Fast-Community: Fostering and Sustaining the Community in a 3-Week Online Class
Geneseo, State University College at
Fast Community satisfied three needs: 1) adapted the condensed, online-learning model to the liberal arts mission of SUNY Geneseo; 2) minimized perceptions of discrepancy in quantity and quality between the 3-week, online version and the 16-week, face-to-face version; 3) fostered engagement equivalent to the face-to-face version in an online learning environment. To accomplish these aims, Fast Community used a combination of student-centered course policies and engaged distance learning strategies that included more formal assignments as well as informal extra-class communication (ECC). To maximize student involvement and manage the condensed timeline of a 3-week course, incentive-based “due dates” were offered, enabling students to earn incentives (such as dropping a lowest grade) by submitting their assignments by the due date (https://www.chronicle.com/article/It-s-Time-to-Ditch-Our/237530). Late submissions were accepted without penalty until the instructor finished evaluation (approximately 3-days); once the instructor announced that evaluation was completed, students were able to submit their assignment for 50% within 24 hours.
Engaged distance learning strategies encouraged frequent participation from students to support learning. First, a live interactive Google Doc schedule was the centerpiece for the course, providing a clear structure but also a dynamic quality because when students would check their schedule, they also received updates/clarifications from the instructor and could leave notes and questions for a response. Secondly, a set of multi-media discussions through Canvas Discussions helped students apply concepts and build relationships. Students completed four posts during the 3-week period with one dropped grade available to use as they chose. They were also asked to respond to the post of one other person. The instructor also read and responded to the posts privately, enabling the instructor to engage in critique and constructive feedback while leaving the discussion thread itself for sharing and community building (SEE FILE UPLOAD). Third, students were provided an opportunity--once for each of the two essays--for students to submit their draft via Google Docs to receive non-graded feedback. These “feed-forward” assignments fostered student-teacher rapport while enabling students to undertake deeper learning than might be accomplished by traditional graded metrics (https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/feedforward/). The essays with feedback are available at https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1-QTZCTAV8ohQbiisI-mh2UuA4Dm17DdN. According to Canvas Metrics for student engagement with the platform (SEE FILE UPLOAD), student engagement with the course remained high through the end of the semester, in part because of these engaged distance learning strategies.
Informal extra-class communication (ECC) supported each of these endeavors (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00909889409365400). While the instructor was available by email every day, the course aimed to move away from email because it is a saturated medium and encourages formal communication that undermines the community-building ethos of the class (SEE FILE UPLOAD). Email is also an opt-in individualizing system that puts the responsibility on the student to seek clarification and prevents class issues from becoming points for community building (https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20141112006669/en/Class-2020-Colleges-Universities-Ditch-Email-Viewbooks). As an alternative, the course used a REMIND two-way (but not multi-way) communication platform to send messages between student and instructor via SMS. While REMIND accomplished traditional information-seeking purposes, it also encouraged more informal, affective communication (SEE FILE UPLOAD).
Three video-based opportunities for ECC were also provided. First, the instructor delivered five, pre-scheduled Blackboard Collaborate Webinars, which students could attend live or watch as recordings. Second, the instructor hosted Google Hangout office hours for one hour every day except holidays; students could attend by telephone or webcam. When students “dropped in” for office hours, relationships were build either through group chats or, when students needed individual instruction, the instructor would move each individual to a separate window and move among them, giving students time to process before resuming conversation.
Although each strategy worked together to create the Fast Community of this course, the unanticipated favorite of both the instructor and the students were the 10-15 minute “framing” videos that the instructor recorded and posted to YouTube for the students to watch at the start of the each of the nine modules that organized the course content (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtOVYcmp1ABULWMuv4U-_DvNljINLM-hM). Whereas the modules delivered the content of the course in a variety of forms (readings, videos, audio files, worksheets, etc.), the framing videos provided the instructor a chance to reflect on the overall takeaways from the modules, the relationship among content, and the module’s value. The framing videos also enabled the instructor to respond to common objects that might pave the way for a better learning experience. The YouTube view count for each video suggests that the videos were well-utilized (SEE SUPPORTING EVIDENCE/METRICS) and the videos then became available to use in future face-to-face courses as supplementary ECC.
Fast Community can be adopted in whole or in parts by instructors looking to foster community in online courses especially in a condensed time frame. Course designers could use the workflow presented here--beginning with a shift in policy attitude about deadlines and working deductively toward more informal ECC--or adopt pieces of the Fast Community model that might best enhance their course. Some, like using REMIND technology, appear simple, but might not work if an overall attitude of informality is not also part of the shift in dynamic. For instructors challenged by the prospect of online teaching, especially in a shortened time span, the engaged distance learning practices might be the most approachable. One of the challenges of the model is that it depends a good deal on teacher immediacy in a mediated environment (http://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/pdf/IJTLHE1405.pdf). However, one of the benefits of that Fast Community is that it uses a multitude of channels so that instructors who are not immediate in one area could still easily achieve an overall communal atmosphere. Furthermore, the model builds student-to-student rapport as well so that the instructor is not always at the center of the course.
http://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/pdf/IJTLHE1405.pdf
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00909889409365400
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03634523.2011.563388
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1150571.pdf
https://www.brown.edu/academics/professional/faculty/online/best-practices.php
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4vm36ZJs4s&list=PLgQKAIaYkVaKZkoC9V7RaBrQOMP0QMHP1
https://www.chronicle.com/article/It-s-Time-to-Ditch-Our/237530
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20141112006669/en/Class-2020-Colleges-Universities-Ditch-Email-Viewbooks
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4041495/
https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/feedforward/