It’s All in What You Ask: Techniques for Enhancing Reflection and Learning in an Online Course

There are different ways to teach in an online course, but getting students, especially undergraduates, to reflect on what they are learning and how they might improve their learning strategies can be particularly challenging in the online environment. Recently, the presenters developed a new component for an existing online course to teach students specific techniques for detecting bias, a skill critical to their academic success, and one which is often difficult for students to understand and practice. Using self-assessment in the teaching module and reflective questioning in the assessment module, the authors were able to develop effective metacognitive prompts. In this session you will learn: -What others have said about the important role of metacognition in learning and strategies for enhancing student reflection and learning outcomes. -The results of a research study we recently conducted to improve metacognition in one of our for-credit online courses, including how we moved from open-ended, instructor-graded reflection questions to multiple-choice, auto-graded questions with equally effective results, and the impact of this activity on a final capstone assignment for the course. -Other examples of questions we have developed in our online courses that seek to enhance student reflection and self-awareness of skill

Techniques for Enhancing Reflection and Learning in an Online Course

The authors designed new content for an online research skills course, to provide instruction and expert modeling of the process for determining bias when evaluating information sources. They also introduced a specific metacognitive strategy (self-questioning) to enhance student self-awareness. Students were encouraged to complete a self-regulated learning survey to raise their awareness of metacognitive strategies. The instructional content, an Adobe Captivate movie, described a cognitive strategy for identifying bias, MAPit, and included activities and questions throughout for students to assess their understanding. Instruction was followed by an online quiz that provided practice in applying the MAPit strategy. Metacognitive prompts within the quiz encouraged students to reflect on and assess their learning. The final course assignment (Capstone) also included application questions, with a reminder about the MAPit strategy. A review of performance on both assignments showed improvement after this intervention. When compared to a later offering of the same course where a more efficient approach to encouraging student self-questioning was applied, the improvement was sustained. This approach can be effectively implemented in a large enrollment online course

A Game-Based Multimedia Approach to Library Orientation

How can 6,000 new Ohio State University students and their families become familiar with a major research library system before they begin their first day of classes? Simple. They play the Libraries’ interactive multimedia games distributed to all incoming freshmen. The Libraries’ Instruction Office, in collaboration with the University Office of First Year Experience, created an innovative series of casual, interactive online games to orient the thousands of incoming freshmen to the University Libraries, resources, people, and basic library skills. A survey of first-quarter freshmen perceptions helped to determine what new students want to know about the Libraries. By completing interactive crossword, multiple guess, jigsaw puzzles, and drag-and-drop matching games, students become familiar with library terminology, library locations, unique services, study spaces, available databases, borrowing options, and call numbers. They also can view short movies from librarians, VIPs, and students who describe their experiences with the Libraries. The games use Flash, Captivate, and other software to create this casual introduction and positive welcome to the University Libraries. A demonstration of the final library orientation product will be given. Additionally, the presentation will address why the game format was chosen, share baseline data from the 2006 library perceptions survey of new freshmen, and discuss the design and development process. Presenters will relate how consultation with faculty experts, the University’s First Year Experience Office, and user testing influenced the project, as well as the pedagogical implications of using casual games to facilitate learning

Hot Topics on the Web: Strategies for Research

Some of the pitfalls of research on the Web are highlighted and exacerbated when the type of research being done is for hot, controversial, or debatable topics. Who to trust, where to find the information, and how to determine what is reliable are all questions that will present themselves. However, the resources available on the Web are well suited for addressing many of the challenges of hot topic research. Finding points of view for obscure and well-known advocacy groups, finding the most current legislation on an issue, and finding recent events related to the issue are all actually enhanced and made easier by researching a topic on the Web. Knowing the pitfalls and benefits from the outset can make using the Web much more profitable for hot topics research. By using appropriate sites for topic identification, you can quickly build a useful collection of core sites. By knowing where to identify federal and state legislation, you can determine the state of current policy on a topic. And certainly, the Web is most likely to help with timely news and insight on advocacy groups that might provide no—or hardto-find—printed materials on their positions. The following strategies and sources will facilitate efficient use of the Web for hot topics research that results in a full, well-informed view of the topic

Predictors of acquired lipodystrophy in juvenile-onset dermatomyositis and a gradient of severity

We describe the clinical features of 28 patients with juvenile dermatomyositis (JDM) and 1 patient with adult-onset dermatomyositis (DM), all of whom developed lipodystrophy (LD) that could be categorized into 1 of 3 phenotypes, generalized, partial, or focal, based on the pattern of fat loss distribution. LD onset was often delayed, beginning a median of 4.6 years after diagnosis of DM. Calcinosis, muscle atrophy, joint contractures, and facial rash were DM disease features found to be associated with LD. Panniculitis was associated with focal lipoatrophy while the anti-p155 autoantibody, a newly described myositis-associated autoantibody, was more associated with generalized LD. Specific LD features such as acanthosis nigricans, hirsutism, fat redistribution, and steatosis/nonalcoholic steatohepatitis were frequent in patients with LD, in a gradient of frequency and severity among the 3 sub-phenotypes. Metabolic studies frequently revealed insulin resistance and hypertriglyceridemia in patients with generalized and partial LD. Regional fat loss from the thighs, with relative sparing of fat loss from the medial thighs, was more frequent in generalized than in partial LD and absent from DM patients without LD. Cytokine polymorphisms, the C3 nephritic factor, insulin receptor antibodies, and lamin mutations did not appear to play a pathogenic role in the development of LD in our patients. LD is an under-recognized sequela of JDM, and certain DM patients with a severe, prolonged clinical course and a high frequency of calcinosis appear to be at greater risk for the development of this complication. High-risk JDM patients should be screened for metabolic abnormalities, which are common in generalized and partial LD and result in much of the LD-associated morbidity. Further study is warranted to investigate the pathogenesis of acquired LD in patients with DM. © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc