Nov 08 2009
Increase Interaction Online
I’m piloting this new idea in my Blackboard class right now, and it’s one I approached carefully. Teachers should add a www.groupboard.com whiteboard in announcements so that students have instant access to live chat with each other in online classes. Basically, www.groupboard.com allows you to have an online interactive white board with chat features in your announcements -I use them as a permanent announcement and add the regular announcements below it.
When kids login, they see how many other students are working on the class at that time. They can collaborate, tutor each other, and help with course issues!
Keep in mind that some students don’t do well with anonymity in online classes, so make sure you preface this feature with a reminder to stay positive, supportive, and enthusiastic to make great online friends. Keep checking on the class periodically and scan the chat lines to make sure everyone is playing nice.
Because this is such a great tool, I’m going to add a great screencast below going over it and some of its potential. Â Enjoy, and I’m sure you can see how valuable a tool this will be for your students in an online class!
Shu
January 30th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Interesting! How were the results in your class? Did you try this in any other classes other than your Honors class?
January 30th, 2010 at 1:21 pm
We are actually piloting this in English IV Honors right now! I’m really excited to see how it goes. It’s going to take some really forward-thinking teachers who can think outside the box, but I know Kim Rushton’s team can do it! They are awesome!