Advantages and Disadvantages of Online LearningPosting to ANGEL |
Coffee ShopTheology Discussion RoomCourse Feedback Room |
Posting your picture on ANGELNotes on my Website |
1. Motivation Taking a course online is distinctively different than taking a face-to-face (f2f) course. Online learning demands a different set abilities on the part of both the teacher and the student. In order to succeed the student must be "a self-starter" and highly motivated. When you have a f2f class at 9:00 AM on Wednesday morning you plan accordingly. When you have class "whenever you want" you are required to do a different kind of planning. It is much easier to "put off" logging onto ANGEL than it is appearing in a classroom at a specific hour.
2. Advantages There are many obvious advantages to online learning. You save a lot of time by not needing to travel to the school. You can work full time and still take the course on your own time schedule.
The online format is appreciated by those of us who like to think first before asking a question. Often in a f2f the more extroverted student is the one who gets his or her question answered first and those of us who are more intuitive often do not have our question formulated until after the time allotted for discussion time has expired. This situation does not exist in the online context. I strongly encourage you to participate actively in the discussion forums and to read and comment on the postings of the other participants in the course. Studies have show that:
1. Adult learners benefit from peer feedback.
2. Adult learners benefit from sharing real-life experiences as part of the learning process.
3. Adult learners benefit from peer suggestions for improvement and it is “easier to take” because peer feedback is not graded.
4. Adult learners benefit from exercising autonomy in the learning process; that is, they are free to accept, modify or reject any suggestions received.
Whenever we are in a classroom setting, class time is limited and the students who ask their questions “quickest” are the ones who get their questions answered. However, on the web, time is unlimited. Everyone can ask whatever they want and everyone can comment on whatever they want. Those who want to spend more time thinking before they ask a question are not "pushed out" by those who formulate their questions more quickly. This is one of the wonderful advantages of online learning. Take advantage of this opportunity.
I realize that there is a lot of work involved in a "group" or "team" project in an online course; I have had this experience myself in taking courses online. However, all of the courses I have taken on "How To Teach Online Courses" strongly recommend a "team project" to be part of the course, usually the final project. And that is why I have included a team project in this course (and in each of my online courses). Second, I have also heard from other students that these projects have been great learning experiences, despite the time/effort involved. Third, in past courses the results of these group projects have been outstanding! And fourth, most of you in this course are or will be involved in some sort of church ministry, and all ministry today is collaborative ministry (indeed, Christianity itself, is a "team effort.")
3. Different time frame In face-to-face situations we quickly learn that the first one to ask a question gets the lion's share of the discussion time. For example, if a f2f class period is sixty minutes long and the teacher lectures for 45 minutes and then asks “are their any questions?”. We learn from kindergarten on that the first ones to raise their hands are the ones who get attention during the next fifteen minutes. In an online situation this "fifteen minute limit" does not exist. Everyone can ask a question or enter into the discussion. There is no time limit. Consequently the online course requires much more time to read these discussions and to respond to them. Studies and experience have shown that an online course requires approximately twice the number of hours that a face to face course requires. This is a considerable amount of time for those of you who are working full time.
4. Netiquette Communicating on the internet is a different experience than communicating face-to-face. One reason for this is that all the visual cues that we ordinarily notice (whether the person is smiling, agitated, insistent, etc.) are not available to the reader. This makes it more likely that emails and other postings can be misinterpreted and consequently I caution you to use care when expressing yourself in these forms. Sometimes the use of emoticons will help indicate your tone of voice. See chapter d13 for notes about Netiquette, Acronyms, and Emoticons.
5. Readiness for an Online Course This course will be taught totally online. Online learning presupposes a specific set of skills. In addition to technical skills (participants in this course are expected to have a personal computer or access to a computer; the ability to access websites and download and print files; the ability to send and receive e-mail; and the ability to post essays and enter into discussion on ANGEL) the course requires specific "learning skills." Online learning is not for everyone. Online learning requires a high degree of self-discipline and the ability to set schedules for oneself. To see if you would make a good online learner you might want to take an "assessment for online learning" available on the internet, for example the Readiness for Online Courses survey at Texas A&M University. To learn more about online learning click here.
1. ANGEL St. Meinrad School of Theology uses ANGEL (A New General Environment for Learning, version 7.2) as its learning course software. For those of you who are not familiar with ANGEL but use Blackboard or Moodle, you will find ANGEL very similar. When you enroll in this course at Saint Meinrad you will be given a username and a password which will enable you to log onto ANGEL. All coursework, assignments, and communication with the professor and other participants in the course are to be conducted through ANGEL. ANGEL contains all materials pertinent to this course that are not included on my website. Postings on ANGEL logged to the Saint Meinrad server and are subject to Saint Meinrad's rules and regulations as stated in their "Agreement for Use." All assignments are to be posted on ANGEL before midnight on the due date listed in the syllabus. Because of the collaborative nature of this course and the importance of the group discussions, these deadlines are absolutely necessary. No credit will be given for work posted after the due date given in the syllabus.
2. LESSONS tab Most of your work will be done in the LESSONS section of ANGEL. Log on to ANGEL, click this course, and then click the LESSONS tab and you will find a discussion box for each of the assignments of the course. They are listed by due date. At the top of the list you will find three discussion rooms labeled Coffee Shop, Theology Discussion Room, Course Feedback Room.
3. What's New When you log on to the course in ANGEL at the top right hand corner of the ANGEL screen is the option, show map, hide map. When you choose the option "show map" a column will appear on the left hand of your screen with the two options map and what's new. When you click "what's new" you will be able to see all of the postings that have been made that you have not yet read. I find this option very helpful. I keep it selected so that each time I go the page I immediately know "what's new" and what I want to read first.
4. Save your work I suggest that you compose your comment on your computer using your word processing program. Spell check, grammar check, word count, etc. Save the essay on your computer. Then put a copy of the essay in your buffer [Ctrl + A (select all) Ctrl +C (copies selection to the buffer)]. Go to ANGEL at http://mysma.saintmeinrad.edu/Angel/home.asp Enter your password and select the course you are taking from me. Click on LESSONS. Click on the class number for which the assignment is due. Click on "Post a Message" and a box will open. Put your curser in the box and drop your essay from your buffer into the box (Ctrl +V). Then click "Save" at the bottom of the page. ANGEL and all its data can disappear into cyber-limbo in an nanosecond. Always keep a copy of anything you post to ANGEL on your own computer or on paper.
5. Drop Boxes When you click on the LESSONS tab at the top of your ANGEL page there will be a list of Discussion Boxes, Drop Boxes, and a Survey. The "Faculty" can "hide" these boxes so that they are only visible on your computer as you need them. When you post information in a Drop Box it can be seen only by the professor. When these postings are graded the grade is automatically entered into your grade book which you can access by clicking on the TOOLS tab at the top of the ANGEL screen.
6. Discussion Boxes When you post information in a Discussion Box it can be read by the other participants. You can read the responses of the other participants in the class and respond to them by clicking "Post a Reply." Do not start a new thread when replying to a posting. When responding to another posting make it worth our while to open it. Don't just post "That's nice" or "I never though of that" or such comments that do not really move the discussion forward. When posting assignments to discussion boxes, some students prefer to read a couple of responses from other students before posting their own; myself, I prefer to post mine first and then read the others. I think this keeps clear in my own mind which thoughts were mine and which came from others. But you are free to do what is best for you.
7. Personal information While the postings of reflections, experiences, etc. may be "personal" they should not be so "personal" that you would not want them shared with the class. All postings on ANGEL for this course are open to being read and discussed by the class. The same respect and "confidentiality" is to be used regarding the postings on ANGEL as would be expected of experiences discussed in class.
8. E-mail When sending mail through ANGEL, click the box “Send a copy to each recipient’s Internet E-mail” which is found at the bottom of the screen. This assures that the message will appear in the person’s inbox even if they are not logged onto ANGEL. Unless you scroll to the bottom of the screen after typing the message, you may not notice this box. Please check it when sending messages to me. This assures that I will answer the e-mail promptly as it will appear immediately on my screen and will not have to wait until the next time I log onto ANGEL. However I strongly suggest that our communication be through the various discussion boxes listed below the lessons tab in ANGEL. This enables all of the participants in the course to be in on the conversation and does not lead anyone to feel excluded from a particular class discussion. However there are items of a more personal or individual nature that are appropriate for e-mail.
9. Live Chat When working in ANGEL, you might want to click the "live chat" button (the smiling face at the bottom of icons on the left hand side of your screen. This gives you the possibility of communicating with an other members of the class and/or myself who may be in ANGEL at the same time.
10. Refresh frequently When viewing a page that you have viewed before (e.g. the syllabus) it is often good to click "refresh" so that the St. Meinrad server goes back to the host server to find the latest version of the page. Otherwise, you might be viewing an outdated version of the page.
11. Big Brother Watching The ANGEL system allows the professor to see when and how long each student logged onto the course. When logged onto my website without going through ANGEL, the time on the site is not logged in ANGEL. For example, the syllabus for this course can be entered through ANGEL or directly from my home page. When entering my web site through ANGEL, the time you spend on my web site is counted in your course activity time report. When you enter the web site directly, the time you spend there is not known to ANGEL or available to me. I do not use this information in computing your grade for the course. Enter in whatever way is convenient.
Besides the discussion boxes for the course assignments I have added three additional discussion "rooms": Coffee Shop, a Eucharist discussion room, and a room for course feedback and process comments. I may enter the coffee shop from time to time but I will do so only as another participant in the conversation -- not as the professor.
The “coffee shop” is an un-graded room where you can go at any time to discuss whatever you would like to talk about -- much as you would talk with you fellow participants over a cup of coffee in a coffee shop. (The coffee shop also serves tea.) While this is an open, un-graded, "say whatever you want" room, still the common rules of politeness and Christian charity apply. I mention this because in former classes (in a time long ago in a land far away) students have said rather harsh and painful things to one another in the coffee shop. This might have been partly due to the fact that some students were not aware that reading a typed message does not convey the same wealth of emotional cues as does a face-to-face conversation. In posting to the coffee shop or any other discussion box, please be aware of the common rules of netiquette.
The "topic of course" is an un-graded room where you can go at any time to discuss theological/liturgical issues related to the course. There is no requirement to enter this room or to post comments here -- indeed you will probably be busy enough simply posting the required assignments into their discussion boxes. However there may be issues related to the Liturgical Year that you would like to talk about and this would be the room for these discussions -- things that my occur in the news or come to mind as a result of the course assignments. Whereas the coffee shop is for discussion about anything, this room is intended for theological/liturgical discussion.
The "course feedback room" is an un-graded room where you may comment on or ask questions about the course method. This is a place for questions or comments about ANGEL; questions pertaining to the usefulness of the assignments, process comments on the course, etc. Where as the "Liturgical Year Discussion Forum" is a room to discuss course content, the "course feedback room" is a place in which you can discuss course method.
On your ANGEL course page, when you click on the "Communicate" tab you can click on "Course Roster" and at the top of the page, under the heading "People" you can click the option to "show pictures" or "hide pictures." In previous courses students have said that it is helpful to the online discussion if they can visualize whom they are talking with. On the CLASS tab in your ANGEL Eucharist course there is the possibility to post a picture of yourself. To add your picture (and other important personal information)
1. Log on to Angel
2. Click onto the “tool box” (click the icon of the wrench, second from the bottom on the row of icons down the left hand side of your screen)
3. When the “preferences” screen comes up click onto “Personal Information”
4. Enter the information
5. Enter your information in the name setting
6. Enter a brief paragraph in the “about me” box
7. In the “organizational settings” be sure to select viewable by EVERYONE
8. In the “Contact Settings” enter your email address, (and website, if you wish), and ADD A PICTURE OF YOURSELF. (Your classmates and I will find this very helpful in “visualizing” the person we are entering into dialogue with.) Click “browse” and find on your computer the picture you wish to use, and click select; and the picture will be uploaded into ANGEL. Choose USE PHOTO and the photo will become part of your personal file. [If you can, edit your photo to a size of no larger than 100 by 150 pixels.] On the right side of the screen, after "Photo URL" be sure to click viewable by EVERYONE.
9. At the bottom of the screen set your time zone (CST is -6:00)
10. Click ‘SAVE’ at the bottom of the page.
1. The system I use for organizing and mapping my website uses the following system: a letter, then a two digit number and the first five letters of the title. Each of these can be entered from the home page at www.tomrichstatter.org
d Documents, General Introductions (and everything that did not fit elsewhere)
e Eucharist
f Funerals and the pastoral care of the deceased and the bereaved
g Marriage
i Christian Initiation
m Mary
p Ministry
r Reconciliation, vengeance, penance, and forgiveness
s Pastoral care of the sick
v Popular Religion and Pius Devotions
y The Liturgical Year
2. My website is not a finished product. I strongly suggest that you do not download the pages unless you really prefer reading from a paper copy rather than from the computer screen, and if you do download the pages, wait until you actually intend to read them because I continually update the pages as I find time and information.
Note: When calling up a page you have called up previously (e.g. the syllabus) your computer will "remember" that you were there before and give you the "saved" page. Click "Refresh" (a circle of two green arrows in Internet Explorer and two blue arrows in Fireox) to get the most recent edition of a page.
3. Every effort has been, and is being made, to acknowledge sources when the ideas are not my own. Any failure to comply with the United States Copyright Act (Title 17, United States Code) will be corrected immediately should I become aware of it. Please notify me of any errors, corrections or suggestions. Your comments are welcome at webmaster@tomrichstatter.org. It has not always been possible to acknowledge all the teachers I have had both in this country and abroad who have influenced my thinking and consequently have influenced these pages. As experienced preachers know, all the best stories are stolen from others, used and reshaped, stolen again and reshaped again and again. And thus the story is handed on to the next generation. Thank you to all the story tellers in my history.
4. One of the main reasons I have established my web site is to enable you to have access to my notes and catechetical helps even after the course is completed. My website is my personal property (i.e. property of the Franciscan Province of Saint John the Baptist). For security reasons, Saint Meinrad’s requires their teachers to place all course related materials on their website. Consequently, I have placed all materials which relate specifically to courses that I teach at Saint Meinrad (student assignments, student responses, grades, communications etc. on ANGEL at http://mysma.saintmeinrad.edu/mySMA/home.asp This information is available only to those who are enrolled in courses at Saint Meinrad School of Theology. Placing my own personal thoughts on my website is my "hobby" and I intend to continue developing the site even after I am no longer employed by Saint Meinrad. If in future years, this material is useful to you in your ministry, it will be available to you in its most recent version.
5. Please bring to my attention any misspellings, broken hyperlinks, etc. so that I might correct them.
© Copyright: Tom Richstatter, Franciscan Province of St. John the Baptist, Cincinnati Ohio, Order of Friars Minor. All Rights Reserved. This page was created by Fr. Thomas Richstatter, O.F.M. Every effort has been, and is being made, to acknowledge sources when the ideas are not my own. Any failure to comply with the United States Copyright Act (Title 17, United States Code) will be corrected immediately should I become aware of it. This site was updated on 03/02/10 . Your comments on this site are welcome at tomrichs@psci.net.