Abstract

" Instant Messaging Makes It Real:
Social Glue for Online Learning"

Conference: National Educational Computing Conference
Date: June 2005
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Audience: national conference for educators at all levels.

Description:

Overview & Objectives
The “Guidelines for Good Practice: Technology Mediated Instruction” applies the best practices principles discussed by Chickering and Gamson to the online learning environment. Some of these include encouraging effective contact between instructor and students, developing cooperation among students, and using active learning techniques. Instant messaging allows us to incorporate these effective practices into our online curriculum using a communication space that millennial students already make use of socially and academically.

We have responded to our students' need for real-time interaction and built instant messaging into our program. We will show examples of students using IM to collaborate with each other in group projects, to clarify assignments, to engage in discussions while watching media, and to open up “back channel” communications during online presentations. Former students and faculty will discuss how instructors can use IM to foster a learning community that takes advantage of the virtual communication skills of the millennial generation.

Outline

  1. Background research into the use of IM among teenagers and college-aged students (5 minutes)
  2. Discussion of typical online course - engage audience in discussion by asking them their perceptions of communication in a typical online course. (5 minutes)
  3. Case study: community college CIS program - (10 minutes)
  4. Case study: private university MA program (10 minutes)
  5. Case study: technical school (10 minutes)
  6. Conclusions about effect IM has had on student learning. (5 minutes)
  7. Engage audience discussion about experiences using IM, reservations about using IM, benefits of the tool, and problems that might arise. (10-15 minutes)
  8. Conclusion: how audience members can utilize IM in their own learning environments, available resources, and possible future research. (5-10 minutes)

Supporting Research

Student Voices
Chatting, texting, cell phones, pagers, video conferencing, instant messaging (IM): Millennials are accustomed to being in constant communication with each other through various technologies. They are already using these communication spaces socially and academically, and want to bring that access with them into the online learning environments of the future. We have responded to our students' need for real-time interaction and built instant messaging into our program. We show examples of students using IM to collaborate with each other in group projects, to clarify assignments, to engage in discussions while watching media, and to open up “back channel” communications during online presentations. Former students and faculty will discuss how IM can be used to foster a learning community that takes advantage of the virtual communication skills of the millennial generation.

Presenter Background & Qualifications
Paul Sparks, Ph.D. currently directs the online Masters Program in Education Technology at Pepperdine University. He is past director of the Education Technology Doctoral Program and still leads courses in human-computer interaction and consulting. Paul recently served as Director of Virtual Collaboration at 3iNetworks, a Customer Relationships Management (CRM) integrator and Director of Instructional Design for RKG Interactive.

Debby Kilburn has been using instant messaging to engage her on-campus and online students since 1997. She holds a Masters degree in educational technology from Pepperdine University, has an advanced online teaching certificate from UCLA, and an online faculty teaching certificate from Cerro Coso Community College. She serves on the advisory board for the California Virtual Campus (CVC) Region 4 and facilitates online faculty training workshops for both CVC and the @ONE grant projects. Debby is an associate professor of computer information systems at Cerro Coso Community College.

Paul and Debby together have decades of experience researching and presenting on learning technology topics.

Conference Program [PDF]

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