Getting Online Active Learning -- GOAL

Course description
GOAL is a seven-week course that combines genuine and didactic dialogues around topics that
are relevant for future online course creators and facilitators. Participants will discuss how to: a)
build virtual communities and keep them healthy; b) build on social, argumentative and
pragmatic dialogues in an online course setting; c) assume the different roles of a facilitator
when the eLearning model is student and/or group-centered, as opposed to the traditional
teacher-centered model. In parallel, participants will explore digital tools that they could
integrate into their teaching; they will also reflect on their course syllabus and will revise it if
necessary.

Course rationale
Digital technologies allow creating expository (teacher-centered), active (student-centered), and
inter-active (group-centered) learning environments. The GOAL course provides first hand
experiences that combine these types of learning settings, as a means to help participating faculty
rethink their teaching approach with the support of digital technology. The idea is to help
participants appropriate both new methods and new technologies for teaching, based on their
experiences as students that reflect on how to teach online.

Prerequisite
There are three types of prerequisites for this course:
1. Organizational: interested faculty members should sign for the GOAL course and be
committed to applying what they learn to the creation and future facilitation of an online
version of a course that they have previously taught in a face-to-face setting.
2. Technological: interested faculty members should be information and computing literate;
the course assumes participants have a working knowledge of computers and the Internet
as personal tools.
3. Personal: interested faculty should be willing to devote approximately one hour per day
during seven weeks to effectively participate in the GOAL course.

Textbook and supplies

The course will make use of the following materials:
1. Collison et al (2000). Facilitating online learning: effective strategies for moderators.
Madison, WI: Atwood Publishing
2. Concord Consortium (2001). The Concord model for learning at a distance. Available at
http://www.concord.org/publications/detail/2003-elearning.pdf
3. Online digital resources, including Web 2.0 tools and open-access applications with
educational purposes.
4. Galvis, AH (2008). TIGER rubric for self-assessment of postings in online discussions.
Available at ftp://ftp.metacourse.com/documents/TIGER_rubric.pdf and http://tiger-
rubric.blogspot.com

GOAL course syllabus, revised March, 2008 page 1

Learning purpose and objectives
The purpose of this online course is to aid participating faculty members in reflecting on their
teaching techniques and expanding the possibilities of integrating digital technologies and active
learning methods into those techniques. By the end of this course each of the participants will be
able to:
1. Propose a revised course syllabus in a way that will help them to structure and
implement a virtual learning environment to the course.
2. Define strategies for building communities with their future online students and for
structuring their virtual learning environments.
3. Decide which digital technologies can be utilized in their online courses.

Course requirements – rules of engagement

GOAL is not a game, but it serves to understand it as such: there are goals, resources or tools,
game rules, times and activities. We already know the goals and objectives, and it has been
mentioned that the course will make use of digital learning resources. Let’s learn the rules of
engagement.

Rule 1: Asynchronous activities dominate the virtual environment

Those who participate in the GOAL course are physically distributed and have access to
computers and the Internet. All have e-mail, a telephone or a cell phone, and very possibly they
use instant messaging or chat. This course predominantly will use shared asynchronous work
spaces (forums on Blackboard, as well as blogs, wikis, and social networking tools on Internet);
however, other forms of synchronic digital interaction will not be ruled out (voice and text chat,
instant messaging, or telephone), we will foster all kinds of online dialogues, as a way of
exploring its potential contribution to online learning. This way, flexibility is achieved without
losing efficiency.

Rule 2: One must establish a presence in the virtual environment

Different than environments where others realize that you are present upon entering the site, the
majority of virtual spaces do not do this. It is necessary to write something, to make a comment,
to access a file, to locate a photograph or learning resource… to leave a digital fingerprint of
your presence. It is only in this way that your companions or facilitators will know that you are
active (silence on the internet worries the facilitator since he does not know how to explain it!).
Otherwise, participation goes beyond just being present; one must actively participate, and this
involves much more than observing and reflecting. It is necessary to make a contribution.

Rule 3: It is necessary to listen to others and to build community

In a community one has to feel like a member or the individual will not participate. Of all of the
things that may make a difference, allowing a person to feel that he is being listened to and
respected is the most important. On the Internet, this means that others will read what you say
and will comment respectively. The community will build on the contributions from each
member. The community facilitator will encourage each member to add value to the discussions
and to take into account what others are saying.

GOAL course syllabus, revised March, 2008 page 2

Rule 4: Each community should be self-regulated
In GOAL there are facilitators, that is to say, people that support the processes that are carried
out each weak. Nevertheless, it is not a matter of centralized facilitation (where the facilitator is
the expert and everyone writes to him so that he can advance the dialogue) but from-the-side
facilitation (where the facilitator is a co-learner who invigorates the dialogue when needed and
only intervenes to focus and to deepen the interchange of ideas). It is expected that this model
will promote co-learners to gradually assume the role of facilitators that "guide on the side"
which is at the heart community interaction. Consequently, at the end of the formation process,
each member can assume the role of facilitator in the virtual community.

Rule 5: The weekly rhythm of the community should be established.

The learning units of the GOAL course are designed to be completed in 5-7 hours per week. As
opposed to work weeks that span from Monday thru Friday, our program will start on Thursday
and last until Wednesday. Experience has shown that with this schedule individual activities can
be completed the first two days, the weekends can be free, and the next three days can be
dedicated to group work. In most cases the individual activities include reading, exploring, and
research as a basis for reflecting and contributing to weekly discussions. Group work will
include discussions, analyzing the contributions of others and building on them. In this
formative process it does not make sense “to do the homework” (i.e. read, respond to discussion
prompts). This does not take into account the collaborative construction of knowledge
demanding positive interdependence of group members so that everyone will achieve a deep
understanding of what is being analyzed.

Rule 6: Practical knowledge is as important as the theoretical

Contrary to the courses “that give themselves” where theoretical and practical knowledge do not
go hand-in-hand, it is vital in the learning communities that theory illuminate practice (“there is
nothing more practical than a good theory”, states the proverb) and that practice reflect theory.
Discussion based in the context of the classroom should serve as catalysts that go beyond the
theoretical statements. These discussions should contextualize knowledge, apply the principles
and reach a theoretical level that will serve as the sieve that permits the enforceability of what is
discussed.

Rule 7: The social dialogue is as important as the pragmatic

The interaction among the members of a learning community should cover all dimensions:
personal, professional, social and pragmatic. The social dialogue at a personal or group level
helps to create a climate of community that can be felt among friends with whom one can share
beyond the strictly professional environment. Nevertheless, the communities that learn seek to
reach goals, have a purpose that unites its members; here is where the pragmatic dialogue, the
one that seeks to achieve results, is very important. In GOAL there are spaces designed to
promote different types of dialogues, some of open character and unmoderated; others oriented
to goals, moderated.

Testing information
This course does not require to present tests. Its approval depends on continuous participation in
discussions, exploration of digital resources, and reflection on your future online course. It is
recommended to build postings using a word processor and to paste them in the reply zone of the

GOAL course syllabus, revised March, 2008 page 3

corresponding forum. This avoids to loose information in case of technical problems with the
course platform.

Evaluation and grading system

Participants will receive private feedback every week—using the message tool in Blackboard—
from the course facilitators, taking into consideration the proposed plan for the week. Typically
every week will require to: (1) post at least once in social or professional discussion forums
making use of genuine dialogues*, (2) post at least twice in the discussion of the week making
use of pragmatic dialogues†, (3) explore at least one digital tool per week, (4) share thoughts on
how to integrate week’s idea and tools into your course syllabus, and (5) share lessons learned
during the week, concerning online teaching. Pragmatic discussion postings will be valued using
the TIGER rubric (Galvis, 2004). Each week activities will add 15 points. To achieve the
proposed goal per week it will be necessary to get at least 11 of them. If the goal is not achieved
at the end of a week (because there are pending activities or some require revision), there will be
an extra week to complete them.

The GOAL course will also model a numeric grading system, with the purpose of helping
participants contrast both systems and learn from their experience. In coherence with the
qualitative system, to approve the GOAL course it will be necessary to get at least 70% of the
possible points. This system will weight weekly activities taking into consideration the following
distribution:
Survey answering 2%
Participation in genuine dialogues 15%
Participation in pragmatic dialogues 30%
Reflection on weekly activities / lessons learned 13%
Digital tools exploration 25%
Course syllabus enhancement 15%

The course will provide a 70-hours completion and achievement certificate to participants that
have achieved goals during five or more weeks, which should be equivalent to get 70% or more
in the final grade.

Attendance policy
Synchronous activities, such as chat or video conference sessions will require participants to be
at the corresponding virtual room at the planned hour. Chat interaction should be recorded or
*
Participants in genuine dialogs exchange ideas about topics of shared interest, listen to each others, try to
understand each others' perspectives, and continuously search for new questions to solve, beyond what has
been said. A genuine conversation is not necessarily open in every aspect, as frequently participants remain
focused on a topic or question to be resolved. The point is, however, that the conversation is not a game
played to reach a preconceived point, but an exploration in which there is always the possibility of finding
unexpected or new questions (Nemirovsky and Galvis, 2005, Classroom Conversations, Concord, MA:
Concord Consortium, CD ROM)
†
Pragmatic dialogue is reasoned discourse whose process serves ends beyond the dialogue itself. Its goal is
not to persuade, but rather to inquire and to use the dialogue to inform participants in both a collective and
individual way so that they exchange varied thoughts, ideas, and approaches to whatever subject matter
they're considering (Collison et al, 2000, Facilitating Online Learning, Atwood Publishing, p.28)

GOAL course syllabus, revised March, 2008 page 4

transcribed, in order to allow non participants to review the interaction and recover from the
attendance fail with a public audio or text comment on the topic discussed in the chat.

Academic dishonesty policy

People who log in for course sessions are expected to be registered participants; it is not allowed
to share login and password information with others.

Digital course materials should be used according to access permissions granted by copyright
holders.

Quotes, graphics, and other digital materials require documenting the corresponding sources. Use
APA (American Psychological Association) standards for references.

Teacher involvement
Facilitators will not be directly involved in the discussions; they will nurture it and coach
participants through the process. Feedback will be provided during the weekend that follows the
end of the course week in each person’s private virtual space. Personal communications with
instructors will be possible in synchronous way by using PRONTO, and asynchronously via
Blackboard messaging; in no more than 24 hours participants will get feedback.

Course facilitators

Alvaro H. Galvis, D.Ed

Academic director and facilitator
Room 202 O’Kelly Library
galvisal@wssu.edu

Carolyn Anderson, PhD

Facilitator
Room 202 O’Kelly Library
andersonc@wssu.edu

Academic calendar
See next page

GOAL course syllabus, revised March, 2008 page 5

Week Genuine Dialogue Pragmatic dialogue Tool exploration Course syllabus Weekly Reflection
(15%) (30%) (25%) (15%) (15%)
1 Water cooler Discussion about course program: Screen capture Current course Initial survey
Mar Expectations / interest Vs course syllabus
Ask a colleague Voice capture Lessons learned from
program
6-19 week 1

2 Water cooler Questioning strategies Academic search tools: Inquiry in my Collecting gems from
Wssu library, online course lessons learned week 1
Mar Ask a colleague CC elearning model
20-26 Posting as a TIGER UNC TLT training Lessons learned from
compendium, week 2
3 Water cooler Ch 4. Healthy online communities Merlot, Community Collecting gems from
(pp. 77-99) Google scholar, building in my lessons learned week 2
Mar Ask a colleague
27- Ice breaking activities Wikipedia online course
Lessons learned from
Apr 2 Del.icio.us week 3
4 Water cooler Ch 2. Negotiating space: forms of Digital tools for my Expository, active Collecting gems from
dialogue and goals of moderating course: and interactive lessons learned week 3
April Ask a colleague
3-9 (pp. 17-32) Domain specific digital activities in my Lessons learned from
manipulatives course week 4
eNLVM
5 Water cooler Ch 3. Key facilitator roles, (1) as a Digital tools Collecting gems from
guide on the side, (2) as a project Illuminations relevant for my lessons learned week 4
Apr Ask a colleague
leader (pp. 33-49) NSDL online course
10-16 Lessons learned from
Physic.org week 5
xPlora
General purpose active
learning tools
CMAP
VPB3

GOAL course syllabus, revised March, 2008 page 6

 Active learning tools
integrated with
Blackboard LMS
Assessment
Survey
Turnitin
6 Water cooler Ch 3. Key facilitator roles, (3) as a Social networking Social networking Collecting gems from
leader of group processes (pp. 33- tools: tools for my lessons learned week 5
Apr Ask a colleague
49) Cooperation tools course Lessons learned from
17-23
blogger, week 6
7 Water cooler Gallery of online course postings: citeUlike, Revised online Collecting gems from
del.icio.us, course syllabus lessons learned week 6
Apr Ask a colleague My most important insight
24-30 My most valuable eSnips, Lessons learned from
flickr, week 7
contribution
A contribution that helped slideShare, Final course survey
me a lot Collaboration tools
Wikispaces
Google docs

GOAL course syllabus, revised March, 2008 page 7