Tips on Using Elluminate

Yesterday Malcolm Jolly of GippsTAFE shared his experiences of using the online classroom, Elluminate, with the network Classrooms Online. He was joined by two of his learner group, Shalene and Peter, who told us how the program had worked from their perspective.

Malcolm is delivering the Diploma of VET Practice, a level 5 teaching qualification, to a group of teaching staff at GippsTAFE. He is using a blended delivery method which relies heavily on the use of the online classroom, Elluminate. Malcolm chose to use Elluminate because it met the needs of the learner group who are all busy teachers spread over several different campuses. He was also keen to build the e-learning skills of the group as excellence in flexible delivery is a major goal for his organisation.

At the beginning of the program many of the group were unfamiliar with the use of an online classroom so Malcolm ran a series of practice sessions and set up a "help desk" to get over the initial teething problems. Some of the challenges they faced were problems with firewalls, different plugs on headsets and a general lack of familiarity with online classrooms. Shalene had many problems when trying to log into Elluminate due to the firewall on her home computer but she found the various systems Malcolm had put in place eventually helped her overcome these issues. Peter reported that the practice sessions had made him fell much more confident with the use of the online classroom environment.

The Diploma in VET is now well under way and is proving to be very successful. Malcolm's learners are making good progress and are becoming very comfortable with their Elluminate sessions.

Some of Malcolm's tips for using Elluminate were:

• have some one in the session to support the main presenter; the extra person can help with any technical issues and keep an eye on the text area during the session
• use breakout rooms to trouble shoot technical problems so the whole group is not held up
• provide orientation for your learners
• start slowly and progress slowly; don't try to use all the functionality at first
• take time to play with all the tools
• convert lengthy elluminate urls to tiny urls so that links don't get broken
• name your slides to make it easier to move to the correct one during a session
• record your sessions so absentees can catch up easily
• know your learner group; what are their needs and experience
• use ice breaker activities to make your learners comfortable and also to introduce them to some of the tools such as the interactive whiteboard

Thank you to Malcolm, Shalene and Peter for sharing their experiences with us.

The session was recorded so if you would like the link please contact me by email at:

lynnh@gippstafe.vic.edu.au

Session 4 with Malcolm Jolly

The next session for Classrooms Online is scheduled for Thursday 30 August at 3 pm AEST. This session will be conducted in Elluminate and will feature Malcolm Jolly from GippsTAFE as our guest presenter. Malcolm is using Elluminate to deliver the Diploma in VET. He will share some of the tips and tricks he has discovered on the use of Online Classrooms.

If you are interested in being a participant in this session please send me an email at lynnh@gippstafe.vic.edu.au

Mary Schooneveldt and TAA

Our recent session with Mary Schooneveldt was very interesting and well attended. The session was conducted in an interview format with Glenda asking Mary a series of prepared questions. This created an informal atmosphere and allowed other participants to ask questions and make comments as the interview progressed.

Mary told us how she used the various tools of Elluminate to facilitate the learning of her students who are studying to upgrade their qualifaction to a TAA. She is firmly convinced that the use of the online classroom is providing a huge advantage for her students who are studying in a totally online environment.

Thank you to Mary for sharing her experiences with us.

TAA in Elluminate

The next session for Classrooms Online is scheduled for Tuesday 14 August 2007 @ 1.00 pm (AEST). This session will be conducted in Elluminate and will feature Mary Schooneveldt who is an experienced TAA and online teacher.

Mary is currently teaching the TAA upgrade / bridging course entirely online using a LMS (Learning Management System - Blackboard). Each week she has a 2 hour Elluminate workshop where she uses a range of Elluminate tools to replicate the discussion and small group work that is a regular feature of face to face delivery. Application share, web tours, break out rooms and interactivities via the whiteboard are just some of the tools she is using.

If you are interested in taking part in this session please send me an email @ lynnh@gippstafe.vic.edu.au as soon as possible.

Distance Ed Tasmania

Have you ever tried to teach someone long division over the phone? Have you tried to learn another language out of a book? These are some of the many challenges the teachers and students at Distance Ed Tasmania had to deal with before they began to use the online classroom, Centra 7. In our session last Friday Geoff Ellis and Phillip Campbell from Distance Ed in Tasmania told us how they are using this tool and what it has meant to their students.

Distance Ed Tasmania provides education for K-10 students who, for various reasons, are not able to attend face to face school. Their students come from around Australia and overseas and many are geographically isolated. The teachers use their online classroom to increase the interactivity of their programs and try to overcome the social isolation that many of their students feel. The emphasis is on providing the opportunity for the students to share their work and learning experiences allowing them to build a real community. Recently Phillip ran a school asssembly in Centra with over 60 families logging in at the one time to take part. I think this shows just how successful the use of online classrooms can be.

Some of the subjects taught are maths, art, music, reading and French. The teachers use the tools available in Centra 7 such as breakout rooms, web safaris, the interactive whiteboard and application sharing in their teaching. Using web safaris they are able to broaden the experience of their students by tapping into international news sites. It can be a window to the world for students living in isolated communities. The teachers also make extensive use of many of the valuable online educational sites that are appropriate for the age of their different groups of students. Of course the online classroom is just one of the tools that the distance ed teachers use but they do feel it is a very valuable one.

Many of the advantages of using online classrooms that Phillip and Geoff identifed are relevant to teaching and learning in all situations not just for the K-10 age group. These are:

• building community
• increased spontenaity
• increased collaboration
• access to online resources
• opportunity to demonstrate skills
• ability to share high quality images (especially useful for the art program)
• ability to share video files

Phillip and Geoff have established protocols for the use of their online classroom. All participants are aware of these protocols and they help to ensure the sessions run smoothly. Their ideal group size is 15 - 20; with this number they can get some good discussions going amongst the group but it does allow the quieter students to sit back and listen until they feel confident to participate.

Thank you very much to Phillip and Geoff who hosted the session for us in Centra 7. They presented a very interesting session about how they use their online classroom to enhance teaching and learning.

We had over 20 people book into the session but as always happens some people experienced technological issues when logging in. My apologies to those who did have trouble, the session was recorded so you may be able to catch up that way.

I am looking forward to our next session which is scheduled for Tuesday August 14. I will be sending round details for this shortly.