This page includes two major documents. (1) An analysis of an online debate (using posting forums), three key reasons it was not working well, and suggestions as to how to improve the structure of the online debate to foster collaborative learning. (2) A final course project that involved rewriting the instructions for two weeks of an Intro to Distance Education course such that the online debate at the center of that course would be more effective. In short, the second product is an application of the suggestions in the first.

Both products on this page comprise the major outcomes of a summer 2007 course titled Designinig Collaborative Courseware.Both products were done in a group context and both groups met entirely online.

The essence of both projects involved analyising the results of an actual posting forum debate (from a previous semesters Intro to Distance Education course) and resynthesizing the debate instructions so that it would be more effective. Students were given copies of the online debate transcripts and were to meticulously go through the entire event, looking for hints of problems the students may have had.

Example problems: did the students understand the instructions, did students post early enough during the week, did students seem to understand the topic being debated, did students present their arguments clearly enough, etc...

It should be noted that the concrete product of the final course project was to re-write the actual instructions for the 4th and 5th weeks of the Intro to Distance Education course. Microsofts "comment" feature was used throughout the document to explain where and why changes were made.

The first product is a critical proposal of sorts in that it simply documents observed problems, offers solutions, and backs those solutions up with evidence from educational literature. The first document was used to inform the second. Unfortunately, a third team member was added to the original two person team, which naturally brought about a change of focus and opinion regaring the implementation of solutions proposed in the first assignemtnt. No informaiton was provided as to whether the professor (Dr. A. Jeong) would go on to actually implement the suggestions of the students in either project.

The role of the author in both projects was that of a team member. No specific team roles were needed or assigned.