This week, Jennifer Maddrell discusses the focus for her dissertation work: the Community of Inquiry framework: http://communitiesofinquiry.com/. Her primary research question focusses on whether there is a relationship between learner's perceptions of "community" and actual learning outcomes as identified by grades, papers, tests, etc. The discussion took a very practical turn as we sought to identify particular strategies that may be used by instructors to develop community within online courses.

Professor Charles Reigeluth from Indiana University shares his thoughts on Instructional Theory for education in the Information Age. Charles and Allison Carr-Chellman recently co-edited Volume III of the seminal Instructional Design Theories and Models (The Green Book): http://www.amazon.com/Instructional-Design-Theories-Models-III-Knowledge/dp/0805864563

This week, we discussed how to promote learning through asynchronous discussions, in many cases, the heart of online courses. Issues considered include: developing a sense of community, structuring discussions, setting expectations, assessment and strategies for facilitating quality interactions.

Resources mentioned:

Joanna Dunlap: Down and Dirty Guidelines for Effective Discussions in Online Courses

Today, Danielle Wozniak, Assistant Professor in the UM School of Social Work, discussed her thoughts on developing online community and utilizing online supplements in her graduate and undergraduate courses.

References: George Lakoff, Metaphors We Live By: http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/10/27_lakoff.shtml

Chat log:

This week Cammy Bean interviewed Robert Squires about how he became involved in Instructional Design as well as current design projects.

Texts mentioned in the discussion:

Mark Pegrum: From Blogs to Bombs

Brinck, Gergle and Wood: Designing Websites that Work: Usability for the Web

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Chat:

This week we spoke with Mary Engstrom, Associate Director of Extended Learning Services, about plans for a revised program for supporting faculty developing online courses at The University of Montana. The proposed plan is available at: http://instructionaldesigning.org/content/draft-faculty-development-process. Please feel free to comment.

Due to a few technical difficulties, we didn't get too far into the Bridget Arend article, http://www.thejeo.com/Archives/Volume6Number1/Arendpaper.pdf. However, Mary gives a nice overview of the key points, and we have tabled the 'discussion on discussions' for an upcoming session. Some good notes included in the chat transcript a little later on.

Show 0 of Instructional Design Live. The co-presenters introduce themsleves and discuss their non-prescriptive ideas about what Instructional Design means. Further commentary available at: http://learningvisions.blogspot.com/2010/01/recap-of-instructional-design-live.html

Further discussion at http://www.instructionaldesigning.org 

Chat Log