Connecting at the CORE: Community Online Resources

for Engagement – Site Creation and Administration

Mary Teslow, MLIS, RHIAeLearning Faculty Fellow

Jeff KiskaSystem Administrator

Western Carolina UniversityJuly 11. 2007

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Regional Comprehensive University

Part of UNC System Rural WNC Enrollment: 8,665 Faculty: 450

About WCU

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About WNC

Mountains Blue Ridge, AT

Great Smoky Appalachian Values

Neighborliness and Hospitality Personalism – getting along Sense of Place Heritage Handout

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Appalachia > Online

Gifts of Appalachia Sense of Place Pioneering Spirit

Appalachian authors Jim Wayne Miller Ron Rash

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From one-room to online

Pioneer one-room school houses Anderson, et. al1 reflect on these

pioneer, one-teacher schools: Many grades Many subjects Other duties,

like lighting the stove Creating community of learners Older students help with younger

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From one-room to online

Anderson, et. al continues: “These various teaching

functions are now being replicated in the new “pioneering” context, that of online learning, …

Facing similar challenges: Teaching presence Creating warmth and

community

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What are CORE sites?

An approach to the pioneer challenge Bb site specific to a program Community resource center

Variety of approaches Individual names & designs Graduate & Undergraduate Distance Ed & Campus-based

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CORE Examples

Nursing Homeplace

Human Resources Student Center

Athletic Training Clinical Ed for students Clinical Ed for instructors

Health Information Administration HIA Community

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What might be offered?

Communication With faculty and students A continuing presence Across the program Maintain alumni contact

Group Manager Discussions by year, etc.

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Group Manager

-- Discussions by year,

juniors, seniors, grads

-- Easy to re-label

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What might be offered?

Program information and advising Application status Handbook, book lists, etc. Anonymous surveys

Mentoring Peer-to-peer Guest Speakers Alumni

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What might be offered?

Student Club Meetings Volunteer opportunities

Opportunities Profiles of clinical sites Jobs & internships

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CORE vs. a Website

Website Lack of communication tools More difficult to faculty Less controlled access

CORE site Familiar to faculty and students Site appears in their list Familiar with tools and functions

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Benefits: Students

Adds to a “sense of place” Provides community of

continuity Place to ask questions of

faculty/peers / alumni Eases anxieties about classes

and other program details

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Benefits: Students

Easy to Use program “One Stop” Appears on student course list Uses same tool as classes

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Benefits: Students

Students express high

enthusiasm right from

the start

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Benefits: Faculty

Swan3 affirms Anderson’s position: “Current research … seems to

indicate a heightened need for instructor activity and interaction in online environments…”

CORE sites provide an opportunity to enhance faculty presence.

Using Bb builds on current skills Uses same tool as teaching Easy to maintain, Saves time

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Benefits: Faculty

Three faculty roles shift online: Cognitive, Affective, Managerial

Coppola, et. al (2001) “Teaching Presence”

(direct instruction, facilitating discourse, and design and organization)Anderson, et. al (2001)

As content becomes more complex, new tools are needed for the managerial and affective roles.

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Benefits: Faculty

WebCat Water Cooler CORE site for online faculty

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Benefits: University

Adds to a “sense of place” Supports connections and

engagement Supports retention

Supports accreditation (SACS) Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) Synthesis: A Pathway to

Intentional Learning

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The Key? Singing the Same Song

Mountain Heritage Day @ WCU

Queen Family, Mountain folk music

Mary Jane & Henry

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We are Catamounts

And just about everythingincludes a “cat”

Our Blackboard Vista 4 Enterprisenicknamed WebCat

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Technical: System

Blackboard Vista 4 Enterprise Hosted by Blackboard WCU part of a UNC consortium

CORE sites use Account management Existing authentication Consolidation of tools

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Technical: CORE Management

Developing guidelines eLearning Faculty Fellow

Shared Support WebCat Water Cooler

Creation requests currently informal E-mail/call us to setup a section Request form likely in the

future

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Technical: CORE Requests

Adding students is simplified Section instructor can enroll and

unenroll students, faculty, alumni  For large groups, where the list

can be identified by certain criteria, we can use Banner extracts to populate these easily (with a custom script • (i.e. all students in a particular course

or group of courses, all students that are part of a particular program, etc) 

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Technical: Context Hierarchy

Currently all CORE sections reside within a single course (called CORE) Users can easily identify

CORE courses in theirWebCat listing

Group together

Future may include multiple courses For different departments/programs

so that we can give select users the ability to create their own

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Technical: Guest Accounts

Created on a per-request basis non-university individuals Currently using email address

Future automation possible Like CORE section requests,

as time goes on this may be streamlined into an automated process if the need exists.

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Summary

CORE sites provide many benefits For students, faculty, university Enhancing a “sense of place” Beyond section-level engagement

Demands on staff can be minimized Using guidelines Having lead faculty perform some

site management functions Automation opportunities

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What’s Ahead

Currently 9 CORE sites Plan to promote in 2007-08 Site management strategies

Plans for SoTL project Faculty learning community

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References

1. Anderson, T., Rourke, L., Garrison, D. R. & Archer, W. (2001) Assessing teaching presence in a computer conferencing context. Seattle, WA: Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.

2. Coppola, N. W., Hiltz, S. R. & Rotter, N. (2001) Becoming a virtual professor: pedagogical roles and ALN. HICSS 2001 Proceedings, IEEE Press.

3. Swan, K. (2002). Building learning Communities in online Courses: The importance of interaction. Education, Communication and Information, 2(1), 23-49.

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Discussion & Questions

Matthew Lesko, mlesko.com

Connecting at the CORE: Community Online Resources

for Engagement – Site Creation and Administration

Western Carolina UniversityJuly 11. 2007

Contact InformationMary Teslow mteslow@email.wcu.edu

Jeff Kiska kiska@email.wcu.edu