Shared Project Goals through Online Experiential Learning

*From one Virtual Educator to Another*

During school year 2013-2014 I had the pleasure of facilitating an Online Biology Course.  I worked with students in Louisiana from my home near Boston, MA.  I work with Smart Start Virtual Academy to provide cutting edge technology and course material to the students.  We learned a lot about the technical aspects of working together in our Virtual Biology Course trough the Learning Management System called MOODLE. We learned the course material and helped each other with some of the challenging topics in Biology.  Best of all, We learned how to relate to one another and become partners in education as well as validate that we are working together just as well as we would when working in the same room.  With the excellent support from the Virtual Academy Team, most of the students now understand that virtual communication, shared work and project goals, and sharing results are extremely important skills for the future workplace in a Global sense, We were able to open up our worlds to each other, and appreciate that because of the diversity of the United States, we are all Americans, rather than only citizens of our State. We learn about the unique and wonderful places and natural environments in our states, thus becoming closer as Americans.

We learned how to communicate using:

• Video Chat-creates an excellent opportunity for one on one focused and productive conversations without distraction-visually, verbally.
• Message Chat through the Moodle System-daily messages between the students and I to clarify instruction, answer questions, and general conversation about our lives-teaches us how to communicate clearly typing the though to the chat box.
• Email-we used email for exchanging information that is important to save, as well as attaching documents when needed. Our Virtual Academy Team communicates primarily in this way.  
• Moodle Assignment Submission-students upload their assignments so that I can grade and comment within a 24 hour period, which give students a quick indication of all of their grades which they can see in the system, thus eliminating the mystery of what their current grade is
• Phone-sometimes we talk to each other on the phone to say hello

Our best communication became evident when we created the same experiment in our locations, and shared the results of that experiment- Passive Transport Osmosis.  

We set up our experiments on the same day, and  we then shared results via Video Chat, Messaging, and a written assignment. 

See an example of student's written assignment submitted through Moodle describing what she learned from the demonstration:

My Goal as a Virtual Educator and Online Tutor is to prevent us from just looking a computer screen while learning.  I hope to pass along a sense of collaboration by observing our worlds and sharing them using a multitude of wonderful online tools for further study. Experiences we can Share to create a sense of Global Community...that's my goal!

Visit www.clare-computer-tutor.com for more information.

Thank you for reading!