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Figure 1. Learning Retention Rates (NTL) |
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Figure 6. Interaction Diagram. (Sept 19th session.) During this one hour of
discussion, the eClassroom design afforded 331 real-time interactions with
an average of 22 words per message. The median number of posts in
the main room was 750 per three-hour class, with an average of 30 posts
per student. |
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Interaction
Diagram unwrapped along the time axis for one hour of the October 10th
session |
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Interaction
Diagram unwrapped long the time axis for one hour of the 298ZG session on
perception |
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Figure 7. (Sept 19th session.) At the beginning of class, during the Inclusion period
67% of students’ messages went to the larger group indicating students
were greeting and seeking inclusion more with the class as a whole. During
the lecturette, students addressed their remarks equally to individuals and
to the class as a whole, illustrating a democratic spread of interaction.
After a period of ‘processing’ the lecturette in their small
color-groups students appear to have returned to the classroom with new
information to impart to the group in general, since 77% of their messages
were addressed to the large community. |
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Participation is defined as the state of being related
to a larger whole. Participation is quantified as the number of
messages sent by participants containing a communication.
Figure 8. (Sept 19th session) The number of individuals participanting during a five minute
segment.
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Interaction is defined as a mutual and reciprocal
action or influence.
Figure 9. (Sept 19th session) Comparison of
the participants’
and the instructor’s rate of interaction.
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Attending is defined both as ‘being there’ and as
‘being attentive.’ Attentiveness implies an anticipatory interest that
leads to seeking additional information. ‘Attentiveness’ is quantified as the frequency with
which participants actively poll the server for the data generated since
their last request.
Figure 3. (Semester data) Scatter plot of
‘attentiveness’ and ‘participating.’
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Figure 4. (Each session is represented) Ratio of Attending to Participating (data
request : messages) for each participant, for each class session.
Each data point represents one 3-hour class:
- Students
with a tendency to attend more than participate (3,4,7)
- Students
who are very consistent in this attribute (5,9, 11)
- Students
with a tendency to participate more than attend (8,10,14,19)
The measurement of this attribute, suggests the
eClassroom has sufficient flexibility in its design to allow this behavior
to be expressed, and to provide the means to measure it.
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“You are responsible
for your own learning. You will get out what you put into the course.”
Figure 6. (Semester data) Number of posted messages into the main classroom
by individual and responses to the individual. The response rate is between 37-44%. The data for the instructor (not shown on the graph) was 892 messages
posted with 624 directed responses for a 70% interactive response rate
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Figure 7. (Semester data) Rate of interaction between individuals in the
small groups. (The mean response
rate is 87%. Facilitators' is75%) The 1:1 line represents a participant having the same
number of directed messages sent as received. It is apparent from
the breakout groups’ data that there is enough ‘room’ within the
small groups for students to receive back more directed comments than they
initiate. There is strong data and experiential indication that the
eClassroom Laboratory functions the same as a F2F classroom on this
measure. |
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The Greeting stage
Figure 8. (Semester data) Cumulative number of messages during the greeting
stage for each class session.
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The Gathering Stage These ‘gathering’
discussions centered on commonalities like names, pictures and technical
concerns and served as the ‘Transfer In’ activity for the first three
Learning Management Modules.
Figure 9a. "Attentiveness" during the first
twenty minutes of the first three weeks
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Starting each class with a ‘Transfer In’ story that
would then lead into the class content is an intervention directed at
eliminating the relatively low points...the time period between the peaks
has changed from ten minutes to five minutes, and the peaks themselves are
beginning to disappear.
Figure 9b. "Attentiveness" during the first twenty
minutes of the middle three weeks.
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The merging of interest and momentum in the
Gathering stage appears well managed. The periods of reduced
attention, or waiting are eliminated, as everyone seems primed to know
what is to follow.
Figure 9c. "Attentiveness" during the first twenty
minutes of the last three weeks.
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Figure 10. (Oct 10th session) Level of Interactions during
the entire session in the Main Classroom |
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The Activity Stage
Figure 11. (Oct 3rd session) The Four Interactive Phases
discovered in the Activity stage of the Learning Management
Modules. Student to Student. Student to Group.
Student to Facilitator
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Table I. Relative rates of interaction found during the four
phases of the Activity stage. |
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The Conclusion Stage
Figure 16. Weather reports from the students
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Involvement in the small groups: Involvement means to engage as a participant, and to
commit emotionally to the group. Commitment to the whole increases the
value and the influence of the group for the individual. (According
to Pajek software (Batagelj and Mrvar, 1996), a hub is good if it points
to many good authorities, and it is a good authority, if many good hubs
point to it. In this analysis all participants had equal authority.)
In the blue group directed network, each individual in the
group is represented by a circle, the size of which is proportional to the
number of messages sent to others over the course of the
semester. Note the "missing links."
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In the green group directed network, each individual in the
group is represented by a circle, the size of which is proportional to the
number of messages sent to others over the course of the
semester. Note the "missing links." |
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In the purple group directed network, each individual in the
group is represented by a circle, the size of which is proportional to the
number of messages sent to others over the course of the
semester. Note the "missing links." |