Lynnette G Leonard

School of Communication

National Communication Association Convention

The conference effectively addressed the three UCAT themes mentioned above. In terms of active learning, I met other instructors who provided new ideas on using the Second Life. I incorporated many of the ideas from this panel into Computer-Mediated Communication. These tips include a scavenger hunt assignment to encourage exploration and competence with the technology, ways to make the virtual space less foreign to new users, and tips on collaborative assignments. This last tip resulted in collaboration with Dr. Lesley Withers at Central Michigan University. Her Advance Interpersonal Communication class is now working on two assignments with my students. The students will use Second Life as the main medium of communication and will never have the opportunity to meet in real life.

In regards to assessment, the short course on SOTL helped me construct two research questions and develop a schedule of questions to ask students in order to assess how they experience technology before and after the Second Life assignments. Additionally, the panel on Second Life gave tips on how to collect data from the online sessions and on issues to discuss in IRB. Because of the lack of research on the educational outcomes from Second Life, Dr. Withers and I are planning to analyze the products from the joint Second Life projects to assess their educational value. From there we are planning to submit our findings to conferences and journals.

Finally, in terms of promoting critical thinking, I received many tips for refining the assignments I already require. One tip involved more carefully defining the roles for group member in a group project I use for Interviewing. I also came away with ideas to continue encouraging reflection through discussion board posting, quick writes, and class discussion.

Attachment:

A copy of the SoTL worksheet : Developing a SoTL project. I found this to be very helpful.

Additional Information/Resources (pdf)

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