EXPERTS WHO HAVE EXPERIMENTED WITH
VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS SAY THEY ARE THE TICKET.
BY JERRY ROCHE
Virtual classrooms are taking the world by storm.
Call them what you will — e-seminars, Webinars,
netcasts, synchronous online learning, net meetings
or e-learning — they are the most profound
difference between learning in the 20th century and
learning in the 21st century.
Though virtual classrooms are currently making
larger inroads in the education field, it will not
be long before corporate trainers realize their full
potential.
The basic virtual classroom system consists of voice
(VoIP, teleconferencing), text (whiteboards and
PowerPoint) and video (via Webcams). Content can
range from slides and multimedia (specifically
Flashbased visuals) to application sharing, polling,
quizzing, breakout rooms, emoticons and “virtual”
hand-raising.
Lance Dublin is the founder of Dublin Consulting. In
April, he presented a virtual classroom on virtual
classrooms for
Elearning!
magazine.
“Learning goals in a virtual classroom are promoted
by the display, explanation and discussion of
relevant visuals,” he said, “along with interactions
using unique tools and learning in small groups.”
He added that virtual classrooms can be used in
hard- and soft-skill training, education,
conferencing, meetings, coaching, support and many
other instances. Benefits include reduced traveling
time, expenses and instructional costs; replicating
classroom sessions; reaching dispersed audiences;
and extending learning experiences.
“It’s not the media that cause the learning,” Dublin
said, “it’s how the media are used.”
STUDENTS LOVE IT
George Siemens is associate director of research and
development for the Learning Technologies Center at
the University of Manitoba (Canada). From his home
base, he can teach and manage courses both faceto-
face and online through synchronous dialog. He also
runs several online conferences involving up to
2,000 participants.
“Both have been very successful,” Siemens says.
John Bourne is executive director of the Sloane
Consortium and a professor at Olin and Babson
colleges in Boston. He uses the Elluminate platform
for conducting online synchronous workshops
involving up to 1400 colleges. (Elluminate is a
provider of distance learning and synchronous
collaboration software and tools.)
“Students really like the convenience of the
synchronous activities,” Bourne says. “They tell
their professors that this system works, they really
like it, and there’s no significant difference in
attending class physically. It’s particularly good
for evening MBA students.”
In the online “Journal of Asynchronous Learning
Networks” during the past 10 years, Bourne has
reported that there is no significant difference in
learning quality between virtual and real classroom
experiences.
“There may be even a slight improvement with online
classrooms because of the ability for students to do
things at their own pace,” he notes. “Overall, it’s
about the same as a classroom experience.”
Vicki Davis is a middle-school teacher and “Coolcat”
blogger who conducts online projects for students
residing her home state of Georgia along with
students in distant countries.
“Our current project, the Horizon Project, has 250
students from all over the world enrolled,” she
notes. “Students love it because they’re using
social (educational) networks and they make digital
stories.
“Anytime we plan a project like this, we have to
have an asynchronous and a synchronous environment
because of time differences around the world, and
they’re a nightmare. We have to be flexible, but we
spend three to six months beforehand planning the
project heavily.”
FLEXIBLE PARAMETERS
Most virtual classroom platforms offer a variety of
tools to simulate a real classroom environment.
Some virtual classroom technologies can even add a
sense of touch to training applications, to simulate
the “feel” of orthopedic devices during surgery, for
instance. A company called SensAble Technologies
makes virtual touch (haptic) devices that help
medical and dental professionals learn new
procedures. Trainees hold a touch-enabled device
instead of a computer mouse — giving them
combination of visual, audio and touch technology
for a highly realistic training experience.
A few problems remain, besides the obvious lack of
eye contact between instructor and
students/learners.
“We represent ourselves differently in different
spaces, so when learners are in these environments,
there’s a reorientation of social and
teacher-presence cues that occur,” observes
Manitoba’s Siemens. “The educator has to move
between a variety of roles, one of which is
traditional — presenting content — to a more
pronounced online role of fostering interaction
because you’re missing some of the traditional cues.
There’s a different skill set, but the principles of
good teaching or good learning don’t change because
the environment changes. They’re just enacted
slightly differently in different mediums.”
USING IT NOW
Dublin offers a primer on how to upgrade your
learning organization to virtual classroom
technology. “It is really challenging for a
trainer/leader to be a coordinator/producer,” he
says, “but sometimes it’s necessary.”
During his presentation for
Elearning!,
he offered these tips:
>>
Preparation -
Have you chosen the right application that is
the best fit for you and your organization? Is
it preinstalled, tested and running? Have you
established a strong Internet connection? Have
you orchestrated a custom interface? Have you
set defaults and test, test, tested? Do you have
Plan B in case the core application breaks down?
Expect the unexpected.
>>
Content and Design
-
Virtual worlds are fairly structured in design.
You have to be a bit more prepared. Think about
the differences between a real classroom and a
virtual classroom. You have think through how
you adapt/convert classroom content. How do you
make the content rich using virtual environment?
You aren’t going to have your body language, so
you have to plan interactivity. Create polls and
interactions, create visuals, plan for time for
log-in and orientation. And, again, have a Plan
B.
>>
Trainer/Leader
-
A good trainer has to process a lot of
information in very little time, so you need to
practice, practice, practice. It’s almost like a
performance art. What worked well in the
classroom doesn’t necessarily work well in a
virtual classroom. So focus on your voice. It’s
easy when you’re not getting virtual cues to run
on and on and on and talk faster and faster and
faster, so pace yourself. If possible, log in
with two computers.
>>
Learner/Participants
-
Offer how-to sessions for the participants,
giving them time to play and practice. Provide
support and tell them how. Establish ground
rules and follow them.
ENGAGING EXPERIENCES
Dublin has five more tips for presenters to create
engaging virtual classroom experiences. To wit:
-
Slice and dice the content into 10- minute
sections maximum. “Some people think it
should be three- to five-minute sections.
Try to switch things up. Don’t leave too
much to chance. Plan for visuals, polls,
interactions and annotations. For instance,
how are you going to use the various polling
features?”
-
Leverage the visuals. “A picture is worth a
thousand words. Bring your visuals to life:
draw, color, highlight. Use builds, if
possible. Use the element of surprise: mix
it up. Don’t let the screen be static. It
can be very dramatic.”
-
Think conversation, not lecture. “Don’t read
from a script. Use your voice as a tool. In
the classroom, it’s important; online, it’s
even more important. Envision your learners
listening. Call on students/learners — by
name. Try to recognize as many people as
possible. Personalize the presentation.”
-
Move it along. “I can’t tell you how often I
see people drawing things out, reading every
piece of text on screen, really laboring
over it. In the virtual world, multi-tasking
is assumed. Maintain a good pace with two to
four minutes per visual (some people say
it’s less). Different visuals have different
impact and meaning, so use multiple visuals
per topic.”
-
Interact, interact, interact. “Every virtual
classroom has a lot of interaction tools.
There’s a lot of debate about how much you
interact and when you interact.”
THE UNEXPECTED
“It’s
about using all the tools and in unexpected ways,”
Dublin concludes. “Interact every three to five
minutes; ask lots and lots of questions; multi-task
yourself; use video selectively. I think it’s a real
mistake to have a talking head video, but at times
I’ll turn on the video to make a point.”
—Reach Lance Dublin by e-mail at lance@dublinconsulting.net.
Reach the University of Manitoba’s George Siemens at
gsiemens@elearnspace.org. Reach Sloane Consortium’s
John Bourne at john.bourne@ olin.edu. Contact Vicki
Davis at coolcattecher@ gmail.com. And for more
information about Elluminate’s virtual classroom
platform, visit the Website www.elluminate.com or
contact product marketing manager Gary Dietz at
gdietz@elluminate.com.
|
For
Professional
Development
In
1998, the State of Michigan established
Michigan Virtual University (MVU) as a
not-for-profit corporation created to serve
as a champion for online learning. MVU,
working in partnership with Michigan
schools, provides cost-effective services
and technology that strengthen teaching and
learning.
In 2003, MVU created a Web-based
professional development (PD) delivery
system called the Michigan
LearnPort. Through Michigan LearnPort,
school personnel were provided PD to help
meet personal and district learning
requirements.
As a school superintendent, David Myers
often would bring in an expert to address
his staff for the purpose of PD. “Lots of
people would get excited by the
presentations,” says Myers, who is executive
director of Michigan LearnPort. “But when
teachers returned to their classes and the
expert was gone, they had nowhere to go to
build on what they learned.”
Jamey Fitzpatrick, president and CEO of MVU,
says its goal is to harness the Internet to
consolidate highquality PD resources and
create efficiencies never before realized in
the K- 12 community.
After months spent evaluating many vendors,
MVU picked Chantilly, Virginia-based
Meridian and its learning management system
(LMS) for the project. “I was pleased with
the process MVU used to select its next LMS
and more pleased with the product,” says
Bruce Umpstead, director of education
technology and data coordination for the
Michigan Department of Education.
“Meridian’s LMS is a professional tool that
can manage Michigan’s online PD needs.”
With the new LMS in place, Michigan
LearnPort would be able to keep a record of
each teacher’s development plan. It would
link PD to school goals and offer access to
training. With Michigan LearnPort, teachers
could create transcripts that showed they
were complying with NCLB. And Michigan
LearnPort could offer forums for teachers to
join after completing PD. “
The collaborative features of our LMS, which
we call ‘community rooms,’ were ideal for
helping us reinforce the PD that teachers
undertake,” Myers notes. “Our Michigan
LearnPort community rooms are built around
discussion threads, a resident e-mail tool
and calendaring functionality.”
Since launching the new LMS in July 2007,
users of the PD portal have built more than
134 community rooms. With the relaunch
complete, more than 100 online courses are
available free to all Michigan teachers via
the Internet. And Michigan LearnPort makes
it possible for people to create and use a
community room as part of an online course.
A bit more than six months after launch,
Michigan LearnPort serves almost 30,000
users.
“It’s amazing to see the proliferation of
community rooms that educators have built in
the six months since we relaunched Michigan
LearnPort; we’ve gone from 0 to 134,” says
Elizabeth Elliott, project manager at
Michigan LearnPort. “Anyone who visits it
can use our LMS to create a community room;
the size of the rooms range from two people
to an entire school district.”
Going forward, Myers and his team hope to
make online learning and collaboration a
widely accepted alternative to the
traditional models of PD, which Michigan
educators rely on. Early success with
Michigan LearnPort is helping Myers’ team
make a case.
—For more information on Meridian Knowledge
Solutions, Inc., visit the Website
www.meridianksi.com. |
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