Innovative Instructional Technology Awards

Feb. 19, 2003

Wayne Danielson

School of Journalism

Sharing What Works:

Dr. D’s Top Ten Hints for On-line Classes

In 1998, I began using home-made Web pages to supplement instruction in J363, Theories of Mass Communication. In 2000, I switched to a comprehensive off-the-shelf software product, WebCT, still using it as a supplement. In fall 2001, I taught a class of 12 students entirely on-line using WebCT at the same time I taught a larger, traditional class using supplemental WebCT materials. In fall 2002, with the help of good TAs, I taught a class of 48 students entirely on-line. From this five-year introduction to on-line instruction, I have learned the following:

1.Let your students participate in developing the course. Ask students for permission to keep and use their contributions. Give them points for their work. Thanks to the detective work of our students, we have photographs of all the major contributors to communication theory mentioned in the course textbooks. We have student-written biographies of the theorists as well. We have a glossary of student-written definitions of major concepts used by the textbook authors. We have student book and article reviews, cartoons, chapter notes, obituaries of theorists, and general tips on how to use the course software. The course becomes richer each time it is given because of new student contributions.

2.If interaction is important to the course, give your students credit for interacting. I ask students to participate in Friday Feedback at the end of the week by answering a discussion question. When participation went unrewarded, few took part. When I began giving 25 points for participation, many more students joined in. Lesson learned: Intrinsic rewards are what we hope will motivate students; extrinsic rewards are what we know will motivate students.  Remember those stickers your second-grade teacher used to hand out? They still work.

3.Post your students’ work (with permission, of course) on the Web site. Students in the theories course write four short papers. The quality of the papers greatly improved when we asked students to post them “as is,” with their names attached, in presentation spaces on the site. I found it interesting that students might turn in hastily written work for their TA or teacher to see in private, but not for their classmates to see on the Web site. We decided to make an effort to call attention to all innovative or interesting work by students, and we now post (and give extra credit for) as much high level work as we can. For example, we display and give a bonus of 10 points for any student work published by the media.

4.Give your students a chance to self- test their knowledge. I have learned to use and appreciate practice quizzes. Scores are kept but are not used in grading. Students can retake the practice quizzes until they get the scores they like. Self-tests give students a chance to get acquainted with the style and difficulty-levels of the real quizzes. In addition, they help students review and organize what they have learned. We also use course surveys -- where students can answer questions anonymously and see how their answers compare with those of other students. (We also use the course survey to do the course/instructor evaluation at the end of the course.)

5.Offer your students teaching materials in a variety of formats. Students differ in how they learn. Some like visuals – charts, graphs, color and movement. Some like text only. Some like seeing and hearing the teacher, and they appreciate having video clips. Some students like a goals statement for each lesson. Some like enrichment materials, so they can go deeper into topics that interest them. I am interested in adding voice synthesizer software to the site so students can listen to textual material when they get tired of reading.

6.Contact students personally. It seems to me that on-line instruction requires more self-discipline and motivation on the part of students than traditional in-class instruction. Some on-line students simply lose interest and fade away unless they get periodic doses of personal attention.  I’ve learned to offer “office hours” any way I can – in person, on the telephone, via e-mail, and in the chat room.  I send each student personal notes, showing that I am paying attention to them and am interested in the progress that they are making. In grading papers and essay questions, I have learned to begin with a statement about student answers in general and what I wanted to get and to end with a small set of very definite statements addressed to the individual student.

7.Keep the course fresh and new. I have learned to uncover course materials gradually; I don’t put them all out there at once. I use a visual analogy in the site design. Students progress through “four seasons” of the course – winter, spring, summer and fall. I put something new on the site every day, and I include  directions for finding the new information. However, I have also learned to include some buried treasure in the course that students can discover on their own.

8.Provide timely information on your students’ progress. Students want to know how they are doing. They want to be able to compare their progress in the course with the progress of other students. We give quizzes on-line, and we post grades the next day. We receive papers electronically, and we post grades within a week..  Students can’t see other students’ grades, of course, but they can see course distributions and averages. They know where they stand. In fall 2002, for the first time, I provided a “predicted final grade,” letting students know what their final grade will be if they continue to work at the same level. It seemed to reassure good students and to encourage those who needed to make a greater effort. I also decided to let students see how their use of the site compares with the use being made by other students by periodically publishing their “hits” so they can compare them with class averages.

9.Develop your own on-line persona. Students began calling me “Dr. D” years ago, but I have emphasized the use of the term in my on-line teaching. It is short, easy to remember, and it evokes an image of a friendly, old college professor, which is more or less what I am. I have had more student contact on-line than I ever had before or after a traditional class or in traditional office hours. During fall 2002, for example, more than ______ e-mail messages were exchanged in the course. “Dr. D” helps me and my students remember that we are human beings engaged in a very human activity – teaching and learning.

10.Trust your students. Early on, I decided to stop worrying about on-line cheating. I installed an honor code, vaguely remembered from Stanford days of long ago, and I asked my students to append the following statement to all work submitted for grading: “I have neither given nor received any unpermitted aid in completing this assignment.” To my delight, students took the honor code seriously and seemed to enjoy being treated as responsible human beings. I learned to trust my students again, as I should have done all along.

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About half-way through the course last fall, I was in my office in the School of Journalism one afternoon when I noticed a young woman out in the hallway, peering around the open door at me.

“Come on in,” I said.

“Oh, no, Dr. D” she said, “I’m one of your on-line students, and I just wanted to see if you were real. I feel that I know you.”

“I am real,” I said, “Just as real as you are.”

She came in, sat down, and said her name was Ann.

I said, “I know who you are, Ann.  I know a lot about you. I liked your last paper, your letter to the editor on the behavior of fans at football games.”

We chatted for a while, and after she left I wondered whether I was missing too much, meeting my students only on-line. Then I thought how meaningful our conversation had been because of our previous on-line experience. We both felt that we knew one another.

“I know exactly what I want to try next with my students,” I said to myself.  “I’ll teach them on-line. We’ll get to know one another. And then, somehow, we’ll try to get together in small groups and just talk”

      Now that will be interesting. That will be teaching!

Note: J363, the WebCT course for fall 2002 mentioned in this paper, is available on-line at ____________________. If you would like to visit the course as a guest student, you may log on as ____________, using _____________ as a password as well.