Reflections on Facilitating Asynchronous Discussion

When I started reading the article Facilitating Asynchronous Discussion by A. Bedard-Voorthees (Encyclopedia of Distance Learning, vol 2, 2005, pp. 912-917). I thought that as I’m not an online instructor, but an online learner, the article won’t be of too much help. But as I kept reading I realized that the article is quite useful for online learners too. On top of that, it’s also good to know what the instructor’s work frame is and the basic techniques they use to generate good asynchronous interaction.

The article ends with the mention of MERLOT Virtual Speaker Bureau, a program I’ve never heard of. A quick search on yahoo directed me here , where I found out that MRLOT “allows you to enhance the educational experiences of your students by bringing them together with guest speakers who are experts in their fields. Guest Experts are available on a wide range of topics relevant to technology, teaching, and learning…” Bottom line, it’s just another tool useful in distance education.

Going over the list of references, I found an article published in the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks. The journal publishes interesting articles, but the only problem is that the full text of the article is subscription based, only abstract being available for free.

After reading this article I remembered that about one year ago I registered to an online forum about Thailand: ThailandQA. With all the information that I’ve been accumulating in the last week in my mind, and waiting to be put to good use, I came up with a project / paper idea. In the meantime, I started reading some of the post on the forum and tried to identify elements specific to asynchronous interaction.

Facilitating Asynchronous Discussion

The article Facilitating Asynchronous Discussion by A. Bedard-Voorthees (Encyclopedia of Distance Learning, vol 2, 2005, pp. 912-917.) presents techniques of how online instructors can facilitate meaningful asynchronous discussions. Asynchronous refers to “one-one-one and one-to-many text based interaction independent of time.” (p.912)

Competencies for asynchronous interaction (for instructors)

- scaffolding (building on prior knowledge, sequencing)
- technical support
- “online communication skills” – the ability to write clear, positive contributions in a “personable” way
- “content expertise”
- “personal characteristics”

How to create a positive atmosphere in asynchronous interaction (for instructors)

- self disclosure (local details and humor)
- expressing interest and encouragement
- inclusiveness behaviours (responding to learners by name, using “we” instead of
“I” and salutations – “Hi all”)
- control over the choice of words with negative connotations

Why learners may write impertinent posts

- lack of clarity about learning expectations
- anxiety about the new text environment
- a sense of displacement from community (due to online environment)

Side note: “students sometimes make remarks online they would never in a face-to-face classroom”

Instructional competencies (for instructors)

- ability to generate goals for discussion
- create participant expectations
- formulate stimulating questions
- re-direct strayed discussions

Content items that matter (for learners)

- addressing the topic
- reference to readings
- real-life examples
- a response to another student
- expressing own viewpoint

Side note: It’s recommended that the instructors provide “models for students as a way of suggesting appropriate levels of response”

Good questioning techniques (for instructors & learners)

- spark discussion
- re-engage participants
- prompt students to process the learning content
- respond to an expand upon the response of others

Kinds of questions

- open-ended or naïve (e.g. What would happen if _______?)
- asking for clarification of statement
- questions that identify assumptions
- asking for example of evidence
- asking learners to consider alternatives
- asking about viewpoints

Reaction to new technologies

My initial reaction to new technologies was that of a person who likes the old ways. I always seemed to be the last one who tried them out, but once I did, I couldn’t do without them. I considered that all these new gadgets will take me away from other things that I loved to do, such as reading and spots. And I still feel the same, and it’s exactly what happens to me now. Computers, internet, etc take way too much of my reading and sport time. But now, I can’t do without these technologies. There’s no way out.

I think the period of greatest changes in my life was the one after the acquisition of a PC and after I had connected my computer to the internet. My life practically changed completely. Because of the internet and e-mail I’m now in Thailand, 7000 km away from home, doing an online certificate with an Australian university.

I started to use computers because it was a fashion, everybody talked about PCs and Internet. My older brother was doing a BA in computer engineering, so basically he introduced me to the latest technologies. Once proficient in the use of PCs and internet, I started using my knowledge to make some pocket money, by typing papers and articles for newspapers and students. This only improved my ICT skills and exposed me to different genres and styles of writing, which greatly helped me in my future career as a teacher and writer.

I stopped playing computer games after about 2 years of spending days and nights in front of the computer playing strategy games.

Through the use of e-mail and internet I got to know and chat with people from different parts of the world. By accepting the job offer from Thailand, I even met the person whom I was exchanging e-mails with. Without the internet, this wouldn’t have happened.

Now I think I have more internet “friends” than real life buddies. This means that my social behaviour and interaction changed and adapted to the new situation, where I spend more time interacting on the internet than chatting with someone face-to-face. But, it was through the internet that I’ve met interesting people and joind several study groups.

With every new technology I was exposed to, I had to be taught/shown basic operating skills. That’s all I needed. Later on I would discover through experience more complicated features of the respective technologies.

Although reluctant to try out the new technologies, now I’m sure that I couldn’t do without them.

Timeline of literacy technologies

I decided to create a timeline and record the literacy technologies that I have used until now.

1978 – I was born on May 19

1979-1981 - I spent 3 years in a kindergarten where I mostly used colored pencils and blank paper, training my fine motor skills.

1982 – I start primary school in my hometown. At that time pupils had to write with fountain pens and use lined notebooks. I was not allowed to write with a pen. The teacher said that we could use pens starting grade 5 only, after we had learned the correct way to form letters.
- Soon after I started grade 1 I was taught how to use the phone we had in our apartment. My parents wanted me to know how to dial a number in case of an emergency and answer the phone if it rang.

1986 – My father had two typewriters in his room. He used them almost every day to write his articles for the newspaper he was working at. Me and my brother were not allowed to use them, so when my parents were not at home we often sneaked into their room, took the typewriters out, and played around with them. As my country was still under a strict communist regime, all typewriters were registered at the police station together with a copy of all the letters, hence my parents’ reluctance to let me use the typewriter.

1987 – My parents bought a record player on which I listened for hours and hours stories for children and classical music. It was my parents’ first investment in modern technology!

Before 1989 – My family had one black and white TV, but only 2 hours of entertainment programs were broadcasted by the government. The rest was all propaganda.

1990 - After the 1989 revolution, when the communist regime was overthrown, my father received from a friend, but only for a couple of days, an electric typewriter which he let me use for the short period of time it was in our apartment. I was 12 years old at that time, and compared to the old typewriters we had, the electronic one was like magic. I remember that I was particularly fascinated by the delete button.

1991 – My parent bought a colored TV and we got cable TV too. This was a major event in our family, with tens of channels to choose from and the possibility to watch TV at any time of the day.

1992 – I was already in junior high school when my parents bought for me and my brother a Spectrum computer. It had a word processor which I used to type up short compositions. I also learned how to write simple programs in BASIC.

1995 – My father started his own newspaper and it was at his office where I first saw a fax machine. Later on we had one in our apartment too. I rarely used it to send faxes, but I often used it to make copies of different papers for school.

1996 – Me and my brother bought our own PC which I used for typing texts for money and play games.

2000 – I was a sophomore when we connected our computer to the internet and used for the first time electronic mail. I remember clearly that for a few months I spent hours and hours in front of the computer surfing the internet. The abundance of information was more that I could take. For a while I tried to copy and paste all the texts that interested me and read them later on, but when I realized I could find them online at any time I soon stopped doing that.
- In the same year I bought my fist mobile phone, I think an Erickson the size of a brick. As talking was quite expensive, I mostly used it to send text messages and sometimes play games.
- Working part time as a typist, mostly typing articles and books for my father’s business, I saved up some money and bought a stereo (tape recorder and CD player included) and a VCR.
- About this time I bought my first interactive encyclopedia (Encarta), which came on 6 CDs.

2002 – After two years playing around with the internet I became a proficient internet researcher which greatly helped me in writing my BA thesis. It was through the internet that I found a vacancy at my first school in Thailand. If it hadn’t been for the internet, I would probably still be teaching in my hometown. Internet definitely changed my life (into the better).

2006 – I used my wife’s mini recorder to make an interview with my country's ambassador in Thailand. After the interview I had to do the transcription by listening to the tape and writing in Word the questions and answers.

Defining new literacies

For my online PGCE course I had to read “Defining new literacies in curricular practice” by Ladislaus M. Semali, published in Reading Online (vol. 5, no. 4), an electronic journal of the International Reading Association.

In this article Semali debates the importance of having a definition of “new literacies” in a world where it is very difficult to predict what new literacies we will be exposed to in a few years. The author refers to “new literacies” as those literacies that have emerged in the post-typographic era. He advocates that schools have to change their curriculum in such a way as to adapt to the new literacies, which now include, alongside printed text, moving images and graphics.

Key points from the reading:

1) In most schools, education inside the classroom is print based, while outside the school, students interact with technology that requires different competencies than those acquired at school. Thus, the need for teachers and schools to incorporate new literacy skills in the curriculum.

2) The most frequent new literacies in post-typographic era are:
- computer literacy (ability to use computers)
- information literacy (“ability to create, disseminate and retrieve information quickly”)
- media literacy (“ability to access, experience, evaluate and produce media products”)
- television literacy or “teleliteracy” (ability “to read and interpret television messages”)
- visual literacy (ability to read and interpret visual messages)

3) Schools need to create “media literate citizens” that can not only access and read the new literacies, but also create content for them (as opposed to the “passive citizens”)

4) Creating an absolute definition to a term as wide as new literacies is unwanted in a world of constant change and evolution.

Issues raised from my own context

- The need of a curriculum that includes competencies for new literacies might be a hot topic in developed countries, but developing countries, such as Thailand, haven’t reached a high enough standard of education (primary, secondary and high school only) to think about new literacies. It is very difficult to make school administrators (and parents!) understand that English doesn’t mean only grammar, or science doesn’t mean only memorization of definitions.

- Another issue arises from the fact that my students are non-native speakers of English and, with very few exceptions, the only time they speak English is at school. At home they are exposed to multi-modal texts that are most of the time in Thai, their native tongue. Will my efforts of exposing the students to new ICTs (and teaching them competencies needed for new literacies) have any practical value as long as the instruction is in English?

Online PGCE - day one

The first term I chose to do the Multi-Modal Texts and New Literacies course. Week one will be an introductory week in which all course participants have to write a short introduction and add a response to one of the other course participants. There are 3 students who are from Asia (two from South Korea and one from Thailand). The rest, 10 of them, are from different parts of Australia. The course instructor and the moderator are also from Australia.

Online PGCE course starts tomorrow

I enrolled in the online PGCE course at USQ for 2 reasons:

1) In the future I would like to teach in international schools. The PGCE will open many doors and employers will not throw my application in the trash bin anymore just because I’m not a native speaker of English. Actually, in a few years, I am considering relocating to the European Union, and I’m sure I won’t face such discriminations there as my country is also part of the EU!

2) Although I attended many methodology and teaching practice courses during my BA, I don’t have a degree in Education. The PGCE will solve this problem.

I don’t expect this course to be an easy one and I’m aware of the fact that I’ll have to put many hours into research and projects. But I am ready to do that. I even have my wife’s permission to take all the time I want for my studies! I’m also ready to sacrifice my after school and Saturday tutoring lessons (that bring more income) just to have enough time to dedicate to this course.

By taking this course I expect to widen my teaching horizon and become a better teacher.

Online PGCE Accept Offer

More good news:

"Dear

Thank you for your email.

Please be informed that you have now been enrolled into EDU8415 Multi-Modal Txt & New Literacy WEB for semester 1, 2008. The payment has also been finalised.

Kind regards
Ka Wing Ka
Wing LEUNG (Ms)
International Education Service Officer USQ
InternationalUniversity of Southern Queensland (Toowoomba Campus)
Toowoomba Qld 4350 Australia
email: ioacceptoffer@usq.edu.au (IO Accept Offer)"

Now I only have to get my password for the USQConnect website and then I have everything!

Online PGCE study package

At the beginning of this month I went to the bank to pay the deposit fees (3250 AUD) for the online PGCE course that I’m taking with the University of Southern Queensland. Including the transfer commission, I had to pay 98.800 baht. It was more than I had expected, but I guess the exchange rate on http://www.xe.com/ was not correct or updated. I also spent 500 baht for EMS to send the Letter of Acceptance and the payment detail to Australia.

Not long after I did all these, I received a couple of confusing e-mails from USQ Prospective Students. I think they have so many departments and e-mail accounts that sometimes keeping track of students’ enrollment is a bit difficulty!

Anyway, I’m sure they received my letter because this week I got by TNT the General Study Pack from the uni. It included:
- the USQ calendar
- the distant education study guide
- 4 blank assessment folders
- the residential school flyer (which I won’t need as I’m an online student!)
- an off-campus library card
- student toolkit 2008 CD

The CD is the most useful at the moment as it introduces USQConnect and USQStudyDesk, the online student information tools.

Scholarship request sent

I finally finished putting together the scholarship forms. I sent everything back home, including my original MA degree and CELTA certficate. My parents will have to translate them and after that send my application to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (In the meantime I have to pay the deposit tuition fees from my own money.) Let's hope it won't take them too long to assess my request and they'll give me 75% of the tuition fees.

Surprise Mail

Yesterday when I came back home the girls from the reception told me there was an envelope for me. At first I thought it was a mistake as I rarely receive mail, but I was thrilled to read on the TNT cover that the sender was USQ, the Australian university where I've been accepted to do an on-line PGCE.

The envelope contained a folder with forms I have to return before the start of the first semester (March 3) together with payment of required fees. (The initial deposit fee is AUD 3,250!) There's also a brochure for international students with information about the uni's offer.

Now, it is obvious that the next step would be to pay the 87,000 baht... and I will at the beginning of next month.

I will not go quietly into the dark…

… I will not give up my PGCE without a fight. Yes, the PGCE is expensive, but I talked to my wife and she was remarkably understanding regarding the money I’d have to spend on this course. After all, we’ll have a better life once I have the certificate in my hand.

Anyway, I’m trying to come up with the best financing option. There might also be the possibility of my government back home sponsoring my studies. So, now I’m busy writing the papers for the scholarship request and putting together a good dossier. For that, I need to get my MA and CELTA translated into my native language. That would cause a bit of a hustle, but there’s nothing I can’t handle.

From what I’ve heard, the PGCE is every foreign teacher’s dream, but few do anything towards it. In my 5 years in Thailand, I met only one guy who didn’t talk rubbish and got his PGCE as planned.

I'm in

Big surprise today! Below is the e-mail I received from the Uni where I applied for the online PGCE:

"Dear Mr

Congratulations!

You have been successful in your application to study at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ).

We are pleased to offer you a place in the following program:

Program: Postgraduate Certificate in Education
Major: Unspecified
Start Date: 03 March 2008
Study required to complete program: 4 units
Course Tuition Fees: AUD1625 per unit
Estimated Total Tuition Fees: AUD6500
Initial Deposit Fees: AUD3250"

I was a bit shocked, actually more than a bit, when I realised that I have to pay a deposit fee which is half of the total cost of the course. In Thai baht that's around 87,000 baht. Now, I have the money, but me and my wife are planning to buy a house...

Application for online PGCE is ready

After receiving seven e-mails (I have probably sent as many!) from the University that offers the online PGCE, I eventually found out what documents I have to submit to apply for the program. I was advised in the last e-mail to send all my documents by e-mail.

As I requested not to submit proof of English language proficiency (i.e. TOEFL, IELTS, etc), I have to send certified copies of my MA degree and transcript and my Cambridge CELTA. Getting copies of my MA documents certified was quite a hustle, but in the end I got everything I need from the Thai Uni where I did my Masters. Lucky me, I already have certified copies of my CELTA certificate (the stamp is a little bit blurred, but I hope it will pass!). These papers will help me get into the program without having to take a TOEFL.

I also have to attach the International Student Application Form (which can be downloaded from the Uni’s website), my CV and Letters of Employment that prove my teaching experience. The application is free of charge!

Tonight I’ll revise all the documents and I will send them. The Uni’s turnout for giving Letter of Offer is about 3 days, but in my case it might take more as I’m requesting exemptions and thus the application needs to go to Faculty to be assessed.

I’ll reveal all the websites and e-mail addresses needed to apply for the online PGCE program as soon as I get my Letter of Offer. So, stay tuned, wish me luck and keep your fingers crossed for me.

Have a great and prosperous New Year!

P.S.: At school things are going great!

What a hectic schedule!

My PGCE application seems to have stalled. I have exchanged a few e-mails with the Australian University that offers this course on line, but I have the feeling that there was no one at the computer replying my e-mails, but rather an automatic program. Anyway, I’ve been put in contact to the Office that deals with international students, I filled in my details and it seems that they will call me to talk about my plans. Let’s just hope that I won’t be riding the motorbike when they call!

Last month was quite hectic at school, with thousands of activities for the students, which made the teaching schedule quite tight. We started practicing for the Christmas performance, for Loy Krathong, and Father’s Day. Loy Krathong was fun but a bit tiring.

December was kicked off with a big exhibition and ceremony for Father’s Day for which we have practiced quite a few times. Now, all teachers at my school (Thai and foreigners) are keeping themselves busy with decorating their classrooms and preparing their students for the Christmas show.

In the meantime, the entire school is continuing the self sufficiency project (the King’s Project) which is implemented in both the Thai and English lessons.

On-line PGCE course

I haven't written on this blog for quite a while... Many things have happened at school and let's say that it's safer for me if I don't tell you what happened.

Anyway, I'm seriously considering doing an on-line PGCE course (Postgraduate Certificate in Education, aka PGCertEd) with a university from Australia. I sent an inquiry e-mail today and received a promising answer. With a PGCE I can easily get a teaching job at any international school in the European Union and of course anywhere around the world (maybe not in the US and A).

The course is pretty pricey and from what I've heard time consuming, but I can do it in one or two years, depending on how many courses I want to do each semester.

I ruled out the possibility of starting a PhD this year...

In the meantime, enjoy the quotes. Cheers!