In this issue: Sharon Guan, Instructional Designer at ISU, offers practical tips for online instructors

Contents:

• Encourage Active Learning in the Online Environment - Sharon Guan
• Indiana State's ITE Department Featured in Technology Source
• Thought About A Videotape? - Ron Payne
• Computer Animation: A New ISU Web Site - Michael Moore
• Visit the *New* ISU Distance Education Web Site
• WinterFest 2000 - Sign Up Now!
• Chat's Room: News from the FCRC
• Saying Goodbye to Chat Chatterji
• Workshops & Faculty Support Services for 1999-2000
• Etcetera, Etcetera, Etcetera: ISU News, Interesting links and So Forth
• Thought for November

Welcome to Interaction, ISU's monthly electronic newsletter for people interested in developing and teaching distance education courses. The purpose of Interaction is to provide you with information on course development and design, new technologies, and teaching distance courses. As the name implies, we hope to make this electronic newsletter "interactive," its contents reflecting current issues, challenges, and innovations in teaching. Your part is simple-just tell us what you want. Send us your questions, frustrations, and topics of interest, and we will include information on that topic in a future issue. In addition, we invite you to share your experiences and tips on teaching distance courses, and to send us announcements of upcoming events. Please submit your comments and requests to interact@web.indstate.edu, a secured access e-mail account. Your contributions will not be posted as a "global" message to subscribers of Interaction. The staffs of Continuing Education/Instructional Services, the Center for Teaching and Learning, the Library, ACNS, and other ISU offices are eager to answer your questions and offer you assistance as you develop and teach your distance education courses.

Encourage Active Learning in the Online Environment
Sharon Guan, Instructional Designer

Congratulations to all of the ISU instructors who worked hard developing web-based courses. Designing the course and putting the material up on the web is the first step toward effective teaching and learning in the online environment. The next step is to get students actively involved in this well-planned learning procedure and to keep track of their progress.

Dr. Susan Powers and I recently co-authored a book chapter called ÒExamining the Range of Student Needs in the Design and Development of a Web-Based Course.Ó Included in this chapter are ideas on creating an online environment that facilitates active learning. Some of those ideas are modifications of Silberman's active learning strategies for the classroom teaching. Ideally, those strategies should be built into the course prior to the beginning of the semester. Since most of us are still at the fledging stage for online teaching, we sometimes have to pick up what has been accidentally left out.

Now here are the points:

Trading Places - to promote self-disclosure or an active exchange of viewpoint

1. Ask students to post a note on the course bulletin board or listserv on one of the following (for example):

• A value they hold
  
• An enjoyable experience they have had recently
  
• A web site (or page) that they like the most

2. Ask students to negotiate the trading of posted notes with one another over the listserv or through email. The exchange should be based on a desire to possess a particular value, experience, idea or taste. Make sure that all trades are two-way deals.

3. Post on the course bulletin board or listserv the result of the exchange and the reason for it.

Group Resume - geared toward the subject matter or computer skills

1. Divide students into groups of 3 to 5.

2. Suggest an imaginary job, such as a Web Usability Test Group that will be in charge of using, evaluating and analyzing a certain web site or certain resources on the Web.

3. Ask each group to apply for the job by posting (on the course site or course listserv) a group resume that includes education background, experience with the web, computer skills, accomplishments, and special talents. (Make sure the data represent the group as one unit.)

4. Respond to the applicants with a nice sense of humor, such as 'Your resume has been put into our company's data bank for future opportunities.'

Web Search - scavenger hunts on the Internet

1. Distribute a class roster at the beginning of the class.

2. Ask each student to conduct a search on the Internet for the information related to his/her classmates, such as personal web pages, links, people with similar names, etc. (For a big class, each student may be provided with names of only 2 or 3 classmates.)

3. Post the information on the listserv. (Call it a 'Got Ya' message.)

Paired Activity Ðgetting acquainted with or studying with a friend

1. Pair up students according to one of the following criteria:

• Students who express a desire to work together;
  
• Students from the same department/major; or
  
• Students who have taken classes together in the past.

2. Encourage them to exchange learning experiences on a regular basis. The instructor might ask to be cc'ed on any email correspondence they share.

3. Assign projects to the teams

Researchers found out that the most successful distance learners are self-motivated learners. But that does not mean that every student who has signed up for the web-based course is self-motivated. Absence at the discussion forum, late or no response to email messages, and the frequent postponement of assignments are so often found in situations where students are not in view. This will surely disappoint those instructors who may have contributed a great amount of time preparing for the course. One thing to remember is that active learning is more likely to pair up with active teaching. Some of the following methods might be used to activate the unmotivated learners:

1) If you are using CourseInfo, make good use of the Announcement page. Sometimes it does not hurt to mention how many students (or even who) have already participated on the discussion and how many students (or even who) have not done so.

2) Send an email message to student and make it personal by starting with his/her first name. The content could then be either generic (copy and paste from one file) or specific.

3) A listserv for the course is very necessary if your discussion thread is not getting enough replies. To setup a listserv, contact the Faculty Computing Resource Center at extension 2603.

4) Archive students' participation of the online discussion by using CourseInfo Discussion Board or Hypermail available at FCRC (ext 2603) and post the results periodically.

Indiana State's ITE Department Featured in Technology Source

The November/December 1999 issue of Technology Source features an online article by Chris Zirkle and Hal Shoemaker titled:

Indiana State's Multiple Delivery Approach: Integrating Industrial Technology Education with Educational Technology

This article not only offers Indiana State University, the School of Technology, and the ITE Department international exposure, but also provides information on the use of multiple delivery platforms, faculty/student interaction, the need for faculty development programs, and the existing support facilities found within the School of Technology.

To read this article, visit http://horizon.unc.edu/TS

Thought About A Videotape?
Ron Payne, Distance Education Production Assistant

Videotapes are becoming a popular delivery format for distance students at ISU. Each semester, tape sales continue to increase. During the Fall 98 semester, 810 tapes were sold. By Spring 99, the number jumped to 1,150. For Fall 99 semester, if the current demand holds, 1500 videotapes will be sold. This is a near doubling of demand in one year.

Videotapes are a comparatively inexpensive option for our students. Currently, the cost per tape is $6.55 ($3 per tape plus $3.55 for delivery, which is subject to postal rates changes). 15 class sessions times $6.55 equals a $98.25 cost for the semester. If a class meets for more than two hours for a session, an extra tape is required, and that would increase the cost.

Videotaped courses can be produced, or created, in several ways.

* Some departments request videotapes of courses offered over the IHETS network; once the semester ends, these courses are available solely via videotapes that are mailed directly to the student's home.

* A growing number of faculty members schedule their on-campus classes in one of the studio classrooms so that the course can be videotaped for future asynchronous delivery.

* Other faculty members create videotape supplements for their internet courses. These supplements range from one tape (containing two lectures/demonstrations totaling an hour and one-half) to 15 tapes (containing two-hour lectures).

In addition to the obvious convenience and flexibility offered, many ISU students indicate that videotapes offer an opportunity to view and then replay portions of lectures or discussions, a feature that is especially helpful for difficult or complex ideas.

If you are interested in using videotape to deliver or supplement a course, contact Ron Payne at rpayne@indstate.edu

Computer Animation - A New ISU Web Site
Michael Moore, Modeling and Animation Specialist

What's going on with computer animation at ISU? Everything from charts and graphs to molecules and machine parts, from logos and maps to spaceships and planets--anything from simple graphics to photo-realistic simulations.

Animation for instructional video? We can do it. Medical animation for video or the web? We can do that too. Mechanical animation? We can do it.

But check it out for yourself. Go to the ISU computer animation web site to see some examples of what computer animation at ISU can do for you.

http://video.indstate.edu/animation

Visit the *New* ISU Distance Education Web Site

ISU has a new distance education web site located at: http://indstate.edu/distance

This site features:

* A list of distance programs - graduate and undergraduate - approved for statewide delivery

* Specific information on each distance program offered

* An introduction to course technologies

* A list of ISU resources for information on admissions, registration, financial aid, student services, and computer support

* A link to the new distance course listing at ISU's Interactive Services site

Our new site offers browsers lots of opportunities for interaction, including an online request for information form, a survey, and a new program request form.

The site development team included: Paula Vincini (site design), Jason Hiddle (web graphics design), John Crawford (web development), and Julie Tipton (editing).

After you browse the site, please send your suggestions to Julie Tipton at exttipto@ruby.indstate.edu

WinterFest 2000 - Call for Papers and Facilitators!

Teaching And Learning In Transition: Toward A Scholarship Of Teaching

ISU's annual four-day conference on teaching and learning will be held on January 26-29, 2000. Innovative ideas for special sessions, workshops, panels, and tutorials are welcomed and encouraged. Suggestions of topics include but are not limited to:

• Service learning
• Diversity
• The first year experience
• K-12 programs
• Learning communities
• Educational media technologies
• Pedagogical issues concerning graduate teaching assistants
• Faculty development initiatives
• General education

This conference provides an opportunity to share ideas with educators in the region.

DEADLINE for submitting a proposal is November 6, 1999. To be considered, the idea must be well formulated with specific suggestions about content and targeted participants. One copy of the proposed session should accompany the response form provided at the bottom of the page.

Please send proposal to:
Sherry L. Beland
c/o Center for Teaching and Learning
127 Dreiser Hall
Indiana State University
Terre Haute, IN 47809

If you need additional information contact the CTL at (812) 237-3053 or visit our web site: http://web.indstate.eu:80/ctl/wf99call.html

Chat's Room: News from the FCRC
Chat Chatterji

Our students universally lament the price (and "buyback") of textbooks. Books are expensive and never worth enough when students try to sell them back. Wouldn't it be nice if there were no "middle-man" or if there had to be one, the middle man would be not-for-profit?

Some enterprising ISU students have taken matters into their own hands. They have started an on-line textbook exchange. This nifty little program runs off a web site at http://books.indstate.edu

Behind the scenes at this site are basically two databases--one of people wanting to sell and the other of people wanting to buy. When there is a match, the program sends an email message to the other person, bringing them together.

The service is free. It will be self-governing, but will be closely observed for effectiveness by the student programmers who wrote it. While initially thought to be relegated as an "underground" student service, it has recently been sanctioned through the ISU Student Government Association, thereby confirming its legitimacy.

Here's a quote from their web page: "So, if you've saved every single textbook that was only going to bring you just $4 on the market, submit it to our database and help us help you get rid of it. The more books we have on here, the more people will use it, and the more money we save."

Saying Goodbye to Chat Chatterji

Chat Chatterji recently accepted the position of Chief Information Officer with Ivy Tech State College at the Indianapolis Central Office. His new responsibilities will include overseeing a statewide system of academic and administrative computing, and wide and local area networks serving some 70,000 students at 22 locations.

Best wishes to Chat and a special thanks for all of the interesting articles, technical assistance, and patient support he has offered to ISU staff, faculty, and students.

Workshops & Faculty Support Services for 1999-2000

The following is an overview of workshops and orientations to be offered in the upcoming year. For details on these and other workshops and faculty support services, please contact Mary Luz Petrowski at extension 8689 or aafpetro@amber.indstate.edu

The Course Transformation Academy (CTA) is a faculty development program for faculty members preparing to use technology in their teaching.

Dates: