The TLT Group

Academic Integrity and Building Community
Online and On Campus - Especially within Courses

Dangerous Discussions Home Page

Building Community and Connections Online and On Campus (BCCOOC)

Goals for Workshop &
Links to Major Sections of this Web Page  

This Web page is a set of resources intended to support a workshop.
This Web page is not -by itself - a workshop or a course.
[Nor is it a pipe! See amusing references to Magritte & MIT below.]

1.  Connectedness
Participants learn enough about different kinds of connectedness to begin to decide which ones could be relevant in their own online activities.
<click here for info/resources in this section>

2.  Trust, Dangerous Discussions
Participants examine the importance of building trust in academic environments and identify key factors in achieving and sustaining trust online and face-to-face.
<click here for info/resources in this section>

3.  Small Group Work – Building Together
Participants learn some of the principles and practices likely to be effective in developing and sustaining successful small group work, especially in online situations.
<click here for info/resources in this section>

4.  Safe Classrooms (and other safe places)
Participants identify some of the characteristics of face-to-face and online classrooms that enable learners and teachers to feel "safe" in expressing relevant ideas, feelings, and using educational options that might be new or uncomfortable for them.
<click here for info/resources in this section>

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5.  Tools for Building Community
Participants learn about some of the currently available online tools helpful in achieving, supporting, and sustaining some of the important elements of "community" - especially in academic courses and activities.  We introduce Open Source options and Low-Threshold Applications/Activities (LTAs).
<click here for info/resources in this section>

6.  Constructive Policies & Assessment
Participants learn to identify negative and constructive examples of institutional, departmental, or course-related policies intended to foster "academic integrity". 
<click here for info/resources in this section>

7.  Feedback - About this Website and Online Workshop
We need your comments to guide our efforts to improve this Web page and future offerings of the related online workshop.
<click here for info/resources in this section>

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Academic Integrity – Building Community Online and On Campus – Especially within Courses

Introduction

[NOTE #1:  You are welcome to begin by listening to Steve Gilbert's audio-narrated slideshow offering an introduction to "Community, Connectedness, and Info. Tech. in Higher Education" (approx. 8 minutes)]

This module begins with an exploration of several kinds of "connectedness" in order to help participants identify features of "communities" that are especially significant and that might be achieved and sustained in online environments, particularly online courses.  Establishing trust and feelings of safety are important requirements for most kinds of communities.  Consequently, the importance and possibilities of establishing and maintaining relationships of trust and patterns of constructive, civil interaction online are examined.  The possibilities for dealing with controversial or sensitive issues ("dangerous discussions") in online environments are introduced as means for building a shared sense of community in academic environments.  Participants are helped to identify some of the characteristics of face-to-face and online classrooms that enable learners and teachers to feel "safe" in expressing relevant ideas, feelings, and in using educational options that might be new or uncomfortable for them.  Encouraging and enabling students and others to work successfully in small groups in online environments can also be especially effective for deepening learning and for building community.

Finally, if time permits, participants will learn to identify and distinguish between negative and constructive examples of institutional, departmental, or course-related policies that were intended to foster "academic integrity" and healthy academic communities.   Some ideas from the TLT Group's Flashlight Program may be offered to guide the assessment of efforts to develop and sustain online communities.

<Click here> for TLT Group's calendar of online events.

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1.  Connectedness
Read the brief introduction by Steven W. Gilbert and full article about "Connectedness" by Edward Hallowell found at:
Resource:

<<http://www.tltgroup.org
/CommunityConnectedness/Connectedness.htm>>

Kinds of Connectedness
As you read this essay, consider suggesting another kind of "connectedness" that is especially important to you - something you believe Hallowell overlooked.  Which of these kinds of connectedness would be most important in a college or university course?  More or less important in an online course than in face-to-face, hybrid, or blended courses?

Time and Connectedness
Also, think about the impact of time on the different kinds of "connectedness" that Hallowell describes:  familial, historical, social, institutional/organizational, informational (ideas), religious/transcendent.    To what extent and in what ways could people achieve each of these different kinds of connectedness if they knew they had less than a week to do so?  If they had more than ten years?  If they had five to ten weeks - as in a college course? 

Activity 1
Do the Activity you find at:

<<http://www.tltgroup.org/CommunityConnectedness
/ActivitiesQueries/HallowellConnectedness.htm>>. 

It will probably be most convenient for you if you print the documents available at the preceding Web page, but that is not essential.

While you are following the directions you find there, consider the duration of relationships possible within a college, university or course context.  Consider those people who are likely to remain part of an institution for many years - the faculty, staff, administration, ... alumni? Consider those who are likely to be part of the institution for a shorter time - students and part-time faculty?  

The point of this reading assignment and the related is to guide you to consider several different kinds of "connectedness" as you think about which features of community are really important in structuring your own online activities.

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2.  Trust, Dangerous Discussions
NOTE:   In preparation for this section, you may want to review some of the activities and resources that were available to you an earlier module section about college and university honor codes.

Introduction:
Trust among the participants is essential for almost any definition of community.  Deirdre Cobb-Roberts from University of South Florida works with her students in courses and with colleagues in workshops about “Dangerous Discussions”.  She has been unusually successful at enabling her students to use online communication options – including anonymous ones – to exchange ideas and personal feelings, and to respond meaningfully and respectfully to each other.  As you listen, note both the essential elements Cobb-Roberts uses in her hybrid courses and which of them could translate into an online course.
Resource: Interview  (5 Questions - including students' use of anonymous online discussion - 13 minutes) with Deirdre Cobb-Roberts Assistant Professor, Psychological and Social Foundations of Education University of South Florida;  Brief Sample (2 minutes)

Activity 2
Describe essential elements of Deirdre Cobb-Roberts' approach in her course.  Describe ways in which those elements could be translated into online activities – or not.
<<Insert instructions explaining how/where/when participants should respond>>

Other related resources - including sample topics and questions for "dangerous discussions" within courses and between faculty and administrators, etc., see:
http://www.tltgroup.org/dangerdisclinks.htm

Activity 3
Would students be less likely to cheat within a course in which they trusted each other and the teacher?  Why?  Why not? 
<<Insert instructions explaining how/where/when participants should respond>>
 

You may skip the following "honor code" readings and activity if you participated in a module that already provided you with a good introduction to this topic. 

What is known about the role of honor codes in the context of "academic integrity" and "community" issues?  Read the articles below:
Resources:

Activity 4

What sort of honor code does your institution have?  What sorts of  changes do these articles suggest to you that your institution should make with respect to honor codes?    If none, explain.
<<Insert instructions explaining how/where/when participants should respond>>

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3.  Small Group Work – Building Together
One of the most powerful means I know for building a sense of community – especially a shared commitment to common goals and values – is quite literally to build something together.  Within an academic course, that can happen most easily (?) at the level of small group work – students working on projects together.  Barbara Millis, Director of the Excellence in Teaching Program at the University of Nevada - Reno [Formerly, Director of Faculty Development at the US Air Force Academy] has done a lot of good work (in writing, workshops, and her own courses) on helping students to work collaboratively within otherwise traditionally structured courses.  The more I read and listen to her ideas, insights, and experiences, the more I believe we should be inventing applications of the same principles in online courses AND IN THE ONGOING WORK OF FACULTY AND ADMINISTRATORS.   
Please read the following resource:  "Managing—and Motivating!—Distance Learning Group Activities," by Barbara Millis which you can find at:  <<http://www.tltgroup.org/gilbert/millis.htm>>

Activity 5
To what extent is trust essential for effective small group collaboration?  In what ways can it be supported online?  What are the ways in which such trust is most likely to be violated in online environments and what can we do to reduce that likelihood?
<<Insert instructions explaining how/where/when participants should respond>>

Activity 6
In what ways do we need to address authorial behavior of senior faculty members when trying to apply Barbara Millis's principles for effective small group collaboration? 
How can we convince undergraduate students that their own work will be appropriately credited within a course when they observe what happens to the work of graduate students who contribute to the papers of their advisors? 

<<Insert instructions explaining how/where/when participants should respond>>

For further, more interactive, deeper exploration of examples and features of effective small group activities - especially in online or hybrid situations:  <Insert link to more resources here>
 

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4.  Safe Classrooms (and other safe places)
Students need to feel safe, secure, trusting within a  course (classroom or online) in order to express personal opinions, strong feelings, and work collaboratively instead of competitively.  Ned Hallowell has said that  “Fear is the worst learning disability”.  Tom Marino, Temple University, writes about safe classrooms in the following piece.
Resource.  Read:  "Personalizing Pedagogy Different Gifts for Teaching and Learning," by
Tom Marino, of Temple University which you can find at: 
<<http://www.tltgroup.org/PersonalizingPedagogy/Marino.htm>>

Also see "Personalizing Pedagogy" Website at:
<<http://www.tltgroup.org/PersonalizingPedagogy/Home.htm>>

Activity 7
In what ways does the work of Deirdre Cobb Roberts and Barbara Millis support Tom Marino’s efforts to build and teach in “Safe Classrooms”?  Tom may be referring more to places where students feel safe to try to learn in new ways (e.g., using information technology, working in small groups, initiating their own projects) than where they express personal feelings or beliefs. 

In what ways are the methods that seem to succeed in enabling exchange of feelings likely to succeed in enabling new kinds of learning?  To what extent are these goals really similar/different? 

<<Insert instructions explaining how/where/when participants should respond>>

Activity 8
To what extent can we apply some of Tom’s and Deirdre’s findings to create “Safe Places” for others to address dangerous issues? [e.g., for faculty and administrators to discuss together how the results of student course evaluations will/won’t be used;  for faculty and administrators to discuss together issues of intellectual property rights to the work of faculty members and to the work of students?]

<<Insert instructions explaining how/where/when participants should respond>>

For further, more interactive, deeper exploration of examples and features of "safe places" and how to achieve and sustain them:  <Insert link to more resources here>
 

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5.  Tools for Building Community  – esp. Voice [and related accessibility issues]; emphasizing Open Source options & Low-Threshold Applications/Activities (LTAs)

What are some effective ways of using online tools to build a sense of community?  What are some of the most attractive features, the most common pitfalls, and the most useful guidelines for using the most attractive online tools now available to support “community,” teaching/learning, and collaborative work?  What are the “low-threshold” options for people?  What kinds of “training wheels” are or should be available?   

Please explore the resources available from the "Low-Threshold" home page at:

<<http://www.tltgroup.org/LTAs/Home.htm>>

Text
First, using commonly available tools that rely primarily on exchanging text – not images or voices:

• Email

• Online threaded discussion boards

• Online synchronous text-based chat

• Blogs, Wikis, et al...

Note that the first three options in this list are readily available to faculty and students at most colleges and universities that have some version of a Web-Based course management system - e.g., WebTycho at UMUC, Blackboard, WebCT and several others.  For a good general guide to use of such tools, see <<http://www.tltgroup.org/ProFacDev/Collab/CourseFacilitation.mht>>, excerpted from the DePaul University’s Center for Distance Education’s Course Facilitator’s Guide and provided by Mauri Collins of DePaul University.

Blog users can post, modify, or delete their own content on a Website using a browser interface.  Wiki users can modify any entry, even material posted by others, on a collaboratively developed Website.  For an introduction to the rapidly emerging educational uses of Blogs & Wikis, see:  <<http://www.tltgroup.org/profacdev/blogsetc.htm>>

Audio
I’m eager to explore how the role of the human voice, especially in online courses and workshops, seems to be so important and powerful in developing and sustaining inter-personal relationships. 

Why do computer-generated movies use “real” voices?  

To what extent is synchronous voice communication essential or at least highly desirable for developing group trust?  What patterns and conditions for voice interaction seem most likely to achieve and sustain trust, community, … the ability to work together on projects in small groups? 

Jonathan Finkelstein has been using, developing, demonstrating, and training others to use a variety of online tools that include extensive use of audio via the Internet for synchronous communication to achieve various kinds of “community”  and education.  His LearningTimes Network provides a rich selection of related resources and services, many of which can be explored for free.  See:  <<www.tltgroup.org/onlineinstitute/LTNIntro.htm>> 

For some interesting options for adding audio narration to PowerPoint slideshows that can be easily stored on the Web, easily accessible to others, please see LTA of the Week #5 from Charles Ansorge of the Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln and #29 from Leona Barratt, also from UN-L, at:

• <<http://www.tltgroup.org/LTAs/ltaw/lta5.htm>>

• <<http://www.tltgroup.org/LTAs/ltaw/lta29.html>>

Note that tools and "platforms" that support making audio available on the Web are changing very rapidly in their features, reliability, and pricing structures [as of January, 2005].

Unfortunately, our recent experience [2004] is that the reliability of Internet audio has deteriorated at the same time that the quality and related features have improved.  We now routinely provide a telephone conference call option that is directly linked with our online Internet-based synchronous audio sessions.  Under what conditions is providing a telephone back-up for the audio component of an online session essential, desirable, feasible?  In what ways is communication enhanced or diminished when more than 15 people participate via telephone conference call vs. via Web-based synchronous platforms?  For an introduction and to some related issues and some samples, see/hear: 

<<http://www.tltgroup.org/profacdev/AudioDangerous.htm>>

For an overview of some online technology options, see "Beyond the Breakout Room: How Technology Can Help Sustain Community"  By: Julia Ashley at:  <<http://www.centeronline.org/knowledge/article.cfm?ID=2584>>

Disabilities
Similar questions/issues arise with respect to the accessibility of online activities for those with various disabilities.  Norm Coombs has been taking the lead on these matters and has new, easier and less expensive - “low-threshold” - applications to recommend through his work with Project EASI.  See:
<<http://www.rit.edu/~easi/>>

Take a look at this Low-Threshold Activity that introduces "Bobby," a Web software tool designed to help evaluate and repair barriers to accessibility to the Web for people with disabilities and facilitate compliance with existing accessibility standards and guidelines.  See: <<http://www.tltgroup.org/LTAs/ltaw/lta18.html>>

Open Source, "Open Course"
Consider options being developed for applying "Open Source" principles and tools for collaborative software development to the possibilities for using the Web to support collaborative development of instructional resources. 

"Open Source Software" is software that makes the programming code available and accessible to users who want to use or adapt it.  "Open source software development” projects include many professionals or skilled amateurs actively cooperating to develop and improve a complex software program by allocating the work among participants through a combination of self-selection, assignment, and negotiation.  Each participant is able to acquire and use the most fundamental underlying “source code” without paying any fee.  

“Open course” efforts are those that enable a group of people with common interests in specific courses to work together to develop, share, modify, add, and build on instructional resources for those specific courses.  In many cases, to work on “instructional modules.” These resources must include ways that new users can contribute to an ongoing process of improvement, enhancement, and development.  For more about "Open Course" ideas, see:
<<http://www.tltgroup.org/opensource/Examples.htm>>

See the work of Rob Stephenson and colleagues for OpenCourse.org "... which hosts virtual communities for developing, evaluating and using open, non-proprietary learning objects..."
<<http://opencourse.org/>>

Activity 9

• What is the significance of the role of audio in your online work with respect to building community?  What would you like it to be?  What are the most important obstacles you are facing?  What is the smallest next step you could take?

• In what ways would you like to improve the accessibility of your online activities to people with various disabilities?  What are the most important obstacles you are facing?  What is the smallest next step you could take?

• To what extent do you find the principles of "Open Source" philosophically attractive or irritating?  To what extent do you believe you personally and your institution should be attempting to adopt Open Source principles, practices, and available resources - especially software and "courseware"?  What are the most important obstacles you are facing?  What is the smallest next step you could take?

<<Insert instructions explaining how/where/when participants should respond>>

For further, more interactive, deeper exploration of the relative roles of text and audio, etc...and available tools...<Insert link to more resources here>
 

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6.  Constructive Policies & Assessment
“Academic Integrity” needs to be defined and treated constructively, not merely as “non-cheating”.  David Ross, an economist at Bryn Mawr College, has been thinking and writing recently about the dysfunctional implications of the most common “acceptable use” policies about student and faculty use of information technology (esp. Internet access)  and about how to reconfigure the policies and how they are presented to better reflect and support a more collaborative, less hierarchical/authoritarian/commercial institutional structure.  Minimally, policies and guidelines should be revised to reduce the number of “Don’t”  and “or else” statements and to increase the suggestions for how and why to cooperate. 
<<http://www.tltgroup.org/profacdev/dangerousdiscussions/policydocumentation.htm>>

[Click here for simple set of recommended operating principles from Ross' work.]

Activity 10
The TLT Group’s  Flashlight Project has growing experience with institutional and individual ambivalence toward assessment and toward participation in "dangerous discussions."  In what ways  can assessment practices and policies encourage and sustain active, constructive participation in online activities?  How can assessment techniques be used to determine the ongoing effectiveness of any efforts to improve academic integrity?  Community building?  Collaborative learning Etc….???   Which of these, or similar questions, are most important to you about the role of assessment in advancing your efforts to build academic integrity and community?

<<Insert instructions explaining how/where/when participants should respond>>

For an introduction to the Flashlight approach, see:
<<http://www.tltgroup.org/resources/Assessment.htm>>

For an article about applying Flashlight to the assessment of the role of technology in collaborative learning, see:
<<http://www.tltgroup.org/resources/F_Illustrative_1.htm>>

For further, more interactive, deeper exploration of examples and features of constructive policies and related assessment activities:  <Insert link to more resources here>
 

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7.  Assessment of this Website and Related Online Workshop
Please help us improve this Web page and future offerings of this and similar online workshops by completing this brief online survey.  You may respond anonymously or identify yourself as you prefer:  <TO BE DEVELOPED:  Click here.>

If you have critical and/or comments you would prefer to send directly via email, you can click here:  mailto:gilbert@tltgroup.org

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"This is not a course."

This Web page is not, by itself, a workshop or a course.  We hope you will use the resources you find here in conjunction with other activities.

It is important not to confuse the resources available to support a course with the course itself.  Most faculty members are wrong when they say: "I put my course up on the Web."  In most cases, it would be more accurate to say: "I put some of the important readings and some related materials for my course up on the Web."

Painter Rene' Magritte understood the difference between an object and an image of it.  This isn't exactly the same distinction, but it is close enough to justify this reference!  I hope you find it amusing.

Please click here to see the display of “Trahison des Images” [Treason of the Images] 1929 by René Magritte  1898-1967. 

This is a famous painting of a pipe with  the caption: 

“Ceci n'est pas une pipe” [“This is not  a pipe”]. 

As of October, 2011 you could see this painting more fully at: 
 <<http://tlt.gs/magrittePainting>>. 

Of course, in the spirit of Magritte, those who offer  that image on the Web should have added  “This is not a painting.” 

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Visits to this page: 
[0 as of 2/4/2005]

Extreme, Excellent Example of Difference Between Course Resources and Courses: 
MIT's OpenCourseWare
<<http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/index.htm>>

Excerpt from that Web page:
"MIT's OpenCourseWare is a free and open educational resource for faculty, students, and self-learners around the world. OCW supports MIT's mission to advance knowledge and education, and serve the world in the 21st century. It is true to MIT's values of excellence, innovation, and leadership.

"MIT OCW:

• Is a publication of MIT course materials
• Does not require any registration
• Is not a degree-granting or certificate-granting activity
• Does not provide access to MIT faculty"

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Reference links to websites with relevant material - see if any of these or excerpts from them fit:

• Guide to a Successful Online Workshop

• http://polaris.umuc.edu/~dwendlin/inpa
  /303S0112/successful_wkshp.html

•  

• Plagiarism Toolbox Opening Survey

• http://www.zoomerang.com
  /survey.zgi?p=WEB2RJ998H5B

•  

• Module 1: Definitions and Student Views

• http://polaris.umuc.edu/cip
  /PlagKelleyCTL04/Module1.html

•  

• Module 2: The Prevention Approach to Academic Dishonesty

• http://polaris.umuc.edu/cip
  /PlagKelleyCTL04/Module2.html

•  

• Module 3: The USM and UMUC Policies

• http://polaris.umuc.edu/cip
  /PlagKelleyCTL04/Module3.html

•  

• Module 4: Detecting Plagiarism

• http://polaris.umuc.edu/cip
  /PlagKelleyCTL04/Module4.html

•  

• Trial for TurnItIn.com

• http://polaris.umuc.edu/cip
  /PlagKelleyCTL04/turnitinMAIN.htm

Other References

• http://www.wcet.info/projects
  /balancing/principles.asp

• http://www.wcet.info/resources/research/

• http://elearn.wvu.edu
  /Policies/edpchecklist.pdf
   

• http://www.ncahigherlearningcommission.org
  /resources/electronic_degrees/

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