Best Practices for Reaching both Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants in Online Instruction THOMAS PASKETT Marc Prensky (2001) coined the term digital natives in his article Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. His premise was that Today s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach (p. 1). He argued that today s students represent the first generation to grow up with new technology. However, the reality I would like to propose is that today s students are not too different from the students who grew up with the Iron Horse, the addition of the telephone to every home, the electric light, the 8-track tape player, or even the automobile. Each time technology advances, education adapts to meet the needs of the student. Digital natives are defined as students who have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, videogames, digital music, cell phones, and all the other tools of the digital age (Prensky, 2011, p. 1). These students have never used a rotary phone or cassette recorder. Their games have always been electronic: Wii, PlayStation, or Xbox. Most have never thought of life without a cell phone. Even their music is digital; they purchase one song at a time from itunes. Written communication is in the form of texting and, to a lesser extent, email. Digital immigrants, on the other hand, are those who merely use the technology, rather than have technology as a focus in their lives. Digital immigrants use the internet to find information. They prefer face-to-face communication and print off emails to keep a hard copy. Digital immigrants remember receiving a handwritten letter and their games were purchased from Mattel or Milton Bradley. The online adjunct faculty of BYU-Idaho are what I call digital pioneers. Every day we learn new ways to connect with students, and meet the multiple intelligences that are in our courses: the Lord said unto me These two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent than they; I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all (Abraham 3:19). We are fortunate that we are guided daily by the Spirit as we seek PERSPECTIVE 34
the best methods to deliver the content of online learning. I believe that whether our students are digital natives or digital immigrants, our task as digital pioneers is to discover the best ways to reach all of them. Judith V. Boettcher (2011) offered Ten Best Practices for Teaching Online. Below is a summary of each practice, with my thoughts on what online instructors at BYUIdaho are doing to apply them in our courses. These practices align with the three steps of the BYU-Idaho Learning Model (Prepare, Teach One Another, and Ponder and Prove), and as with any course at BYU-Idaho, for these ten practices to be most effective, online instructors must also help learners to exercise faith, learn by the Holy Ghost, lay hold on the Word of God, act for themselves, and love, serve and teach one another. Best Practice 1: Be Present at the Course Site Students expect that their instructors will be present in an online course multiple times a week, and at best, daily. An online instructor should develop three types of presence: PASKETT social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive/content presence. In most online courses, the dialogue of faculty to the student is provided through (1) mini-lectures in text or in video or audio podcasts, (2) weekly coaching and reminder announcements, and (3) explanations or interactions with the students. Online instructors at BYU-Idaho are expected to engage their classes daily during the workweek and hold virtual office hours weekly. Instructors should establish clear expectations as to when they will be present or not at the beginning of a course. Being present in a course can be accomplished in a variety of ways: commenting on discussion posts, sending announcements, replying to email, or calling the disengaged student. BYU-Idaho expects its online faculty to have grades posted within one week of the assignment deadline and email responded to within 24 hours. Students who feel abandoned or alone may post questions or comments such as, Is anybody there? or I am not sure if this is where I am supposed to post this When instructors see these, they need to react and reaffirm 35
class expectations of participation. However, experience has taught me that expectations may not be enough to motivate every student. It is important for instructors to maintain an active presence by engaging in course activities and assessing student participation. For example, discussion posts that are not read and graded by the instructor are less likely to have participants. Best Practice 2: Create a Supportive Online Course Community At BYU-Idaho, we launch each course with personal introduction postings so that students can get to know one another, their goals and fears, and past experience with the subject matter. Online faculty members also include a profile about their experiences and interests. Instructors are encouraged to use open-student forums for students to post and request help and assistance from each other through various student-to-student tools such as discussions, help areas, Adobe Connect, Skype, etc. Discussion boards or course newsletters can be used to celebrate births, engagements, weddings, mission calls, new jobs, and other times to cheer collectively as a class. Online instructors at BYU-Idaho respond to student questions by communicating clearly and respectfully with them. Community building is further enhanced when instructors actively participate in student discussions and regularly reach out to those who need additional support, guidance, and encouragement. Online courses also need to have group activities that foster an online community and allow students to engage their peers. Setting up small groups of three to five students early in the semester allows them to assume responsibility for supportive mentoring and for summarizing key points of a class assignment they teach one-another. The use of problem-solving forums or discussion boards with students or student teams assigned to monitor, support, or direct questions during a lesson helps to further foster community development. Best Practice 3: Share a Set of Clear Expectations for Your Students and for Yourself Expectations should be clearly established, stating for instance how you will communicate, how much time students should be working on the course each week, how student groups will be organized, how often student groups will meet, deadlines for submitting assignments, and when virtual office hours will be held, etc. The Online Course Development team at BYU-Idaho has included PERSPECTIVE 36
a lesson schedule at the beginning of each week, letting students know what to expect throughout the week and encouraging them to plan accordingly. For example, often before a major test or assignment, faculty will hold special virtual office hours to prepare students and resolve concerns. Students should be aware of this and know when their instructors will be available either by chat/live classroom, email, or phone. Online instructors model the expectations they have of their students. They embrace the mission, vision and standards of BYU-Idaho and hold themselves to high principles of personal honor. These instructors follow the principles and steps of the BYU-Idaho Learning Model that they expect their students to follow. They listen and respond to the needs of the students, respect their students, their campus and online colleagues, and most importantly, they listen to the Spirit. Best Practice 4: Use a Variety of Large Group, Small Group, and Individual Work Experiences Working in teams is particularly effective when working on complex case studies or scenarios for the first time. Students will resist being organized into groups. Many have the idea that an online course is an independent study. At BYU-Idaho this is not the case. Online courses have rigor and solid content. Instructors who follow the Spirit when organizing student groups can expect to receive student feedback like this: One thing that has stuck out for me this week was the opportunity to spend time and talk about the assignments to my fellow group members. Especially regarding one question within the homework assignment. The majority of the group had the same answer while one had a different answer. Usually when things go down, majority rules. However, when that individual spoke out and was very adamant about his conclusion, which made sense, we swallowed our pride and figured out that he was correct and made perfect sense. Without having groups to talk about what we think we know and work it out, we would have all been wrong and stayed wrong until someone would have told us different. It's a great blessing to have this chance to work in groups and get to know one another. (Jon N., 2011) Best Practice 5: Use Both Synchronous and Asynchronous Activities The value of an online instructor connecting with the students in real time is just as important as that of the instructor in a live course. However, there are times when students need to reach conclusions on their own. The variety of activities that are now available online makes it possible to create many types of effective learning environments. We now have course management systems, virtual live classrooms, and audio tools that make it possible to do almost everything that is done in a campus classroom. Students can submit presentations, conduct research, and even present project-based learning assignments such as drafting, sculptures, and auto repair. Best Practice 6: Informal Course Feedback Early in the course (about week 3), instructors should seek informal feedback from the students on how the course is going, and ask if they have suggestions for improvement. Knowing what the students are experiencing early in the course allows for instructors to make adjustments, clarifications, and offer additional support. This is a formative evaluation for the course the data collected PASKETT 37
are for the use of the instructor to improve the course and should not be required or graded. Best Practice 7: Prepare Discussion Posts that Invite Questions, Discussions, Reflections and Responses When using discussion boards, a few simple procedures help to keep the students engaged: Provide an open question and answer forum. Open- ended questions encourage the learner to explore and research the subject and concepts being studied. Provide the student with the choice to respond to one or two discussion-thread options. Encourage critical or creative thinking. Stagger the due to answer. This gives them a choice in the direction of their own learning inquiry. Achieve social interaction and community building have the students get to know each other personally and intellectually. Provide guidelines and instructions on how students can and should respond to others. Validating experiences can build a student s confidence. While we think that online students are all tech savvy, the reality is that many are just as unsure today as they were twenty years ago. The online student community consists of students of all ages and backgrounds, but they all share one thing in common: They need to know that they matter and that their opinions have value. Support students in their own reflections and inquiries. dates for posts and responses. This will allow more time for Let the Spirit influence your responses. As online reflection and fewer comments that restate the responses instructors we are a powerful tool for bringing about the of others. Consider requiring a mid-point summary. When insight and understanding given by the Holy Ghost, the replying to student postings, instructors should model good bearer of all truth. Socratic-type probing and follow-up questions, such as, Remember to log in to your course at least 5 times a Why do you think that? and What is your reasoning? Do not post questions soliciting basic facts, or questions for week answer email, monitor discussions, post reminders, which there is an obvious yes/no response. and hold online office hours. Reinforce domain or procedural processes. Let the Best Practice 8: Focus on Content Resources, students know that responses like I agree and Ditto Applications, Links to Current Events, and are not complete. Require two-part responses to posted Examples that are Easily Accessed from the questions. Ask clarifying questions such as, Why do Learners Computers you agree? or What questions are left unanswered? to encourage students to think about what they know or With the increased cost of textbooks, today s students are don t know. Offer two or more questions for the students more likely to seek information on the internet than to
purchase a book. While publishers continue to provide more ebooks, the savings may not meet the students need. Podcasts, web links, YouTube content, and industry web pages offer current and accurate information that can be accessed in any time zone and in any country. Try letting the students help discover current course content and verify that links are active. Best Practice 9: Combine Core Concept Learning with Customized and Personalized Learning of increasingly complex and even customized projects applying these core concepts. Many online students are off-track and working full-time. Assignments and projects that support the professional goals of these students generally result in the student feeling that the learning is more personal. Online assignments should require students to create, talk, write, explain, analyze, judge, report, and inquire Boettcher (2011). A student s self awareness of knowledge acquisition increases when learning activities incorporate these skills. BYU-Idaho faculty have provided the core concepts to be learned in each online course, as well as the performance goals and the assessment tools for the course. The online instructor then mentors learners through a set Students seem to be in a heightened state of stress towards the end of a weekly lesson. Take time to remind the PASKETT Best Practice 10: Plan a Good Closing and Wrap Activity for Each Lesson and for the Course 39
students what they have learned. This can be done with digital games, discussion boards, or weekly reflection posts. Instructors should post announcements and/or emails that explain what to expect the next week. When ending the course, individual and/or group presentations are a great way for course summaries to be delivered. Course wikis that allow students to write a letter of what to expect to the next class is another way that students can reflect on what they experienced and learned. This is a time to celebrate the successful completion of the course. takes place. Development teams should ask, How will the student interpret this? How long will it take to complete? What is the desired outcome? And What is the best tool to use for delivery? As technology continues to advance, more tools become available to deliver course material. A guiding rule-of-thumb should be, just because I can use this tool, should I? As instructors sincerely strive to follow best practices for online teaching, they will be wellequipped to make good decisions that will enable them to reach all online learners including the digital natives. Conclusion References In sum, the most important aspect of developing an online course is to keep the needs of the students as the priority. It is not about how much content can be loaded into the course, but rather, the amount of learning engagement that Prensky, Marc. Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon 9 (5), 2001. Retrieved January 29, 2011 from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/prensky%20 -%20Digital%20Natives,%20Digital%20Immigrants%20-%20Part1.pdf Boettcher, Judith. V. Ten Best Practices for Teaching: Online Quick Guide for New Online Faculty, 2011. Retrieved July 19, 2011 from http://www.designingforlearning.info/services/writing/ecoach/tenbest.html