First Class: Wed Jan 21

Student Orientation Session - Fri Jan 16, 2009

Who Is Teaching Who?

Apologies to faithful followers of this blog for my extended absence…life has been crazy busy.

On Fri Jan 16, I conducted a half-hour orientation session for the 26 students who volunteered to take my Rec 130 course online ("e-class'") through Contact North.

As I unsteadily demonstrated the features and capabilities of Centra, it became obvious the students were far more comfortable with technology than their professor. When I hesitated in the slightest to locate a tool or to perform a task, my students were way ahead of me and took way too much satisfaction offering me suggestions and helpful advice. An observer might wonder who was teaching who…a bit of a humbling experience.

The willingness of these students to embrace this technology reminded me of a comment made by Dr. Stephen Murgatroyd during our training session “today’s students are not only using technology but they are experts and educators need to catch up.”

After the orientation session, I was very encouraged and most thankful for the positive attitude and enthusiasm of my student volunteers…if this pilot project is successful it will be in no small part due to these students…Canadore College Recreation students rock!

The training is over for the teacher and the students…let the games begin…first class starts Wed January 21.


First Class: Wed Jan 21, 2009

Off To a Rocky Start

It’s only 11:10am on Wed Jan 21, and already a stream of students start to assemble for their 11:30am Rec 130 class. In total there are 87 students who will be taking this course the traditional way ("in class") while another 26 students will be simultaneously attending the class online ("e-class") through Contact North.

The “in class” students are aware this is a pilot project and they seem very curious about how this is all going to play out. As the computer is turned on and the Contact North site is projected on to the large screen the excitement builds.

Attempting to appear confident, I proceed to perform an audio test on my wireless microphone… nothing happens…I immediately have two thoughts: Why didn’t I test this mic earlier, as Mike Buck , Canadore College’s computer guru, had suggested two weeks ago? Second thought...what is Mike Buck’s phone extension? In no time, Mike responded to my first crisis and replaced my wireless microphone with a standard wired microphone. I pretend to ignore the polite hushed chatter of the “in class” students who now have reason to be skeptical of this whole e-class experiment.

Class Is Now In Session

All eyes were on the screen as the clock ticked down to the start of the class. The “in class” students were a bit amused as they watched “e-class” students start to sign in. Some “e-class” students couldn’t resist the temptation to immediately send a barrage of text chat to their “in class” friends. Most messages extolled the virtues of taking the course from the comfort of their homes. One student even shared with us that he was still in bed and working from his laptop.

At 11:30am I clicked on the BEGIN button and our experiment was officially underway. I welcomed the “e-class” participants and asked them to indicate by clicking on the YES checkmark if they could hear me …this is when my second crisis of the day occurred. Several students did not reply…as I considered what to do next…my brilliant students quickly solved their own problems and starting sending text chat messages saying: “I can hear you and I can see the slides on the screen.”

Later I discovered several reasons for the initial start-up hiccups. For example, one student explained she was using Explorer and it kept getting her disconnected so she later switched to Firefox and the problem was resolved (something to ask my Contact North tech friends about). This crisis also made me a big fan of Centra’s text chat feature.

After a delay of less than a minute, I opened my Power Point presentation and our lesson began. During our hour long class there was lively discussions and some well thought out questions from “e-class” and “in class” students. “E-class” students seemed totally engaged and continually posted questions and comments.
To ensure students maintained a certain degree of focus on my presentation I would minimize the text chat so it was not a distraction. On those occasions when I displayed the text chat and responded to “e-class” students I noticed the “in class” students became more attentive.

One unexpected but very impressive consequence occurred during the class. An “in class” student requested I provide her with a textbook definition of a term we had been discussing. I was unable to offer a “textbook” definition and as I was explaining generally what the term meant an “e-class” student had already found the definition on the Internet and had kindly posted it for us to read…to the great amusement of my "in class" students...since my back was to the screen it took me a moment to realize why everyone was enjoying a chuckle...who is teaching who here?.

All in all, not a complete disaster for our first class using e-learning technology …but certainly this old professor has much to learn; fortunately, he is blessed with patient and helpful students.

Reflections on Day One

After our class ended, I was reflecting upon my experiences to date with e-learning when a student approached to apologize for missing class and wondered if he had missed anything really important...My instant response was…"no problem, the class was recorded you can watch it from your computer at your leisure"…later that evening I discovered my last blunder of the day…I had forgotten the instructions on how to record my class…and sadly my first e-class is now only a memory.

To date, I am struck by the genuine enthusiasm and willingness of my college students to embrace e-learning. I am beginning to realize e-learning has the power to engage students more actively in the learning process. For example, three of my Rec 130 e-class students have decided to meet every Monday evening for the remainder of the semester to have dinner while watching recorded sessions of Rec 130 classes (I definitely have to learn how to record my classes). The class playback option will also assist students who miss classes or who would like to review certain topic areas.

Why Not Everyone?

Interestingly, after our initial class, four “in class” students requested they be switched to the “e-class” group…this got me wondering…is it possible for all 113 students to have the option to take this course either “in class” or by “e-class”?
Further, why not allow all students the opportunity to take this course by attending a mix of "in class" and "e-class" sessions if they so choose? I contacted David Himmelman, our Program Dean, and he supported expanding our pilot project to include these options for our students.

Tomorrow, my good friend Debra Betty’s phone will ring at Contact North and we will explore the possibilities.