“Learning is often a social process, taking place through dialogue, discussion and other forms of interpersonal interaction. Even when it happens individually, having a supporting community can provide learners with the motivation and opportunities for applying and connecting knowledge.” Source
Promote Interaction
You can promote interaction through the design, development and delivery of your course. This article focuses on the development stage of course building. What eCoureware tools will you use to build community?
ECourseware provides many tools to help
Discussion boards
If you want an engaging online discussion, you must be engaged and present in the discussion yourself. Students need to know that someone is actively reading and responding to their posts.
Ideas for your discussion boards
- Consider a non graded db to help students learn how to use the tool.
- General questions and answers
- Weekly current events
- Regularly scheduled discussion assignment
Group assignments
Good groups don’t just happen: they are taught. Before assigning a big group project, let the learners try their skills in a lower stake group project. Include peer reviews to keep everyone invested. Consider having the group assign roles before the work starts.
Ideas for group assignments
- Use groups to organize learners’ work on projects and assignments
- Create special work areas for users with different learning needs.
- Users can belong to multiple groups within the same course. For example, each user can simultaneously belong to a group for class projects, a group for special interest discussions, and a group for advanced users.
- Each group can have its own discussion forums, assignments, and locker area to work in.
- You can grade members of groups individually or as a team.
- Peer review!
Surveys
Surveys are a fast and informal way to understand what your students need.
Ideas for surveys
- Monitor current course trends,
- Seek opinions,
- Assess prior/ current knowledge, and
- User satisfaction.
How to Use eCourseware Tools
Watch this video to see how to set up discussion boards, group assignments, and surveys in eCourseware.
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