MAGNA ONLINE SEMINARS

A Guide to Video Communication

for Online Instructors

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Presented by:
Jill Schiefelbein
Over the past eight years, Jill Schiefelbein has taken, taught and developed online
courses. At Arizona State University, she worked in multiple capacities of online adminis-
tration, including serving as the Director of Online Programs for ASU’s College of Liberal
Arts and Sciences, where she developed the office of online programs and grew it into an
organization with hundreds of online course offerings across dozens of academic units.
Currently, Jill is the owner and guru of Impromptu Guru, a company focused on helping
individuals and groups improve communication in both face-to-face and online environ-
ments.

©2011 Magna Publications Inc.

All rights reserved. It is unlawful to duplicate, transfer, or transmit this program in any manner with-
out written consent from Magna Publications.

The information contained in this online seminar is for professional development purposes but does
not substitute for legal advice. Specific legal advice should be discussed with a professional attorney.
Video Type Samples
During Online Video Creation Basics you learned about different types of video that you can use in your
online classes. Each type mentioned is referenced below, along with a representative screen shot to
help you remember when you go to create your own videos.

Narrated text

This type of video is best for simple tasks or

concepts, where the instructor’s voice and
supplement text will effectively convey a
point.

The image to your right is a screen shot of

a narrated PowerPoint presentation
uploaded to Vimeo.

Screen captures

This type of video is best for tasks where

explanation is not enough and showing is
necessary. I like to use these videos to
walk students through using my course
site, using other online resources, or
running a program.

The image to your right is a screen shot of

a screen capture video done with Camtasia
and uploaded to Vimeo.

“Teaching” head

This type of video is best for complex tasks,

where interaction with both the instructor
and the content are important to
understand the content or topic.

The image to your right is a screen shot of

me as the “Teaching” head recorded on my
Logitech webcam and uploaded to
YouTube.

impromptuguru.com
Do’s and Don’ts
Do…
 try just one thing at a time—give yourself time to adjust to new technologies and techniques.
 create content that is platform independent.
 break content into digestible chunks.
 experiment with micro lectures—be sure to keep to one concept in the 3-5 minutes.
 repurpose and reuse content.
 be yourself!

Don’t…
 overwhelm yourself by trying too many things at once—focus on one step at a time.
 just start recording without a plan—a little planning goes a long way.
 forget that putting in dates into video lectures, etc., limits your repurposing potential.
 make your videos longer than 17 minutes (or 5 minutes for a micro lecture).
 be a talking head without any vocal infliction or animation.
 create content that relies on a Learning Management System (i.e., Blackboard, Moodle, etc.).

impromptuguru.com
Next Steps:
What Type of Video to Create?
Use this chart to help flesh out what type of video you should create to help maximize your students’
learning potential. Remember back to the workshop’s slides on media richness theory to help you.
 The first column represents difficult the content or task to be delivered or explained is. They are
listed from most difficult (highest) to least difficult (lowest).
 The second column is for you to fill in what content you need to deliver. Think of assignments,
lectures, supplementary information, etc.
 The third column is for you to fill in what type of video you believe best matches your content,
based on the resources (technologically) that you have available.
 The final column is for you to keep notes on what specific techniques you’ll use to develop video
in the future. Write in what type of editing techniques utilized, video length, or anything that
will help you streamline your production.

Difficulty Content Type Video Type Development Notes

impromptuguru.com
Video Resources
During Online Video Creation Basics you learned about different tools and techniques to help you
create and utilize video in the online classroom. All resources mentioned are listed below.

Free (or with free trials) video creation tools

 Adobe Presenter http://www.adobe.com/products/presenter/

 Jing http://www.techsmith.com/jing/
 Camtasia http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/ Screen recording and video editing software
 Cam Studio http://camstudio.org/ free screen and audio recording software
 Articulate http://www.articulate.com/ eLearning software

Free (or upgradable) platform (LMS) independent uploading and storage options

 Vimeo http://www.vimeo.com
 YouTube http://www.youtube.com
 Photo Bucket http://www.photobucket.com
 Voice Thread http://voicethread.com

Free (or with free trials) editing tools

Note: while many of the tools listed in the first category have editing tools, sometimes they are limited.

 Windows Movie Maker (PC)

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/updates/moviemaker2.mspx
 iMovie (Mac) http://www.apple.com/ilife/imovie
 JayCut http://jaycut.com
 Adobe Premiere http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere.html

Suggested equipment—on a tighter budget

 Logitech QuickCam Pro (if you want to record basic video at your desk)
 FlipCam HD (if you want to take a camera with you on location)

impromptuguru.com
 IDEAS FOR EFFECTIVE ONLINE INSTRUCTION

JULY 2011 Tips from the Pros

Group Work, Discussion Strategies to Reducing Instructor Workload

in Discussion Forums
Manage Online Instructor Workload
By Rob Kelly expectations. Restine says that
when group work fails, it is
K eith Restine, associate
director of distance
education, and Allison Peterson,

S hrinking budgets and increasing

enrollments are putting online
instructors in the position of
“because we’ve simply gone in and
said, ‘Go work in a group.’ That’s
just a perfect recipe for a disaster
senior instructional designer,
both at Texas Woman’s
University, offer the following
teaching larger classes. because everyone thinks they know tips for reducing instructor
Accommodating more students how to work in a group, but the workload in discussion forums:
means rethinking how you teach reality is that very few people • You don’t have to be an active
your courses. Otherwise your actually do.” participant in every discussion.
workload can quickly become over- When poorly planned, group Let students know that
whelming. work can actually increase the although you will monitor all
Strategies that work in relatively instructor’s workload due to discussions, you may not be an
small online courses do not neces- confusion and having to help active participant in each one.
sarily translate when enrollments students work through group • Have students summarize the
increase. Without a change in processes. This is why it’s essential discussions. Summarizing dis-
instructional strategies, doubling that groups operate within a set of cussions is an important part
the number of students doubles the ground rules. Restine offers sugges- of facilitation. The instructor
instructor’s workload on things tions but does not impose any par- does not need to be the one
such as grading and feedback. ticular group work model on who performs this role.
To address this issue, Keith students. “I give a couple of models • Grade discussion facilitators
Restine, associate director of of group ground rules, but I require rather than each student.
distance education, and Allison my groups to come up with their Tracking individual participa-
Peterson, senior instructional own unique set of ground rules. I tion in discussions can be
designer, both at Texas Woman’s also require all of them to sign off difficult. An alternative to
University, recommend addressing that they are going to abide by the grading individual participation
instructor workload in two key group’s rules. I try to give them a is grading students for their
areas: group work and discussion lot of ownership in developing their work in facilitating and/or
boards. own set of rules. Having them summarizing discussions.
develop their own ground rules and • Have students collaborate in
Group work actually have to work together at a small group forums to craft a
Creating effective group work distance to come to consensus single post that they will share
experiences requires work up front about the rules takes care of a with the entire class. This cuts
on the part of the instructor, portion of the issues that I tradi- down on the number of posts
including selecting appropriate tionally ran into in terms of group the instructor needs to read
projects for collaboration, consider- and often results in higher-
ing group dynamics, and setting Continued on page 2 >> quality discussions. @
In This Issue

3 4 6
How to be a Online Teaching Fundamentals: Teaching Online with Errol:
‘Teaching Head’ Making Online PowerPoint Live Chats: Embrace Them,
Content Engaging: Don’t Fear Them!
PowerPoint Hyperlinks 101

A MAgnA PublicAtion
 President: William Haight
([email protected])

Publisher: David Burns

([email protected])
<< From Page 1 (although that is important) but also
Managing Editor: Rob Kelly to provide valuable group learning
([email protected])
work,” Restine says. experiences for students. “There is
ADVISORY BOARD The goal of group work is to trial and error involved in this.
develop a better project than Online courses should be about con-
Randy Accetta, PhD
Mentor-in-Residence, Communication students would create individually. tinuous improvement. One semester
www.entrepreneurship.arizona.edu Therefore, Restine tells students you might try a particular assign-
that rather than taking turns on the ment with a group of four and
Toni Bellon, PhD
Professor, Middle/Secondary Education project, they should share the work. realize it would be better if you had
North Georgia College & State University “Group work isn’t just dividing up students work in pairs. Or the other
[email protected] the work so everybody does less. I way around: you might realize a
Jennifer E. Lerner, PhD expect them to eyeball the others’ paired assignment was too much
Associate Vice President for e-Learning work,” Restine says. For example, work for the students and would
Northern Virginia Community College
[email protected]
when it is obvious that group work better if the work were distrib-
members have not reviewed each uted among a group of four or five.”
B. Jean Mandernach, PhD other’s work, he will withhold the “You might use simple pairs, and
Professor & Senior Research Associate
Grand Canyon University grade and remind them that they that’s going to cut down my number
[email protected] need to be more collaborative. “I’ll of products by half. I might have
do that one time in a class, and I three people in a group, and not
John Orlando, PhD
ELearning Director never have to norm them again. only does it give variety to the
National Life They get that very quickly,” Restine assignments without us really
[email protected] says. having to change the assignment
Lawrence C. Ragan, PhD He also stresses the importance much, but it also reduces the
Director- Faculty Development of respect for each other, telling instructor’s workload in terms of
World Campus
students “It’s fine to disagree. Just grading. And what we’ve seen in
Penn State University
[email protected] don’t devalue the other person. Let’s several instances is that by the time
stick to the issues and disagree on students go through the assign-
Online Classroom (ISSN 1546-2625) is the issues.” ments and toward the end of the
published monthly by Magna Publications Restine requires group members semesters, we’re getting a much
Inc., 2718 Dryden Drive, Madison, WI
53704. Phone 800-433-0499; Fax: 608-246- to document problems that arise more finished product that’s
3597. Email: [email protected]. within the group. A common issue is actually easier to grade because a
Website: www.magnapubs.com. One-year a lack of communication from one or lot of the mechanical and grammar-
subscription: $177 (Multiple print subscrip-
tions and Group Online Subscriptions are more group member. “I ask them to type issues have been taken care of
available. Call Customer Service at 800- document three times that they by the group,” Restine says.
433-0499.) Photocopying or other repro-
duction in whole or in part without have tried to contact that person. In addition, working within
written permission is prohibited. POST- Then I will intervene. I think it’s very groups provides students with a safe
MASTER: Send change of address to
Online Classroom, 2718 Dryden Drive, important to have that piece in place to explore important
Madison, WI 53704. Copyright ©2011, place,” Restine says. questions. One of Restine’s group
Magna Publications Inc. Not all assignments are appropri- assignments asks each student to
Submissions to Online Classroom are ate for group work. Some assign- read two articles and extract the
welcome. Please review article submission ments are better as individual work, articles’ key points and share them
guidelines located at
www.magnapubs.com/catalog/ and some assignments are carried within their group of four. This
online-classroom/ out better in groups of varying sizes. allows students to see eight studies
Authorization to photocopy items for Peterson judges that assignments side by side so they can compare
internal or personal use of specific clients that ask students their opinion are and contrast them. “When I have
is granted by Online Classroom for users well suited to individual work and students do that individually, they
registered with the Copyright Clearance
Center (CCC) Transactional Reporting case studies are better done as get lost in the text of the individual
Service, provided that $1.00 per page is group projects. She also says that articles, and pretty soon they’re
paid directly to CCC, 222 Rosewood
Drive,Danvers, MA 01923; Phone 978-750- online courses should have a combi- totally off topic,” Restine says.
8400; www.copyright.com. For those nation of individual, paired, and “These students are novices in the
organizations that have been granted a
photocopy license by CCC, a separate group assignments, not merely to
system of payment has been arranged. reduce the instructor’s workload Continued on page 8 >>

2 Online Cl@ssroom
V I D E O C O M M U N I C AT I O N
How to be a ‘Teaching Head’
By Jill Schiefelbein all I did was sit in front of my conclusions we want them to draw.
computer, press the “record” button, The two photos above are from a
Take a look at these two images. and speak into the little red video I made on one method of
recording dot on my webcam. After, making eye contact with your
I reviewed the video and posted it audience (appropriately named, “the
online thinking, “Well, at least I’m triangle method”). You can see from
doing something different and it’s the two photos that the “teaching
better than just reading some notes head” uses a visual aid that helps fill
or hearing my voice.” In reality, I in those peripheral gaps, making
was a talking head. sure that I am building a shared
Now, many years later, I realize understanding with my students.
that the “talking head” isn’t always Using video to communicate can
bad, but what I call the “teaching help students gain a better under-
head” is typically better. The differ- standing of the information we are
ence between a talking head and a trying to teach. If used well, videos
teaching head is evident in the two can “define a broad (often visual)
photos shown earlier. It is the differ- context that serves as counterpoint
ence between a speaker merely to the linear structure defined by the
speaking to an audience versus narrative text, to help learners make
speaking with gestures and other sense of ideas they may only
vibrant nonverbal cues. It is the dif- partially understand” (Schneps, et
ference between standing behind a al., p.1119, 2010). For example,
proverbial lectern versus getting out creating a video lecture to comple-
What do you see? in front of your audience. Or, in the ment or supplement the textbook
I see the difference between a examples shown earlier, it is the dif- readings. By being a “teaching
“talking head” and a “teaching ference between speaking and head” you can help students draw
head.” showing. connections from more linear infor-
The dreaded talking head. It’s In the March issue of Online mation, such as a textbook, and tie
what all instructors and speakers Classroom, I wrote an article about the information they are learning to
hope to avoid. Most do it in person Media Richness Theory, basically their own lives and experiences.
by adding gestures and other stating that the medium that you In the 2011 Horizon Report, an
nonverbal cues into their presenta- use to communicate a message annual collaborative between the
tions. But translating a presentation should reflect the level of ambiguity EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative and
into an online environment often that is potentially present in your the New Media Consortium, we are
poses a challenge to novice and message. The higher the potential challenged as educators to “revisit
seasoned presenters alike. ambiguity, the richer the medium our roles as educators in the sense-
With a continually growing online needed to communicate the making, coaching, and credentialing”
enrollment trend, fewer resources, message. “Even at the level of per- processes. Video is a great way to
and rising student expectations, ception, our brains appear to be accomplish this task.
instructors often feel like they must wired so as to resolve ambiguity— My challenge to you: rethink
be a “Jack (or Jill, in my case) of all actively filling in detail with informa- video. Turn the “talking head” into
trades” in order to succeed in the tion that is peripherally observed—to a “teaching head.”
online classroom. However, what I build an understanding that is con-
find is that instructors already know sistent with our experience”
Tips for being a teaching head
what needs to be communicated to (Schneps, et al., p.1119, 2010). • Use nonverbal communication!
students in the online classroom, This basically means that if we Gestures, changes in
but most have a challenge knowing don’t provide our students with rate/tone/pitch, etc., translate
how to communicate their content in enough peripheral detail, they will into video.
the mediated environment. draw their own conclusions about
When I created my first online content based on their experiences. Continued on page 8 >>
video lecture, I felt cool. In reality, And sometimes they won’t be the

Online Cl@ssroom 3
O N L I N E T E A C H I N G F U N D A M E N TA L S

Making Online PowerPoint Content Engaging:

PowerPoint Hyperlinks 101
By Patti Shank, PhD, CPT • Kelley School of Business Salary Statistics
https://ucso.indiana.edu/cgi-bin/

L ast month, I began to discuss making your

PowerPoint slides interactive. Watching PowerPoint
slides, even those that are narrated, is a fairly passive
ReportCenter/salaryStats.cfm
• BLS Wage Data by Area and Occupation data
www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm
experience. (Don’t get me wrong. I think narrating your
slides is imperative. Read my series on narrating your Or you may provide email addresses for people
slides to find out why.) But really good instruction isn’t students should contact, such as Roger Smith
passive. It requires students to be actively involved. So [email protected].
your online slides should either be interactive or they Note: If PowerPoint, for some reason, does not auto-
should be short and combined with interactive matically create these links for you, you have this
elements, including discussions, practice, activities, and feature disabled. In PowerPoint 2010, you can fix this by
the like. going to the File Tab and clicking on Options> Proofing
This month, I’ll be describing the basics of how to use and then clicking on the AutoCorrect Options Button. In
PowerPoint’s hyperlinking capabilities in online the AutoFormat As You Type tab, make sure the
PowerPoint presentations. We’ll take this up a notch or checkbox for Internet and network paths with hyper-
three in future articles. Let me start with defining links is checked.
hyperlinks. Hyperlinks are elements in a document that
link to another place in the same document or to an
Less-basic hyperlinks
entirely different document. (Document, as I use the You don’t have to stick with basic hyperlinks. You
term throughout this article, means a generic file or can also make text into hyperlinks by selecting the text
page, not a specific word-processed file.) When you click to become a hyperlink, right-clicking, and choosing
on a hyperlink, you follow the link. Hyperlink… from the right-click menu. When you do
this, the Insert Hyperlink dialog box opens (Figure 1).
PowerPoint does basics hyperlinks by itself
If you type an Internet address into a PowerPoint
slide text box and press the enter key or the spacebar,
PowerPoint automatically creates a live hyperlink. (Live
means that it will “work” when clicked.) This works with
Web addresses that start with http:// or www., email
addresses with an @ symbol, and ftp addresses that
begin with ftp://.
What this means is that you don’t need to know how
to “program” these basic types of hyperlinks in
PowerPoint. All you need to do is type them in and then
press the enter key or the spacebar, and PowerPoint will
make them work.
You can use this basic hyperlinking functionality to
add Web addresses that you want students to visit,
Figure 1. Insert Hyperlink dialog box
email addresses of people you want them to contact,
and ftp sites to download course files (ftp sites aren’t Now you need to decide what type of hyperlink you
used as often as they used to be, so if this type of want to create. Do you want students to go to a specific
address doesn’t sound familiar, you may not have a use file, a Web page, a slide in the presentation, or an email
for it!). address?
So, for example, you might provide a list of links for
your students to visit for a specific assignment, such as:
Continued on page 5 >>

4 Online Cl@ssroom
<< From Page 4 presentations is to supply documents that you have
uploaded for viewing alongside the presentation. For
example, you may be discussing a specific study and
If you look at Figure 1, you’ll see that your decision want to have students read an abstract of the study. Or
corresponds to the Link to: types on the left side of the you may want them to download and review a spread-
dialog box. Let’s look at the most common types of links sheet related to the content you are describing.
and how you set them in the table that follows. In addition to text links, you can create links from
objects on the page such as graphics. Graphical hyper-
Link type Where it goes How to set it links work the same as text hyperlinks. Simply select
the object, right-click, and choose Hyperlink… from the
An existing This links to a Browse to the file right-click menu. Then select the type of hyperlink as
file or Web specific file on a or URL or input the discussed earlier.
page server or Web URL. It’s a good idea to make sure that your links work as
page. expected. The easiest way to do this is to go to the Slide
Show tab and use the From Current Slide button. Test
A place in This links to a Select the destina- the hyperlink on that slide and then click the Esc
this specific slide in tion slide (shown in button to exit Slide Show. Test each link after you
document the current Figure 1). create it. Before going live with your presentation, test
presentation. all the links in your presentation once more.
To remove a hyperlink, right-click it and choose
An email This links to a In the E-mail Remove Hyperlink.
address specific email Address text box, We’ll discuss some more complex hyperlink options
address. type the email next month.
address that you
want to link to. In Patti Shank, PhD, CPT, is a widely recognized information
the Subject box, and instructional designer and writer and author who
type the subject of helps others build valuable information and instruction.
the email message. She can be reached through her website www.learning-
(Some Web peaks.com and on Twitter @pattishank. @
browsers don’t
process the subject
line.)

It’s very common to create links to Web addresses

and to slides in the same presentation. Last month I
talked about using questions on slides as a form of
Online Seminar Call for Proposals
Magna Publications is accepting proposals for its
basic interaction. You could use links on slides to take
online seminar series. Like the newsletter, these
students to Web pages that contain information about
seminars share practical advice on online course
that question or to slides in the presentation that
design, teaching, and course management. For
discuss that question. You could supply a link to the
more information on how our online seminars work,
discussion forum so that after considering the informa-
visit www.magnapubs.com/faq/mos/. To submit a
tion provided in the presentation, students can furnish
proposal, visit www.magnapubs.com.
their reaction.
Another way that hyperlinks may be useful in online

Online Cl@ssroom 5
TEACHING ONLINE WITH ERROL

Live Chats: Embrace Them, Don’t Fear Them!

By Errol Craig Sull for you to present material in Don’t hesitate to use “bait” in
different methods. Often, schools bringing your students to live

T he online classroom live chat

can be a major tool in your
course that enhances student
will mandate orientation sessions
for new online instructors, and the
live chat will be covered. Take
chats. Creativity can be a huge
asset at times in getting more
students to attend live chats. The
knowledge, improves student effort, advantage of any additional training use of humor, the “secret origin” of
increases student engagement, and in the use of live chat that your x (something related to your
strengthens student-instructor institution may offer. And no matter subject) revealed in the live chat, a
rapport. Yet too often the live chat how much you learn in a course, guest speaker—all these and more
is not used—or not used to its full make sure you take the time (prior can help make the “packaging” of
effectiveness—by instructors who to your first live chat) to “play the live chat more enticing to
are unsure of how to use it and around” with all live chat features students. Of course, you never want
often are somewhat fearful of going so you can become comfortable with any of these items to take over or
beyond the safe environment of the them. define a live chat; they are merely
asynchronous online classroom. used to perk up students’ interest
But you will find that the live chat Announce live chats with plenty in the live chat. And there is a
really is quite easy to navigate and of lead time for your students. It bonus: these strategies help
incorporate into your class—and it is difficult to have all students in strengthen the student–instructor
can also be loads of fun for you and your class attend a live chat. rapport.
your students. However, the more notice you give
your students of an upcoming live If possible, archive your live
Here’s how: chat, the more students will attend, chats so nonattenders can experi-
as they will have time to plan for it. ence them. Many schools now
Be certain of your purpose in Have a live chat general announce- offer—and some require—the
engaging a live chat. A live chat ment posted at the beginning of archiving of live chats through your
should never be held simply to say, your course, then another for each recording of them (another feature
“Hey—I held a live chat!” Be certain live chat three days prior to the live of most live chat software). Be sure
of your reason for conducting the chat. Be sure these announcements to do this, as it gives students who
live chat, as you want it to be a are infused with excitement for and could not attend the opportunity to
seamless component of your online the importance of the live chat. share in the material presented, if
class—not something that sticks not in the immediacy of being able
out like a weed in a pristine lawn. Use live chats to engage and to ask questions and participate.
Look ahead to upcoming and/or excite, not lecture and bore. Emphasize that they should not
current assignments, especially Using a live chat as merely a lecture merely watch and listen to you but
important segments of your course hall for students to listen while the also respond to questions and activ-
subject, and problems in assign- instructor lectures defeats the ities to receive the full benefit of the
ments that appear to perplex a large purpose of the “chat” portion. archived live chat.
portion of the class. The more a live Certainly, it is a great opportunity
chat reflects the spirit of the course, to present additional insights, infor- Be certain your screen layout
the more students you can count mation, and observations, but come says student-centered, not
on wanting to attend. armed with questions and activities teacher-centered. When using live
for your students. The ideal live chat software that allows you to
Become familiar with all features chat should have you as a facilita- make a presentation—such as
of the live chat software. Live tor, with the chat box going strong PowerPoint—while students type in
chats come in a variety of software on a constant basis with student their chats, it is important your
formats, and new ones continue to commentary. screen layout says, in essence,
appear. Each offers a variety of
items to engage your students and Continued on page 7 >>

6 Online Cl@ssroom
<< From Page 6 participation, with attendance at there is much technology available
future live chats dropping off. and much more being released;
“This is more about you, my check around the Internet at least
students, and less about me, your Before conducting a live chat, be once a week—you’ll be surprised at
instructor.” An easy way to accom- certain your surrounding environ- how much more material you can
plish this is to make sure the chat ment is set up for it. Once you add to your live chats, and much of
box is larger than the presentation begin a live chat, you will be in one it at no cost. You never want your
box. (Always monitor the chat box place for the length of that live chat live chats to become “same old,
for student questions and (you really don’t want dead spots in same old.” Try new technologies as
comments—and try to address all; the live chat, that is, times when they become available. Your
you never want a student to feel as you are absent and cannot respond students will greatly benefit from
if he or she is being ignored.) to student queries or keep motivat- your efforts.
ing the students, etc.). Be sure
PowerPoint is an excellent live family members (or others) know REMEMBER: The online classroom
chat presentation format. I’ve you cannot be disturbed, take a exists in beautiful shades of bits and
mentioned PowerPoint a few times, bathroom break before the live chat, bytes—but when we have the oppor-
and this is because it is an excellent have all your presentation materials tunity to make them even more
software tool to use in a live chat. It set up prior to the live chat, and test colorful, how wonderful for our
offers you the opportunity to use out all components of the live chat students, how wonderful for us!
visuals of all kinds, with interesting to be sure there are no glitches. If
backgrounds, font choices, and text you’re using audio, have a glass of Please let me hear from you,
configurations that can make any water nearby to keep your throat including sending along suggestions
subject interesting and exciting. moist. Close doors and windows to and information for future columns.
Note: never have too much text on a keep out ambient noise. You can always reach me at errol-
PowerPoint slide, never let your [email protected]. And remember:
visuals overtake your text message, Don’t forget about the “mini” live please forward me your computer
and be sure your PowerPoint chat technologies. The use of IMs, tips and suggestions to make
slideshow matches the time allotted tweets, texting, and other such teaching in the online classroom more
for your live chat (unless you have modes of communication have efficient and productive.
other items you intend to include as become more common between
well). instructor and online students; each Errol Craig Sull has been teaching
of these is a mini live chat. While online courses for more than 15
Your tone and approach can the time spent with each student years and has a national reputation
improve student interaction in using any of these will not be as in the subject, both writing and con-
the live chat. If you have the use of long as the scheduled live chats in ducting workshops on it. He is
audio—and most live chats do—be your classroom, each interaction currently putting the finishing touches
sure you don’t speak in a monotone; still is live—or nearly so – and thus on his next book—How to Become
rather, you want convey excitement, offers additional opportunities to the Perfect Online Instructor. @
strength, and subject interest. (Of engage and excite students about
course, even without audio, your the course subject, to further
text can mirror these same strengthen student–instructor
qualities.) When students hear (or rapport, and to enhance student
see, if only text) this approach from knowledge.
their instructor, it becomes infec-
tious; more students are apt to par- Be on the lookout for additional
ticipate. But if you are dry and software to enhance your live
seemingly only half-interested in the chats. Always look to up the quality
live chat, you will find little student and effectiveness of your live chats:

Online Cl@ssroom 7
<< From Page 2 going to look at everything. There others are probably going to have
will be times when you will respond similar statements. You have to
field, and so it’s really helpful for individually, say in the introduction consider what it is you’re looking for.
them to have somewhere—and that’s discussion board. In other instances I can have an introductory discus-
within the group—to talk about you might let them know that you’re sion board where I ask everybody to
things, such as in this case, ‘Why going to read everything, but maybe introduce themselves, and yes, I
are the findings from these studies in the middle of the conversation want them to read through
so different from the findings from you’ll summarize what’s been said to everybody’s introduction, but that’s
these other five studies?’ Questions that point, and in the end you might really not a conversation. If I really
like that are important, and unfortu- summarize and give feedback and want them to have a conversation,
nately, I don’t think a lot of our highlight a couple of key points an I’m going to want to move it into
students ask them. And they seem individual student makes and make smaller groups of five to seven.”
more likely to ask those types of a point of calling that student out in Restine has students work in
questions in the safety of the group.” your summaries. That way you can small discussion forums to reach
kind of give them an individual consensus and then has each group
Discussion boards touch, but you’re not responding to post to the main discussion area. In
Discussion boards also provide 50 different messages,” Peterson a class of 50 that reduces the
several opportunities to reduce says. number of posts from 50 to 10,
instructor workload while maintain- “We’ve tracked this quite a bit, which is a manageable number to
ing high levels of interaction, even in and students indicate that they’re as respond to individually.
larger online courses. satisfied with summaries that Flexibility is essential to
As class size increases, it’s simply mention student names as they are managing large-enrollment courses.
not feasible to provide individual with individual responses,” Restine Rather than trying to perfect a
responses to each student post. says. semester-length online course for 20
Restine recommends identifying From a pedagogical perspective, students, Restine recommends being
which forums require individual large discussion forums are prob- prepared to teach more students in
response and which could be run lematic. “If you have 50 people various time frames. “Design the
using less time-intensive strategies. trying to have a conversation, it’s course so it can be flexible, because
The key is to consider these forums not a real conversation at that point. in today’s market you might need to
very carefully up front and commu- Nobody can follow a 50-person con- collapse two sections and double the
nicate to students how feedback will versation,” Peterson says. number of students. If you’ve built a
work within these forums so they “Somebody’s going to make a course that could only be rolled out
know exactly what to expect. statement, somebody else will one way, then you may have to
“Let them know that you are respond to that statement, and 30 redesign it under pressure.” @

<< From Page 3 Schiefelbein will be presenting A focused on helping individuals and
Guide to Video Communication for groups improve communication in
• Don’t be afraid to use visual aids. Online Instructors on August 10. both face-to-face and online environ-
Even a simple sheet of paper with This seminar will cover video creation ments.
an illustration can make a radical from inception to viewing, discovering
difference in students’ under- simple ways to effectively create and References
standing of content. deliver online video content. For infor- Johnson, L., Smith, R., Willis, H.,
• Don’t regurgitate content—bring a mation, see www.magnapubs. Levine, A., and Haywood, K., (2011).
new angle or observation to bear, com/catalog/a-guide-to-video- The 2011 Horizon Report. Austin,
use analogy and metaphor. communication-for-online- Texas: The New Media Consortium
• Tie your video content to an instructors/. Schneps, M. H., Griswold, A. ,
assessment. Include questions in Finkelstein, N., McLeod, M., and
the video for students’ reflection. To see the full video that the Schrag, D. P. (2010). Using video to
• Record in a comfortable environ- images are taken from, visit build learning contexts online.
ment where you feel at ease. This http://impromptuguru.com/content/e Science, 328, 1119-1120.
makes for better, more natural, ye-contact-triangle-method.
recordings. The author retains copyright to this
Jill Schiefelbein is the owner and article. @
To help you meet this challenge, guru of Impromptu Guru, a company

8 Online Cl@ssroom