Group 4 technology - Elluminate to Connect Students

On Monday night we had our first online conference in Elluminate. It was engaging, interactive, easy and allowed collaboration in an online community. Overall it was a fantastic experience and one that changed my view of the virtual classroom for ever.

Elluminate supports Video, Web Conferencing, Instant messaging, phone, and Social Networking as well as allowing for file sharing. It can be seen that this ICT supports all different learning styles and multiple intelligences

 There were none of the problems that have previously plagued our efforts of online conferencing. By getting a quick lesson on the tool at the beginning of the class we were all able to benefit from the functions and understand why it was best if only 1 person had their mic on at any time. This didn't hinder our chat at all, because we all had an equal understanding of the tool we were able to keep the flow of the conference going.

I've never really thought indepth about the potential of a virtual classroom before but my eyes were certainly opened when Robyn started mentioning that Education Qld sets up talks through elluminate with industry professionals or people that are involved in special events, for example they might get an expert on the Anzac message to talk to the students about the upcoming parade. What could be more engaging then hearing stories from the mouth of someone who has had the real experience! There is so much potential in this idea. Say the year 12 art students are doing a unit on contemporary Australian Art. It would be possible to set up a meeting through Education Qld and Elluminate with an expert on the topic from one of our leading art galleries. We are only limited by our imaginations and internet connection. Anybody becomes accessible when it is online. 

One of the most important aspects of 21st century learning is that content links to the real world. Learning Engagement theory sits at the forefront of this with 'relate', 'create', 'donate'. If students can't see a link to their real-world environment outside the walls of the classroom then they are less likely to be engaged with the topic. Elluminate links students to the real world. And it can work both ways to. If students have participated in a successful unit of work and have been able to transform it into something relevant to the community or the people around them then what would stop them setting up an online conference with a school somewhere else and sharing this with them. They could share what they did and why it worked so well. The students can become the teachers in a virtual world.

Another exciting link could be to university lecturers doing further studies into a topic students are learning. Rather than use a phone which can be scary and unengaging with a group of 15 students, they can all go online and share information. Elluminate is not just for talking back and forth, it is about sharing files, presentations and having the ability to all work live on a whiteboard all at once. This enables learning to be scaffolded right before your very eyes.

We did this on Monday night. Robyn asked us to contribute to a discussion by writing on the whiteboard in elluminate. Within minutes we could all see the points of view of everybody in the discussion. It saved time because it wasn't one by one 'what do you think', it was an all in approach making learning faster and more engaging and enabled fast scaffolding of knowledge.

It can be seen from this example that ideas can be shared quickly and effectively, prompting further discussions

The teacher/moderator can show their support of certain ideas with both a visual tick and a discussion. These different approaches accommodate different learning styles

SWOT Anaysis on the use of Elluminate (or similar program) for an elearning space
Strengths

• Ability to record the session to allow students to go back and re-visit what was said to gain a more indepth understanding
• Connects students with the 'real world'. Brings a world of possibilities into the classroom
• A rich, collaborative resource
• Students can upload and share their work instantly with the group
• Accommodates different learning styles. eg.  
• Reflective learners can go back and re-visit
• Supports active learners as everything is instant and fast moving
• Supports Visual Learners as most of the things discussed are written or displayed on screen in the form of a diagram
• Verbal learners can listen to the conversation or follow the read through the chat window
• Supports sequential learners through the forward and back buttons of slides. They can move freely through the presentation and in this environment are encouraged to think globally
• Global learners will love the fast pace and instant nature of ideas that come up on the screen or are spoken by the group
• Teachers are set up as the moderator and can monitor every the students are doing
• The moderator can share their screen with the rest of the users allowing for easy demonstration of a digital tool or showing them an image on a website

Weaknesses 

• The success of a session hangs on the speed of the internet connection
•  Can only effectively cater for 15 students or less when class sizes are generally larger than this
• Things can always go wrong in an online environment so there always needs to be a back-up plan
• Not always easy to see who typed what
• Time difference don't always allow for conversations with people on the other side of the globe

Opportunities

• Connect with students on the other side of the globe
• Opportunity to manage student behaviour through engaging students in this ICT
• Learning no longer has to be between 9-3. Students can work collaboratively in a safe environment outside of school hours
• Students can become the teachers and turn it around so they are the ones presenting content
• Distant education students would feel part of a larger community

Threats

• It is a secure environment but it doesn't stop teachers having to be aware of cybernet bullying
• There could be a lot of technical frustration if the internet fails. Engage or enrage!
• If the system crashes work could be lost and we all know how frustrating that is

It can be seen that the positives out weigh the negatives with this ICT. Online conferencing encapulates everything that is learning in the 21st century. It's engaging, the content is relatable, students have in depth collaborative discussions that use higher order thinking, It comfortably accomodates different learning styles and learning can occur in any geographical location at any time of the day. It completely enhances and transforms how, what, when and where students learn in the 21st century. 

How do I support legal, safe and ethical guidelines using Eluminate?
I could not find any exact guidelines that covered students in a virtual classroom or online conference except for the following facts:

• Every parents signs an ICT agreement form when they enrol their child
• The ICT agreement form covers basic sensible use of the internet
• So long as the virtual classroom is set up by the teacher then no additional permissions need to be sought.
• If the online conference or virtual classroom extends outside the school network then no video or photos of the students is to be shown without prior consent.
• Students are not to upload any personal information such as names, addresses, parents names etc unless it is for an educational purpose
• Any online chat needs to be supervised by a teacher. In an online virtual classroom the moderator can read any chat that happens between the students