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Best Practices in Teaching Online and Blended Learning Sponsored by The Teaching Committee of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Thursday, August 6, 2015 10 - 11:30 a.m. AEJMC 2015 Conference San Francisco Marriott Marquis Hotel San Francisco, California
2 | Best Practices in Teaching With Tools and Technologies
Best Practices in Teaching Online and Blended Learning This booklet contains the winning entries of the Best Practices in Teaching Online and Blended Learning 2015 competition, sponsored by the AEJMC Elected Standing Committee on Teaching. Booklets produced for the previous competitions can be found online at: aejmc.com/home/2010/09/best-practices-in-teaching-booklets
2015 Winning Entries: FIRST PLACE: Global Health and Social Media: Engaging an Open Online Class in Global Service Learning Projects, Marcus Messner and Jeanine Guidry, Virginia Commonwealth University SECOND PLACE: Twitter Party Q/A with Local Newspaper Reporters for the JOU1100 News Reporting Hybrid (Blended) Class, Rebecca C. Newman, Valencia College THIRD PLACE: Beyond The Basic Blend: Synthesizing Social Media, Mobile Devices and Collaborative Learning In Project-Based Journalism Courses, Ronald Yaros, University of Maryland HONORABLE MENTION: Online Fridays: Engaging Journalism History Students through Blended Learning and Social Media, Jennifer E. Moore, University of Maine
Members of the AEJMC Elected Standing Committee on Teaching (2014-2015): Chris Roush (Chair), University of NC-Chapel Hill • Linda Aldoory, University of Maryland • Amy P. Falkner, Syracuse University • Charles Davis, University of Georgia • Leslie-Jean Thornton, Arizona State University • Catherine Cassara, Bowling Green State University • Earnest Perry, University of Missouri • Natalie Tindall, Georgia State University • Anita Fleming-Rife, University of Northern Colorado
Best Practices in Teaching Globalizing the Classroom Copyright © 2015 AEJMC Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication 234 Outlet Point Boulevard, Suite A, Columbia, SC 29210 Ph.: 802-798-0271 | FAX: 803-772-3509 | E-mail: aejmchq@aol.com | www.aejmc.org Contact Jennifer H. McGill at AEJMC for permission and reprints. Sponsored by the AEJMC Elected Standing Committee on Teaching.
Author’s Last Name | 3 FIRST PLACE Global Health and Social Media: Engaging an Open Online Class in Global Service Learning Projects Marcus Messner and Jeanine Guidry, Virginia Commonwealth University Abstract: Our open course “Global Health and Social Media” demonstrated that service-learning projects can be successfully implemented in large enrollment online classes. Through the use of interactive platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google Hangouts, 120 for-credit students as well as around 20 non-credit external students designed social media campaigns and strategies for two internationally operating nonprofit organizations which provide health care solutions in the Caribbean, Central America and the Middle East. The outcomes of the course were achieved solely through online interactions within student project teams as well as with the clients and instructors. Explanation of the teaching practice or activity: During the fall semester 2014, we offered a large open online course on “Global Health and Social Media” at a public university in the mid-Atlantic region. This 200-level special topics course enrolled 120 undergraduate students mainly from the media department, but also from other departments from throughout the university. The six-week, three-credit course was open to the public and around 20 external non-credit seeking students also participated in various activities of the class. The course was completely run online via a Wordpress website with additional instructor-student and student-student interactions on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and discussion boards as well as via Google Hangouts. Students in the course explored social media best practices as they pertain to global health and developed a social media campaign and strategy for one of two global health organizations which agreed to serve as clients for the project. The course has been the first open online course designated as a service-learning class at the university and recruited the nonprofits Preemptive Love Coalition and World Pediatric Project as clients. The Preemptive Love Coalition provides heart surgeries to children in Iraq and trains Iraqi doctors, while the World Pediatric Project provides surgical and diagnostic care to Central American and Caribbean children. The communication directors of both organizations worked closely with our class. The 120 students were assigned to 20 project teams (10 teams for each organization), which were tasked to develop complete social media campaigns and strate-
4 | Best Practices in Teaching Online and Blended Learning gies for the clients. The teams were competing with each other for the best campaign and strategy. We provided pre-recorded weekly lectures on social media strategies and applications as well as social media developments and interacted with students via online discussion boards and in a Facebook group. Students were also asked to share resources on Twitter and visually campaign for their clients on Instagram using a designated course hashtag. This triggered in-depth discussions between use and the students especially about the Ebola crisis in West Africa, which was at its height during the duration of the course. In addition, we asked seven leading social media experts in the health field to speak and interact with our students via Google Hangouts. These experts worked for organizations such as the American Diabetes Association, Doctors Without Borders, FEMA, Charity Water and Smile Train. Students were able to discuss their own strategy ideas with these experts. The two clients also interacted with the students via Google Hangout sessions, first to describe their social media needs and later to help students finalize their projects. In addition, they answered student questions on our online discussion board, on which students had to regularly engage in online discussions about social media issues and in online reflections about their project development. Rationale: As our university does not subscribe to one of the leading Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) platforms such as Coursera or edX, we decided to create our own platforms and channels to engage students in an interactive online environment that is open to the public. We believe that our students learn better when they interact with and learn from external participants and experts and are able to broaden their own horizons and to think out of the box. Increasing community engagement is one of pillars of our university’s strategic plan and based on that strategic goal we decided to expand our service-learning project to an open online environment to be able to work with global clients and issues. We wanted to explore the viability of collaborative online project work in our course as well. Outcomes: The project teams in our course did not only campaign for their clients and thereby generated much needed publicity for their causes, but they also developed detailed social media strategies for them. Each team submitted a 20-25 page strategy report to its client and presented their campaigning in a video. The teams developed strategies for the engagement on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest as well as for fundraising and social media measurement. The clients were able to select the best student ideas from these report and campaigns and implement them in their own social media engagement. In a final Google Hangout session, the two clients selected two winning teams, which were invited to present their projects at a virtual media and health symposium at our university in the spring 2015.
Messner and Guidry | 5 The success of the course allowed us to received internal funding to offer this special topics class again in the fall semester 2015 and to build a faculty team that will expand our department’s open online course offering to four health communication and public relations courses in 2015-2016. This course has allowed us to implement and sustain connected-learning opportunities for our students. Additional Material Examples of Student Work: Students developed promotional Web videos for their clients, such as this one for the Preemptive Love Coalition (unfortunately, links cannot be provided as all Web content includes identifying information):
Students also developed strategies for the engagement on Instagram, such this collage of 12 separately posted photos that form a campaign promotion via the use of a hashtag.
6 | Best Practices in Teaching Online and Blended Learning All 19 student teams also developed campaign strategy reports for their clients from which two winning teams were selected.
Students from the two winning teams were able to present their project work at an online media and health symposium in the spring 2015 to an international audience.
Author’s Last Name | 7 SECOND PLACE Twitter Party Q/A with Local Newspaper Reporters for the JOU1100 News Reporting Hybrid (Blended) Class Rebecca C. Newman, Valencia College Abstract: Today, new media students are inundated with various tools to enhance their reporting. However, these students are frequently unacquainted with how to use the tools to promote his/her media experience. The students are also naïve in terms of how to even begin a news story. They are unfamiliar with how to develop a news story from gathering sources to conducting interviews to writing the lead and subsequent story. The purpose of the Twitter Party Q/A was twofold: to engage students in a conversation about reporting techniques with experienced professionals and to develop skills using one such social media tool, Twitter. Explanation: The 45-minute Twitter Party Q/A was a virtual, real-time panel discussion with professionals in the field. A week before the party, students were required to submit (through Blackboard) three questions for the professionals about political reporting. The idea was that students would volley back and forth with the reporters to get expert advice on how to prepare interviews, conduct research, and discover challenges that news reporters face on a day-to-day basis. In addition, the lesson gave students the opportunity to use the Twitter tool. Prior to this exercise, students were required to set-up a Twitter account and begin following news sources and sources of interest. They conducted research using Twitter and practiced posting to Twitter as they prepared “mock headlines” for stories they were writing. In this exercise, however, the goal was for the students to use their Twitter knowledge to interact with the experts using their previously written questions and new ones that came up as a result of the conversation. During this exercise, the students utilized a social media tool, realized the importance and gratification of immediate feedback, and sincerely appreciated the advice and honesty from professionals in the field. Rationale: The goal of JOU1100 is to teach students with little to no journalism experience the process of reporting and writing news for print and online. In this exercise, students used a social media tool to engage in conversation with experts in the field. They also learned the significance of real-time interaction, prepared quickly
8 | Best Practices in Teaching Online and Blended Learning and carefully crafted exchanges all while discussing the nuances of political reporting with area media professionals. Outcomes: The Twitter Party Q/A resulted in several learning outcomes. Students learned: • to produce clearly and concisely written online content • journalism fundamentals such as interviewing techniques from seasoned professionals • to think on their feet (like a journalist) as the conversation morphed into issues not directly related to their topics From end of course feedback from students, it is clear that the Twitter Party was a favorite activity. Students enjoyed using a 21st century social media tool and appreciated the opportunity to hear from local news experts. One student reported, “The most fun activity would be the interactive Twitter events we did in class. Whether it was live tweeting with local journalists or if it was a competition for the correct AP style sentence, using Twitter was not only educational, but a blast.” Another student concluded, “I really enjoyed the Q&A with the reporters. I thought it was very cool to get insight on this profession from two well-established professionals.” Sample Student Questions to Reporters During Twitter Party 1. Has a politician or other prominent figure ever blacklisted you/denied you access because he was unhappy with one of your stories? How do you deal with that? 2. How do you keep your coverage balanced? Have you ever decided not to write a story because you felt you could not write an unbiased account? 3. What advice do you have for a new reporter? 4. What are some factors to take into consideration when choosing a source? 5. In what ways can a young journalist create more interest and generate more followers with their work? 6. How do you deal with ethical or moral conflicts when covering a certain story? 7. What are your top three go to questions, when interviewing a politician? 8. How many days ahead of time do you start researching for your upcoming event? 9. How long should it take you to write a full edited report? 10. What is your most memorable experience as a journalist? 11. As a reporter, what types of problems have you had with conducting an
Newman | 9 interview and what would you do differently now that you are more experienced? 12. In what ways do you use social media for reporting? 13. What is something you wish you knew when you started being a reporter? 14. Is being politically correct more important than being compassionate or sympathetic? 15. Have you ever had a story you weren’t sure you should publish? What did you do and why? 16. What are some of your interview techniques? 17. How do you filter what is fact or fake when you speak to a politician? 18. What’s your favorite part of being a reporter or why do you enjoy what you do? 19. In politics, most important issues happen behind closed doors, what techniques do you use to dig up stories? Sample Conversation During Twitter Party
10 | Best Practices in Teaching Online and Blended Learning THIRD PLACE Beyond The Basic Blend: Synthesizing Social Media, Mobile Devices and Collaborative Learning In Project-Based Journalism Courses Ronald Yaros, University of Maryland Abstract: Courses that blend class meetings with video lectures and/or virtual assignments continue to grow in popularity, but there is limited evidence-based research of expanded blended strategies. This paper contributes by synthesizing project-based learning and multiple technologies with interactive face-to-face meetings and mobile devices. Preliminary results suggest that strategic uses of social media and mobile technology between and during face-to-face meetings in a blended class enhance student productivity, engagement and course enjoyment without a decrease in learning. The model extends beyond a “basic blend” of video lectures that students view between class meetings. This personalized format focuses on student-produced media that is shared in interactive class meetings on mobile devices (not laptops). The format is called a blended “MEEC” or a manageable educational environment of collaboration. Explanation of the teaching practice or activity: The term “basic blended course” describes a format that replaces face-to-face meetings with video lectures that students watch passively with or without an assignment. Blended courses offer students “education on demand” and takes advantage of today’s digital environment. During the past six years, I have adjusted or completely changed my teaching practices so that virtual assignments are more collaborative, personalized, and congruent with our 75-minute face-to-face meetings. Course related content produced by students using social media and mobile devices between meetings is shared, explained, and discussed when we meet with another new format that replaces projected slides with content on the students’ mobile devices. To begin, listed next to each weekly topic in my syllabus are lists of rotating teams so each student knows the team on which they will serve based on their assigned class ID. (The class ID is used to create all online accounts so only the professor and students know the author of posted content.) Since some of the teams complete more work than other teams, the rotation is easier to manage and assess, especially in larger classes of 70+ students. Based on the topic of the week, each team is assigned different but related virtual assignments to research and share on Twitter or our course blog (200 words) or their own ePortoflio (1,000 words with mobile media) before each meeting. A fourth team focuses on data visualizations for the
Yaros | 11 topic and the fifth team uses the course’s CMS to share with peers the key points from the weekly readings plus a detailed quiz question that might appear in the weekly virtual quiz. PowerPoint slides are no longer projected to the front of the room. Instead, students use their smartphones or iPads (or university loaned iPads) with an app that I use to build interactive activities. This approach is different for two reasons. First, instead of laptops, which offer students the freedom to either view web sites OR look up at slides, the “Nearpod” app displays one dedicated screen on every phone or tablet. The second reason for the difference is that much of the content viewed on each device during our meetings is student-produced and discussed by the authors. The app blends this content with other interactive features including: live polls, open ended questions, live web sites and Twitter feeds, and PDFs. In short, all of the virtual assignments in my blended course subsequently support and enhance our face-to-face meetings within a more manageable educational environment for collaboration (or MEEC). This blended format applies a constructivist approach as it promotes the best practices for students to seek, select and share digital content. The primary learning outcomes are enhanced writing skills and the ability to structure multimedia (text, photos, audio, video, visualizations)in new ways for the next generation of online and mobile users. Rationale: It’s not just about what is learned, but how it is learned (Lave &Wenger, 1991). Literature from educational psychology reminds us that technology alone does not guarantee productivity and learning. Research also suggests that student learning and productivity with technology can result with modifications made to pedagogy, economies of scale, and a paradigm shift to a more personalized selfpaced learning process (Graziadei et al, 2000, Johnstone, 1992 & Twigg, 1992). This inspired the question of whether combining mobile technology, social media, and new pedagogy would increase student interest, attention, participation, learning, and satisfaction. Lave &Wenger (1991) defined learning as an increase in participation rather than internalization of knowledge. Their situated learning theory emerged with computer-mediated communication and suggested that educators move beyond traditional views of social media as just a curriculum-delivery device or teaching aid. Computer-mediated communication should engage students with critical and creative learning. With social media an integral part of daily life, new research could reveal how technology and social media might contribute to learning in new ways. This paper represents that in the context of blended journalism courses. Perhaps it is better to build a new course around newer technology rather than adapting newer technology to a traditional course.
12 | Best Practices in Teaching Online and Blended Learning Outcomes: For anonymity, outcomes published in two book chapters, one peer reviewed journal, three publications about teaching with technology, and presented at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation follow without citations. Final student projects were creating a comprehensive ePortfolio story or one of two iBooks now published on iTunes and completing three hours of mobile coverage for a major campus event when thousands come to the university’s open house. Systematic surveys and grade comparisons suggest that the time taken to explain, demonstrate and practice mobile techniques in and out of class during the semester played a significant role in how novices adapted to devices, produced quality multimedia and social media, and perceived the ease to complete assignments over time. For mobile video assignments, students reported a preference for smartphones compared to tablets. Learning, as measured by grades, was not significantly different between students who used smartphones versus the larger iPads. Students with phones performed slightly better than those with tablets. We also tested whether text messages sent between face-to-face meetings would enhance quiz performance. Students choosing to receive texts scored significantly higher compared to students without texts. Also, when comparing two identical class meetings with 70 students using Nearpod on iPads and the other 70 using no devices, there was no significant decrease in learning (or increased distraction) in the iPad class. Evaluations from nine blended courses (N = 459) showed that students who used mobile devices in my course reported significantly higher ratings for course effectiveness, access to course content, intention to take future blended courses, and overall course ratings. Data from the fall 2014 course (N = 70) indicated that 93% agreed with the statement, “In larger classes, the MEEC class format is a good format for me.” Also, 89% agreed with, “Compared to my other classes, the MEEC format makes this class more interactive and engaging.” These evaluations represent the highest ratings since research in my blended course began in 2009. APPENDIX Photos of students completing mobile news assignments on campus:
Yaros | 13
Sample of tweets from the class TWEET TEAM
A partial sample of one 1,000 word multimedia posting from the ePORTFOLIO TEAM
14 | Best Practices in Teaching Online and Blended Learning HONORABLE MENTION Online Fridays: Engaging Journalism History Students through Blended Learning and Social Media Jennifer E. Moore, University of Maine Abstract: To better engage students in journalism history, invigorate participation in discussions, and increase attendance, a hybrid-learning environment was created. Called “Online Fridays,” this teaching innovation asked students to participate in online activities instead of attending a classroom lecture on Fridays. Online assignments connected the week’s historical theme in journalism history to contemporary journalism. Students used the social media platform Twitter to engage with the assignment, interact with one another, and reach out to journalists and media historians. This teaching method transformed this lecture course into a more engaged learning environment that fostered meaningful discussions in and beyond the classroom. Explanation of the teaching practice or activity: A weekly activity called “Online Fridays” was developed for a journalism history course. The name reflects the activity: in lieu of attending a 50-minute lecture on Friday afternoons, students were instead asked to complete an online activity. Online Fridays were designed to link journalism history to current journalism practices and topical news stories, such as connecting the 1733 John Paul Zenger trial with Glenn Greenwald’s NSA reporting to talk about freedom of the press. By class time on Friday, an assignment was posted on the course web site via the learning management system Blackboard. The activity assigned students to watch a video, view primary historical documents, read a short news article, or a combination of these activities. Questions to prompt learning were provided, and students were required to post answers to these questions on a Blackboard discussion space as a part of the Online Friday class. On the Monday that followed the Online Friday assignment, a modified “flipped” classroom environment further engaged students. Students used Twitter, a social media platform, to share what they had learned during the Online Friday assignment. A class #hashtag was created so students could track the online conversation and respond to one another’s tweets. When appropriate, students were encouraged to “tweet at” relevant people outside of class (e.g. Greenwald in the example explained above). An in-class discussion followed that gave students the opportunity
Moore | 15 to talk about what they had tweeted and why. The Twitter feed was projected for students to view in order to read and respond to their classmate’s answers. One Online Friday activity that was particularly successful happened when the death of Michael Brown and the subsequent protests in Ferguson, Missouri, dominated the news. The topic of the week was the 19th century Black Press and other non-mainstream presses (e.g. the Abolitionist Press). The textbook reading and lectures during this week covered several historical actors and their “outsider” newspapers, such as Frederick Douglass and Freedom’s Journal. For the Online Friday assignment, students were assigned to watch selections from “The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords,” a documentary about the Black Press, and read a column by media scholar Susan J. Douglas, “#BlackTwitter and the Revolutionary Power of Horizontal Networks,” from the August 2014 edition of In These Times. During Monday’s class, students were asked to reflect on how Twitter provided a space for alternative viewpoints like the 19th century “outsider” press. Students were enthusiastic and clearly understood how the Black Press is an antecedent of today’s emerging media environment. These examples of tweets aptly illustrate their engagement (with hashtag omitted to maintain anonymity): “Black Press really shows how even with slavery prevalent a voice can still be heard”; “#BlackTwitter – a modern reincarnation of the black press, brining conversations to the forefront that otherwise would be ignored”; Significance of #blacktwitter is just a continuation of the 19C black press centered around uplifting the black community” Rationale: This is a lecture course with an enrollment cap of 55. It is required for all journalism majors, and it also meets a university general education requirement for “Social Contexts and Institutions” and “Western Cultural Tradition.” As a course typically taught in a lecture format, the basis for introducing “Online Fridays” include the following: 1) To better engage students with journalism history by linking the historical event under study with a contemporary issue in journalism. By connecting the past to the present, this teaching method significantly helped students understand the importance of historical knowledge and why history matters; 2) To increase participation by offering an alternative to speaking in class. Using the social media platform Twitter, student could “tweet” instead of speak in class. Twitter also allowed for more student-to-student interaction, both in and outside of the classroom in a social media environment that most students were very comfortable using; 3) To address attendance issues in this class from previous semesters. Online Fridays improved attendance by offering students an alternative learning environment. Putting Friday’s class online gave students the flexibility to attend class virtually and complete the assignment anytime between Friday and Sunday evening.
16 | Best Practices in Teaching Online and Blended Learning Outcomes: Three significant outcomes resulted from Online Fridays that encourage its future use. First, live tweeting from class on Mondays engaged all students in a lively and thoughtful discussion. Students otherwise reluctant to speak in class were able to participate using Twitter. Using social media also engaged students with one another on a regular basis, as they were asked to read and respond to each other’s tweets as a part of class. Second, attendance on Fridays averaged 91%, up from previous years. Finally, student assessments indicate that this blended learning environment was very successful. 95 percent of students attended class and completed the course evaluation during the “Online Fridays” semester compared to an average of 72 percent during the previous three semesters. When comparing course evaluation numbers to the previous three semesters, the mean rating for the course was .15 higher on a 5-point scale. On course evaluations, student comments were overall quite positive. Below are direct quotes from students who answered the question, “Please identify the aspects of this course which were of most value to you.” 1. “Class discussion was excellent and worthy of participation and listening. Wonderful teacher and learning environment. Provided great examples.” 2. “The instructor always linked the history back to current events, and I loved that aspect.” 3. “The Online Fridays were engaging and fun to write about.” 4. “The discussion based atmosphere helped me learn a lot and speak my thoughts.” 5. “[Professor] is perhaps the best teacher I’ve had – optimistic and excited about her work, and very accommodating. She’s incredibly knowledgeable and understands the value in our education. I recommend everyone take a class with her at some point.” 6. “Very often I was challenged to think for myself and analyze certain things in reference to class. I thoroughly enjoyed it.”