Graphic Organizer

Communication in a distance classroom needs to be timely, respectful and with an appropriate tone. This communication can happen in a variety of means, email, chat, or Skype. The main reason we communicate with distance education is for feedback on the work and ideas we are pursuing. This communication is vital to effective collaboration. Collaboration is a must have in distance education to develop an environment that is positive and motivating to learners. Collaboration may occur using wiki pages, discussion forums, and blogs. Content for distance education is the foundation for the learning and is done using textbooks, videos, and various reading materials. The most effective tools for learning that I have encountered so far have been the wiki pages, videos (podcasts by Laureate), and discussion forums. The discussion forums qualifies as communication, however I included it with collaboration since most discussion forums are a collaborative effort.
There are many tools that utilize technology and may enhance the learning experience. Some are listed on the following website.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/archives/tools.shtml
A podcast by Dr. Carl Owens may be accessed using the following link.
http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2011/02/09/podcast-370-cool-tools-for-the-classroom-by-dr-carl-owens-msmeca11/

Assessing Collaborative Efforts

Collaborative efforts should take place but each individual should be given a separate grade for their contributions. By providing a rubric for the students to follow each person should be doing the same work and be assessed in the same way. Everyone brings their own skills to the effort, some know technology more than others, and this should be addressed by having prerequisite training or requirements for each effort. Any technology that is to be used should be discussed and resources provided for those that are not familiar with it. This will allow the rubric and assignment to be fair. 

A student who does not want to network or collaborate should not take an online course. There has to be collaboration for a strong sense of community and the sharing of resources and ideas. As a fellow student I would rely on the discretion of my instructor and the faculty at the school to mediate any problems with such a student. As a fellow student I would contact the instructor about any lack of participation that involved or affected me. As an instructor this would affect my assessment of the student and reflect negatively on their grade.

Collaborating online has been a challenge this quarter. I have created an edublog and a bloglines account but am still having trouble keeping track of the blogs of my team members. Hopefully this is an issue that will get easier the more familiar I become with the technology. 

http://icoblog.wordpress.com/2010/03/09/student-collaboration-online-classroom/

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/classroom-collaboration-tools-eric-brunsell

Both these resources are good to help students collaborate online. This one is prefaced with a quote that "no man is an island" and gives tools for online collaboration.

http://www.nlight.com/Success/Collab/