Presentation to NSW VET in Schools teachers; December, 2014

1. SYNCH AND SWIM:
Conducting Effective Teaching/Training in
a Virtual Classroom
Michael Coghlan
NewLearning
9/12/14

2. AGENDA
• The nature of the live online environment
• Synchronous v Asynchronous communication
• Creating interactive environments live online
• Skills of the live online presenter

3. PERSONALISE THE
EXPERIENCE

5. WHO’S ONLINE TODAY?

6. WHERE ARE YOU?

7. WHERE ARE YOU?

8. WHERE ARE YOU?

9. The Andes Egypt Buenos Aires
Cape Town London NY
Australia Hawaii India

10. WHY THESE INTRODUCTORY
ACTIVITIES?

11. TO CAM OR NOT TO CAM?

12. USE OF WEBCAMS
• Use your webcam (or at least show a
picture) briefly at the start of the session as
part of the introduction
• Have participants do the same if they have
them, if they want to, and if bandwidth
allows
• Unless you’re all on the NBN (or other
high speed network) I recommend you then
turn off webcams to conserve bandwidth,
but it is a personal choice.

13. Establish ‘Modus Operandi’ (Ground Rules)
for the session
• Questions/Comments: any time?
Throughout session? At the end? In
text chat? Via voice? Using
the hands-up tool?
• How will you handle the
text chat? Will you use a co-moderator?

14. MAKING YOUR PRESENCE FELT

15. Poll Question:
Are you
A) In your office?
B) In a computer suite?
C) At home?
D) Other?

16. MULTIPLE VENUE
PRESENTATIONS
(MVPs)
CLASSROOM/
F2F VENUE
remote
students guest
lecturer
public
space

17. MVPs: Implications
Participants can be in a variety of
locations:
• F2f classroom, lecture theatre
• PC suite
• Office (at work)
• Home office/study
• Other (café, beach)

18. SYNCHRONOUS ASYNCHRONOUS

19. What is synchronous/asynchronous
communication?
• SYNCHRONOUS (real time) eg f2f
conversation, telephone calls, text chat,
Instant Messaging
• ASYNCHRONOUS – some delay between
initial communication and the reply eg
letters, email, forums, Facebook newsfeed

20. Asynch
Synch
COMMUNICATION AXIS
Reflective Structured;
expository
Minimalist; rapid
(evolving)
Spontaneous;
dialogue
Oral Written

21. COMMUNICATION AXIS
Most classroom communications take place here
New – have been enabled by technology (only happen online)

22. QUICK POLL
IT IS IMPORTANT TO SPELL
CORRECTLY IN TEXT CHAT
AGREE OR DISAGREE?

23. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typoglycemia for more

24. PURPOSE?
• a presentation tool?
• a collaboration tool?

25. ADVANTAGES (+) DISADVANTAGES (-)

26. ADVANTAGES (+) DISADVANTAGES (-)

27. TEXT CHAT
ACTIVITY

28. Use the text chat to make suggestions
on....
How to improve
the VET in Schools
experience in NSW
schools...

29. TRACKING THE BACK CHANNEL
CC image: Dean Shareski

30. Impact for Participants
Advantages Disadvantages

31. Impact for Participants
Advantages Disadvantages
• Audience is more engaged
• You don’t have to wait till the end of a
presentation to ask questions or
comment
• Can communicate with other people in
the room about issues raised in the
presentation
• Provides you with an archive of the
presentation (note taking)
• May miss some points while writing
commentary, responding to other
backchannellers
• Is mentally very taxing
• May start to stray off-topic (what’s for
lunch? How are the kids? Etc)
• Opportunity to make negative remarks
about the speaker

32. Impact for Speaker/Presenter
Advantages Disadvantages

33. Impact for Speaker/Presenter
Advantages Disadvantages
• Can get real time feedback from audience
• Can ensure that you are meeting audience
needs/answering urgent questions
• Promotes greater level of engagement
• a listener may elaborate on something you’re
saying (eg add more information about a
theory, post a URL, suggested a related blog,
etc)
• May get positive feedback from audience as it
happens
• Models a new way of teaching/presenting
that is less teacher-centric and more network-centric
• May appear as if many are not paying
attention
• Your audience has access to a ‘critical channel’
• Your thoughts may be communicated to an
audience for whom they were not intended
• Can be overwhelming to keep track of (may
require working in tandem with a moderator)

34. QUICK POLL –
ENCOURAGE
PARTICIPANTS TO USE
TEXT CHAT?
YES OR NO?

35. TAKE A
BREAK??

36. DESIGNING FOR
INTERACTION
examples of this in this
session?

37. Skills of the Live Online Presenter
• Golden Rule: 6-8 minutes talking at a stretch
maximum
• Intersperse presentations with questions, polls, other
speakers (from the floor), whiteboard activity
• Decide how to handle direct messaging – will you
monitor/respond? Or ignore it? Dip in and out of it?
• Consider working with a producer/co-presenter
• More at http:// michaelcoghlan.net/fll/blog.htm#skills

39. RESOURCE
See the wiki at http://synchfacilitation.wikispaces.com/

40. Contact Details
MICHAEL COGHLAN
http://michaelcoghlan.net
e: michaelc@chariot.net.au