October 2000 — Features
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Creating a Pre-Service Teachers' Virtual Space
As the project progressed through the first set of readings,
we informally checked on our students’ progress with the discussions. We found
that we needed to provide more guidance during the online discussions than we
had initially anticipated. To provide guidance on quality, we provided them
with exemplary responses after the first round of discussions. These were
posted to our respective Web sites, and students were informed of our
expectations. However, as the course and collaboration moved on, it became
painfully clear that some groups needed more guidance from the instructors on
how to conduct a meaningful online discussion. This actually led to a
rearranging of groups by shifting members from excellent collaborative groups
to those that needed mentors to show them the way.
5. Evaluation Issues
As the project progressed, we assessed its effectiveness and
found that we needed to reassign some of the groups because a few of the teams
were not working well together. Additionally, we found that it was necessary to
drop a planned Web page development part of the project because it would have
created an overload on our students. The five rounds of discussion were more
than enough to provide an enriched learning experience for our students. It is
critical to be flexible and willing to alter your original plans. We
anticipated that our collaboration project would continue to evolve as we
worked together and came to understand the complexities of each campus.
Recommendations from the Trenches
What follows are recommendations for
designing an effective collaborative project, based on our experiences.
· Begin
your first virtual collaboration with colleagues you know and have worked with
in the past. They will have more patience and be more supportive — two critical
factors in completing a project such as this. We have a renewed respect for our
colleagues as a result of their support during the design and implementation.
Your first effort is a time-consuming process. Work with those you respect.
· Take time
in the beginning to do a thorough analysis.
· Keep lines of communication open. If one
instructor is going to be out of e-mail contact, let the others know. Or, if
one person is confused about something, ask the others. Everyone should be
clear on all facets of the project in order for it to run smoothly. Communicate
frequently and respect your colleagues as professionals.
· Select other classes to collaborate with
carefully. Make sure the students at each university have access to the
Internet outside of class time. If not, time on the Internet should be built
into the class sessions. This proved to be a major issue for one course, due to
the stagnant growth curve of the students with less access to technology.
