Lauren Cifuentes

Teaching and Learning Online: A Collaboration between U.S. and Taiwanese Students

Abstract To prepare U. S. preservice teachers for online teaching and reaching diverse learners and to provide English instruction to Taiwanese students, American and Taiwanese university students corresponded by e-mail. U.S. preservice teachers explored theory and practice of online instruction, corresponded as tutors to teach English language and American culture, and reflected on their experiences. Taiwanese students practiced English and exchanged cultural information. This research explores documentation of the online teaching and learning experience to identify benefits and limitations of online teaching and learning, online teaching strategies, and cultural aspects associated with cross-cultural collaboration.

Using Web tools, collaborating, and learning online

This case study reports how graduate students learned in a constructivist online course in educational telecommunications. The study investigated the ways students learned to use technology and learned to collaborate in small groups as they learned online. The students used a collaborative workspace and several other Web tools to conduct independent and collaborative activities. Solutions to problems of using technology and learning collaboratively online included getting to know each other, respecting individual differences, negotiating meaning with others, and self‐regulating. The study contributes to an understanding of key design elements for online courses: a delicate balance between structure and dialogue in transactional distance, and the development of a sense of community.

The comparative effect of individually-constructed vs. collaboratively-constructed computer-based concept maps

The researchers investigated the comparative effects of individually-constructed and collaboratively-constructed computer-based concept mapping on middle school science concept learning. One hundred and sixty one students completed the entire study. Using prior science performance scores to assure equivalence of student achievement across groups, students were assigned to three groups: a self-selected study strategy group, an individual-concept mapping group, and a collaborative pairs - concept mapping group. Collaboratively and individually-constructing computer-based concept maps had equally positive effects on seventh grade middle school science concept learning as measured on a comprehension test. However, the students who collaboratively constructed concept maps created significantly higher quality concept maps than those who individually constructed concept maps indicating deeper conceptual understanding.

Design Considerations for Computer Conferences

AbstractThis article describes a formative evaluation of computer conferences for preservice teachers during 5 semesters of implementation on a campuswide system. The successes and problems encountered by students in 24 sections of an upper-level undergraduate course on technology use in the classroom were evaluated by the 4-person research team. We used qualitative participant and observer research methods to understand why and how students participated in the computer conferences. Six design considerations emerged as we addressed challenges: (a) grading system, (b) grouping, (c) collaboration, (d) relevance, (e) learner control, and (f) technological preparation. During our study we made changes associated with all 6 design considerations. Finally, we examined students’ conference messages and their postcourse surveys from the first and the last semesters as we continued to evaluate the impact of the design considerations on the conferences.

Promoting Multicultural Understanding and Positive Self-Concept through a Distance Learning Community: Cultural Connections.

We explored the effectiveness of distance learning and multimedia technologies in facilitating an expanded learning community among two teachers and their students in geographically separated schools. The teachers collaboratively developed curricular activities and identity-forming multicultural activities for their K-12 students to conduct over the distance. Predominantly Hispanic students in a school on the Texas border with Mexico communicated regularly over a school year with diverse students in a partner school hundreds of miles to the north. They participated in collaborative activities and shared multimedia files via interactive videoconference. Using qualitative research methods, we discovered that the participating teachers developed empowering multicultural relationships while their students developed multicultural understanding and positive self-concept. Examples of empowerment and positive self-concept included raised levels of academic aspirations and heightened poise during public speaking.

Students assume the mantle of moderating computer conferences: A case study

Abstract The article presents an analysis of six semester‐long computer conferences moderated by university students to discover how students perceived and used the conferences. The two purposes of the conferences were to provide a meaningful, authentic context for preservice teachers to learn about technology and collaborative learning and to provide an opportunity for graduate students to learn to moderate computer conferences in an authentic context. A qualitative analysis of the conference data yielded the following findings: 1) student moderator roles reflect the influence of both instruction and personal communication styles, and 2) participants adopted behaviors that fostered communication in a text‐based environment and led to positive attitudes about computer conferencing. We conclude by identifying the critical tasks of moderators and participants in student‐moderated computer conferences.

Exploring 3-D Virtual Reality Technology for Spatial Ability and Chemistry Achievement.

We investigated the potential of Second Life® (SL), a three-dimensional (3-D) virtual world, to enhance undergraduate students’ learning of a vital chemistry concept. A quasi-experimental pre-posttest control group design was used to conduct the study. A total of 387 participants completed three assignment activities either in SL or using two-dimensional (2-D) images. Students were administered an 11-question chemistry achievement test and two measures of spatial ability (Purdue Visualization of Rotations Test, Card Rotations Test). Although analyses of covariance revealed no statistically significant differences between the two groups as a whole for any of the outcome measures, a subgroup analyses was conducted to decompose the relative impact of 3-D virtual reality instruction within SL. We found that students classified as having poor spatial ability showed significantly greater improvement in understanding the 3-D nature of molecules if they did relevant activities in a 3-D virtual world than those students who only worked with 2-D images.

One Tale of How and Why To Teach and Learn Online Internationally.

Two university instructors on opposite sides of Earth felt the need to have their students use telecommunications to facilitate learning in their face-to-face classes. They joined forces to prepare U.S. pre-service teachers for teaching online and reaching diverse learners, and to provide English instruction to Taiwanese students. Those geographically separated university students corresponded via email and a Web board. U.S. pre-service teachers explored theory and practice of online instruction, corresponded as tutors to teach English language and American culture, and reflected upon their experiences. Taiwanese students practiced English and exchanged cultural information. Here, we provide a rationale for online instructional practice in teacher education and in foreign language learning and then summarize the online teaching and learning strategies applied by the partners in this telecommunications partnership.

Computer graphics for student engagement in science learning

SummaryIn summary, we delivered a visualization workshop designed to help learners use computer graphics to construct meaning while they study. When delivering visualization workshops in the natural setting of schools, problems are bound to arise. Technical failure, human interruptions, lack of active participation, limited access, distraction by alternate tools or games on computers, and differences in learners’ abilities each affect the success of a workshop. Middle schoolers are unsophisticated learners and require guidance toward effective visualization. In our workshop, in spite of problems associated with the natural setting of a school, students engaged actively in the meaning-making process of studying while we provided scaffolding. Students who successfully formulated mental representations of concepts and then concretized those representations as computer graphics applied a strategy for spending time thinking in order to learn.

Online Collaborative Documents for Research and Coursework.

ConclusionGarrison’s (2000) review of distance education theories describes the current need for ”sustained real two-way communication ... that refiect(s) a collaborative approach to distance education” (p. 13). One way to apply such theories to research and coursework is to use collaborative documents to promote transactions culminating in deliberation among the key players. Such deliberation can create ”a particular kind of democratic public culture among the deliberators: listening as well as talking, sharing resources, forging decisions together rather than only advocating positions taken earlier, and coming to disagreement” (Parker, Ninomiya, & Cogan, 1999, p. 129).