Engagement. Reflection. Learning. Using online forums to facilitate learning during Co-op work terms. Lindsay Wood & Leanne Mackenzie Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Movement from personal journals to online forums Peer to peer learning Why forums? Movement from personal journals to online forums Peer to peer learning Reinforces reflection and the “academic” piece in Co-op Why forums? Benefit of forums. Personal journals to online forums. History behind the switch. Journals are a part of the curriculum. As numbers grow, it is difficult as Instructors to stay up to date with the journals, often reading them before a site visit and often too late if there are any problems. 2nd piece (and most notable) is that there were a lot of great things being discussed in the journals. Learning moments and as Instructors, we were the only ones reading them! 2. What we did: trial and error process (with LM and LW). Started off with mixed programs, moved to smaller groups, included senior students in a leadership role (designing questions based on the competencies). Peer to peer learning. 3. Reinforces reflection and academic component: Co-op is a course, students associate Moodle to their other online courses. Keep all assignments in Moodle (learning goals, final reports, expectations, etc).

Keeps students in engaged in learning Builds community Why Forums? Keeps students in engaged in learning Builds community Keeps coordinators in the loop 4. Keeps students engaged in learning process. Emphasize that co-op is not job placement, emphasis on learning and forums help facilitate this. Students are more engaged in the learning involved. 5. Builds community: goal is to build a co-op community and forums help with this. Get to know each other on a personal level, share common challenges, successes, ask each other for advice. Next step: we’d like to explore how to strengthen this connection as students transition back into the classroom. Could use technology such as real time chat, videos, blogs, etc. 6. Keeps us in the loop: this has been a huge benefit of the forums. Easy to track (one email a day with all responses), allows us to stay in the loop of how the workterms are going, makes for a richer experience during the site visit.

Moodle at a glance… This is what our online site looks like – we use Moodle. Forums: work well because you can track individual activity, make comments, reply to all, tailor the questions around a specific topic or competency

Setting up the forums We typically do 4-6 questions each semester. -students are responsible for responding to the question one week and then making a minimum of one reply to another student the following week what we’ve learned: guidelines and expectations up front are helpful (such as noting the minimum number of words in a reply, giving specific due dates to response, including examples of what would be a good response, smaller groups are better, “forced subscription”, recently issues of online behavior have come up. Future: include grading rubric on what makes a good response…

Reinforcing the learning As instructors, we can comment on their posts and reinforce learning Summary at end of day

Incorporating outside resources, using technology Often, we will use a short article (ie. 5 tips for standing out on your first job) and ask the students to share with the group which of the 5 tips they identify most. Youtube videos or TedTalks Get students involved and ask them to provide a link to an online resource to back up their point Personal photo and bio -Have learned: that we need to be specific in the questions we pose. For example, with this article question, I asked the students to include in their response a specific example of how they demonstrated this tip during their workterm. Describe the situation/incident, any actions you took and if possible, the result – using STAR Personal photo and bio – first thing I get students to do is upload a picture and bio – very helpful for me and builds community (encourage them to get to know each other, ask questions about their workterms, share tips, etc).

Sample Questions: Envisioning the Future Please share with the class (in 200-300 words) one significant thing you have learned about yourself or experienced this semester that you didn’t know at the beginning of your co-op. In your response, include an example (or story) to back up this learning moment and comment on how you think this experience will contribute to making you a stronger candidate for your next position. For example, you could share a story about a time you gained insight on how you deal with conflict, office politics, working under pressure, making a mistake, communicating with senior management, customer/client service, contributing to a project, making a presentation etc. 3 sample of question

Sample Questions: Reflecting on desired skills and behaviors Who are the people at work you are impressed by? Why? What skills and qualities do you see in them that you see as effective in the company, in dealing with people, and in getting their jobs done? How would you say you can learn from them and apply some of these skills yourself in what you are doing?

Sample Questions: Reinforcing what they are learning in the classroom Forum Questions #2 - Experiental Learning. Co-op reinforces and expands your education by Leanne MacKenzie Indicate one example of a Human Resource piece of information, experience, concept, idea, practice, or procedure that you have learned in your current work term that you didn't learn in the classroom? If you can't think of an HR example, please identify a business one. As well, what is an example of an HR experience, concept, idea, practise or procedure or piece of information have you seen or been involved with in your work place that you also learned in the classroom. What were the similarities and differences?

Forum Post Guidelines Forum Post Guidelines LENGTH OF POSTS Remember these are discussions so put a good amount of effort and thought into them. The average length will be 1-2 short paragraphs but a bit of variety in length is okay. All posts are due by midnight of the posted deadline. WHAT IS A FOLLOW-UP POST? Part of doing the discussion is to think about the ideas and examples posted by others, and/or to respond to my questions. These could be a response or question for another student, or a response to their question to you.   Note: Follow ups DO NOT include making corrections or additions to your original post (even at my request), nor messages without content (i.e. 'great example!' or 'I agree with your point' is not a follow up). 1. GIVE AN INFORMED OPINION Before you post, go over your message, and apply critical thinking; ask yourself 'how do I know that' and then double check your information. You'll be amazed how much you will learn by simply checking out the things that 'everybody knows'. Try to relate it back to your own Co-op experience. 2. Be specific in your discussion. Avoid long thread of posts with folks simply repeating the previous posts over and over and over and......... Your SIGNATURE: Please sign off your posts with your name and place of work. Ex. Lindsay Wood – Kwantlen Polytechnic University ________________________________________ USE CORRECT SPELLING AND GRAMMAR Everyone will have a few typos, including me, but do check your work. Avoid spelling errors, typos, grammatical mistakes, and typing 'shortcuts'. For example, write 'you', NOT 'u'. CHECK BACK After you have posted, check back now and then to see if someone has asked you a question or I have pointed out problems or asked for clarification or maybe just started a discussion! The Discussion Area is YOUR area in the course, it is only as interesting and lively as you make it! I have posted above, the forum post guidelines we have in Moodle. Currently, there is a need to develop a net etiquette guide or include something in the guidelines that addresses respectful online communication and creating a safe and open learning environment for all.

Final thoughts… -Currently student are grouped together by Co-op program (ACCT, HR, MRKT, etc) regardless of their year -Need to consider how to incorporate different levels of questions (or evaluation) depending on the number of work terms a student has completed. -Opportunity to make use of technology even more (ie. Twitter, video chat, etc.)….just need time to research! Focus groups or formal evaluations to determine the value of using forums

Questions?