always remember that we are out for the benefit of the learner.

            I plan to be a positive force for distance learning by continuing in the field.  In my brick and mortar classroom, I always try to learn the new technologies and incorporate them into my classroom.  Recently, we received Moodle as a school district.  I immediately took the required trainings and incorporated it into my classroom.  Student complete activities, participate in forums, and put their answers in an online form.  Also, they write blog posts and put them online.  They comment on other ideas and expand their own thinking.

            I recently was admitted into the Florida Virtual School full-time pool and am anxiously awaiting a call.  My goal is to become a professor and teach teachers how to engage their students with technology or with online learning.  I will continue my education to receive my doctorate and always do research with online learning.  I feel that it is the wave of the future and see the need in this current generation for the one-to-one learning environment that online education offers.

            One last mention about the future – Florida has already started the wave of required online learning.  Starting with this 9^th grade class, students are required to take one course online in order to graduate.  You can read more about it following this link: http://www.newssun.com/news/021012-ct-online.  I can’t wait to see more states take the lead and push their students to try online education!

Modern Poetry Course at Yale

Modern Poetry – Open Yale Course - http://oyc.yale.edu/english/modern-poetry

            I must say that I am now enamored by these courses.  I viewed a Yale course on Modern Poetry and was amazed at how easy it really is for people to get the privilege of hearing lectures by the most amazing professors in our country.  The course was extremely well laid out and designed for anyone to view.

            When you enter the course, you can view the class sessions.  From there, you can click to move to various points within the course so you may work at your own pace – or even just learn about the poets you wish.  There is even a final exam study sheet provided to you.  In each lesson, it has an overview, reading assignment, and resources.  The resources tend to be a mp3, mov (high and low bandwidth), and Flash version of the lecture, as well as the html written format for quick reference.  This is great for a diversity of learners, including those that are disabled.  The documents that are for reference are usually provided in PDF format so you never have to worry about accessibility (Adobe Reader is available free from the Adobe site).

            Other pages provided in this course are an informational page that includes a short summary of the course, as well as information about the professor.  The syllabus page provides a list of texts, as well as how you are graded.  From the downloads page, you may download each of the videos and course pages so that you can do the course if you are not able to get to an Internet source at all times.  The books page provides access to the bookstore so that you can purchase any of the books for 10% off.  Finally, for evaluation, Yale has provided a survey for students to take to provide general feedback about the course. 

            In comparison to our textbook, Teaching and Learning at a Distance by Michael Simonson, Sharon Smaldino, Michael Albright, and Susan Zvacek (2012), this course upholds quite a bit of the recommendations for course design.  They have the goals clearly labeled and media is in various formats to meet the needs of most learners.  The font size and choice is appropriate and there is plenty of white space to enhance the readability.  They address copyrights by saying that not all the images will be present in the videos.  All of the links seemed to be functional that I clicked on, as well.

            All in all, the course designer did implement activities that would maximize learning.  The only real problem that I saw was the inability to submit work and to have assignments that would promote learning.  There were a variety of lectures and handouts, but very little in the way of assignments on them.  The handouts were poems and such to use for assignments, but no given prompt.  I think that would be very helpful for the at-home learner; however, it would be difficult to provide a literature course without feedback.  I still plan on reading through this course and attempting it on my own though – just to say I “attended” a class at Yale!

Week 3 Post

Scenario: A high school history teacher wants to showcase two NYC museums by use of an interactive tour.  Also, she wants her students to interact with the museum curators and see art on display.  For assessment, she wants the students to choose two pieces of artwork and have them participate in a group critique of the works.

My suggestion:  Interactive field trips are very fun!  One of the best parts of the Internet is that we can visit places that are very far away and pretend as if we are there.  In the education sector, this allows our students to gain vast knowledge of far away places, but in a more interactive way.  There are a few ways she can complete this project.

1.     Have the students create podcasts of their opinions of the artwork.  Podcasts “is the process of recording and storing audio and/or video content on the Internet for downloading and playback using iPods, MP3 players, computers, and other electronic gear that plays back audio and/or video files (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, pg. 130, 2012).”  Then, have them collaborate with each other using a forum.

2.     Using an online world like Second Life, you can tour a museum and have the students interact on their platform.  An example is shown in the YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eMa2mYLH70 for the Georgia Museum of Art.  Online worlds are great for interaction and promote online engagement (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2012).

3.     Use an already created online trip.  Just a quick Google search will provide great resources, but here’s one such example: http://campus.fortunecity.com/newton/40/field.html.

4.     Use a program like Skype for students to discuss the art with the museum curators.

5.     Use a free online forum for students to discuss the artwork online.  Here’s a good one to use: http://www.proboards.com/

All in all, I think that this is a great idea for the teacher.  The only problem I really see is connecting with the museum via Skype.  Because this is steaming video website, it requires a high amount of bandwidth.  This may be difficult depending on their network and the school’s network.

Assignment 1

            The definition of distance learning is varied.  According to Teaching and Learning at a Distance (2012), distance education is an “institution-based, formal education where there learning group is separated, and where interactive telecommunications systems are used to connect learners, resources, and instructors (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, p 32, 2012).”  Before starting this class, I have had a good variety of experience with distance learning.  Coming from two different graduate level programs, I have seen two completely different learning experiences.  The first was very interactive and project-based while the second was more independent and written.  I feel that both have opened my eyes to understanding that distance learning is varied and that the definition of such a word is very difficult to sum up into a short narrative.

            This week, I learned a great deal on the history of distance learning.  According to the timeline provided in the resources of this course, I learned that the first distance courses were through mail correspondence.  Degrees were even offered after a short bit of time from reputable universities.  Radio was introduced and then, shortly after, television broadcasts were brought onto the field.  We even moved into telephone distance education programs.  In 1969, after the founding of the Internet, it led to a whole new world.  Walden was quick to jump on board in 1970 with limited graduate studies programs, which led the way to an uprising of online universities.  By 1989, distance-learning programs were available in two-thirds of the United States.  The new interest led to the development of a variety of learning management systems, which fulfilled the needs of the online adults, but also now the online children.  We are now teaching children as young as kindergarten online with the latest in Web 2.0.

            As I mentioned before, creating a definition is going to be very difficult.  I have been shaped by my personal experiences through courses, but also through my professional experiences.  Last year, I had the opportunity to teach through Polk Virtual School, which is a subset of Florida Virtual School.  I had a limited number of students, since I was an adjunct, but felt it gave me a good feel for online education.  So much, in fact, that I signed up for a graduate level certificate at Walden because of it.  I had been searching for the right path for me to take – and I finally found it.

To me, online education symbolizes opportunities.  In the six years that I have been teaching, I have met around 900 students.  Over the years, I have seen the power of online education at the secondary level.  In my first year of teaching, I had a student that developed cancer.  She was hospitalized immediately, but wanted to continue her studies.  In a normal environment, she never could have.  However, in my county, we put her in a program called Hospital Homebound where she would work on her classes online, but be visited by a teacher from her home school weekly for interaction and to ask questions.  I quickly volunteered for the experience and found it so meaningful.  Here was a student – losing her long dark hair due to chemo – that still had the desire to learn and we found a way to help her… while still understanding she needed to work in her own time.  Those experiences have shaped what is dear to me most about online education – the ability to work at one’s own time to create meaning and understanding at a highly academic level.

To summarize, I feel that my definition of online education has changed, but only slightly after this week’s readings.  Considering my variety in experiences, I feel that I have a good handle on what online education is about.  I like the definition provided in the textbook because it really is the root of what it is.  Honestly, everyone’s definition will be completely different – based on the programs and experiences they have had.  I’ve had professors I prefer… classes I loved… but also days when I wished I could just find the motivation to write one more word.  In essence, online education is really no different than face-to-face in the fact that you gain information, but it’s up to you to use the resources that you best work with to attain the information in an online setting.  It’s not for everyone – sure, but I know it’s for me.  I believe in it and see us moving forward to developing it further and creating LMSs that will inspire learners for years to come.

Resources

Multimedia Program: "Distance Learning Timeline Continuum"

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2012). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (5th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.

Distance Learning - Hello, Classmates

Greetings, classmates!  Welcome to my blog.  I'm re purposing it for the use of this course from my Instructional Design course.  Enjoy!