This session will showcase best practices for integrating a video discussion platform (Flipgrid) in an online course to facilitate student interaction and build a sense of online community. By highlighting the instructor’s insights on course design and present descriptive statistics, the session will further illustrate how Flipgrid helped promote interactive discussions and build an online community from multiple dimensions, which will provide profound implications for educators who are looking for effective strategies to design an undergraduate-level online course and use an effective tool to facilitate online discussion.
Introduction
This study intends to showcase best practices for integrating a video discussion platform (Flipgrid) in an online course to facilitate student interaction and build a sense of online community. During the presentation, insights from the instructor will be introduced to explain how the course was designed to accommodate all types of learners and build an online classroom community. Additionally, important descriptive statistics (e.g. video views, engagement hours over time) will be highlighted to illustrate how Flipgrid helped facilitate interactive discussion and build an online community from multiple dimensions.
Context of the Study
This 1-credit, online course is designed for undergraduate students minoring in Learning Technologies at a large Midwestern university within the context of a teacher preparation program. Aligned with the InTASC Model Core Teaching Standards, this course intends to extend students’ knowledge and skills on using Google tools for educational purposes, enhance their technology competency on selecting and adapting appropriate tools in their specific teaching context, and connect with peers in a collaborative learning environment.
As the first course designed and taught in Google Classroom in the department, the design and development of this online course were mainly informed by the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles for providing multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression (Rose & Meyer, 2002). Insights from the course design process will be introduced during the presentation regarding how the instructor design the overall structure and instructional activities that create an inclusive and engaging experience for accommodating all types of learners.
Building Community
Prior research indicated that an interactive online learning community allows students to develop strong relationships with peers and provide more opportunities for collaborative construction and improvement of knowledge about chosen topics. (Murdock & Williams, 2011; Wu, Chen Hsieh, & Yang, 2017). Most scholars agreed that online learning communities are an effective way to promote the sharing and building of knowledge by learners (Ke & Hoadley, 2009) and enhance active learning and develop more positive learning attitudes (Gazi, 2009). As Rovai (2002) defined four dimensions for a classroom community: spirit, trust, interaction, and common expectations, more artifacts and examples will be introduced in the presentation to demonstrate how this course was designed to build an online classroom community in four dimensions.
Promoting Interaction
In order to foster meaningful conversations, students are expected to demonstrate critical thinking skills by effectively relating course topics to prior knowledge or experience, eloquently communicating their own ideas synthesizing others’ ideas, and asking provocative questions and promoting peer interaction (Gilbert & Dabbagh, 2005). Given the limited features of Google Classroom, the instructor decided to integrate an external tool that can be easily linked to Google Classroom and help facilitate interactive online discussion. A video platform called Flipgrid was finally selected and implemented in this course considering its user-friendly interface and unique features (e.g. customized time limit, no sign-in required, stickers and emoji available). More visualized statistics (e.g. line graph) will be shared during the presentation including the number of videos and views to demonstrate students’ engagement level over time.
Session Outcomes
Through discussing with presenters about the benefits and challenges involved in the process of design, development, and evaluation, the audience will explore the affordances and limitations of both the online and face-to-face components of this training workshop in detail (e.g. instructional design approaches, learning objectives, assessment, activities, and resources). Furthermore, this session will help the audience appraise the value of this blended workshop in the area of career and professional development for female graduate students, and get inspiring ideas for their own future practices in instructional design.
This presentation positively impacts the field of instructional design by showcasing how an online course was designed in Google Classroom informed by the UDL principles. Instructors, designers and students could gain valuable insight on how to better strengthen their own online course design by participating in this presentation and discussing further with the presenter. We believe our case will show profound implications for future studies and practices for designing an undergraduate-level online course and use an effective tool to facilitate online discussion.
References
Conrad, D. (2005). Building and maintaining community in cohort-based online learning. Journal of Distance Education, 20(1), 1–20.
Gilbert, P. K., & Dabbagh, A. (2005). How to structure online discussions for meaningful discourse: a case study. British Journal of Educational Technology, 36(1), 5–18
Ke, F., & Hoadley, C. (2009). Evaluating online learning communities. Educational Technology Research and Development, 57(4), 487–510.
Murdock, J. L., & Williams, A. M. (2011). Creating an online learning community: Is it possible? Innovative Higher Education, 36(5), 305–315.
Rose, D. H., & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Rovai, A. P. (2002). Building sense of community at a distance. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 3(1), 1–16.
Wu, W. C., Chen Hsieh, J. S., & Yang J. C. (2017). Creating an Online Learning Community in a Flipped Classroom to Enhance EFL Learners’ Oral Proficiency. Educational Technology & Society, 20(2), 142–157.