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Podcasts as Educational Resources - DE Oracle
No full textDE Oracle @ UMUC
An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty
Center for Support of Instruction
Podcasts as Educational Resources
Richard Schumaker
Manager, Worldwide Training
Center for Teaching and Learning
Published: January-February 2008
Category: » Online-pedagogy » Emerging-technologies
Over the last few months, numerous articles have appeared in the major
American media on podcasting. Of particular interest are three recent
newspaper articles, all of which report on the rapid growth of podcasting by well
known American schools. Interestingly, the three newspapers — the Washington
Post (December 30, 2007), The New York Times (December 19, 2007) and the
Los Angeles Times (November 24, 2007) — point out that these podcasted
courses are drawing a huge audience of listeners and that the professors have
become internet "stars" with followings and fans both within the academy and
amongst non-traditional learners. In order to better understand why, rather
suddenly, podcasting is creating media buzz and how free podcasts can be used by UMUC teachers and
students, I will develop responses to two questions:
1. What is educational podcasting as it exists today?
2. How can existing educational podcasts be useful as a resource for teaching and learning at UMUC?
Podcasting takes many forms in addition to the university lectures mentioned in the aforementioned
newspaper articles: podcasts are featured on National Public Radio, the Smithsonian Institution, the
Oyez Project, the BBC, and many other prominent Web sites.
To avoid all mystification and misunderstanding, let's begin with podcasting basics.
What is educational podcasting?
A podcast is an audio file that has been published to the internet and to which one can subscribe; the
podcast will then be automatically downloaded to one's computer. Once the podcast is downloaded to
one's personal computer, it can be transferred to any MP3 player or one of the iPod models. Generally,
this process requires little special attention or effort on the part of the user.
When these audio files are accompanied with video, they are most often called "vodcasts." The
podcasts and vodcasts that I am discussing in this article can all be downloaded with absolutely no cost
to the listener or viewer.
It should be emphasized that one need not own any Apple product to access these podcasts. They can
be very easily downloaded to a standard personal computer.
By far the largest depository of podcasts on the planet is on the Apple Web site, iTunes, and it is the
most convenient place to start researching educational podcasts. One need not be an Apple or iPod
"owner" or fan to access this site.
The best way to grasp this educational phenomenon is to visit iTunes U for oneself. Here's how:
1. Go to http://www.apple.com (http://www.apple.com)
2. Go to http://www.apple.com/itunes/ (http://www.apple.com/itunes/)
Podcasts as Educational Resources - DE Oracle
On the right side of this screen, click on iTunes 7 (as of 17 December 07); Download Now. Follow
prompts to download the software for the iTunes Store and your personal iTunes Library. There's no
charge. This process is relatively simple but occasionally snags. If you have trouble, be patient. I
would estimate that on the average, it should take about four minutes to effect this download.
3.
Once you have downloaded the iTunes 7, under the general menu, to the left of the screen, you will see
iTunes U with a "new" icon next to it. Click on this, and below it you will see a partial list of universities
that are podcasting their courses.
4.
Clicking on the name of the school, you see icons with its course titles and descriptions. One may
either subscribe to the whole course or individual lessons/lectures. Once you choose which you want,
click on the name of the course and the software will move the file onto your computer into your iTunes
Library. At that point, if you don't have a mobile device, you should be able to simply play the audio or
video file on your computer.
5.
Learners may subscribe to a whole college course or simply request a single lecture that interests
them. Often the classroom interaction is included in these podcasts as well, which brings course
content to life and allows the person listening to the podcast or viewing the vodcast to participate
vicariously in class discussions.
Podcasts also take other forms. The Web sites of major news providers are podcasting a great deal of
valuable material. The BBC publishes its major news broadcasts and many more specialized financial,
political, and technological topics as podcasts. National Public Radio, similarly, gives easy access to
current themes of obvious value and interest. Many other types of podcasts can be accessed not only at
their own websites but also through the Apple site, iTunes.
Some of the podcasted university courses are Web enhanced and have extensive support material on
their course Web sites. In one of the philosophy courses at UC Berkeley, in addition to the podcasted
course itself, the instructor has articles, glossaries, multiple translations, Web links, bibliographies, and
video interviews.
Schools often use their exemplary faculty for these courses, both for their eminence and knowledge,
and to attract a large and diverse audience. Yale has recently published a series of free and open
courses at http://open.yale.edu/courses/ (http://open.yale.edu/courses/) . Even a cursory look at the
course titles and professors of the Yale podcasts, ranging from astronomy and physics to English and
philosophy, demonstrates the school's engagement in this innovative project.
How can existing educational podcasts be useful as a resource for teaching and
learning at UMUC?
To pursue this question, let's put ourselves in our students' shoes and see educational podcasts
through their eyes.
Generally, they own an MP3 player or one of the various iPods. They are comfortable using the iTunes
Web site. Most of the (many) students that I have discussed podcasting with are familiar and
comfortable with the ins and outs of the iTunes library. Many students already subscribe to the BBC or
NPR current events podcasts.
Over the last year or so, I have been using current events podcasts from NPR, the BBC, and the U.S.
Supreme Court Oyez Project and in my writing and humanities classes. Most of the strategies that I
have been using can easily be adapted to a wide range of teaching/learning situations at UMUC. I have
used podcasted reports from the BBC or NPR on the US primaries, the Middle East, and financial trends
such as the US dollar-euro exchange rate to bring very current information and topics of discussion to
my courses. Academically, there is not much difference between the content of the podcasts and a
traditional academic source. The advantage of using the podcast is that it is totally current and often
contains within it multiple points of view and lively discussions. Thus, students are exposed to critical
thinking in action on lively, current topics.
Podcasts as Educational Resources - DE Oracle
These podcasts on current events subjects can be used for group projects, to brainstorm research
paper topics, and as traditional resources for research papers.
Another example of using an academically compelling use of podcasts occurred in several of my other
courses, namely Introduction to Philosophy and Critical Approaches to Literature. Several students in
these classes were fascinated by existentialism and wanted to pursue this theme on their own. I
suggested that they consult a UC Berkeley podcast on existentialism. What did they discover when they
went to this podcasted course?
Several whole podcasted courses by the important US philosopher Hubert L. Dreyfus. The students
didn't stop at the two lectures I had suggested but listened to most of the course.
They also found Dreyfus' current articles on existentialism. These are treasures because they review
the history and current literature on the subject.
Interviews with him in print and on video. This added a human touch to his formal courses on
existentialism.
Links to his major books
Consulting the podcast and Web site were only the first steps in a research quest for these students
that lasted most of the term. The students shared their finds and ideas with the other students; they
also asked for my assistance in the search for other podcasts of similar quality.
During this educational journey, the students' sense of critical thinking was reinforced. The class
quickly saw that the Berkeley professor's whole approach to philosophy is different from mine and
these contrasting views formed the basis of many interesting discussions. Other stimulating
discussions sprang from the students consulting the podcast and navigating its ancillary material.
I am referring to my own courses only as a matter of convenience: the process of learning that I am
describing here applies to almost all courses and levels.
In doing this, I tried to strike a balance between conventional academic uses and strategies that
assisted my students, who are generally highly comfortable with the internet, images, video, and open
oral discussion. As I was experimenting with this, it seemed obvious that the students were utterly
comfortable with the technology and also enjoyed the following facets of the podcast universe:
Repetition - Students could replay the podcasts as often as they wanted.
Convenience - It was easy to listen to the ‘casts while exercising or driving. One student-mom
mentioned how pleased she was to listen to one of the Supreme Court oral arguments that I used to
deepen critical thinking while doing some of the daily duties involved with having a new baby.
Tone and Idiom - For the most part, these podcasts are sensitive to their audiences, well written and
spoken.
Value-Added - Generally, my use of the podcasts added either information or thematic material that
enriched without distracting from my own course.
Conclusion
A confluence of technical, social, commercial, and psychological factors is fueling the use of podcasting
in US and international education.
The podcasting of full university f2f courses is just one use of podcasting. Additionally, students and
teachers can easily visit the following sites for academically serious podcasts: National Public Radio,
the Smithsonian Institution, the Oyez Project, the BBC, and many others also have podcasts.
The Center for Teaching and Learning, in cooperation with Information and Library Services, hopes to
offer a workshop on locating, evaluating, and using open source, free educational resources, including
podcasting during the 2008-9 year.
Podcasts as Educational Resources - DE Oracle
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References
At 71, Physics Professor is Web Star by Sara Rimer. New York Times, December 19, 2007.
The iPod Lecture Circuit by Michelle Quinn. Los Angeles Times, November 24, 2007.
Internet Access Is Only Prerequisite for More and More College Classes by Susan Kinzie. Washington
Post. December 31, 2007.
Open Yale Courses: http://open.yale.edu/courses (http://open.yale.edu/courses)
National Public Radio Podcast Directory. http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast
/podcast_directory.php (http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php)
British Broadcasting Corporation Podcast Directory. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts
/directory/station/worldservice/ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/directory/station/worldservice/)
U.S. Supreme Court Oyez. http://www.oyez.org/ (http://www.oyez.org/)
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Podcasts as Educational Resources - DE Oracl
Why Use Multimedia in Your Online Classroom - DE Oracle
No full textDE Oracle @ UMUC
An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty
Center for Support of Instruction
Why Use Multimedia in Your Online Classroom?
David Taylor
Senior Advisor EWC
School of Undergraduate Studies
Published: September-October 2008
Category: » Online-pedagogy » Teaching-tools
Research
There is consistent and convincing evidence that students learn more from words and pictures than
they learn from words alone.
At least 11 major studies confirm this observation (Mayer, 1989b; Mayer & Anderson, 1991, 1992;
Mayer, Bove, Bryman, Mars, & Tapangco, 1996; Mayer & Gallini, 1990; Moreno & Mayer, 1999b,
2002b). In each study, researchers compared the test performance of students who learned from
animation and narration versus narration alone or from text and illustrations versus text alone.
In all 11 studies, students who received a multimedia lesson consisting of words and pictures
performed better on subsequent tests than students who received the same information in words
alone. Across the 11 studies, people who learned from words and graphics produced 55 percent to 121
percent more correct solutions to problems than people who learned from words alone. Across all
studies, a median gain of 89 percent was achieved with an effect size of 1.50.
Richard Mayer was the first to study this remarkable difference in learning and termed it the
"multimedia effect." In a recent review of Mayer's work, Fletcher and Tobias (2005) wrote: "The
multimedia principle, which suggests that learning and understanding are enhanced by adding pictures
to text rather than presenting text alone, appears to be well supported by findings from empirical
research" (p. 128).
The multimedia effect has been only the starting point. A further increase in learning has been
documented with interactive multimedia (Moreno & Mayer, 1999b) such as learning agents.
Multimedia and Our Minds
The human mind has two central memories: working memory and long-term memory. Since 1956 and
Miller's "magic 7+2," we have known about the limitations of working memory. At the same time, we
also know that working memory is the executive suite of conscious thought and learning. So the goal of
managing any learning event is to maximize working memory's limited capacity without overloading it,
which shuts down learning.
Long-term memory, on the other hand, has a large storage capacity but is inert. Like a computer's hard
drive, the long-term memory serves as a closet. You put stuff in and it hangs there, gathering dust
until called up for use. Currently, our understanding of how these two memories work together to
produce new learning goes something like this:
1. The learner must be engaged to attend to new content.
Relevant prior knowledge must be awakened so that a connection between the new and old can be
made.
2.
3. Cognitive load must be managed or the learner's attention will fail and learning will cease. This is the
Why Use Multimedia in Your Online Classroom? - DE Oracle
primary problem that students face when presented with the "wall of words" in textbooks.
New mental models are built as old knowledge and new knowledge are integrated in the short-term
memory.
4.
New mental models (new skills, new knowledge, and insights) must then be transferred to long-term
memory in a way that they can be retrieved later.
5.
The Psychological Functions of Graphics
These are the core stages of learning as we currently understand them: learner attention, prior
knowledge activation, cognitive load management, mental model construction, storage, and retrieval.
As you see in the accompanying table, multimedia materials complement each of these stages:
Psychological Functions of Graphics
Instructional Event Definition Example
Support Attention Graphics and graphic
design that draw
attention to important
elements in an
instructional display and
that minimize divided
attention
An arrow to point out
the relevant part of a
computer screen
Placement of graphic
close to text that
describes it
Activate or Build Prior
Knowledge
Graphics that engage
existing mental models or
provide high-level
content overview to
support acquisition of
new information
Visual analogy
between new content
and familiar knowledge
Graphic overview of
new content
Minimize Cognitive Load Graphics and graphic
design that minimize
extraneous mental work
imposed on working
memory during learning
Line art versus
photograph
Relevant graphic
versus decorative
graphic
Build Mental Models Graphics that help
learners construct new
memories in long-term
memory that support
deeper understanding of
content
A schematic diagram
to illustrate how
equipment works
A visual simulation of
how genes are
transmitted from
parents to offspring
Support Transfer of
Learning
Graphics that incorporate
key features of the work
environment; graphics
that promote deeper
understanding
Use of software screen
simulation that looks
and acts like actual
software
Use of a visual
Why Use Multimedia in Your Online Classroom? - DE Oracle
simulation to build a
cause-and-effect
mental model
Support Motivation Graphics that make
material interesting and
at the same time do not
depress learning
A graphic that makes
the relevance of the
skills to the job
obvious
An organizing visual
that clarifies the
structure of the
material
Clark, R., & Lyons, C. (2004). Graphics for learning. New York: Wiley & Sons.
Examples of Multimedia in the Classroom
Teacher-created multimedia can serve a variety of purposes in the classroom:
Welcome Videos for Online Classes: A student's first day of class provides a unique opportunity for
online teachers to establish their presence in the online classroom. A warm welcome message
(http://polaris.umuc.edu/ewc/intro_600/intro600.htm) is important. But adding voice and image helps the
student connect to the course in ways that text alone cannot.
Software Demonstrations: Often, students must develop facility with specific computer software in
connection with a course. With the free screen-recording tool described below, instructors can easily
make their own demonstrations of how to use course-specific software (http://polaris.umuc.edu
/ewc/word07_apa/word07_apa.htm) .
PowerPoint Lectures: PowerPoint is a tool that many teachers use well. But storing a narrated
PowerPoint for student retrieval is unwieldy because of bandwidth and software requirements. A Flash
video of a narrated PowerPoint lecture (http://polaris.umuc.edu/ewc/newliteracy1/newliteracy1.html)
addresses both of those issues by providing a highly compressed, platform-independent presentation.
Answers to Student FAQs: You may often feel that an entire class could benefit from an answer that
you provide to an individual student's question. A quick screen recording allows the teacher to share
an audiovisual answer (http://www.peakwriting.com/UMUC/writerworkoutlocker/writerworkoutlocker.swf) so that
the entire class benefits.
Using CamStudio Open Source to Create Multimedia
Use this tutorial (http://polaris.umuc.edu/ewc/camstudio/camstudio.htm) to get started on creating your video
introduction and/or a learning activity on the free CamStudio Open Source Free Streaming Software.
Other Resources
After you have created your video, use these tutorials for creating your Polaris account and using File
Transfer Protocol (FTP) to create a URL for your students to access your video in the classroom.
Creating your Polaris Account
Using CoreFTP - Video (http://polaris.umuc.edu/ewc/coreftp/coreftp.htm) | Print
References
Fletcher, J.D., & Tobias, S. (2005). The multimedia principle. In R.E. Mayer (Ed.), The Cambridge
Why Use Multimedia in Your Online Classroom? - DE Oracle
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handbook of multimedia learning (pp. 117-134). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Mayer, R. E. (1989b). Systematic thinking fostered by illustrations in scientific text. Journal of
Educational Psychology, 81, 240-246.
Mayer, R.E., & Anderson R. B. (1991). Animations need narrations. An experimental test of
dual-processing systems in working memory. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90, 312-320.
Mayer, R.E., & Anderson R. B. (1992). The instructive animation: Helping students build connections
between words and pictures in multimedia learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84, 444-452.
Mayer, R.E., Bove, W., Bryman, A., Mars, R., & Tapangco, L. (1996). When less is more: Meaningful
learning from visual and verbal summaries of science textbook lessons. Journal of Educational
Psychology, 88, 64-73.
Mayer, R.E., & Gallini, J.K. (1990). When is an illustration worth ten thousand words? Journal of
Educational Psychology, 88, 64-73.
Miller, G.A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for
processing information. Psychological Review, 63, 81-96.
Moreno, R., & Mayer, R.E. (1999b). Multimedia-supported metaphors for meaning making in
mathematics. Cognition and Instruction, 17, 215-248.
Moreno, R., & Mayer, R.E. (2002b). Engaging students in active learning: The case for personalized
multimedia messages. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, 724-733
About the Author(s)
David Taylor has been a professional educator and writer all of his adult life. His first job out of graduate school (Doctor of
Arts--Writing) was as an assistant professor of rhetoric at America's oldest remaining college for men. After five years there,
he landed at another small liberal arts college, where he served as an associate professor of English and journalism.
Then the magazine world called: David first served as a managing editor and then as executive editor at a publishing
company specializing in health and fitness titles. Combining education and professional editing, he also served as his
publishing company's in-house editorial trainer.
Today, David has returned to full-time teaching as a Senior Writing Advisor in UMUC's Effective Writing Center.
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Why Use Multimedia in Your Online Classroom? - DE Oracl
Planning for and Managing Potential Classroom Interruptions - DE Oracle
No full textDE Oracle @ UMUC
An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty
Center for Support of Instruction
Planning for and Managing Potential Classroom Interruptions
Susan Pollack
Instructional Support Specialist
Center for Support of Instruction
Published: September-October 2008
Category: » Fac-resources » Faculty-support
At UMUC, we are fortunate that our learning management system, WebTycho, has an excellent track
record of availability. Typically, it is up and running 100 percent of the time. In recent years, there has
been only one unplanned outage (in 2007, due to application changes) spanning a few days of
intermittent usability. A situation such as this— rare as it may be—can cause confusion to all involved.
In addition, it can shake one’s confidence in relying exclusively on electronic technologies.
Considering downtime possibilities coupled with the general atmosphere of continuity and disaster
recovery planning, the Academic Technology Steering Committee commissioned a cross-institutional
group to reflect on the issue. The ultimate goal of the group was to prepare a set of guidelines that
could serve as a classroom continuity and communication plan for faculty during a similar outage or
one that may be caused by external forces. The Center for Support of Instruction—with assistance from
IT, the Center for Teaching and Learning, the Registrar’s Office, SUS, and GSMT—collected tips and
tricks from directors, faculty, and students and developed basic guidelines for stateside faculty to help
foster academic continuity in the face of unplanned incidents. Compiled into the UMUC Classroom
Interruption Planning Guide (http://www.umuc.edu/interruptionguide/) , these guidelines emphasize
effective strategies that will allow faculty to continue teaching and communicating with students if
online or onsite classes become inaccessible for extended periods of time.
So, if you teach for UMUC, how will you communicate with online students if no one can get into the
classroom for more than a day? If you teach a face-to-face class, how will you continue teaching if your
classroom site is closed for more than one class meeting?
By following a few simple steps, you do not have to be left scrambling to connect with students. It is
easy to ameliorate these circumstances by having student contact information and backups of teaching
materials offline—using great care with all privileged and sensitive information—so that learning and
teaching activities need not be suspended. Many of the suggestions noted in the Planning Guide are, in
fact, commonsense tasks that can be likened to flossing teeth: unexciting but easy activities that we
should probably devote more time and thought to than we actually do. While not official policy, the
guidelines are useful tools for our 21st century faculty who teach at an institution committed to student
success.
Similar to an emergency planning document, the Planning Guide highlights what you can do to prepare
in advance of an extended classroom interruption, what to do if the classroom actually does get
interrupted for a period of time, and how to get back to normal classroom operations when it has been
deemed safe to do so. It also discusses what to do when Library services are unavailable as well as
alternative tools and technologies you may want to use, if needed, during an outage.
Based on UMUC's excellent technology availability, we hope that you will never need to use this
document beyond the suggested initial planning and preparation tasks. However, it is always better to
be safe than sorry—especially when hindsight continues to be 20/20 and, most importantly, we can
Planning for and Managing Potential Classroom Interruptions - DE Oracle
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learn from lessons of the past. At a minimum, please practice the Top 7 items at least for advance
preparation, skim the Planning Guide, print it out, keep a copy of it in easily retrievable locations,
follow its detailed suggestions when needed, and then sit back and get ready to teach as always
—knowing that if our extremely dependable environment is negatively impacted, you now have a
backup plan ready and can continue with the business of educating your students.
About the Author(s)
Susan began her career at UMUC in 1998 as a digital communications specialist in the Center for the Virtual University. She
later spent a few years in the Center for Media & New Technology prior to joining the Center for Support of Instruction in
2007 as an instructional support specialist.
With a BA in professional writing from Carnegie Mellon University and a Master of Distance Education from UMUC, Susan brings
to the table a wealth of experience in online communications and learning. Her life before UMUC included five years in the
educational publishing industry at the McGraw-Hill Continuing Education Center (where she got her start in distance learning)
as well as several years in print publishing and editing for newspapers, a law firm, and several nonprofit organizations.
Susan considers herself a lifelong learner who is always eager to try new things, whether it is a new learning methodology or
a new software program. She is continually on the lookout for learner support and communication issues. She is also an
advocate of accessibility in online learning applications.
When not at work, Susan volunteers at her children's schools in various capacities as well as for a national organization for
people with hearing loss and the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation. She enjoys reading just about anything, taking care of the
family's pet dog (but not the fish and reptiles), and playing her “new” 70-year-old baby grand piano.
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Planning for and Managing Potential Classroom Interruptions - DE Oracl
How to Develop Effective Discussion Questions - Part III_ Administrating Conferences_Discussion Questions - DE Oracle
No full textDE Oracle @ UMUC
An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty
Center for Support of Instruction
How to Develop Effective Discussion Questions - Part III: Administrating
Conferences/Discussion Questions
Ron Benson
Adjunct Faculty
Graduate School of Management and Technology
Published: January-February 2008
Category: » Online-pedagogy » Classroom-communication
Part I | Part II | Part
III
Crafting discussion questions, as discussed in Parts I and II in previous issues, is only part of effective
discussions. This last segment, Part III, Administrating Conferences / Discussion Questions, addresses
conference administrative issues.
Offer a Variety of Questions
An effective strategy for offering alternative discussion questions is let students choose questions that
match either their work experiences (or lack thereof), learning styles, or other characteristics pertinent
to them. For instance, students with minimal work experience might do better focusing on questions
that involve literature and internet searches. Students with years of experience and achievements
thrive on interpreting their experience in terms of the course content in conjunction with searches. A
discussion requirement that works well is to require students to directly answer two of five questions
and respond to three separate postings of others. This obviously would be adjusted based on the size
of the class. A goal is to provide a variety of discussion questions that are stimulating enough to
intrinsically motivate all students to participate.
Previous parts of this series discussed the role of Bloom's Taxonomy in crafting discussion questions.
Table 2 below offers another consideration in developing questions. It contains four different learning
styles and illustrates how students respond differently in discussions (Muir, 2001). Table 2 can serve as
a checklist to see if questions are sufficiently varied.
Table 2: Learning styles and student response characteristics.
Learning Style Respond well Respond poorly
Activists New problems, being thrown in at the
deep end, and team work
Passive learning, solitary work, and
precise instructions
Theorists Interesting concepts, structured
situations, and opportunities to question
and probe
Lack of apparent context or purpose,
ambiguity and uncertainty, doubts
about validity creates a lack of basis for
learning
Pragmatists Relevance to real problems, immediate
chance to try things out, and experts
they can emulate
Abstract theory, lack of practice or clear
guidelines, no obvious benefit from
learning do not allow pragmatists to
apply learning to real-life situations.
Reflectors Thinking things through, painstaking
research, detached observation
Being forced into the limelight, acting
without planning, time pressures
creates a tense learning environment.
How to Develop Effective Discussion Questions - Part III: Administrating Conferences/Discussion Questions - DE Oracle
Constructed from information in Muir, D.J. "Adapting Online Education to Different Learning Styles", In
Building on the Future. NECC 2001: National Educational Computing Conference proceedings (22nd,
Chicago, IL, 2001)
Knowledge Application from Personal Experiences
"War stories" concerning personal life experiences provide a medium for thinking about course content
and crafting good discussion questions. Stating an example and asking students to apply the course
content ("what why' when, where and how") often works well. From the student's side, offering life
experiences to illustrate and discuss concepts contributes greatly to understanding and internalizing
knowledge. Relating personal experience to the content helps to bridge the gap from memorized facts
to usable knowledge (higher Bloom competencies).
Faculty experiences also make good responses to student postings to better illustrate a point or note
alternative circumstances. These can be fictional if they assist in conveying the needed information.
Of course, some face-to-face faculty have been accused of doing nothing but relating "war stories" and
some with no particular relevance. With online teaching, the effort required to compose and enter life
experience type stories can act like a governor to control the length and relevancy of these.
Instructor Participation in Conferences
A pertinent issue related to effective discussion questions is the type and frequency of responses by the
course instructor. A large study covering three semesters and 20 sections found an interesting
correlation that the more an instructor participates, the less students participate. (Mazzolini, 2003)
the percentage of instructor postings within a forum showed a significant negative correlation
with the length of discussion threads (N = 29, R = −0.67, p < 0.01).
Students appeared to consider instructor postings as "the last word' on discussion threads thereby
ending the thread. Interestingly and almost contradictory, the authors also found that student
satisfaction and views of instructor enthusiasm were positively correlated with the number of instructor
postings. Students' comments indicated that they favored instructor involvement that consisted of
questions, as opposed to answers. A variable not considered in the research was the level of critical
thinking in the original questions and whether the questions had a single correct answer. But the
research did infer that there was an optimal amount of interaction, rather than merely more is better.
Like any conversation, sometimes it is best to just pull back and listen. But when asked for information
or an opinion, responses within a day are highly valued by students. Checking conferences daily and
making at least one posting per day, to show interest and involvement, is highly recommended and it
spreads the work a little.
Student Problems
Online education is a new paradigm for some students and problems do arise. Open ended and
complex questions require extra effort and time for students for which they often are not prepared.
Late responders require students to backtrack to previous units which can be distracting and time
consuming, so rules to discourage lateness are required. Students who have done well in their
undergraduate career via an approach of memorize and recite (Bloom's knowledge competency level)
can get highly frustrated. On the other hand, some students will write voluminous answers that
frustrate other students, and are probably ignored. In this latter case, it is usually effective to post
Pascal's (1657) quote on short/long letters: "I have only made this [letter] longer because I have not
had the time to make it shorter."
It was noted above how some students are late responders. Some will jump right in at the beginning of
How to Develop Effective Discussion Questions - Part III: Administrating Conferences/Discussion Questions - DE Oracle
the week, and others prefer the end of the week, or later. It is not hard to determine which approach is
normal for a student. As an aside, this author has experimented with various ways of forming teams for
group exercises and found that forming groups according to when they respond has made for much
improved group experiences and results. This does raise the question of what group experience are
intended to teach.
Grading Conferences
Creating, participating and revising discussion questions require substantial effort and time. Faculty
time is not unlimited nor is extra time compensated. Consequently, frequency of grading and posting
comments concerning discussion grades is a difficult issue.
Fifteen weeks of five questions per week and 25-50 postings per question (about 3500 postings total)
requires a conscious allocation of time. Posting grading comments for each week's participation
normally is not possible and may not be needed. Comments are most effective within the discussion
threads. Student reactions to their peer's postings also provide a substantial feedback. Some students
are quite sensitive to not being involved and faculty should look for students who are being left out. It
appears that students often do this as well. Individual comments are needed for inappropriate
behavior/topics and students who obviously "do not get it."
Student conference participation involves a substantial amount of time and effort, therefore sufficient
weight in the grading system must be allocated to it. In this author's experience, approximately 30% of
the total course grade seems to work well. Some faculty members assign conference grades for each
week, and others for every three or four weeks. Grading on quantity of postings or words, or time
online will usually lead to games by the students. Grades need to be based on contributions to the
discussions; admittedly a time-consuming value judgment.
Continuous Improvement
Continuous improvement is critical to the educational process including revisions to content, projects,
exams, and especially discussion questions. The discussion question capability in an online environment
provides hard data that particularly lends itself to continuous improvement for revising discussion
questions. For instance, the instructor should review postings to determine if answers revealed that
students had inadequate backgrounds to address the posted questions. Other considerations might be:
Were there misconceptions in knowledge? Do new topic areas need to be explored? Were the questions
poorly worded? Regarding the latter, it takes discipline to not blame the student when one sees several
responses that missed the point that the instructor intended. Simple clarifications quickly solve
problems.
Quantity and quality of responses provide valuable information and should be considered together.
Questions that only prompt a few good responses are not necessarily bad if the other students learn
from them or are motivated by them to do additional research, etc. However, some questions can lead
to voluminous postings with no meaningful results. Assessing student responses each semester will
provide critical information for revising questions and provide a continual improvement process for
administering effective online conferences. Keeping two sets of questions, before and after discussions,
is critical.
Conclusion
Teaching online versus face-to-face is viewed by some instructors as a definite positive in that reading
student discussion responses offers valuable personal insights. Stereotypical assumptions made from
gender, nationality, employment position, stature etc. simply do not exist. Conceicao's (2006) notes
that an online instructor "learned a lot more from his online learners than face-to-face learners because
the profile of the online learners had a tremendous influence on how the experience evolved." Another
instructor, impressed with the diversity of his online student population, notes "I have learned … from
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my online [learners] a lot more than I have learned the previous 15 years from my on-campus
[learners]."
Discussion questions are a critical aspect of online education and can often determine the difference
between a positive student learning experience verses courses being a chore at best. Discussions and
discussion questions are most likely a large factor in student evaluations. While discussion questions
are often the last task addressed in designing and teaching a course, they may be the first in
importance. Probably the best learning occurs when good discussion questions enable students to
simultaneously function as both teacher and student. This applies to faculty members as well.
About the Author(s)
Dr. Benson is a UMUC adjunct faculty for doctorate and graduate school. His professional experience includes twenty years of
face-to-face teaching of Operations Management and Information Technology courses, and administrative positions of
Department Chair, MBA Coordinator and Business School Dean. Online experience includes seven sections of doctoral level
courses and seven sections in the masters level Technology Management program at the University of Maryland University
College. In 1990-1992, the author participated in a research project funded by IBM concerning designing courses for an
Advanced Technology Classroom at Western Connecticut State University which involved guided discussions and content
visualization.
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Darren Sledjeski -- Feb 1st 2008
Another explanation for the negative correlation between instructors comments and
thread length is that I tend to post most often on short threads to generate more
discussion on that thread. So, I interact more on short threads than long threads. I
don't necessarily end the thread but I do post more often on threads that have ended.
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Why WebTycho Remains Instrumental in the Web 2-0 World
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An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty
Center for Support of Instruction
Why WebTycho Remains Instrumental in the Web 2.0 World
Jennifer Thies
Senior Instructional Support Specialist
Center for Support of Instruction
Published: May-June 2008
Category: » Online-pedagogy » Emerging-technologies
Emerging Web 2.0 technologies are changing the way people use the Internet.
These technologies use the network or Web as the platform and allow and
encourage user feedback, interaction, and participation. For a more complete
description of Web 2.0, please read What is Web 2.0 (http://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09
/30/what-is-web-20.html) by Tim O'Reilly, founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media, a computer book publishing
firm.
Web 2.0 tools can be excellent for creating communities beyond a single
class for an entire program orprospective students. They are fairly easy
to use, and through the availability of permalinks, content is reusable
and easily updated. Using wikis, blogs, photo sharing, and social
bookmarking or writing can enhance your classroom, if made relevant to
the topic at hand. However, it is important to keep in mind the use and
record keeping nature of the WebTycho classroom when implementing
Web 2.0 technologies.
In practice, it is always a good idea that graded work be kept and
recorded in the WebTycho classroom to capture the work level at that
time for grading and archiving. UMUC has control over WebTycho,
including the backups and archives created for classes. Students who
create their own accounts for blogging, social writing and bookmarking,
and other Web 2.0 features maintain control over those activities and will
likely continue using the accounts beyond the dates of the class.
WebTycho can capture their work during the time they were in the class;
this captured information can be appealed to later if questions or
concerns arise regarding class work.
While blogs include the ability to comment on an entry, the comments
sections do not lend themselves well to threaded discussions. Comments
help the writer and readers feel instantly connected to the issue
discussed and give immediate feedback on a topic. However, for an
entire class discussion on a topic, the WebTycho conference area is much more suitable. WebTycho
portfolios record each person’s participation in every discussion in the classroom in one concise area.
Because there isn’t an easy way to create a record of all comments left behind in various blogs,
WebTycho conferences are the better tool for graded discussion participation.
Tools such as del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us/) and ma.gnolia.com (http://ma.gnolia.com/) can help a teacher
or student collect and categorize links to valuable resources on the Web. By using tags to organize
collected links, useful pages are easier to find and previously undiscovered resources can be stumbled
upon. However, the Webliography area of the WebTycho classroom not only allows students to
Why WebTycho Remains Instrumental in the Web 2.0 World - DE Oracle
contribute links to these useful sites but also allows the faculty member to make edits. The faculty
member can also import valuable links from the Webliography of one class to another for continued
use.
Current tools exist to aid in social writing, such as GoogleDocs (http://www.google.com/google-d-s/intl
/en/tour1.html) or Zoho (http://www.zoho.com/) . These services can assist students with
online collaboration, consistent formatting, and tracking and saving changes. However, as these
documents remain in their areas external to WebTycho, they are continually editable. Faculty should
direct students to save a final draft in whichever format is preferable and to submit the final document
in either the Study Group or Gradebook in WebTycho. Placing the final document in WebTycho allows
for a date stamp and saves a static copy of the document for that time in the class, while still allowing
the document to continue being adapted later on outside of WebTycho and the class.
In distance education, students, faculty, and administrators no longer see each other weekly to
subconsciously keep track of each other. By keeping the core activities and graded work within the
WebTycho classroom, there are electronic footprints of participation and commentary that are backed
up and archived within the classroom. These footprints help other faculty members or teaching
assistants take lead of the class in case the main instructor has a health or personal emergency that
prevents him or her from teaching—and they can also aid the university in the event of a grade appeal.
Faculty are encouraged to experiment with new Web 2.0 technologies, especially if they are relevant to
the topic being studied. Beyond the classes that obviously study technologies, several of these new
endeavors can be utilized to academic benefit. Regular blogging can help students improve their writing
through regular practice if they wish to. Social bookmarking can help students and faculty network to
find and record links to more topic-relevant sites or articles online. Wikis can help a community of
students and/or faculty create an interlinked body of knowledge collaboratively. If you are thinking of
implementing any of these tools into your course, check with your academic administrator for
suitability. CSI team members are available for consultation on the use of some of these tools if you
have questions or concerns.
NOTE: This article mentions only a few examples of Web 2.0 technologies. These references should not
be taken as an endorsement of any particular tool, technology, or company. For a more complete list of
Web 2.0 technologies, please visit the Web2 List web site (http://web2list.com/) .
About the Author(s)
A member of the UMUC team since June 1998, Jen has happily served UMUC's students, faculty, and staff in various support
roles, from Senior Application Support Specialist with the Learning Applications Development and Support unit (LeADS), to
Senior Instructional Support Specialist with the Center for Support of Instruction (CSI).
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Critical Changes in Resume and Job Search Strategies - DE Oracle
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An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty
Center for Support of Instruction
Critical Changes in Resume and Job Search Strategies
Edwin Sapp
Collegiate Professor
School of Undergraduate Studies
Published: November-December 2008
Category: » Online-pedagogy » Teaching-strategies
The salesmen in The Music Man were right: "You gotta know the territory!" Times have changed in the
workplace, but unfortunately, the strategies we have advocated to our students seeking employment
have not. We need to change our approach so that we can be more effective in teaching our students
how to get a job. This article provides a brief overview on the many changes in this "territory" so that
instructors who teach job search strategies, including résumé writing, will do so in a way that benefits
today's students.
New Realities in the Workplace
Two major paradigm shifts—the Industrial Revolution and the Information Age—have made substantial
changes in the workplace, redefining what a job and career are, and now the housing market, lean
manufacturing/six sigma, outsourcing/downsizing, and dual-income families have put the icing on the
cake.
Businesses have realized for some time that their most expensive overhead is human
resources. Companies have gone through a spiral of downsizing, "rightsizing," layoffs, outsourcing,
mergers, divestitures, reduction in insurance and retirement benefits, lean manufacturing, six sigma,
just-in-time delivery of components, and replacement of middle management with "team leaders" who
receive no extra pay for partial management responsibility.
Consider the following scenario:
Joe began working at the Widgit Corp seven years ago as a frassis assembler. Then Mary and Al
quit. Rather than hire new people, the company gave Joe a new computer and all of Mary and Al's work
load. Finally, Joe sees that this is not going to get any better and quits so that he can take another job
with more pay and less work at another company. Widgit Corp advertises the vacancy with three times
the duties (and expertise requirements) at a starting salary far lower than what Joe made when he
quit.
This scenario is an example of the cycle of employer desperation that has now entered its fourth
generation in worker replacement throughout many industries. Nearly all vacancies now require
exceptional worker skills to do consolidated and complex jobs correctly—skills not expected of the
original hires a decade before—and most of these jobs provide a marginal income for the would-be
worker.
Many workers today must also manage their own retirement funds, obtain their own health insurance,
care for their parents, and be prepared to change jobs on an average of once every three years or less
(Kim, Solomon, Schwartz, Kessler, & Rose, 2007). Other data also speak to what it means to be in the
workforce now:
College diplomas are important as far as earnings go. Kim, Solomon, Schwartz, Kessler, & Rose (2007)
point out that today's college graduates earn nearly 20% more than they did 30 years ago—but high
Critical Changes in Resume and Job Search Strategies - DE Oracle
school graduates earn 13% less.
A longitudinal study conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2008a) noted that between the ages
of 18 and 42, baby boomers held an average of 10.8 jobs; what might this detail foretell about the next
two generations in the workforce, Generations X and Y?
Many career centers and employment specialists note that workers today can expect up to seven career
changes in a lifetime (see The College of William & Mary Career Center, n.d., as an example).
As of October 2008, it took an average of 19.7 weeks to find a new job after losing the old one—an
increase of 2.7 percentage points from one year earlier (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008b). Workers
aged 55 and older spend about 22 weeks searching for a new job while their younger counterparts take
about 16 weeks (Pope, 2008).
The Changing Job Market
The job market as a whole has seen significant changes, due in part to fluctuations in the economy.
Consider these recent numbers that probably will not see significant change (for the better) in the near
future:
Employers cut 1,200,000 jobs in the first ten months of 2008 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008b).
The unemployment rate jumped a full percentage point, to 6.1%, between April and August 2008
(Bernstein & Shierholz, 2008). At the end of October, the rate was 6.5%—a 1.7 percent rise in the past
12 months (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008b).
"[T]he Labor Department said the number of people applying for unemployment insurance [in June
2008] jumped by 16,000, to 404,000, the highest level since late March" (Fletcher, 2008, ¶9).
"There were 8.5 million unemployed people as of June, up from 7 million a year earlier" (Fletcher,
2008, ¶10). This number jumped to 10.1 million in October (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008b).
In June 2008, "5.4 million Americans—about 3 percent of the labor force—were working part time
either because their hours had been cut or because they could not find full-time employment, a figure
unchanged from May but up 1.1 million from a year earlier" (Fletcher, 2008, ¶12).
All of these sobering facts and changes—in the workforce and in the job market itself—have forced
significant alterations in the rules of engagement that impact what instructors of job search strategies
need to present to their students.
Job Search Changes
More than 10 years ago, economists Steven Bortnick and Michelle Ports (1992) reported that
"unemployed jobseekers most often contacted prospective employers directly. However, the most
successful method was registering with a private employment agency" (p. 29). Compare that to the
more current Bureau of Labor Statistics's Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-09 Edition, which
identifies personal contacts as the first job strategy and follows that approach with 11 others,
recommending that the job seeker try multiple avenues to increase his/her likelihood of success.
In other words, if you are still teaching students how to respond to classified ads or Internet postings,
only a small percentage will be successful in their job searches. The ratio of success in each of four
categories of job searching has changed dramatically in the last decade. Provident Living (2008a)
provides the following graph that shows where jobs are found today versus which source job seekers
tend to use:
Source Where People Look Where Jobs Are
Found
Ads/Internet 65% 14%
Agencies/Recruiters 27% 13%
Approach Companies 3% 30%
Critical Changes in Resume and Job Search Strategies - DE Oracle
Networking 5% 36%
It is important that we educate our students on these changes in job searching so that they can focus
their efforts on the sources that tend to yield the best results.
Strategies for Building Effective Résumés Today
Not only has the "where to look" aspect of the job search changed considerably, but the content and
focus of the résumé has followed suit. Consider the following elements for developing resumes for the
2008 job market:
The resume is about what the applicant can do for the company, not about the applicant's list of past
duties or responsibilities.
Use fact-, quantity-, and impact-based "power statements" (Provident Living, 2008b) to list
accomplishments. Note that naming a responsibility does not state that you have ever done it, how
often, or how well.
Applicants obtaining a degree would do better using a Functional-Chronological format. The
Chronological format can actually lessen an applicant's chance for an interview.
The company isn't interested in who you are until your resume "sells" you. So keep the contact
information section to three lines at the most.
Objective statements are obsolete and do not work well in the current job market because the potential
employer, already reluctant to hire, is not interested in what the applicant wants from his/her new
job. Instead, prepare a power statement that serves as a Qualification Summary placed at the
beginning of the resume.
Explain your experience with software and hardware rather than just listing it (i.e., don't just list
Dreamweaver, Flash, Word 2007, etc.).
Cold-call sales training studies have proven for years that personal contact (i.e., Tupperware, Amway)
beats cold-call marketing ("in your neighborhood; want new siding?"). There is a significant ratio of one
sale in 1,000 contacts for cold calls versus one in three for personal contact.
Students should consider developing customized resumes with relevant information that provides
examples of what they can do for the employer for whom they want to work.
Include a quote from a prior employer (relevant to the job description) immediately below the contact
information.
Special skills, licenses, clearances, or abilities should go on the line below the quote.
A chronological list of employers should follow the functional list of experience.
Under the education section, aggregate work training in an entry such as "100 hours of management
training by XYZ Corporation's Education Department."
There is no need to state the obvious "References Available Upon Request."
Do not list hobbies or interests unless relevant to the job, as they can be a two-edged sword. (Scout
leader? Won't work late on Fridays and may get a lot of personal phone calls.)
A Note about "Power Statements"
Power statements are mentioned several times in this article. Power statements help job seekers stand
out and make an impact by highlighting important, relevant information about themselves. Here is an
example:
As an experienced instructor, headhunter, staff trainer, and employment specialist at a center supporting
job search coaching in six states and the District of Columbia, I have advised over 6,000 job seekers how to
revise their résumés and use effective search and interview skills, resulting in a 90% placement rate at an
average 20% higher salary and applicants who are better equipped to adjust to a rapidly changing job
market.
Critical Changes in Resume and Job Search Strategies - DE Oracle
These simple steps outline the basics for constructing an effective power statement:
Identify a value, skill, strength, or accomplishment you want to highlight that relates to your objective.
Give a specific example.
Show the result (if possible, use percentages, dollar amounts, or numbers to reinforce your claim).
Make sure your statement matches the needs or goals of the organization. (Provident Living, 2008b,
¶2)
The job seeker must show how he/she will bring value to the business by saving time/money or making
a profit. If the applicant has been recognized for cost-saving achievements, make that clear in a power
statement. Power statements that are informative but not overconfident will help create a favorable
and memorable impression and can help bring the employer to the very desirable action of hiring the
applicant; they should be used in the resume, in cover letters, and during interviews.
Summary: Knowing the Territory
With many workers changing jobs every three years and changing careers multiple times, and with
nearly as many remaining unemployed for up to six months, the strategies that got jobs a decade ago
simply no longer work. Our students need a better plan than even a five-year-old concept in a costly
textbook. Keeping abreast of the changes in the territory and changing what we teach students about
preparing for and finding a job in today's economy is in everyone's best interests.
References
Bernstein, J., & Shierholz, H. (2008). Jobs picture: September 5, 2008. Washington, DC: The Economic
Policy Institute. Retrieved from http://www.epi.org/content.cfm
/webfeatures_econindicators_jobspict_20080905
Bortnick, S.M., & Ports, M.H. (1992, December). Job search methods and results: Tracking the
unemployed, 1991. Monthly Labor Review, 115(12), 29-35. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov
/opub/mlr/1992/12/art3full.pdf
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2007). Occupational outlook handbook, 2008-09 edition. Retrieved from
http://www.bls.gov/oco/oco20042.htm
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2008a, June 28). Number of jobs held, labor market activity, and earnings
growth among the youngest baby boomers: Results from a longitudinal survey. Retrieved from
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/nlsoy.pdf
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2008b, November 7). The employment situation: October 2008. Retrieved
from http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf
The College of William & Mary Career Center. (n.d.). Career transitions. Retrieved from
http://web.wm.edu/career/Alumni/AlumniTransitions.cfm
Fletcher, M.A. (2008, July 4). U.S. workforce shrinks for 6th straight month: Worries about the
economy deepen. The Washington Post, p. D1. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com
/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/07/03/ST2008070302028.html
Kim, A., Solomon, A., Schwartz, B.L., Kessler, J., & Rose, S. (2007). The new rules economy: A policy
framework for the 21st century. Washington, DC: Third Way. Retrieved from http://www.thirdway.org
/products/71
Pope, E. (2008, March). 'They won't let me retire'—Hot jobs in a slow market. AARP Bulletin Today.
Retrieved from http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourmoney/work/articles/labor_shortage_forces.html (URL
Defunct) Article can be found at: http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourmoney/work/articles
/labor_shortage_forces.html
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Provident Living. (2008a). Networking. Retrieved from http://providentliving.org/content/display
/0,11666,5945-1-3038-1,00.html
Provident Living. (2008b). Power statements. Retrieved from http://providentliving.org/content/display
/0,11666,5947-1-3040-1,00.html
About the Author(s)
Ed Sapp is a Stanley Drazek Excellence in Teaching Award winner (2002), recipient of a Teaching Recognition Award (2006),
and the Prince George's College Faculty Recognition Award for Outstanding Teaching (1998). He has contributed over a dozen
articles on education over the last decade to UMUC publications. A collegiate professor who currently is the Chair for Writing
for Managers at UMUC, he holds bachelor and master degrees in English as well as two equivalent master degrees in
management from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and the Air War College, in addition to a Juris Doctorate. He
served as a senior policy advisor for Homeland Defense for over two decades at the National Security Agency and also with
the United States Air Force. He currently guides the job search efforts of dozens of clients in six states and the District of
Columbia.
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Reflections on World Usability Day 2007 - DE Oracle
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An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty
Center for Support of Instruction
Reflections on World Usability Day 2007
Yulia Nemchinova
Usability Specialist - IT
Graduate School of Management and Technology
Published: January-February 2008
Category: » Online-pedagogy » Teaching-strategies
When was the last time you visited a website and could
not find anything you needed? Or when was the last
time you struggled with another piece of technology
such as a radio or a microwave oven, but just could not
figure out how to make it work? Well, perhaps, too
often. Fortunately, there is a whole group of usability professionals that is committed to making
technology easy to use, so it is logical, intuitive and just makes sense.
Interestingly though, poor experiences with technology do not go unnoticed by the users. Good
experiences, on the other hand, are invisible. When things work well, no one seems to notice cleverly
designed interfaces, intuitive navigation or well-thought through content. The ease of use is likely to
remain transparent to users. However, bringing these positive experiences to a user is a hard job that
requires understanding and integration of user and business needs.
In 2005 the first World Usability Day (http://www.worldusabilityday.org/) was founded, and every year
since a whole day is dedicated to usability not just here in the U.S., but around the globe. By holding
numerous usability events, organizers hope to bring awareness to the technology related issues while
reaching usability experts in different industries.
With expansion of the Internet and advanced technologies during the last decade, the usability
profession has been shaped to accommodate new challenges. The usability discipline, in turn, has been
introduced to college curriculum as part of preparation of future user-centered design professionals.
More organizations recognize that providing usable products is directly related to their bottom line. A
number of government projects which, by the way, have to deliver accessible interfaces, now include
usability testing in their product development cycle. These are all good signs; however, the need of
developing usable products is still far greater than what has been done so far.
Understandably, hiring usability consultants or bringing them in house takes time and resources. With a
new semester quickly approaching, it is a good time to consider what can be done today to improve
student experiences in their classrooms. It may not seem apparent, but simple things such as well
organized classrooms, responsiveness to students' questions and keeping them on track with regular
personalized feedback - all contribute to a good user experience.
As we are getting ready for a new semester, let's try to think about experiences we deliver to our
students.
About the Author(s)
Yulia Nemchinova is a Senior Instructional Support Specialist at UMUC since 2001. She provides technical, project
management and distance education expertise in consulting academic directors and faculty; conceptualizes and develops
learning objects; facilitate instructional and curricular enhancements to improve an overall course quality. Her education
started in the field of life sciences, followed by the graduate studies in database technologies at UMUC. Most recently, Yulia
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completed her doctoral studies in the field of communications design at the University of Baltimore. She is a member of the
International Usability Professionals’ Association committed to employ user-centered principles at every aspect of her work.
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A Plethora of Plagiarism - DE Oracle
No full textDE Oracle @ UMUC
An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty
Center for Support of Instruction
A Plethora of Plagiarism - What Can We Do About It?
Patricia Harden
School of Undergraduate Studies
Published: November-December 2008
Category: » Online-pedagogy » Student-issues
Plagiarism is not new, and it pops up in all areas. For example, a story in the New York Times over 20
years ago (Dionne, 1987) reported that Senator Joe Biden inadvertently committed plagiarism during
his first year of law school more than 20 years earlier, attributing it to a lack of understanding of proper
citation rules. Although Biden survived the incident, some reporters and bloggers have brought it up
again in the current presidential election—showing that such events, however unintentional they may
be, can come back to haunt you and cause others to question your integrity.
Not properly referencing information can have other damaging consequences. Consider that Stephen
Hawking, one of the world's foremost physicists, openly admitted being wrong about some aspect of his
published work when challenged by a fellow physicist (Susskind, 2008). If someone were to use or
quote the flawed information without proper attribution, that person would then appear to be putting
forth incorrect information—and in essence, exhibiting carelessness.
Plagiarism should not be a new concept to students by the time they are enrolled in a college or
university; most students learn about it in high school, if not earlier. Even if they have not, UMUC
provides a number of plagiarism-related resources for students that will help them understand what it
is and how to prevent it. For example, the Effective Writing Center (http://www.umuc.edu/writingcenter
/index.cfm) has a plagiarism tutorial as well as resources on proper citation formats. The UMUC Library
(http://umuc.edu/library/citationguides.shtml) maintains its own collection of citation resources (examples,
tutorials, FAQs, and additional links), and the Center for Intellectual Property's Virtual Academic
Integrity Laboratory (http://www.umuc.edu/cip/vail/) (VAIL) has guides and tutorials on both proper
documentation of sources as well as tips for avoiding plagiarism. Many of these resources cross-reference
each other; students are not lacking for information on the topic.
In every course syllabus, our students are referred to the university's policy on Academic Dishonesty
and Plagiarism, Policy 150.25 (http://www.umuc.edu/policy/academic/aa15025.shtml) (UMUC, 2006). Via this
policy, students are not only directed to the plagiarism resources listed above but also are given the
broad view that the core values of "truth, honesty, fairness, respect, and responsibility" (¶ 3) be upheld
within the university community.
In many cases, students are in "crunch" mode when it comes to documentation of sources either
because they have gotten a late start on a project or team members have not pulled together to get
the assignment done. In group work, it is critical that each member correctly cites his or her source(s);
it should be the responsibility of the whole group to get the sources right and to ask for help if
necessary. This shared responsibility demands good time-management skills as well as a certain level
of respect—for the fellow team members as well as for the sources being used in the assignment.
Recently, I gave a presentation about plagiarism at UMUC's Fifth Annual Writing Conference. I was
pleased with the number of faculty and colleagues who attended, but more so, I was pleased with the
interest in—and concern about—plagiarism. The presentation focused on ways to resolve and prevent
plagiarism, particularly where collaborative work is concerned. I provided examples of plagiarism that
A Plethora of Plagiarism - What Can We Do About It? - DE Oracle
had come up in my own classes as well as the attitudes and responses of the students involved in those
cases of plagiarism.
The discussion after the presentation was lively. Faculty members spoke up and explained how they
dealt with plagiarism, with ideas ranging from a reprimand to fix the problem to using Turnitin.com
(http://turnitin.com) and, in a few cases, turning the student over to the dean. Some faculty have students
sign statements indicating that they have read the university's plagiarism policy, while others post a
statement at the beginning of the semester detailing their writing expectations of the students. We
were reminded during the discussion that the previously mentioned UMUC plagiarism policy outlines the
specific procedures to follow in cases of alleged plagiarism; these procedures are currently under
review/re-examination by the Deans and Provost to address concerns about plagiarism and to ensure
that the responsibilities of all involved parties are clearly defined.
During the discussion, Dr. Lisa Khan, Assistant Dean of Communication, Arts, and Humanities in the
School of Undergraduate Studies, spoke about some students who have argued charges of plagiarism
with claims that they did not understand what plagiarism is—in spite of the fact that they are given
ample instruction in this area. As faculty, it becomes incumbent upon us to ensure that our students
are directed to the appropriate plagiarism and citation resources so that "ignorance of the law"
contentions such as these do not become the norm, as they are not a justifiable defense. At the same
time, however, students must take on the responsibility of actually reviewing these resources. Proper
citation may be a tedious and difficult task, but many avenues are available to our students for
becoming competent in this ever-important duty.
Since the presentation, I have come up with a new tactic in my class to thwart plagiarism in
collaborative work. Keeping in mind the old adage that prevention is better than cure, I initiated a
weekly conference entitled "Plagiarism: So What's the Big Deal?" so that students could post their own
thoughts on the topic. I have been both pleased and impressed with the responses from my students in
this conference and, more importantly, that my students have shown that they understand that
plagiarism is a big deal.
With permission granted but names withheld, here are just a few of their comments:
"The big deal is that when the plagiarism is intentional, you are taking credit
for someone else's work. Plagiarism is unethical and we all know it is wrong.
There are other ways to use the information than by copying it from the
original source."
"The time and effort to gather the information was put in by someone else, so
we should not take advantage and be appreciative that the information is
available for us to read and learn from."
"As for unintentional plagiarism, you have to be aware and alert to what you
are writing. Before submitting any work, you should go back and re-read to
make sure it is your own thoughts and words."
"Individuals work hard to research and document certain issues and they
should be given credit by those that reference their ideas."
"A few semesters ago I had a classmate in one of my online classes that
would post conference responses right after mine, and it was always annoying
to see that the person's responses were unbelievably similar to mine.
Although this was not a severe case of plagiarism, it made me more cautious
in my own writing when using the ideas of others."
A Plethora of Plagiarism - What Can We Do About It? - DE Oracle
"I decided to do a little extra research on plagiarism and found in Webster's
New World Dictionary that the root of the word plagiarism is the word
plagiarius, which means 'kidnapper'. I found that interesting, because that is
such a good representation of what plagiarism is: a kidnapping of ideas - an
illegal detaining of something belonging to someone else."
"I agree that it is okay to use someone else's work, but credit must be given
to the original author. In some cases a writer may have no choice but to
quote another person's work, which, again, is absolutely fine if credit is given
to the original author."
"So what's the big deal? The big deal is that plagiarisms is stealing, you
cannot intentionally claim something that belongs to someone else as your
own whether it is an idea or a material belonging. Unintentional use of
someone else's ideas as your own is also unethical but a little bit different.
People often have the same ideas, for instance during these weekly
conferences several people may have similar responses. Each person came up
with their own ideas but because they were asked the same question they had
similar answers. I think this is why this is an ethical issue and not a legal
one."
"You are correct that it is pounded into our heads. Today schools educate kids
from first grade on about plagiarism. I think that it is great to start at an early
age with kids. When I was in public school, we didn't talk about it until high
school. Granted today's kids are starting topics and learnings at a lot earlier
age.."
"Plagiarism is viewed as a despicable act by most people in business and
academia; therefore, an act of plagiarism may taint a person's reputation for
the remainder of their business or academic career."
"You provide some great food for thought. I think those that intentionally
plagiarize others' works simply do not care that it is wrong. These individuals
probably feel they will not get caught and, therefore, "what is the big deal." In
some instances, the offender may have a conscious and realize they are doing
something wrong, but they may be so desperate to receive a good grade,
receive a promotion, or impress someone that they believe the benefits of
plagiarizing outweigh its costs."
"Innovative thinking is a word that comes to my mind. You will lose innovative
ideas, writings, images, inventions, etc. if plagiarism is acceptable."
"People will not want to put their ideas on paper in fear that someone else will
take credit for their work. I know how it feels to have someone take an idea
and claim it as their own. I am sure everyone has experienced it. You start to
hold back ideas or writings. Can you image we wouldn't have half the
technology that we have today. We would be stuck in time."
In conclusion, when we talk with our students about plagiarism and its ill effects, direct them to
appropriate resources, and let them know what is expected of them in our classes, we not only educate
them about the subject matter at hand but also teach them about integrity, respect, and responsibility
—values that are essential to our reputations in both the classroom and the workplace. These actions
can only help our students in the ongoing battle against plagiarism.
A Plethora of Plagiarism - What Can We Do About It? - DE Oracle
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UMUC Links of Interest
Effective Writing Center (http://www.umuc.edu/writingcenter/index.cfm)
Information and Library Services Citation Resources (http://umuc.edu/library/citationguides.shtml)
Virtual Academic Integrity Laboratory (http://www.umuc.edu/cip/vail/)
References
Dionne, Jr., E. J. (1987, September 18). Biden admits plagiarism in school but says it was not
‘malevolent.' New York Times. Retrieved October 19, 2008, from http://query.nytimes.com
/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE3DB143FF93BA2575AC0A961948260 (http://query.nytimes.com
/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE3DB143FF93BA2575AC0A961948260)
Susskind, L. (2008). The black hole war: My battle with Stephen Hawking to make the world safe for
quantum mechanics. New York: Little, Brown and Company.
University of Maryland University College. (2006, September 5). Policy 150.25 - Academic dishonesty
and plagiarism. Retrieved October 23, 2008, from http://www.umuc.edu/policy/academic
/aa15025.shtml (http://www.umuc.edu/policy/academic/aa15025.shtml)
About the Author(s)
Patricia Harden received a bachelor's degree in Journalism with minor in Humanities from UMUC and later received a Master's
in Liberal Arts from St. John's College. She has taught creative writing for kids at Maryland Hall, and English and English as a
Second Language (ESL) at Anne Arundel Community College. She was also a private writing tutor for a teen with a learning
disability. Patricia currently serves as an adjunct faculty for UMUC, teaching WRTG 393 online, while she works full time for a
private firm as a research data analyst, writer, and editor. She has over 30 years of experience in this field.
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A Plethora of Plagiarism - What Can We Do About It? - DE Oracl
Open Educational Resources - DE Oracle
No full textDE Oracle @ UMUC
An Online Learning Magazine for UMUC Faculty
Center for Support of Instruction
Open Educational Resources
Joseph Rawson
24/7 Services Coordinator Librarian
Information and Library Services
Published: September-October 2008
Category: » Online-pedagogy » Emerging-technologies
Background Information
The past several years have seen an exponential increase in the creation and use of open educational
resources (OERs), which, according to an often-cited definition, are "teaching, learning, and research
resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license
that permits their free use or re-purposing by others" (Atkins, Brown, & Hammond, 2007, p. 4).
In other words, OERs are any type of educational material that are freely available for teachers and
students to use, adapt, share, and reuse. OERs include learning content such as videos, audio clips,
images, lecture notes, reading lists, course assignments, syllabi and lesson plans, textbooks, data,
instructional games, tests and quizzes, etc.
OERs started as a grassroots movement by educators worldwide. Funded by grants and private
donations (particularly from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which has given more than
million in support of OERs), the OER movement has attempted to bring into the educational process
groups who have traditionally been shut out, including K-12 teachers, scientists and engineers working
in industry rather than in academia, and those who are not fluent in English. The OER movement's goal
is to make education available to everyone around the world (particularly those in the developing
world—who could not otherwise afford an education—as well as self-learners).
Since its inception as a grassroots movement, it has become an institutional movement as well, with
early pioneers such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology putting an increasing amount of
course material—including complete course lectures—online, to the point where, as of November 28,
2007, MIT's Open Course Ware site (http://ocw.mit.edu/) contained material for more than 1800 classes
in 33 academic disciplines. Other prestigious educational institutions—such as Harvard, Yale, Stanford,
Carnegie Mellon, and U.C. Berkeley—have begun to put at least some of their educational content
online as well. In most cases, OERs available online from institutions such as MIT do not confer
degrees, certificates, or course credit, but they do provide accessibility to educational material for those
who have interests in particular subjects and want to learn on their own.
The worldwide educational community met in September 2007 in Cape Town, South Africa, and
produced the Cape Town Open Education Declaration (http://www.capetowndeclaration.org/) , a document
advocating the continued development and sharing of OERs in support of worldwide education,
particularly in developing countries.
There are currently more than 300 institutions in over 30 countries that are creating or using OERs,
and OER material is available in more than 10 languages.
Finding OERs
Because of the rapid growth in the development of OERs, there are many online repositories that
contain OER material. The question for educators who want to use OERs is how to find them. There are
Open Educational Resources - DE Oracle
a variety of methods to do this, including:
searching through OER compilations such as:
OCW Consortium (http://www.ocwconsortium.org/)
Creative Commons search (http://search.creativecommons.org/)
subscribing to an education-related listserv such as:
[email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
browsing through OER journals like:
The International Journal of Open Educational Resources (http://journal.eduforge.org/)
conducting searches in UMUC library databases such as:
ERIC, Education Research Complete, Professional Development Collection, and/or Teacher Reference
Center (using search terms like "open education* resources")
conducting general Web searches using search engines such as Google Scholar
OER Collections
Some OER collections focus on particular subjects, while others are multidisciplinary.
Subject-specific OERs include:
Berkelee Shares (http://www.berkleeshares.com/) (music)
Chemistry Collective (http://www.chemcollective.org/)
HEAL (http://www.healcentral.org/) (Health Education Assets Library)
SERC (http://serc.carleton.edu/) (sciences)
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (http://plato.stanford.edu/)
Multidisciplinary OERs include:
Connexions (http://cnx.org/)
MERLOT (http://www.merlot.org/)
Open Learn (http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/) (http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/)
Open-of-Course (http://open-of-course.org/courses)
Most OER repositories allow users to create a free account and to search for and save OERs as well as
create new OERs and share them with others. This is a great way to organize OERs for future use.
Advantages and Disadvantages of OERs
As with any educational resource, there are both advantages and disadvantages associated with using
OERs in the classroom.
Advantages of using OERs include:
Expanded access to learning: Students anywhere in the world can access OERs at any time, and
students can access material repeatedly.
Scalability: OERs are easy to distribute widely with little or no cost.
Augmentation of class materials: OERs can supplement textbooks and lectures where deficiencies in
information are evident.
Enhancement to regular course content—for example, by adding multimedia to text: Presenting
information in multiple formats may help students to more easily learn the material being taught.
Quick circulation: Information may be disseminated rapidly (especially as compared to information
published in textbooks or journals), which can increase the relevance of the material presented.
Lower student costs: The use of OERs instead of traditional textbooks or course packs, etc. can
Open Educational Resources - DE Oracle
substantially reduce the cost of course materials for students.
Showcasing of innovation and talent: A wide audience may learn of faculty research interests and
expertise. Potential students and donors may be impressed, and student and faculty recruitment efforts
may be enhanced.
Ties for alumni: OERs provide an excellent way for alumni to stay connected to the institution and
continue with a program of lifelong learning.
Continually improved resources: Unlike textbooks and other static sources of information, OERs can
be improved quickly through direct editing by users or through solicitation and incorporation of user
feedback. Instructors can take an existing OER, adapt it for a class, and make the modified OER
available for others to use.
Disadvantages of OERs include:
Quality issues: Since many OER repositories allow any user to create an account and post material,
some resources may not be relevant and/or accurate.
Lack of human interaction between teachers and students: OER material is created to stand
alone, and since self-learning users may access the material outside of a classroom environment, they
will miss out on the discussion and instructor feedback that characterize for-credit classes and make
such classes useful and valuable.
Language and/or cultural barriers: Although efforts are being made to make OERs available in
multiple languages, many are available only in English, limiting their usefulness to non-English
speakers. Additionally, not all resources are culturally appropriate for all audiences.
Technological issues: Some students may have trouble using some OERs if they have a slow or
erratic Internet connection. Other OERs may require software that students do not have and that they
may not be able to afford.
Intellectual property/copyright concerns: Since OERs are meant to be shared openly, the "fair
use" exemption from the U.S. Copyright Act ceases to apply; all content put online must be checked to
ensure that it does not violate copyright law.
Sustainability issues: Since OER creators generally do not receive any type of payment for their OER,
there may be little incentive for them to update their OER or ensure that it will continue to be available
online.
Using OERs in UMUC Classes
There are a variety of resources available to help instructors who want to use OERs in their classrooms.
Because OERs may vary in quality, it is important for instructors to evaluate them carefully before
posting them in their classroom. Although there is not yet a standard checklist that has been developed
for this purpose, many of the criteria listed on the UMUC library's Web site for evaluating online
resources (http://www.umuc.edu/library/guides/web.shtml#Evaluate) can be used to evaluate OERs. The criteria
include:
Authority: What are the author's credentials?
Accuracy: Are errors or omissions visible?
Objectivity: Is any type of bias present?
Currency: Is the resource up-to-date or have a creation or update date visible?
Coverage: Does the resource address the topic at hand sufficiently to add value to the class?
It is important to pay attention to the type of copyright assigned to an OER by its author and to use the
OER in strict accordance to its stipulations. To facilitate their use, modification, and distribution, many
OERs have flexible copyright licenses from organizations such as Creative Commons
(http://creativecommons.org/) ; these licenses provide varying amounts of protection, ranging from "all
rights reserved" (full copyright) to "no rights reserved" (public domain). See the Creative Commons
Web site (http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/meet-the-licenses) for a list and description of the six main
licenses.
Open Educational Resources - DE Oracle
Several online tools can help users determine an item's copyright status. These include PDTool
(http://librarycopyright.net/digitalslider) , an interactive tool that can be used to determine whether permission
is needed to use an item and when an item will no longer be protected by copyright, as well as
Stanford's Copyright Renewal Database (http://collections.stanford.edu/copyrightrenewals) , which allows
users to search the copyright renewals records received by the U.S. Copyright Office between 1950 and
1992 for books published in the United States between 1923 and 1963.
UMUC's Center for Intellectual Property (http://www.umuc.edu/distance/odell/cip/cip.shtml) is able to
provide additional copyright-related information and guidance.
Instructors planning to use OERs in their classrooms should also keep in mind that the OERs should
comply with federal and state accessibility requirements. A checklist for compliance with Section 508 of
the Americans with Disabilities Act can be found at WebAIM (http://www.webaim.org/standards
/508/checklist.php) .
There are other considerations to keep in mind when determining whether and how to incorporate
OERs into an online classroom. Instructors must consider, for example, how an OER will need to be
adapted to meet the particulars of the class learning objectives. They will also need to decide how the
OER will be used and provide clear instructions to students for its use. They will need to determine
whether the OER was successfully integrated into the class and whether it was valuable to students.
And before they use the OER in another class, they will need to determine whether the URL is still valid
and whether the OER was updated since they last accessed it.
The Future
The students that will be attending college in the near future are used to robust multimedia
experiences, such as can be provided by OERs. Today's students send and receive text messages, play
video games, surf the Web, and post comments in online classrooms—often all at once. Students will
not be satisfied by online content that is text-heavy and instruction that relies simply on students
reading the class material. Students want to interact online, experiment with information provided in
classrooms in a hands-on way, and add their own content to the learning environment. This is what
Web 2.0 is all about. The use of OERs can help bring Web 2.0 to the classroom as well as meet the
expectations of our future students.
OERs can make education more convenient since many contain content that is accessible nearly
anywhere and that can be used "on the go" (podcasts, for example). This aspect of OERs will help to
ensure their popularity and continued use and growth.
The expanded use of OERs also has implications for faculty and their role in the online classroom. Will
faculty still be needed in an environment where educational content is provided for free? Most experts
and currently teaching faculty members indicate that the answer is yes. Students will still need
instructions, guidance, and feedback, regardless of how learning material is made available. Interaction
with faculty and other students is part of the learning process, and while the OERs may enhance the
learning process, they are not substitutes for human interaction. Also, faculty are still the subject
experts in the classroom, and their expertise is warranted in the selection and proper use of OERs. For
these and other reasons, faculty presence will still be needed in online classrooms in the future.
Conclusion
Just as television did not replace the radio but rather complemented it, OERs will likely not completely
replace textbooks, lectures, or other traditional classroom materials. However, their role in enhancing
the online learning environment—allowing faculty to collaborate in new ways and expanding access to
educational materials to people worldwide—will ensure their growth and use in education, to the benefit
of students and faculty alike. This reality can only bode well for the future of online education.
Open Educational Resources - DE Oracle
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Reference
Atkins, D. E., Brown, J. S., & Hammond, A. L. (2007, February). A review of the open educational
resources (OER) movement: Achievements, challenges, and new opportunities. Retrieved June 20,
2008, from http://tinyurl.com/yw4j4u (http://tinyurl.com/yw4j4u)
About the Author(s)
Joseph Rawson is the 24/7 Services Coordinator Librarian at the University of Maryland University College. He oversees the
program that provides library services to the university community 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year round. In
addition, he is responsible for supervising the Graduate Assistants from the library school at University of Maryland College
Park who provide library services at the McKeldin Library in College Park and the Student and Faculty Services Center in
Adelphi. Also, he provides reference service and library instruction for the university both face-to-face and online. He teaches
LIBS 150 for the School of Undergraduate Studies. Prior to working for UMUC, he was a Reference Librarian at the main
branch of the Providence Public Library, one of the largest libraries in the state of Rhode Island. He received his MLIS degree
from the University of Rhode Island in May 2001 and his BA in International Affairs from the George Washington University in
1986. Prior to his career as a librarian, he spent many years as an education, event, and member services director for builder
and realtor trade associations, running educational programs as well as conventions and working with faculty to develop
course curriculum.
Cynthia Thomes is a Reference and Instruction Librarian in the Information and Library Services department at University of
Maryland University College. She is also one of the library's two liaisons to UMUC's Graduate School of Management &
Technology. She answers all forms of reference questions and provides online and face-to-face instruction for UMUC students,
faculty, and staff. She works to ensure that library resources and services meet the needs of the UMUC community in general
and of GSMT students and faculty in particular. Before coming to UMUC, Ms. Thomes worked as a Technical Information
Specialist at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She received her MLS degree from the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a BA in English and psychology from the College of William and Mary.
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