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2005-06-05

Virtual Classrooms Model Social/Collaborative Software Direction

ACM News Service: Designing for the Virtual Interactive Classroom.  I see I have ignored my TechNews reminders since May 28, which matches my distraction as I anticipated a day surgery scheduled for June 8.  I’ve made rapid improvement in the 3 days since.  My studies deteriorated over the same period.   I am taking my early mending as opportunity to catch up on some of my on-line pastimes while I rest and avoid lifting anything heavier than 15 lbs.  Then I get to tackle replanning a simplified dissertation project.

What I like about this blurb is the classification of community (that is, classroom) sizes and the requirements that arise for coordinated learning activities at each level:

• small group meetings (2 to 6 people) – tutorials and study groups
• live audio/video
• application sharing
• text chat, voice over IP “chat”
• meeting documentation
• presence
• interactive class meetings (10 to 30 people)
• add interoperability, ease of use
• provide customer support
• large class meetings (100+ people)
• add moderator/assistant to filter and sequence questions

As a distance-learning student, I am struck by the degree of focus on synchronous attendance and also what appears to be a teacher-centered/-designed approach rather than student-centered/-created with the guidance of a master.

Judith Boettcher’s 2005-05-05 Campus Technology article recognizes the value of distance learning and chooses to focus on synchronous learning as more-favorable to participation: being together.  I sense a problem with the assumption that large-class structures are very collaborative, and if collaboration is the goal, synchronicity is valuable and no guarantee at all, especially for large groups.

There are numerous examples and citings of resources that are familiar in the collaboration and social software domains: Robin Good is mentioned (but not linked).  Other resources are identified and linked.

 “The capabilities of these new tools bring us to a new place that shares many of the capabilities of the old, familiar classroom. We are transforming what we can do online, enabling again the intimacy and spontaneity of Socratic dialog, case-study discussions, and presentations. Yes, we have come a long way from the constraints of text-based-only online courses, and our explorations will be continuous.”

 It’s difficult for me to remember an “old, familiar” classroom experience that provided intimacy, spontaneity, and Socratic dialog.  Maybe I’m more suppressed and timid as a student than I realize.  Or I haven’t hung out in the right classrooms.  I do recall struggling to stay awake in classrooms.

posted by orcmid at 6/11/2005 01:54:49 PM, rating data by NewsGator Online