Improving Communication
- 1. Improving CommunicationIn the Virtual ClassroomBy Katherine Ortiz
- 2. Introduction PollingChatAudioBreakout roomsApplication sharingWhiteboard
- 3. Polling
- 5. Chat
- 7. Whiteboard
- 9. Audio
- 10. Audio continued
- 11. Breakout roomsBreakout rooms provide smaller groups to work in. Gives more students a chance to participate. Audio, chat, and whiteboard can be used in these breakout rooms.
- 15. ConclusionTeachers have the total control over who participates and how much. Each student can improve their level of learning by how much they participate.
- 16. References. Cisco WebEx. (n.d.). Retrieved February 22, 2010, from http://webex.com/Clark, R. C., & Kwinn, A. (2007). The New Virtual Classroom. San Francisco: Pfeiffer.
Editor's Notes
- #3: There are several Features that are included in a virtual classroom that can be a great tool for the teacher to engage their students with to keep communication going. The key point here is that the keeping the students engaged and participating is the teachers job. Creating your class schedule to include less lecture and more participation from the students will keep them engaged and participating.
- #4: These two graphics show two different types of polling in a virtual classroom. The top one is from WebEx program and this is just allows the participants to raise their hand next to their name when a question is asked of them. The bottom one shows how at the top of the screen there are choices of 4 letters to choose from. This is used in a multiple choice situation where the teacher give a question on the whiteboard with 3-4 answers available in the form of these 4 letters. The students each choose which one they feel if the correct answer and click on it. This then proceeds to show a letter next to that students name. This classroom setting also shows the option to raise the hand next to their name when they have a question. Obviously the second graphic is a more detailed classroom setting than the first one. This feature is the most common way for instructors to keep their student involved in the classroom.
- #6: These two graphics show two different types of chatting boxes in two different types of classrooms. The one on the right is from the WebEx software, and can be used to communicate with the participants for virtually anything that needs to be communicated. The one on the left is from the CD with the text and it shows how the instructor is involving the student into what is being asked about what is happening on the whiteboard. A questions is being asked about the material they are covering and they are being asked to post their responses in the chat box all at the same time, this way the teacher can see everyone ones responses at once. This keeps the student engaged in the class topic and the teacher can see that they are paying attention.
- #8: These next two slides provide two different examples of whiteboard usage in keeping the students engaged. This first one is having the student show where in the world they are so everyone in the class can see how spread out the class is.
- #9: This second slide shows how the teacher can post up some questions on the whiteboard and have all the students type in their answers into the whiteboard for everyone to see. These two examples are very common practices in keeping the students engaged in the class.
- #10: These graphics are examples of types of audio available in the classroom. The top graphic is of the WebEx software and the little box with the speaker and mic are the settings for the audio in this program. This program as you can see also offers video for extra visual communication between participants. The bottom graphic shows the audio feature in another type of classroom. This has a talk button for each member and mic and speaker settings. In this form the instructor can allow students to talk and not talk at certain times. One way to do this would be to ask for a show of hands of who has an answer to the question being asked and then the instructor calls on some one just like in a traditional classroom. Then the instructor can free up the mic and allow that person to click the talk button and speak.
- #12: I could not find a graphic for breakout rooms on the CD, but basically a breakout rooms is a separate room in the classroom the student can go into together to work in smaller groups to be able to work on a project, or answer some questions together. This allows for all students to participate and be able to show they are comprehending in the class. Audio, chat, and whiteboard participation can be used in the breakout rooms just like in the main room. Each breakout room will have one student be the leader for their small group session. This is usually chosen by the teacher.
- #13: These two graphic show how sharing applications can be used in the virtual classroom. The top graphic is from the WebEx software and is showing how using this software you have the option to allow others in the classroom to see the different applications you have open on your desktop. This allows for so many opportunities in collaboration. The teacher could use this to help students see how different applications work and also allow students to show trouble they may be having with a specific application and get help from instructor and/or the other students. The second graphic is more common and is just a simple teacher sharing an application like excel in the whiteboard format with the student. Students are allowed to type onto the whiteboard and participate during the teachers discussion.
- #15: This graphic shows that in a software like WebEx the teacher has the option to control how much the participants have in the classroom. You can set it for everything or just for a few of the features that are available. This also allows for the teacher to see how each student interacts with different control over different features. This can even be adjusted for each individual student.