1. Community & Collaboration
As Educators, we all know the importance of community, a group of people who share common
emotions, values and beliefs, which are actively engaged in learning together and from each
other; and collaboration, when individuals work on a shared goal in the classroom. What do
you do to foster both of these in your f-2-f settings?
Community
Collaboration

2. Research shows that community and collaboration are equally important in an online setting.
Handbook of Online Learning (Rudestam & Schoenholtz-Read, 2010)
“Research over the last decade within a community of inquiry model has found that
students’ sense of community in a learning environment sustains productive discourse
and enhances learning. That sense of community involves goal-directed collaborative
interaction, trust, and mutual support.” (39-40)
“In the community of inquiry model, high teaching presence is defined as student
perception that the teacher is providing effective course design, facilitating productive
discourse, and providing direct instruction. In a large study of f2f and online learners,
Shea et al. found that high teaching presence was associated with a greater sense of
classroom community for both types of learner.” (40)
“…the most highly predicted pedagogical techniques for the online future in higher
education were group problem solving, collaborative tasks and problem-based
learning.” (18)
“In an online classroom, the most effective means of achieving learning outcomes is
the use of active learning and collaborative techniques that encourage students to
become empowered learners.” (383)
Distance Education: A Systems View (Moore & Kearsley, 2005)
“Since, in distance learning settings, normal communication is conveyed through an
artificial medium, we must find ways to achieve “social presence.” (230)
“In an earlier study of computer mediated instruction, Cheng et al. reported a higher
completion rate for those learners who worked collaboratively (90 percent) than for
those who worked independently (22 percent).” (231)
Online Learning: Concepts, Strategies, and Application (Dabbagh & Bannan-
Ritland, 2005)
“In an online environment, a sense of community is promoted through strong
interpersonal ties that provide support for learning and prevent feelings of isolation.
Viewing a community as what people do together rather than as a geographic location
where tasks are accomplished is the focus for integration of virtual online communities
into the educational process.” (84)
“…instructors need to place as much emphasis on establishing the appropriate
instructional climate as on providing appropriate content, particularly when they want
to reap the meaningful educational benefits of attempting to create an online learning
community.” (86)

3. In looking at the list of things you do in your f-2-f classroom to promote community and
collaboration, what challenges do you find in translating these items to an online setting?
Should an online setting replicate f-2-f interaction?
Challenges
What things have translated well? What tools did you use in the online environment to
recreate these positive experiences online?
Positive Transfer Experiences& Tools Used

4. Case Study #1: Getting to know each other
You have asked students to introduce themselves to each other using the Discussion Board tool
in Blackboard, and to respond to each other’s intros. You have received the following
responses:
Hey class I'm Student 1. I am a communication major and live in MyTown, Oh. I
am a current Senior at OU and I like to play sports and watch movies. MY newest
endeavor is to film a movie and submit it to the Sundance dance film festival in
Utah.
My name is Student 2. I am 29 yrs old. This is my first year in college. It has been
over 11 years since I have been in school. I have 2 boys age 5 and 3. I am working
on a 4 year degree for Business management in hopes of one day owning my
own company.
My name is Student 3. I am an undergraduate and I have not decided on a major.
Look forward to getting to know everyone!
Hello my name is Student 4, i am 39 years old, i have 2 children,Child 1 20 and
Child 2 is 8. I am going to be a grandma in late Dec. or early Jan. i am very
excited. I enjoy playing bingo and spending time with my kids. Eventually i would
like to be a probation officer or a social worker.
Hello my name is Student 5 but everyone calls me #5. I am 23 years old. I have
been married for 4 years. I have three children they are 4,3,and 2 there names
are Child 1, Child 2, and Child 3. I have 2 dogs, 2 cats, and 5 newborn kittens. My
favorite food is spaghetti. I graduated in 2005. I am very excited be back at
school and also nervous.
My name is Student 6 but I go by #6. I come from the small town MyTown Ohio. I
play sports both in school and out of school. Mainly tennis and ice hockey. I am
into music from a band perspective and got started in band when I was in fifth
grade and have continued it since. I am generally a quiet person and will not talk
much, I observe and develop ideas on my own rather than express the idea out
loud. I keep to myself a lot but I become more outgoing the more I know
someone. I work hard both inside and outside of a classroom no matter what the
task.

5. What types of information do students typically give out in their introduction?
Information volunteered
Is this enough information to get to know someone? If you have never met anyone in your
course before would this be enough to begin developing trust with your peers so that you
would feel comfortable working with them? What other types of information would you like to
see students share? What do students share when talking in a f-2-f setting?
Would Like to Know

6. How would you structure the assignment or what tools would you use to elicit more
information or to create a deeper sense of interaction between participants?
Adaptation of Assignment
Structure
Blackboard 9 Tools
Web 2.0 Tools

7. Research
“embedding the use of technology designed for connecting, such as Facebook, twittering and
blogging, might increase the social presence of all of the students as well as the teaching
presence of the instructor.” (Young & Bruce, 2011)
“Connecting people’s names and faces is a first big step to forming bonds.” (Misanchuk &
Anderson)
Tools to Use
Glogster
http://www.glogster.com/Create a multi-media poster to express yourself.
Voice Thread
http://voicethread.com/Transforming media into collaborative spaces with video, voice, and
text commenting.
Bb9 Wiki or Wikispaces
http://www.wikispaces.com/ Easy-edit web pages used for collaborative writing/editing.
Bb9 Journal or Blogger
http://www.blogger.com Create a blog
Jing
http://www.techsmith.com/jing/ Screenshots and screencasting
Social Networks (FB, Social Go, Ning, Classroom 2.0, Curriki, LinkedIn,
Google+)

8. Case Study #2: Making Learning Collaborative
This case study is broken down into 4 mini-case studies. You will be collaborating with your
peers to brainstorm one of these issues before reuniting into a full-class discussion.
Study A
In a traditional classroom, you typically lecture on this particular topic (___________________).
However, research shows that lectures are not the best methods for transmitting content in an
online setting. In fact, Educause recommends limiting video/audio recorded “lectures” to 5
minutes – only to clarify key points. How can you deliver your traditional content, make sure
students are “getting it”, and facilitate collaboration in your new digital setting? What tools will
you use to do this?
Ideas:
Study B
Students spend lots of time in your traditional classroom developing lesson plans and units.
They work collaboratively to make them interdisciplinary and learn to give constructive
feedback by doing peer to peer evaluations. You also spend a great deal of your time meeting
with individual students and teams during class as well as giving students written feedback on
their drafts. You have been asked to teach a section of this course online. How will you
maintain this collaborative approach in the new environment? What tools will you use to
facilitate your approach?
Ideas:

9. Study C
Pre-service teachers need to practice teaching and receive feedback on their performance. To
facilitate this in your course, you typically have students co-teach the course with you. That is
you have them work in small groups to present information from each chapter of your text to
the class or have them model what they have learned by teaching a mini-lesson in their content
area. You believe this is an important component of the professional development they
undergo while in the college of education. You are now teaching the course online. How can
you embed this practice into your new course structure? Will you have them model traditional
face-to-face instruction, online instruction best-practices, or both?
Ideas:
Study D
Your students are working on a group project in your online course. Traditionally, you ensured
that all students were participating by allowing class time to meet, brainstorm and work. You
fear that students will not contribute to the group process equally when they are not meeting
face to face, worry about students collaborating from a distance, and have concerns about the
entire collaboration process being asynchronous. How can you assess student participation and
provide opportunities for both asynchronous and synchronous collaboration on the group
project?
Ideas:

10. Suggested Tools
Study A
H2O http://h2o.law.harvard.edu/index.jsp
Discussion board that eliminates rushing to post first, forces students to think on their own
before reading others’ posts, and increases critical thinking because students cannot
automatically respond to anyone – especially taking the easy way out by responding to only
those they agree with. Still allows for viewing all discussions at the conclusion.
Study B
CCDT: Collaborative Curriculum Design Tool
http://learnweb.harvard.edu/alps/tfu/design_ccdt_about.cfm
This design tool allows students to create lesson units using the Teaching for Understanding
model and provides opportunities for collaboration from other course participants, instructors,
and outside participants (such as classroom teachers). It also allows completed works to be
published publically on the web.
Study C
Zentationhttp://www.zentation.com/about_free.php
Synchronize video of you teaching and PowerPoint slides together in a single presentation
format. Zenation allows viewing of body language & teacher presence in addition to the
content to better get an overall view of student’s performance. Blogging comments allow
feedback from viewers, and questions can be answered asynchronously.
Study D
Yugma for Skype https://www.yugma.com/
This version of Yugma works with your Skype account to add desktop sharing, file transfer,
presenter switching and marking capabilities to your video conference with up to three people
for free. It also allows you to record the session so voice, text, and sharing interactions can be
reviewed.

11. Considerations in Choosing a Tool
1. Private or public
2. Course objectives and skills learned
3. Ease of use
4. Cost
Research
“Best practices to strengthen bonding include simple tasks such as collaborative decision-
making related to communication protocols, and required and ongoing student postings in
online discussions. In addition, use of synchronous instant messaging to enhance
camaraderie, asynchronous communication for deeper discussions, and instructor modeling
of thoughtful responsiveness with a personal tone all can help build classroom community
connections.” (226)
“With the elimination of time and place constraints, instructors can create innovative
assignments and interactions in a global context. According to Robinson and Hullinger (2008),
small group discussions and projects can provide an emphasis on higher level thinking skills of
synthesis and decision making, which in turn create a more challenging learning environment
and deeper learning. Such meaningful academic experiences provide students with relevant
accomplishments and satisfaction that build learning communities, enhance the quality of
student engagement, and decrease dropout rates (Park & Choi, 2009).” (226)
“…in order to create a strong sense of community and to help students engage with learning in
online courses, instructors need to find ways to help students feel more strongly connected
with each other and with the instructor and to facilitate activities that more actively involve
students in their own learning. Instructors who purposefully design learning activities to
create opportunities for students to learn about each other, thereby decreasing transactional
distance and increasing social presence (Robinson &Hullinger, 2008; Rovai, 2002), are likely to
improve learners’ sense of classroom community.” (227)

12. Lists of more resources
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/bestlist/bestwebsitestop25.cf
m#collaboration
http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm
http://go2web20.net/
http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/Home