{"id":1848,"date":"2013-10-21T09:00:23","date_gmt":"2013-10-21T14:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lesleyelis.com\/elisblog\/?p=1848"},"modified":"2019-01-08T11:53:14","modified_gmt":"2019-01-08T16:53:14","slug":"the-online-learning-community-as-digital-village-green-interview-with-joan-thormann-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lesleyelis.com\/elisblog\/2013\/10\/21\/the-online-learning-community-as-digital-village-green-interview-with-joan-thormann-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"The Online Learning Community as Digital Village Green: Interview with Joan Thormann Part I."},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the next few weeks, the e-Learning and Instructional Support Department (eLIS) will be publishing a series of interviews with author and Lesley University Professor \u00a0Joan Thormann<\/a>, exploring topics in online learning design and facilitation. \u00a0Joan Thomann will be presenting at an upcoming eLIS Brown Bag event,\u00a0The Online Learning Community as Digital Village<\/strong> Green<\/strong><\/a>. \u00a0This event will take place on Friday, November 15th from 12pm to 2pm<\/strong> at Lesley’s University Hall at 1815 Mass Ave in Cambridge on the third floor, within the Creativity Commons. The interviews were conducted by eLIS Instructional Designer Sarah Krongard.<\/p>\n

\"joan\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Joan Thormann co-authored the book The Complete Step-by-Step Guide to Designing and Teaching Online Courses<\/a>\u00a0with her colleague Isa Kaftal Zimmerman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What was your interest in writing this book?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Joan Thormann<\/i><\/b>: I started teaching online in 1996, when there was no guidance available. \u00a0Distance learning did exist, but mostly involved mailings, videos and\/or televised lectures. \u00a0There was very little happening with online learning, and not much research available — there was certainly no eLIS! \u00a0In 1996 I was asked to teach a course online and was given one sample syllabus.<\/p>\n

Initially I learned about teaching online by trial and error. \u00a0I also learned from my students\u2019 feedback.\u00a0 Eventually – slowly but surely – research about teaching online started to appear. \u00a0So, I began to follow the research, as though I was writing my dissertation again. \u00a0I wanted to know more. \u00a0I wanted to know how other people dealt with online learning and how to make it better. \u00a0This is something I am always doing. Much of my own research has come from trying new things in my online classes.<\/p>\n

I wrote The Complete Step-by-Step Guide to Designing and Teaching Online Courses<\/a> because over the years, I learned so much and wanted to share my knowledge.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t want others to have to flounder in the same way I did.<\/p>\n

Were you provided with any university-supported tools when you started teaching online? <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Thormann:<\/i><\/b> In the very beginning, Lesley provided a threaded online bulletin board system and email. That was it. \u00a0\u00a0I spent most of my time and energy developing websites for my courses and updating materials. \u00a0There was no gradebook. The technology was very primitive. Therefore, when Blackboard appeared, I grumbled a bit because I had to jettison most of what I had built. \u00a0But after I got over my grumbling and adapted to using Blackboard, I could focus on course content and interacting with students rather than maintaining my course infrastructure.<\/p>\n

In working with Blackboard, I began to realize the amount of time that I spent in the past on administrative work. Blackboard liberated me from this. \u00a0And even though I hear my colleagues complain about Blackboard, I appreciate this tool, since I worked in the \u201cDark Ages.\u201d Despite its virtues I have found it necessary to create Blackboard workarounds when I feel Blackboard gets in the way.<\/p>\n

Now there are many tools available within Blackboard such as wikis, blogs, journals, discussion forums, and the grade center.<\/p>\n

What are some of your current specific research interests?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Thormann<\/i><\/b>: My research generally revolves around the incorporation of pedagogical approaches for online teaching and student participation. \u00a0Each time I use a new tool or approach I do action research to find out how well it works. \u00a0I have done research on the use of Skype, Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and student moderators. My research shows that all three of these approaches are viewed positively by my students. \u00a0\u00a0I have presented my research at meetings and written articles about these topics. \u00a0There are also descriptions of it in my book. Currently, it seems that others find my work with student moderating the most interesting and useful.<\/p>\n

To research student moderation, I sent out a survey asking students questions such as \u201c<\/i>What were the most beneficial and least beneficial aspects of moderating<\/i>?\u201d \u00a0<\/i>The students who responded to the surveys were very positive about student moderating. \u00a0 I now use student moderators regularly in almost all the online classes I teach.<\/p>\n

I learned that each time I added a new pedagogical element to my course, I want – and need – to check with students to find out if the new element is, in fact, something I should continue to incorporate. \u00a0I use my students as a gauge. \u00a0Both ongoing feedback and end of course evaluations also help guide my pedagogy and research.<\/p>\n

My latest research involves incorporating UDL in online courses. My future research may focus on gender differences in participation in online courses.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned for Part II of this series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the next few weeks, the e-Learning and Instructional Support Department (eLIS) will be publishing a series of interviews with author and Lesley University Professor \u00a0Joan Thormann, exploring topics in online learning design and facilitation. \u00a0Joan Thomann will be presenting … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[225,164,10,391,15,16,18],"tags":[46,234,392,63,233,179,236,235],"class_list":["post-1848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-engagement","category-events","category-facilitation","category-faculty-spotlight","category-lesley","category-online-design","category-reflection-2","tag-community","tag-digital-village","tag-faculty-spotlight","tag-feedback","tag-joan-thormann","tag-online","tag-research","tag-teaching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lesleyelis.com\/elisblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lesleyelis.com\/elisblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lesleyelis.com\/elisblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesleyelis.com\/elisblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesleyelis.com\/elisblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1848"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesleyelis.com\/elisblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1877,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesleyelis.com\/elisblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1848\/revisions\/1877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lesleyelis.com\/elisblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesleyelis.com\/elisblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lesleyelis.com\/elisblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}