Top Teaching Tools for Online Courses


by: Carolyn Kraut
Instructional Designer- COBL, BGSU

It's easy to get caught up in all the bells and whistles that encompass emerging technology. I'll be the first to admit that when I first hear about a new tool, I spend a lot of time exploring what it can do. That's not always a bad thing, as long as I remember the task at hand... HOW CAN THIS BE USED IN AN ONLINE COURSE? But more importantly... IS THERE A NEED FOR IT TO SUPPORT LEARNING OUTCOMES?

I've developed a short list of my favorite teaching tools and would like to tell you how I've been using them. The common theme here is mobility. All but one of these are web-based applications, which means you create the content and interact with other users online. You aren't tied to a single computer. You don't have to transfer files or folders to a thumb drive. Though, you do have to remember the password. All of these tools can be integrated into or used in conjunction with Blackboard. However, I prefer to interact with these tools on my phone, for true mobility. These tools are great for today's mobile learners because they can interact with you and their classmates whenever they have a spare moment, and enough battery power.

BGSU BLOGS - Our home-grown blogging system is so versatile, it's catching on like wild fire (see the BLOGS.BGSU article in this issue). I will say that a blog is great for reflective writing (by student and teacher), posting media-rich content in the form of a podcast or embedded video, and keeping your students up to date with course information and important announcements. If you don't have one yet, what are you waiting for?
https://blogs.bgsu.edu/

GOOGLE APPS - Get yourself a Google account and open up Pandora's Box of online tools. Email, chat, document collaboration, calendar, photo sharing, free websites or wikis, interactive (and social) RSS reader... that's just the tip of the iceberg, and it's all free and available under a single sign in. The most notable tools for an online course are Docs and Sites. I use Docs to create, collaborate and share online documents, spreadsheets, and presentations with my co-workers. In fact, this newsletter was constructed using Docs. Each one of us logged in and contributed to a single file. Sites can be used to publish a course website or collaborate with a group or team in the form of a wiki. We, here at COBL, use Sites as a project management tool. We keep each other apprised of our current projects and workload as well as manage our collaborative efforts. Our Google calendars can be integrated with the site as well. http://www.google.com/apps/

Embeddable Media - This is not really a tool, but a by-product of the websites that allow us to host and share media. Sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Academic Earth, Hulu, Jing (see below), and SlideShare host the media on their servers and provide an HTML code for the user to embed the media into their own website. This is great for a variety of reasons:

* Since the media is hosted externally, you don't have to take up valuable space in your course website.
* Their servers are designed to handle web streaming and heavy traffic, which may reduce technical issues.
* Students do not need to leave your website to look at your resource. The media is embedded within your course or website's content.
* It's an easy way to distribute your lectures or to get your students involved in more creative projects. Instead of requiring students to write an essay, allow them to record a speech or make a mini-movie. This can be be more challenging and fun at the same time!
* If you can find relevant material that already exists on the web, this is an easy way to add some variety to your course content. No need to reinvent the wheel!
* Many sites have social networking and RSS built right in - yet another way for your students to connect.

Del.icio.us - This tool is so practical, it's ridiculous. Instead of saving your bookmarks to your browser of choice, which lives on a single computer, save them in a place where you can access them anytime, anywhere. On the web! Tag your bookmarks to help yourself get organize (think of tagging as a collection of related links in a folder, if that helps you visualize the concept). Tagging also makes it easy to share specific resources with specific groups. Create a tag for your class and share that RSS enabled page with your students to keep them up to date with the most relevant webclips relating to your course. There is also an option to make the bookmark private, in the event that you want to keep a certain awesome webpage all to yourself. Take this one step further and create an account for your class. Give them the password and let them do all the work. Sit back and watch the repository grow semester to semester.

TWITTER - Is that a groan I hear? This micro-blogging phenomenon has become the fastest growing web service for good reason. On a casual/social level, you can use it to interact with friends and family and to post funny things you find on the web. For this to be an educational tool, it's up to you to make the content meaningful and interactive. Post quick course-related updates or food for thought. Use hash tags (#) to encourage your students to interact with the world about specific topics. Ask your students to follow prominent figures in your field (there's bound to be AT LEAST one) and have them ReTweet (RT) something they found interesting or relevant to in-class materials. Poll your audience! And remember, it's OK to post something fun and entertaining every once in a while.

FACEBOOK - It's more than silly quizzes and games and collecting friends faster than a VCR collects dust. Say what you want, it's still a great networking tool! A common concern about online courses is that there's no sense of community. You can use Facebook to bring your students together on a social level as well as help them interact with and take an interest in current events in your field. Share the URL to an article you'd like them to read and watch the comments fly in. Your Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Netflix, and Del.icio.us activity can even be integrated to your page via "mini-feeds." This is great for sharing resources of all kinds! If you'd like to keep your profile private, you can ask your students to set up a group page for the class. They can use the group to interact in a more "professional" way, or at least to focus on course related posts and discussions.

JING - Jing is the outlier because it is a desktop application that you or your students can use to annotate still images or explain complex ideas and processes while capturing your on-screen actions. The content is then posted somewhere else for the rest of us to interact with (Flickr, YouTube, or Screencast.com for sharing the URL or embedding the content right inside Blackboard or your blog/wiki/website). All the tutorials in the Online Faculty Training Program were created with Jing. Many learners find it easier to follow task-oriented lessons or instructions with this show and tell method, versus written instructions. Though it's best to provide both when possible. I'd also like to note that Jing videos are not mobile friendly, since they are saved as .swf files. Regardless, it's a must have!

There are so many great teaching tools out there, and they are all useful in their own way. I've only grazed the surface with how these great tools can be used. If you'd like to start integrating your favorite tool(s) into your course, it's important that you have a clear objective for doing so and that you are comfortable with the technology. It's always best to start small.

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