Peer Reviews and Post Replies... Facilitating Effective Student-to-Student Interactions

So you have this great idea... you'll exercise your students' critical thinking skills while asking themto apply what they learned in class by having them complete peer reviews. Nice! Just make sure to work out all the kinks so that the process goes as smoothly as you had hoped.

The Scenario:

I developed a project for my Teaching Online students that involved completing an assignment, posting the assignment to a Blackboard discussion board, and reviewing one other student's assignment. I also specified that students should review work that has no feedback before reviewing any assignments that have already been reviewed. Not only are the students required to reflect carefully on their own assignments, but they are asked to make effort on behalf of their classmates. One of the nice things about projects like this is that if an online community has been developed, students will put extra effort into their peer reviews, because it is not solely about the grade... it's also about helping another community member attain success.

Challenges:

Peer reviews require completed assignments to be reviewed. Only two students were able to complete their assignments well before the due date (Sunday night at 11:59pm); the rest submitted their work late Sunday night, which means that only two people were able to review those assignments, following the directions specified above. Other students were forced to review assignments that already had reviews or face the penalty of late assignment completion. (Of course, I don't penalize my students for being unable to complete the assignment as specified, but I don't let my students know that: A core goal in this class is to develop sensitivity to course structure, delivery, and expectations, and recognize how these factors affect  students.) Students who regularly go above and beyond will most certainly review some of the later submissions, even if they had already reviewed one of the original two, but since we can't count on that, potentially there could be students who receive no peer feedback.

Solutions:

Although many online courses are run by week, you may want to create a midweek deadline for any assignments or discussion threads that need peer reviews or replies. This way, students know that after that deadline, there will be plenty of fodder for their critique, and they can schedule their participation around that date.

Part of the value of this activity is the autonomy to choose the assignment to review (which can mean a wide selection of topics and areas of interest.) Students are often more engaged with an assignment when they have an element of choice. However, depending on your subject matter and class dynamic, it may make sense to assign students as partners. When the students know that they are accountable to one another, they will more likely complete their assignments on time so that their partner will have an assignment to work from. Again, this kind of camaraderie and accountability is more affective when effort was made to build classroom community.

Finally, if for some reason there is a student who does not receive a peer review, I may offer extra credit to students who review any remaining assignments that still need feedback, and I may contact individual students to ask them personally for their feedback. Some students may reluctantly turn me down due to time constraints, but generally, students are flattered that their teacher counts on them when help is needed and want to go the extra mile for that reason. Often times, this personal requests lead to even more commitment on the part of the student because s/he feels personally invested in the course and its success.

Is Building Community Really That Important?

Are We Over-Catering to Students?

One may argue that in the workforce, no one "builds community" for you as the employee. You're usually thrown in to fend for yourself. So why should we make so many accommodations for our students? Are we doing them a disservice by treating them in a manner that is different than what they will experience in a work environment? Are we setting them up for hard lessons later in life?

It's All About Your Course Goals

I guess then it's a matter of your course goals and objectives, and what you want the students to walk away with. Is the goal of the course to prepare the students for what to expect in a professional environment? Then, I suppose yes, you want to give them an accurate experience. But if the goal is more so for them to learn certain content and to critically think about and apply that content, then community building does become important.

Vygotsky's "Zone of Proximal Development"

It all goes back to Vygotsky's "Zone of Proximal Development," which he defines as "the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers." (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86) Collaborating with more knowledgeable individuals raises a student's learning potential far higher than she ever reach in isolation.

Employers Want Employees with Group Skills

Furthermore, one of the chief complaints employers have with young professionals is that they do not know how to work effectively in groups. Any guidance we can give them as instructors will better prepare them for the working world and will give them a leg up during the hiring process. Creating a safe and comfortable learning environment is the first step to successful group learning.

The Importance of Social Engagement in Online Learning

In terms of learning online, the social engagement is often what makes or breaks the class. Anyone can read resources or watch videos online. It is nice that an instructor curates those resources because then the student can trust that the resources are high quality and accurate. However, one of the core strengths of learning online is having the opportunity to interact with other students and with the instructor. A shy or quiet student has as much of a voice as the students who dominate in-person class discussions. Students have the chance to think critically and for as much time as they need before responding to a question or comment. Furthermore, groups of students tend to mix and interact, who otherwise may never speak to one another.

Work Cited:
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 86

Using Poll Everywhere for Student Feedback and Engagement

Some of the instructors in my Successful Teaching Online course asked about ways to get formative student feedback. One way that seems to work is through quick polls. Using www.Polleverywhere.com, teachers can create simple one-question polls that update in real-time. They are fun to use in class because students can vote anonymously using their cell phones, computers, or iPads and see the results immediately on the lectern projector. Poll Everywhere polls are used for surveying student opinion and preference, checking comprehension, and as stimulus for dialogue. Try it out.You can see the results populate instantly using this results link.

To enlarge this graph, type Ctrl + and to reduce the size back, type Ctrl -.

Using Pinterest for Education

People use Pinterest for a number of reasons, but we will focus on the reasons that lend themselves to educational repurposing. 

Pinning

Pinterest offers a platform for people to become curators. People process information through categorization and classification, which is the ultimate function of Pinterest. Users find resources and pin them to thematic boards, thus allowing them to group, segment, compare, and draw connections between separate resources.

As Pinterest users accumulate online resources, Pinterest gives them a visual means of organization.  For visual learners, this helps them brainstorm, process and organize their thoughts and preferences. As a visual learner myself, having an image reference for each article improves my rate of recall; I have a much better memory for the details of an article when I have an image to reference than simply a title and description. 

Many Pinterest users curate collections of items for review by their peers. For comparative analysis, it helps that one can see all items on a single board rather than having to jump from one website to another.

The “Like” and comment functions allow students to share their thoughts on their peers’ collections.

Pinterest allows users to invite others to pin to their boards, which is great for collaborative research projects.

Following

I have to admit that I was put off by the fact that I was forced to follow boards right when I made my account, but what this did was it showed me how easily I could collect information and resources that normally I would have to go out of my way to find. Rather than spending time researching the best articles on marketing or teaching ideas, in a way they come to me. In creating my account, I was not very thoughtful about the boards I chose to follow because I just wanted to get through the process. However, after some time, I have come to realize who I want to follow and appreciate the resources I get from those individuals.

For those who are busy and on-the-go, it’s nice to have the latest and greatest on the topic of interest. A designer can follow the newest trends in design. A techy can find out the latest on software upgrades. Business and marketing students can review the latest advertising campaigns that have been making waves. I like looking at marketing infographics and repin my favorite ones to my own marketing boards.

I find myself spending the majority of my time working with my own boards or looking at specific boards curated by individuals, and only occasionally look at the “following” board because I tend to value Pinterest for its curatorial potential and thus seek out specific topics and information at particular times. This is where I see the most potential for educational use of Pinterest. I am not as interested in the stream of consciousness-like flow of the following page. However, many people like that they have the newest ideas (related to their interests) in a single glance right at their fingertips, and once they choose to repin some of those resources, they are able to put those items into more organized structures.

Side Note: There are ways to control the amount of email you receive from Pinterest and you can follow or unfollow anyone at any time. You can also have private boards for your eyes only.

Additional Resources

• This article will give you some concrete ways to use Pinterst in education: Educators Guide to Using Pinterest in Education
• For those of you teaching business, Pinterest has become a very effective social marketing tool. Check out this great podcast to learn more: How to Use Pinterest to Market Your Business
• Here is a Pinterest Board about using Pinterest successfully for education

Getting Students to Use Blackboard (or other LMS systems)

I have found that instructors who require their students to take quizzes online through Blackboard have a greater success rate in terms of having students acclimate to using Blackboard in general. Since there is no way to score points on a Blackboard quiz unless they enter Blackboard to take it, they are more likely to learn the skills needed and develop the comfort required to log into Blackboard regularly. If they can take a quiz, they can learn to download a file, view a file or upload an assignment in Blackboard. However, if you only use Blackboard to provide course readings or copies of PowerPoint presentations, your students may not make the effort to learn how to retrieve these pieces of information, and my either rely on a classmate or will try to make do without them. The same is true for submitting assignments. If you only use Blackboard for assignment submission, you may find a number of students will simply email you their work. However, the more value they find in Blackboard (that they cannot access otherwise) the more likely your students will take the time to acclimate to the technology. And once they start to use it, they do get comfortable, and in may cases begin to rely upon and value it.

I know that Blackboard can seem intimidating. Where do you start? I would go to Blackboard On-Demand, where you can watch quick how-to videos and even engage in self-assessment practice activities. Find the skill you want to learn and follow the link to a brief but effective tutorial (e.g. uploading course content, which is under "Understanding and Building Your Course" or creating a rubric, which is under "Assessing Learners"). 

One Way to Find Out Early On if Your Students Are "Tech Savvy"

Some instructors use icebreakers to reveal their students' levels of comfort with technology, which helps them plan how they approach their course. They may ask their students to share their favorite online activities and/or computer programs with one another. They may have the students fill out a quiz or a survey about the technology they use on a regular basis. I am currently developing an online orientation for students that includes a technology review, which will hopefully make students aware of the technical skills they will need in order to be successful in online courses of study. A great existing resource can be found at http://www.digitalliteracyassessment.org/

Can You Really Build Online Community?

It is possible to build community online, and in fact, I have a colleague who is moving to Texas to be with his girlfriend, whom he met in an online class. Of course, the facilitator’s effort to create online community influences the degree to which students feel online courses meet those intangible needs for social companionship and interaction. For kids and teens, Facebook has become a primary mode for social interaction, so the social needs or desires of this younger generation may be evolving differently than those of older generations. I've seen many teens get together just so they could surf Facebook together and look at each other's profiles. They will all sit together in the same room but all be looking at different computers.  Others make plans to meet online even though they live in walking distance from one another! So while Facebook will never (hopefully) replace face-to-face social interaction, it has certainly become a bigger part of the social experience for younger generations than I think anyone anticipated. Similarly, online community and camaraderie has greater potential than I think some of us teachers realize. However, it is up to us to facilitate and nurture safe, supportive and engaging community interactions.

Pre-course Materials for Online Courses

When I teach online courses, I typically have a "pre-course materials" section for students to review before they get to the real meat of the course. Pre-course materials makes sense if you need to set a foundation for the course. Sometimes the materials are content-related, such as glossary lists,  terminology quizzes, and readings or videos that review basic information needed for a successful first day of class. Other times pre-course materials cover more of the administrative and/or technical areas, such as a quiz to confirm that students read the syllabus, icebreakers activities, or other assignments that allow students to slowly get their minds into the subject matter while experiencing the technology they will be using throughout the course. Pre-course materials may be graded to encourage students to actually complete them.

On the Road to Success

Welcome to the Tips 4 Teaching Online blog! This blog will hopefully be a resource to my students and to any educators who wish to learn more about teaching online successfully. This resource includes tips and tricks for teaching fully online courses, but also blended learning and flipped learning classes. Everyone is invited to jump into the conversation. My intention is to write blog posts that are short, sweet and to the point so that you can reference your exact topic of interest at any time and on-the-go. I know we are all busy people so let's see what we can do to help one another with our best tips, tricks and quick advice. Together, we can support student success through our own faculty development.