{"id":245,"date":"2018-12-12T16:11:43","date_gmt":"2018-12-12T16:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/t-and-l-exchange\/?p=245"},"modified":"2019-10-04T10:26:10","modified_gmt":"2019-10-04T10:26:10","slug":"using-collaborate-for-small-group-tutorials-with-distance-learning-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/t-and-l-exchange\/2018\/12\/12\/using-collaborate-for-small-group-tutorials-with-distance-learning-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Blackboard Collaborate for small group tutorials with distance learning students"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adrian Aronsson-Storrier<\/strong>, School of Law\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0a.m.storrier@reading.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

Context<\/strong><\/h3>\n

LLM International Commercial Law (Distance)<\/p>\n

Description<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\uf0b7 Adrian held small group seminars with groups of around 5 students per online workshop.
\nWorkshops were scheduled in all of the distance LLM modules, and ran weekly through the
\nSpring and Autumn terms. Collaborate was also used for individual dissertation supervision
\nsessions.
\n\uf0b7 These were Postgraduate Masters level distance learning students enrolled in a range of
\noptional LLM modules. Students attended from across the UK and the world.
\n\uf0b7 The Law School already offered online workshop sessions using a competing webinar product
\n(Adobe Connect). This software was complex for students to use, not supported centrally by
\nthe University and was paid for from the School\u2019s budget. We sought to investigate alternative
\nweb conferencing solutions that would be simpler for our students whilst maintaining
\nequivalent functionality (slide sharing, chat, whiteboard etc).
\n\uf0b7 Blackboard Collaborate was chosen to replace Adobe Connect as it was simpler for students to
\nuse (a more straightforward interface reduced initial student training time, the integration into
\nBlackboard made it simpler for students to log in and participate).
\n\uf0b7 Preparation was similar to distance workshops previously delivered with the earlier Adobe
\nConnect web conferencing tool. For some workshops slides were prepared, in others a series
\nof tutorial style questions were circulated to students in advance for discussion.
\n\uf0b7 After giving students an initial training session, delivering a class on Collaborate took no more
\neffort than delivering an equivalent session in an on campus module.<\/p>\n

Impact<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\uf0b7 Students quickly adapted to Collaborate. They made frequent use of the chat function and the
\n\u2018raise hand\u2019 function, particularly in larger groups where many students wished to contribute to
\na discussion.
\n\uf0b7 Student\u2019s enrolling in the distance LLM are required to have access to their own computer,
\nheadphones and internet connection.
\n\uf0b7 From a support perspective, the move to Collaborate required less ongoing staff and student
\ntraining than our previous web conferencing software \u2013 once set up on Blackboard it was simple
\nfor students and staff to access Collaborate sessions for their weekly workshops.
\n\uf0b7 Blackboard Collaborate achieved everything we had previously delivered to students using
\nAdobe Connect. It had the advantage of being simpler for students to use, and the blackboard
\nintegration made connecting to the sessions simpler.<\/p>\n

Thoughts and Reflections<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\uf0b7 Lecturers in the school of law tended to use Collaborate from their homes (distance workshops
\nare often scheduled outside core hours, to accommodate students in diverse time zones). This
\nrequired staff to have sufficient equipment (laptop, headphones or a headset).
\n\uf0b7 One challenge \u2013 which often impacts distance learning when working with students in less
\neconomically developed nations – was issue of the student\u2019s poor internet connection
\nimpacting sessions. At times students (particularly in Africa and the Middle East) had poor
\ninternet connections which prevented full video streaming. While the software does allow
\nstudents to participate by providing streaming audio only, this is less immersive for the student.
\n\uf0b7 Ensure that all participants are making use of headphones or a microphone headset. If students
\nrely on computer speakers there will often be some level of echo introduced into the web
\nconference, which can be distracting. Students without headphone should be encouraged to
\nmute their microphones when not speaking.
\n\uf0b7 Provide students with an introductory session on the software before beginning online
\ninstruction. We used a general online induction day for students as a trial, allowing them to test
\nthat the software worked and giving them time to learn the functionality before being required
\nto use it in class.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adrian Aronsson-Storrier, School of Law\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[14],"tags":[19,28,26,27,190],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/t-and-l-exchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/t-and-l-exchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/t-and-l-exchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/t-and-l-exchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/t-and-l-exchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/t-and-l-exchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/t-and-l-exchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/t-and-l-exchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.reading.ac.uk\/t-and-l-exchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}