• Wiki: Introduction to Forums

   

      

   

   

   

  A forum, also known as a message board, bbs, or conferencing system, affords asynchronous, many-to-many, multimedia discussions for large groups of people over a period of time. That means that people can read and write their part of the discussion on their own schedule, that everyone in a group can communicate with everyone else, and that graphics, sounds, and videos can accompany text. This particular form of conversational medium meets the need for organizing discussions after they reach a certain level of complexity. If twenty people want to discuss five subjects over ten days, and each person makes one comment on each subject every day, that makes for one thousand messages in each participant's mailbox. On lists, when the topic drifts, the subject line usually does not change, so it makes it difficult to find particular discussions later.

   

   

   

  Previous students suggested starting with forums, moving to blogs later in the term, because they felt that forums afforded group discussion, while blogs are primarily about individual voice -- they felt that it was easier to get to know fellow students through the forums than through the blogs. Pay attention to these differences and see if you agree or disagree.
• tarting with the week immediately following the first class meeting, and each week until we switch to blogs, each student is expected to contribute two substantial forum posts per week. During the first week, we're getting acquainted with each other and with the unorthodox way this course is organized, so the forum posts for the first week are expected to be introductory and informal. If you don't post in the forum by the second class meeting, instructor will assume that you are dropping the course and will remove your registration.

• Eight Ways To Use School Wikis
• Wikis are a great tool to help a school enrich instruction, and increase communication and collaboration among staff. They are also free (for educators using wikispaces) and provide unlimited storage for digital materials including video, screencasts, presentations, pdfs, etc.
• Decrease Disruptions of Instructional Time
• Each day daily notes are posted on the school wiki.
• Make Meetings More Efficient
  All team meetings and planning can be coordinated right on your wiki.
• Collaborate On Important Documents
  CIS 339 uses their school wiki to collaborate on the creation, revising, and updating of their school’s comprehensive education plan. The wiki is organized with general planning and process documents, then each department has a section for their piece. This enables everyone to see where anyone is at any time and the discussion tab allows for ongoing conversation while the documents are being created.
• Enhance Professional Development
  Anytime your school is having professional development all the materials can be loaded to the wiki. No more copies to run off, folders to buy, teachers sharing if there aren’t enough copies, or worrying about writing on your only copy. Additionally, a discussion forum is associated with each wiki page.
• Share and Collaborate On Curriculum Maps
  Wikis are a great tool for schools involved in curriculum mapping.
• A Portal for All Your Lessons
  At many schools there may be more than one teacher teaching the same subject/unit of study. However, there never seems to be enough time to collaborate. A wiki solves that issue. All lessons can be posted right on the wiki and using the discussion tab, teachers can connect and collaborate.

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• 7 Tips for Remote Presentations That Rock

• Virtual presentations are tough.

   

  We're not going to talk about basic presentation skills: how to organize your thoughts, how to deliver your presentation, how to support your message with the right charts or images. There are a number of books and IBM courses on effective presentations, and I'll link to them on the webpage for this talk. Today, we're going to talk specifically about giving presentations online.

   

  Why is this important? It starts with the reason why you give a presentation–any presentation. No matter what kind of presentation you're giving, your goal is to persuade people. You're convincing people to pay attention to what you're telling them and to act on that information. You want people to make a decision or take an action.

   

  Persuading people, influencing people, is a lot harder when you're not face-to-face. You're competing against e-mail and instant messaging for people's attention. You can't watch their eyes or their body language to tell when you're going too fast or too slow. People can leave any time they want, so you have to be interesting all throughout.

•  

  I'm here because I think virtual communication skills can make a big difference in our company and in our world. To me, remote presentations mean that no matter where you are in the world, you can attend events that used to be limi

• But virtual presentations are tough. Let me share with you some of the things that hold other people back. People say,

   
   
  • It's hard to connect with people over the phone.
   
  • I want to get through the material, but I don't know what people think.
   
  • I always run out of time.
• • I'm afraid of technical problems.
   
  • I don't know how much to put into my presentation.
   
  • I feel like I lose momentum when giving presentations.
   
  • I feel like my presentations don't result in anything.
   
   

  I've faced those challenges too. I still do! So here are my seven key tips that can help you not only get better at doing remote presentations, but even enjoying them.

   

• 1. Make it real.
  2. Interact.
  3. Make space for learning.
  4. Practice, practice, practice.
  5. Keep it simple.
  6. Start strong and end strong.
  7. Continue the conversation.

   

   

  
• . Make
• The most important step you can take is to pretend that your remote presentation is just as real and just as important as face-to-face presentations. This is almost impossible when you can’t make eye contact, when your neck is starting to ache because of the way you’re holding your phone, when you’re doing it in the middle of an already busy day. And if you don’t have the energy to connect, you’re going to make it difficult for people to listen.
• So pretend you’re face to face. Dress up in your favourite suit, just like you would for a real presentation. Smile, just like you would for a real presentation. Get a headset so that you can stand up and do a real presentation. People might not be able to see you, but they’ll hear your confidence and your energy.
• Having a hard time pretending? Ask a coworker to listen to you give your talk, and you’ll probably find that your presentation becomes much easier to give. If you’re working from home or all of your coworkers are busy, you can use pictures of people as your audience. Sometimes I’ve used stuffed toys as my stand-ins!
• Make it real for people listening to you, too. Why should they listen to you instead of just reading through your slides on their own? Make your presentation a real performance. Smile and use the hand-gestures you would use to get your point acr
• Interact
• The biggest presentation mistake you can make is to rush through what you have to say without finding out what people think. People tune out when what you’re saying isn’t relevant to them AND they know they don’t need to pay attention. They mentally check out. They start reading mail or responding to instant messages. And once you lose people, it’s hard to get them back.
• There are three big reasons why you should listen to people during your presentation. First: you can create more value. If you don’t take questions, you might as well record your presentation and share it, or send a copy of your slides and notes around so that people can read it. Is what you’re talking about relevant to people? Does anything need to be explained further? The main reason why people are listening to you is so that you can listen to them and answer their questions.
• Second: you can keep people’s attention. Mix it up. Add variety.

• Third—and this is incredibly powerful: Listening to people during your presentation will teach you a lot. People are learning from you, but you’re learning from them. You’re learning from the ideas they share, the questions they ask, and the stories, examples, and answers you think of as you address their questions.

   

  There are all sorts of great ways you can get feedback from people who are attending a webconference. For example, the Elluminate system lets people raise their hands, add a check to their name, answer multiple-choice polls, indicate A/B/C/D/E, add text to a shared whiteboard, or share their thoughts in the chat. Even if you only have the phone, you can pause for questions.
• Here’s the difficult part: you need to become comfortable with waiting. Seven seconds is probably the minimum you should wait for a response. Seven seconds seems like a lifetime when you’re giving a presentation, but people need time to think of their questions or think of their answers. Yes, it will feel awkward, but it’s essential.
• In addition to building interaction into your presentation, you may also want to use the text chat to invite people to share their thoughts throughout the session. If you find it hard to keep track of what’s being discussed there while presenting, ask someone to watch the discussion for you, and to bring up anything that you should know about.
• Reach out.
• Great, you say. Interaction. That’s good. But you don’t have enough time to present everything already, so how are you going to make time for question and answer?
• 3. Make space for learning.

• You need to make time for that interaction. You can’t just squeeze the questions and answers portion into the last few minutes of a presentation that has already run over time.

   

  Ruthlessly edit your presentation until you can find the core of your message. If your session is scheduled an hour, say what you need to say in 20 minutes—or even 7 minutes. Save the details for Q&A, a follow-up note or a blog post. One pattern that works very well is to say your core message, then save the rest of the session for Q&A. If people are typing their questions in the text chat while you’re doing your presentation, you can even weave some of the questions and answers into your short presentation.

   

  Get your key message across, then get out of the way.

   

  How do you find your key message?
• Practice, practice, practice.

• You know this already: you should practice important presentations. But for presentations that really rock – virtually or in person – but go beyond that. Practice thinking about your topic. Practice talking about your topic. Practice writing about your topic. As you repeat yourself, you’ll find that the most important points float to the top. Listen as you explain what you want to say, and you’ll figure out great ways of communicating it.

   

  I write a lot about topics I’m passionate about, like social networking and presentation skills. I write again and again about the same topic. Every time I write or talk about it, I learn something new. I get a little better at expressing what I think. I come across new ideas, too. Practice helps.

   

  Practice with your tools, too. Trying a new interactive technique? Experiment with it before using it with a large audience. And always, always have backup plans. Be ready to skip parts that don’t work and tools that are having problems. Work hard at practicing so that your actual performance looks effortless.

   

  Practice is easier when there’s less to practice, so:
• Keep it simple.

• Practice and edit, practice and edit, until you can get to a clear, memorable key message. Make it something you can keep in your head and talk about even if no one can see your slides. Memory aids help you organize what you want to say, and they help people remember. For example, if you’re talking about goals, you can talk about all sorts of things people should do in order to set better goals. Or you can talk about setting SMART goals: specific, measurable, ardently desired, realistic, and time-bound. The keyword “SMART” makes it easy for people to remember your points afterwards.

   

  Keep your slides simple, too. Instead of using fancy effects like transitions or animations, or putting lots of text, just put your key messages on the slide. That way, people can focus on what you’re saying instead of on reading the slides.
• tart strong and end strong.

• What are people going to remember about your talk? Based on the way that our memory works, they’ll probably remember the beginning and the end. The primacy effect of memory means they’ll remember the first part, and the recency effect means they’ll remember the last. Make the most of those times. Every minute counts. Every slide counts.

   

  Imagine this: You could spend ten minutes on a slow start, waiting for everyone to dial in, thanking people for attending, and then reading your agenda. Or you can use the time to warm up your audience, get to know some of the attendees, share the key point—the executive summary–of your presentation, and then hit the ground running. Most of the time, it’s a good idea to cut the suspense and put your main point first, so people who hang up halfway through the call still know what you were trying to say. Start strong.

   

  End strong, too. Here’s a quick fix to make your next question-and-answer session even better: instead of showing a slide that says “Thank you!” or “Questions?”, post a one-slide summary with your contact information and a link to where people can find out more. That way, you help people remember what they wanted to ask questions about, you help them learn more, and you give them clear actions to take next.

   

  Because the most important question for a presentation is: “What’s next?” What do you want people to do after listening to you? What do you want them to learn or remember? Your presentation isn’t the end of a conversation. It’s just the beginning.
• . Continue the conversation.

• So continue that conversation. Make it easy for people to download your slides, notes, and recordings so that they can review your presentation or share it with others. If you share it, other people can come across your presentation in search results and blog posts. Invite people to share their comments, reactions, and questions. Show people what their next steps are, and help them take those steps. You’ve already done the hard work of making and giving the presentation, so you might as well make the most of it.

   

  And you can reach out even before your presentation, too. For example, I started this presentation as an idea. I wrote a blog post. People commented. I made a presentation, and then a longer blog post. At every step of the way, people shared their thoughts and helped me make it better. The presentation has been viewed more than a thousand times and I haven’t even delivered it at the virtual conference yet. It’s part of the bigger conversation that’s going on out there.

   

  Be part of the conversation. Make your presentation matter.

   

  I hope you’re ready to rock your next remote presentation! =) Pick one of these tips, write it down, and focus on it when you’re planning your next talk. What did you like the most about this talk, and what will you work on? What other challenges are in your way? What can I help you with?

   

  Presenter’s note: I plan to edit this down to key messages (always, always!) and add more interactivity for this session, which I’m delivering as an internal IBM teleconference on November 3, 2009. Feedback is always welcome!

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• I have been running a scheme of work with more than 300 students and 6 weeks after they completed their unit on 'dangerous geography' they have been responding to an online survey where over 178 completed surveys have been collected that indicate how successful they educational resources and teaching was at engaging students and their parents in disaster preparedness and planning.
• but this all started with well thought out and tested educational materials put together but with children evaluating the materials while providing their teacher (me) with an idea if what they had learned and retained as well as what they engaged with most
• We used an online survey tool (Survey Monkey) when we were consulting with teachers on what changes should be made to "What's the Plan Stan" (the New Zealand DRR resource for primary/intermediate schools) during its revision this year.

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• How to administer effective educational surveys.
• 1) Keep it short and to the point: You must respect the needs of your audience, especially a younger audience like students.  That's why it's important to keep your educational survey short, focused, and actionable.  Let the audience know why you're sending them the online questionnaires, and what your goals are. 
  
  2) Ask focused questions: To follow-up on my first point, audiences like to be asked focused questions that are relevant to the premise you've outlined at the beginning of the educational survey.  If you ask a number of questions that don't appear to be immediately relevant to your students, they may lose interest - which leads to poor feedback.  Remember that the goal of your survey is to draw conclusions from the data presented.  If the questions do not have a clear focus, there are no conclusions that can be drawn from them.
  
  3) Pre-test your survey: If you are able, it helps to have a small group of people try your online feedback questionnaire, before you send it to the larger group.  This will be a great way to "troubleshoot" the survey, to make sure all of the questions are clear, actionable, and have value to you, as the administrator.
• Why online surveys offer benefits that standard "web forms" can only dream of:

• See all of your feedback, in one place, any time you want:

  With a web form, it's hard to compare all of your data and draw solid conclusions without bringing in third party assets (software, specialists, etc.). It's handy to have feedback, but being able to draw overall conclusions from that feedback is even more important.

  BizSurvey makes it easy to see all of the responses to your survey.  You don't need any third party to bring the data together: it's all there, at your fingertips, instantly upon submission. 
• University Educators: Learn what your students are thinking with surveys.
• Now you can poll the class, get instant feedback, and apply that feedback toward the next lecture.  You can even do a course evaluation survey quickly and easily.
• Studies suggest that asking your customers their opinions through surveys can lead to long-term profitability.

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• Online Surveys Advantages & Disadvantages

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  The Internet and e-mail make it faster and cheaper to develop survey panels. It costs significantly less to send e-mail surveys than to make phone calls or send postal mail surveys.
• Also, e-mail has a higher incidence rate than other survey methods

• The major disadvantage of online surveys is survey fraud. The reliability of survey statistics depends on something called panel integrity. There are several security measures that a company can use to decrease survey cheaters and maintain high panel integrity:

   
   
  • Invitation-only. A consumer must receive an e-mail invitation to participate in a survey. This gives the company a chance to verify the address and assure that the same name and contact information isn't already assigned to another e-mail address in the system.
   
  • Require mailing address. Ask for a mailing address to send reward points and coupons. Once again, if the same mailing address comes up for multiple e-mail accounts, you might have a cheater.
   
  • Minimum time frame. Set a minimum time for completing an online survey. This cuts down on cheaters who fly through the survey just randomly answering questions.
   
  • Block "straight line" answers. Have the software automatically purge any surveys that come back with the same letter or number chosen for every question.
   
  • Block IP addresses. If anyone is caught cheating, block his or her IP address from submitting any future surveys. It's also wise to limit the amount of surveys that can be submitted from any one IP address to cut down on multiple submissions.
   
  • Demographic consistency. Start the survey with straight, demographic questions. The next couple of questions should be demographic-profiling questions that verify a person's sex, age, income level, etc. If the answers to the demographic profiling questions don't jibe with the earlier answers, the user should be blocked.
   
  • Open-ended questions. Include at least one short-answer, essay type question that can be analyzed for thoughtfulness. Cheaters won't take the time to answer an open-ended question multiple times with significantly different responses

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•  

   

   

  Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Online Surveys
• The landscape has shifted over the last decade. In the same way that the internet has changed the way we purchase products and services, it has altered the manner in which companies interact with their respective markets. More businesses than ever are leveraging online surveys

  

  to attract the data they need at a substantially lower cost.
• Shortened Response Collection Time
   
   It's no longer necessary to send researchers into the field to personally interview people. Nor is it necessary to maintain a team that enters individual responses into a statistical analysis program. By posting your questionnaire online, the data can be collected and collated automatically. This dramatically reduces the window of time between your survey's launch and being able to take action on the responses. Indeed, what once required weeks now takes days.
• More Flexibility In Design
   
   Questionnaires that are used in a "real world" environment lack flexibility. For example, consider a market research survey that is soliciting responses from a broad audience. There will be many people within that population to whom questions will be irrelevant. A researcher or interviewer would be tasked with identifying which questions were relevant to the individual participant.
   
   Online surveys make use of skip, pipe, and branch logic to personalize each item on the questionnaire. Skip logic allows each participant to automatically pass over items based on their responses to previous questions. Branch logic lets you (the surveyor) send participants along different routes based on their previous responses. This type of technology not only saves time, but makes the experience more fluid for the respondent.
• Better Profile Targeting
   
   Because you can control the paths by which participants find your online questionnaires, you can target specific profiles. For example, suppose that you operate an online bookstore. If you maintain a robust customer database, you can send email invitations to specific groups of customers. You can target them based on the types of books they have purchased, their average order size, and the recency of their orders. Better profile targeting yields more valuable data.

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