Impact of Technology Tools and Multimedia for Online Teaching

Arne Duncan, acting as U.S. Secretary of Education, once tweeted "It's not about the technology, it's about the learning." This resonated with me as though I am a technology enthusiast, I do not recommend that anyone focus on incorporating technology just to have the latest and greatest bell or whistle. Early adopters are often guilty of focusing on incorporating all the latest technologies at the expense of student learning. Digital tools change faster than the seasons and it would be impossible for any, even the most tech savvy instructor, to stay on top of everything and still adhere to good pedagogy unless that instructor consciously thinks about the student learning outcomes that will be enhanced with the one or two technology tools they want to incorporate within a semester.  Then refine, revise and tweak the ways it is used in the online course based on student feedback and student learning outcomes throughout the semester. New instructors should focus on using only the essential tools for teaching online at the institution where they work and then slowly incorporate more tools as they feel more comfortable. "If you focus on the essential tools and build your course around those tools, you can branch out later as you teach a course a second or third time and gain experience, confidence, and a sense of exploration (Boettcher & Conrad, 2010, p. 63)."

Essential Tools for Online Learning

Essential Tool	Possible Drawbacks	Used For
Communication Tools to support Social Presence 1.Discussion Boards/Forums 2.Social media like Twitter/Facebook 3. Wiki	May take time to arrive at decisions so students may need incentives (grades) to participate, this is also true for collaborative group work	used for asynchronous threaded conversations over time to discuss and share ideas anywhere/anytime Wiki is a useful tool for group collaboration.
Announcements	Messages should be short and timely.  If too long students may bypass as too time consuming and miss important information.	Instructor to learner interaction.  Best way to provide daily information and keep engagement and focus
Standardized Course Template Menu and Navigation	Courses built by instructors without a template for consistency run the risk of frustrating students who cannot easily find course elements.	Assist students by providing consistency across courses allowing students to know where to find common course elements.
Multimedia-audio and video tools	audio and videos are generally static and do not provide answers to questions or expand on ideas so need to be combined with reflection or discussion activities to extend and enrich learning	Audio and Video content linked or embedded in the LMS provides engaging  and enriching

One of the main tools used for online courses is the learning management system (LMS). There are many tools within many institutional's LMS, so it is best for both the student learners in the online course and the instructor for the course to only have a few essential tools. Boettcher and Conrad contend a good strategy is to pick the three or four essential tools that are best suited for your learning goals and discipline and use them well. Then with each succeeding term you can expand your use of tools.

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Online technology resources can be used in a variety of ways to support teaching and learning. Educational games, gamification, and the use of authoring tools are all what would be considered technology expansion tools. These are the technology tools which are most appealing to my creativity in online teaching as I move forward in my career in instructional design. While these tools can be good ways to keep the students engaged in their learning, the focus should always be on the learning outcomes and not the technology itself. There is often an upfront learning curve for authoring software and a steep creation time element for story-boarding the lesson and then the technological aspect of actually building the lesson which can cause non tech savvy instructors to become frustrated. Once built however, these lessons can provide just in time feedback with embedded questions and answers, branched learning scenarios, practice to mastery exercises and authentic assessments which can be personalized to each learner.

“Accessibility and usability have been fundamental concerns for instructional design in online education. With the prevalence of online learning and course management systems (CMS), the delivery of accessible and user-friendly course materials becomes crucial to successful online programs (Wu, 2015, p. 2)." Instructors building online course can take advantage of the fact that many of the technology tools have been designed to meet accessibility guidelines. Instructors should become familiar with the required accessibility compliance mandates and guidelines in order to meet the learning needs of all students before deciding on a technology tool.

There is a positive association between the increase in new technology tools being integrated into society and the development of new theories on how to use technology as a springboard for learning. eLearning environments can be designed with these principles in mind in order to promote more effective learning. It is easy to present large amounts of material in an online learning environment since so much knowledge is available in digital format and therefore easily uploaded to present to learners. However, learners can only process limited amounts of information and as a result e-learning instructors should limit the amount of information that a learner is asked to process. Multimedia can also become extremely complex and the information can get jumbled in a format that loses the focus of the related goal. Information needs to be simplified, focused and presented in a format that is easily understood and clearly delivered. (Meyer in Veronikas & Shaughnessey, 2005).

Boettcher, J. V., Conrad, & R.-M. (2010). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Veronikas, S., & Shaughnessy, M.F. (2005). An interview with Richard mayer. Educational Psychology Review, 17(2), 179-189.

Wu, S. (2015). Accessibility, Usability, and Universal Design in Online Engineering Education.2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings, 1-18. doi:10.18260/p.23480

The Online Learning Experience

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Communicating Clear Expectations

Clearly communicating expectations to learners is essential to creating a well run online course just as it is in a face to face classroom. Clear expectations and a well designed course will provide the best possible experience for both the learner and instructor. It is crucial that the both instructors and students are on the same page in order to have an enjoyable learning experience together. According to Boettcher and Conrad, courses should start with the establishment of social presence. Chawla (2015) states “In my experience, students in an online setting do not get to know each other as well as their counterparts in a physical classroom and thus may not feel inspired to collaborate with and help each other.” According to Boettcher and Conrad, the course should begin by focusing on social presence activities for both learners and faculty. Social presence allows learners and the instructor to get to know each other and build trust by participating in getting acquainted posts which establish social presence and asking students to identify their learning goals which launches cognitive presence. Boettcher and Conrad also contend that it is the instructors responsibility to take action ensuring all learners are engaged, present and participating which helps create the learning community.

Burk (2011) says course navigation should be as simple as possible. Making the online course format for all weeks similar is one way of achieving this goal.  Students will feel more comfortable when a course follows a set pattern by using a clearly defined course structure.  "Course navigation buttons should be consistent from week to week. Material and assignment format should also be similar from week to week (Burk, 2011)". To assist with this, course designers and instructors should post the syllabus and let students know where they can find different resources and assignments. Course navigation buttons should also be consistent each week and material and assignment format should also be similar from week to week (Burk, 2011)  Quality Matters offers a rubric for online course design which includes eight dimensions (i.e. course overview and introduction, learning objectives, assessment and measurement, resources and materials, learner engagement, course technology, learner support and accessibility) which can assist designers and instructors in making courses standardized (Ralston-Berg and Nath, 2009, p. 1).  Zhu, Payette and DeZure (2003) state that online courses should be designed using a systematic, thoughtful approach to online learning. 

In order to design online courses in a systematic pattern, instructors will need to know which technology is available for use and how to use it.  Online instructors need to know at least the basics of the learning management system they will be using.  If not tech savvy, instructors should keep it simple and according to Boettcher and Conrad, new to online instructors should focus on the essential tools and then build the first course around those tools, branching out later as they become more experienced by adding and trying out one or two new technologies each subsequent course.  

Burk, E. (2011). Online Learning Indicators. eLearn, 2011(7), 1. doi:10.1145/2001333.2001334 Retrieved from http://elearnmag.acm.org/archive.cfm?aid=2001334

Chawla, K. (2015, June 24). 5 Essential Steps to Building Community for Your Online Course | EdSurge News [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2015-06-24-5-essential-steps-to-building-community-for-your-online-course

Ralston-Berg, P., & Nath, L. (2009). What makes a quality online course? The student perspective. Retrieved from http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference/resource_library/proceedings/09_20471.pdf

Zhu, E., Payette, P., & DeZure, D. (2003). An Introduction to Teaching Online. CRLT Occassional Papers, 18, 1-6. Retrieved from http://www.crlt.umich.edu/sites/default/files/resource_files/CRLT_no18.pdf

Significance of Online Community Building

The video on online community building as outlined by Dr. Rena Palloff and Dr. Keith Pratt was very significant as I have worked in all four of the industries represented by the audience; K-12, Higher Ed, Corporate Sales and Corporate Healthcare Training. Palloff and Pratt state that "research continues to show that the construction of a learning community, with the instructor participating as an equal member, is the key to successful online course outcomes and is the vehicle through which online education is best delivered." Dr. Palloff contends and I wholeheartedly agree that the instructor is part of the online learning community but should not be the focus of the community. Instead they should be a "Guide on the Side". The much used term "Guide on the Side" came from a 1993 article by Alison King published in College Teaching journal. In the article King contends that teachers, faculty, instructors and trainers need to change from being the central figure at the front of the room through which all knowledge flows to one of a facilitator of learning, guiding from the side as students learn to learn on their own by scaffolding that learning. As more online courses are being developed and delivered, this has become even more important.

This facilitator of learning is essential and must be present and involved however for positive student outcomes. Online learning communities significantly impact both student learning and satisfaction within online courses as students are able to develop ownership for their own learning and interactions. Mazzolini and Maddison found that the ways in which instructors post to forums can influence students' forum discussions and perceptions, but not necessarily how one would think. "On average, frequent posting by instructors did not lead to more student postings, and the more the instructors posted, the shorter were the lengths of the discussions overall. On the other hand, while most students rated their educational experience highly, instructors who posted frequently were judged on average to be more enthusiastic and expert than those who did not."

Palloff and Pratt say that online learning communities can be developed with the focus on sustainability of learning communities by focusing on the social presence, establishing guidelines for engagement, establishing minimum participation guidelines, allowing for student disagreement, and developing a course that is exciting, challenging, and incorporates collaborative activity and opportunities for reflection. The online community building includes social presence which also includes instructor presence. Danielle Hatchcock describes the importance of instructor presence as providing "a sense of leadership and security for the students, a central point person that guides them in the learning experience as well as instructor modeling, and (., establishing the purpose of community, the method by which the course is delivered, the ability or mechanism for interacting student to student or student to instructor?


Hathcock, D. (2012). Mapping Success: Essential Elements of an Effective Online Learning Experience. Higher Ed Teaching and Learning: Faculty Focus. Retrieved from http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/mapping-success-essential-elements-of-an-effective-online-learning-experience/

King, A. (1993). From sage on the stage to guide on the side. College teaching, 41(1), 30-35.

Mazzolini, M., & Maddison, S. (2003). Sage, guide or ghost? The effect of instructor intervention on student participation in online discussion forums. Computers & Education, 40(3), 237-253.