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Go Inside e-Learning with Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D. Get an insider's look at online education by an education administrator active in online career education and professional development.
Her latest book, Excellence in College Teaching and Learning: Classroom and Online Instruction, was co-authored with George Henderson and published in 2007. Leadership and the e-Learning Organization, was published in 2006.
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Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
Interaction with your fellow classmates is one of the keys to success in an online course. Using Twitter effectively can take your interaction to the next level very quickly, and you'll gain confidence, avoid frustration, and save time.
How does Twitter fit in with the other ways you interact with your peers and professor? Let's look at the ways you're probably interacting now. Interacting through the discussion board is good, but you have to be logged on to your learning management system in order to do so. There can be a time lag. Sending emails to your classmates can be good, but it often goes to their university account, which they do not check regularly. Sending instant messages or text messages is good, but you have to know their phone numbers or IM addresses, which is not always possible. Further, it can be tedious to build a list for IMs and text messages so that you don't have to send an individual message to each person.
Twitter offers advantages in that you can send messages (tweets) to any number or people in your network at the same time. You can send and receive tweets from your handheld device (cellphone, smartphone, etc.), and you can access archives through your Twitter account online.
Tweet Yourself to an "A"
Develop an outcomes-based game plan to take advantage of real-time information exchange, as well as twitter-accessed information networks. What does an outcomes-based game plan look like? Be sure to keep focused on your overall goal, tweet on topics that pertain to the course. It's easy to get distracted, and, well, a little bit of distraction is fine, since it usually helps you feel a sense of affiliation and being part of the group. However, the majority of tweets need stay on task.
Here are a few examples of good tweets to send and receive:
- Course deadlines
- Insights and guidelines
- Cries for help
- Offers of help
- Links to useful resources
- Links to practice quizzes
- New discoveries, insights (articles you might find, useful websites, research)
- Links to video posts, images (YouTube, Flickr, etc.) relating to the course
- Online research tips
- Links to draft papers for collaborative / peer review
Put Your Plan Into Action: Sign up for Twitter
Chances are, you already use Twitter (http://www.twitter.com). If you don't, be sure to sign up. You can enable your cellphone / smartphone to receive tweets, or, if you prefer, you can send and receive messages (tweets) from your computer.
You may wish to separate work and play, and to set up a new Twitter account for your academic work. That is often a good idea, because it makes it easier to go back and review the tweets you've sent and received. Plus, you may not want to annoy all your friends with tweets about next week's sociology quiz!
Practice Sending Messages (Tweets)
You can send messages to people who are following you, as well as directly to a specific twitter account. It's good to do both.
To send a message to all your followers, type in a 140 character or less message in the "what's happening" block.
To send a direct message, go to the "Direct Messages" screen by clicking on "direct messages" in the navigation bar in the right-hand column. Then, type a 140-character or less message in the "Send (pulldown menu of your followers) a direct message."
Use Hashtags to Find Tweets On Your Topics of Interest
Hashtags are meta-tags for Twitter. They are useful because you can classify your tweets, and/or find tweets that have been classified in the topics that interest you. Here is a directory of hashtags:
Hashtag Directory: http://wthashtag.com/Main_Page
Final Thoughts
People are finding very innovative ways to use Twitter, not just for social but also for professional networking. It's now time to explore the possibilities in conjunction with academic applications. As you can see, there are a number of ways that you can use Twitter to enhance your interaction with peers, and also to expand your research / resource possibilities.
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Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
Your first-year composition course often requires you to write persuasive papers, and more often than not, you'll be required to look at controversial issues. Many of them involve profound ethical dilemmas, which may leave you frustrated and wondering how to start your paper. Can't you simply announce what you believe is the right approach, and then explain why you believe what you believe?
Unfortunately, if you simply state what you believe, and then go into a passionate defense of your beliefs, it is likely that you'll earn a poor grade. Your instructor might say something about avoiding creating a rant or launching into a diatribe.
What went wrong?
The key is to look at what you're doing as defending a claim by using reason. You'll have to look at more than one side of the issue, and you'll need to provide evidence.
POOR APPROACH: "I believe that poverty can never be eliminated," or "My view is that poverty is and always be a part of our world."
Why is this a poor approach? It's not that you're wrong. It's that you're not engaging in a reasoned defense of your claim. You're simply stating your position and leaving it at that. Let's look at a few ways to take that initially poor approach and turn it into a good approach.
GOOD APPROACH: "My view is that poverty can never be eliminated, and I believe this because... (add two or three reasons here)."
GOOD APPROACH: "I find that the following ideas about poverty such as (list them), provide a compelling argument for the notion that poverty is and always will be a part of our world, despite efforts of governments, families, groups, and individuals."
You've created a solid thesis statement which opens the door to creating a very nice structure for your paper. Each reason can be a part of a topic sentence for body paragraphs.
Now that you have an idea of what a good approach looks like, you also have a solid idea of what a good thesis looks like. Before you begin to write, be sure to incorporate the following necessary elements for your persuasive paper and answer the following questions:
- What is your position or opinion on the topic or question you have chosen?
- How can you best explain your position in a clear manner?
- What is the most compelling argument you can think of for your position? What would someone who disagrees with you likely to say?
- How can you support your position with examples, statistics, or published articles? Where would you look?
As you start to develop an idea of your paper, here are a few things to be sure to remember to include:
- Clear thesis statement that includes your claim and points of defense;
- Reasons to believe or accept your thesis;
- Counter examples that help your readers understand other points of view, and which help them reject the counter examples;
- A criticism of poor arguments, or positions that are flawed and do not hold up to scrutiny. Be sure to explain why.
- A strategy for defending your point of view against the view of another person;
- What are the strengths and weaknesses of two opposing views of the argument?
- What consequences would there be if your thesis were true?
As you search for a topic, be sure to avoid over-used topics, or ones that do not allow for any subtlety in the arguments or counter-arguments. It is difficult for your instructor to evaluate your argument if you invoke ultimate moral authority, or by taking a satirical approach.
Here are a few possible thesis statements that could be used in a persuasive paper that involves an ethical dilemma:
- "My view is physician-assisted suicide is likely to increase as our population ages, and demographic shifts occur in our society. I believe this because... (add two or three reasons here)."
- "In my opinion, it is wrong to import dangerous or venomous animals and to sell them to collectors as pets because (list reasons.)"
- "I find the following ideas about religious cults (list them) create a compelling argument that our society is all too ready to judge and condemn behavior that does not seem to fit the norm."
- "In my opinion, performance-enhancing drugs are very detrimental to sports, as well as to individual athletes. I believe this because of what has happened in the cases of Barry Bonds, Lyle Alzado, (list more), and the concept of fair play (and other ideas)."
As you start to craft your paper, make sure that you enjoy your topic, and that you let yourself follow the areas that interest you. A paper that bores you is likely to bore your reader as well. If your argument seems hollow to you, it is most likely pretty empty to your reader as well. Just let yourself go with your topic and go with the flow. You'll find that, before you know it, you actually enjoy writing.
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Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
Online resources change. Links change. It is always good to revisit online references resources fairly regularly to review what they contain, and which ones might have merged with others.
Here is a list of online references sources that you can use in your online courses as you conduct online research and participate in collaborative projects. Keep in mind that this list is by no means exhaustive, and it focuses on open-text, full-text articles that are available free of charge, even though some of the portals do incorporate free pdfs (without the free article), or may simply include a snippet for free.
Online Encyclopedias
- Encyclopedia Britannica: http://www.britannica.com/
- Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/
A portal to a number of different reference resources, including dictionaries, encylopedias, databases of articles from newspapers and magazines, plus databases of peer-reviewed journals.
- Wikipedia.com: http://www.wikipedia.com
Everyone's favorite wiki, a good starting point, but sometimes unreliable, incomplete, and biased. This is not to say that others are not biased, but as a volunteer effort, and a collaborative effort of users, the quality can be less than uniform.
- Columbia Encyclodia: Available via Questia – http://www.questia.com/library/encyclopedia/
- Encarta: http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/dictionaryhome.aspx
Limited version is free, expanded version available for subscribers. Also includes a thesaurus and a word-translator to and from various languages.
Newspapers and Magazines
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Directory of Open-Access Journals: http://www.doaj.org/ Peer-reviewed journals, with open content, where readers can read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles."
- EBSCO: http://www.ebsco.com -- The summaries and abstracts are free, full content is not.
- BNET: http://www.bnet.com Business management articles, full-text.
- Search and Discovery: http://www.searchanddiscovery.net/ Full-text of geoscience articles, with a petroleum exploration and production focus.
- Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com Some full-text articles are available, others simply provide links in order to purchase the articles.
Geography / Political Information
Government Publications and Statistics
- FedStats: http://www.fedstats.gov/ Sources of useful information (search block allows you to search federal agencies' publications); "one stop shopping" for government statistics, etc.
- Library of Congress Reading Room: http://www.loc.gov/rr/news/extgovd.html Extensive portal to information links
- ChildStats. http://www.childstats.gov/ Forum on child and family statistics and reports; links to very helpful reports and statistics on child welfare (government sources).
Full-Text Publications
Twitter Posts
- Hashtag Directory: http://twitter.com/hashdir Find topics and start following the twitter accounts that resonate with your own interests.
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Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
Whether you’re new to e-learning, or a seasoned e-learner, it’s a good idea to keep in mind that the new decade is starting with a bang, and we’re seeing interactivity and collaboration like never before in online courses. Part of the reason for that is the fact that
online courses are continuing to boom, and most course developers follow best practices that hold that interactivity is key to a great online experience.
More than that, though, we’re seeing e-learning move rather rapidly to “u-learning” (ubiquitous learning) that allows you to use a multitude of devices to interact with classmates, instructors, and data repositories so that you can approach your course and coursework in the best possible way for your situation.
So, you may be incorporating Twitter in your interaction with your peers. Or, you may find that constant connectivity distracts you. As a result, you may be printing out your lessons and working on them while you’re not online. Whatever your ideal learning style and study style, it’s good to review the following “Pick Six” tips for success in the new world of elearning.
Tip 1 -- Collaborate Quickly
**Log in early
**Go into all the course documents
**Introduce yourself
Tip 2 -- Create a Learning Community
**Make connections with instructors and peers
**Post to the discussion board
**Collaborate with fellow students
**Set up groups with people with shared interests
Tip 3 -- Try Ubiquitous Learning
**Social networking / Facebook, etc.
**Access any place / any time / any device
**Use Twitter when it works for you to share links, update deadlines
Tip 4 -- Practice Assessment / Outcomes
**Check out the online quizzes
**Practice activities
**Collaborations
**Web quests
Tip 5 -- Avoid Overcommitment and Multi-Tasking Overload
**Workflow management
**Blocking time
**Chunking tasks
**Logical progression of tasks
**Avoid distractions
Tip 6 -- Plan Your Work
**Early bird approach – set deadlines for yourself well ahead of the official deadline
**Update your calendar frequently
**Plan your work strategically
One of the most important things to keep in mind as you take your online courses is to maintain a good attitude and to be receptive to new ideas, and try new techniques and technologies. You’ll enjoy it!
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Tailor-Made for Working Moms and Online Students
Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.
(The individuals in this article are based on real-life e-learners who participated in interviews, but names and details have been changed.)
Marina sat in the pediatrician's waiting room as her 9-month-old daughter, Peleixa, fussed and fidgeted. Marina sighed. Another ear infection? She hoped not.
As she went back to the examination room, she was surprised to see that the rooms that had formerly held files were completely empty, except for a few workstations and what appeared to be rack of servers.
"What happened to all the files?" she asked the assistant who took her to the examination room.
"We're required to be 100% paper-free. All medical records are digital. It took a long time to scan all of the files, and we're still not finished. We have to go back and scan all the old files we have in our storage area now," said the assistant. Her voice sounded exhausted.
"Is it a part of the new electronic health record program?" asked Marina. "I heard about it."
"Yes, there's a new law that requires that there are electronic health records, which will be very helpful once the new health care programs are in place," said the assistant.
After they chatted a bit, Marina found that the new requirements were fairly stringent, and it had resulted in a boom for those who could provide the service.
There were very particular requirements for various sub-groups. For example, there were special requirements for health records for pediatrics (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17332220).
"You seem very interested in the subject," said the assistant. "We are looking for people who can help us scan the records and build a database."
The assistant's comments inspired Marina to look into online courses and programs. She found that she could get a certificate in medical records and coding within 8 months, and an associate's degree within 18 months.
New doors would be opened, and ones with a true future. After all, once everything was encoded, there were databases to be maintained, and installation, maintenance, and new use issues to be addressed. Change management with electronic health records would become increasingly important (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19911542?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=4).
Once the databases were created, there would be a need to update the records quickly and easily. In fact, every day, new electronic devices that could synch with the database and the records would allow quick uploading. They could avoid delays in that way. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19911534?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=5)
The medical records and health information technicians job outlook was outstanding. According to the Department of Labor, the growth of jobs between 2006 and 2016 was estimated at 18 percent. (http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocoS103.htm)
Many jobs could be flexible, with some work from a home office, which made both studying for the degree and working ideal for a mom with a small child at home.
As Marina stood in line at the pharmacy to fill the prescription for Peleixa, she felt calm, even though her little daughter was fussier than ever. Things might be a bit edgy and nerve-wracking right now, but she could see a future for herself that truly felt satisfying.
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