EN VIVO: AT A DISTANCESYNCHRONOUS DISTANCE LEARNINGANDREW BLACK, PH.D., MBA

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

COLLEGE OF NURSING

A confluence of trends:

- The development of new tools to support collaboration

- The emergence of constructivist-based approaches to teaching and learning

- The need to create more powerful and engaging learning environments (Resta & Laferrière, 2007, p. 65).

Additional value:

- Verbal and non-verbal communication through video and web conferencing mediums

- Live chat and other communication forms providing immediate student-student and student-teacher responses

Resta, P., & Laferrière, T. (2007, March). Technology in support of collaborative learning. Educational Psychology Review, 19(1), 65-83.

RESEARCH

STUDENT NEEDS AND WANTS

Interactivity

Immediate access to information

Responsiveness

Simple to navigate UI

Relationships with other students and teachers

TOOLS

Web conferencing

Desktop and application sharing

Multimedia (YouTube)

LMS (and beyond)

Videoconferencing

…And a mix of all of them

WEB CONFERENCING

Features:- Presentation/desktop/application sharing space- Live chat area- Live polling- Acknowledgement emoticons (raised hand, smiley face, clapping, etc)- Session recording, chat history can be saved- Two-way audio- Generally one video stream at a time, showing most recent speaker

Additional Features:- Can show some video, such as YouTube- Some systems offer remote individuals to share their desktop- Some offer the remote person ability to take control of the presentation

Issues:- Audio issues when two people talk at the same time; feedback- Single video feed- Multimedia and video increase latency significantly

LMS INTEGRATION

REQUIREMENTS- Most often

provided as a link to the external web conferencing system

- Link must be intuitive and fast

- Tie recorded content directly to the online classroom

- Make recorded content available to students for review during the course

SYNCHRONOUS VIDEOCONFERENCING

Much of the literature presents the use of synchronous videoconferencing as a positive educational tool, taking advantage of many of the expressed benefits found within the traditional classroom, including live interactive communication with the instructor and other students, face-to-face contact where non-verbal communication can be utilized, and the ability to create relationships with others (Dal Bello, Knowlton and Chaffin, 2007; O‘Rourke, 2007).

Dal Bello, A., Knowlton, E., & Chaffin, J. (2007, September). Interactive videoconferencing as a medium for special education: Knowledge acquisition in preservice teacher education. Intervention in School & Clinic, 43(1), 38-46.

O'Rourke, J. (2007, March). Small group learning and videoconferencing: Are they compatible?. Education for Primary Care, 18(2), 192-195.

VIDEOCONFERENCING TOOLS

NEEDS

Multiple video feeds at a time: the virtual classroom, showing all students and the teacher live

Show multimedia presentations, including video, desktop sharing, presentations, applications, etc.

In essence, must do everything that web conferencing does, plus multiple video feeds

BENEFITReplicates the live classroom, allowing non-verbal communication to be visualized

MIXED ENVIRONMENTS

TEACHING CHALLENGES

Managing the technology

Paying attention to the students in the physical class, as well as the distance students

Responding to questions, far, near and through chat

Reading non-verbal communication; video, audio, chat

Working within the latency limitations

Breaking the class in to manageable groups

TECHNOLOGICAL LIMITATIONS

Computer operating system platforms

Web browsers

Internet connection speeds

Showing multimedia within presentations

Audio and/or video problems during class

Latency

Disruptions

Webcam issues

CONNECTIONS

Skype Group calls are limited by Internet bandwidth

- More live video feeds=slower or degraded performance

Bridging services may be available, resolving bandwidth demands, but can be very expensive

Not just limited to classroom-classroom connections with IVC equipment, but anytime-anywhere connection from any platform is demanded (home, office, hotel, worldwide)

WHEN IT FAILS

Have a backup plan

When the Internet and video fail, use the phone

Record all sessions and provide for later playback

Manage the content and make it easily accessible

Provide video streaming as an option (live or playback)

FUTURE

“Although frustrations with technology will continue to be a problem for the foreseeable future, research indicates that social, more than technical factors, are the main determinants of success or failure in a computer-mediated course” (Miller & King, 2003, p. 287). Miller, T., & King, F. (2003, July). Distance education: Pedagogy and best practices in the new millennium. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 6(3), 283-297.

RECENT LITERATURE

In a fully online environment, students often indicate feelings of isolation

Recent literature indicates that students desire some degree of face-to-face or live interaction with their teachers and fellow students

“…there was a statistical significance between the attitudes and perceptions of synchronous and asynchronous PhD nursing students” (Black, 2010, p. 140)

CONCLUSION

Intent for this presentation

- Distance education in not limited to asynchronous online

- Video is rapidly increasing in demand

- Live interactive connectivity is increasing in demand

- Multimedia demands are increasing

Synchronous distance education

is a major part of our future!