WebBoarding - across five different kinds of waves
Kirsten Söntgens er en af de specielle foredragsholdere som ikke er bange for at stille spørgsmålstegn ved effekten af de afprøvede metoder. Normalt er Kirsten kendt for sit store pionerarbejde med portfolio metoden, men i år havde hun en præsentation om interaktionen mellem lærer og elev i et asynkront forløb med anvendelse af WebBoard.
Hun fortalte om de fem stadier eleverne skulle igennem efter Gilly Salmon's model of teaching and learning online through CMC.
University of Central England, UK
WebBoarding - across five different kinds of waves
This paper will investigate the nature of student and tutor interaction in an asynchronous discussion forum and its related classroom activities. It will aim to shed light on the relationship between on and off line behaviour. It will closely look at how Gilly Salmon's model for teaching and learning online through CMC (computer-mediated communication) has been implemented in this pilot study (Salmon 2000) which seeks to facilitate the acquisition of academic writing skills in international students. Four hours of contact time are supported by a purpose-built website, that gives access to WebBoard, which can be described as an on-line asynchronous discussion forum.Class contact time is dominated by a social constructivist approach to learning (Salomon 1993). Students are required to read texts before coming to class, so that class time can then be dedicated to discuss unresolved questions and to clarify matters from the readings. Thus, students are provided with opportunities to 'jointly build knowledge' through interaction with tutor and peers.
The WebBoard follows the same approach and is used to further discuss concepts and ideas introduced in class. Additional stimuli are provided in the form of audio and video sources, CD-ROMs, links to websites and newspaper articles. In the process of on-line discussions students are 'WebBoarding across five different waves', indicating the five different stages they will go through, as described in Gilly Salmon's model of teaching and learning online through CMC (Gilly Salmon 2000).
I will show with examples from the WebBoard in how far students have been successful in going through these stages. I am hoping to demonstrate that by going through carefully designed CMC activities, participants are likely to show higher participation rates and increased satisfaction. I will investigate the role of the tutor to show in how far his/her 'on and off line activities' will influence the interaction, i.e. the 'meaning making process', as we need to consider the wider implications of the tutor's presence (Kuure, Saarenkunnas, Taalas, 2000). Some comparisons will also be drawn with previous work done with students studying German. It is ultimately hoped that results from this pilot study will lead to a better understanding of learner and tutor interactions of online and related classroom activities.