Building an Online Community after the Hurricanes

By Cynthia McIntyre

“If Katrina did not blow me away, this class sure did.” (Michelle Brower)

“As a teacher and administrator, I have been interested in integrating technology into both instruction and administration. I feel like the sky is the limit and hope one day, every child in the New Orleans Public Schools will be given a laptop, and read their assignments and books online. And when the next big one comes and we are scattered across the country, we can still work online and switch to a virtual campus. It is a vision that I think can become a reality.” (Russell Owen Plasczyk)

The vision of a virtual classroom is a reality for many Louisiana students. Following hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the fall of 2005, the Concord Consortium offered three sections of Designing and Teaching Online Courses, a six-week online professional development course customized to train teachers to deliver courses for the Louisiana Virtual School, to 75 prospective LVS teachers. The Louisiana Department of Education and the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts, which administer the virtual school for over 2,600 students from across the state, knew it would see an increased need for online courses for students displaced by the hurricanes. With more online students, it would need additional qualified online teachers.

Designing and Teaching Online Courses covers the pedagogy and methodology of teaching on the Internet, with collaboration and community building at the core. Course assignments require posting to the online discussion board at least three times each week with substantive posts that build on the posts of peers and contribute to the overall dialogue.

Participants cannot sit back and passively absorb lectures; they must participate in knowledge construction. They must be learners, and act as teachers to their peers. A trained facilitator also intervenes in discussions to move them deeper, and provides individualized formative feedback. Participants in the three course sections came from all over the state of Louisiana, including areas that were hit by one or both hurricanes (the “twin sisters” or “the one-two punch of Mother Nature,” as participants dubbed them). Schools and homes were devastated, but Louisiana teachers wanted to learn new ways to reach and teach their students.

Collaboration

“Out of all of my online classes, this one has been the most rewarding and I have enjoyed this one the most, have had the most fun, and have learned more through the interaction and collaboration with all of you.” (Heather McDaniel)

Participants take part in a three-week group activity, designed to get them to make decisions together, give feedback to one another, and produce a joint project (e.g., a web page, PowerPoint presentation, or Word document) of shared resources. Collaboration is not easy; online collaboration presents a new set of challenges. For instance, decisions take longer as folks work at their own pace (within the confines of a “scheduled asynchronous” model, with weekly deadlines). Facial cues and verbal intonations are also absent, so participants must be careful to share their thoughts accurately through text alone. As with families and the workforce, collaboration in education is key. Opportunities must be presented; mutual trust must be fostered.

Shared experiences

One of the hallmarks of the Concord e-Learning Model is the use of purposeful virtual spaces: each discussion forum has a particular focus. Some are designed for working together on a collaborative project; others are created for sharing thoughts and insights sparked by an assigned reading. Three general-purpose discussion areas are available throughout the course, including Questions on Technical Issues, Questions on Assignments, and the Virtual Café. In addition to focused community-building activities in the opening weeks (in one activity, participants post introductions from the eyes of their pets), the Virtual Café provides a forum for social dialogue that is an essential ingredient to building a learning community. People share experiences and ideas here; they get to know one another on a personal level.

“Dealing with not one but two hurricanes was very difficult, but I feel like my life is finally getting back on track. I believe working with my students and actually having a job to go back to has helped to get my mind off the devastation that is all around me. My students and this class have really helped me through one of the most difficult and traumatic times in my life!” (Sheree Caminita)

The outpouring of support for those who were affected by the hurricanes was evident. For instance, due to the disrupted postal service following the hurricanes, at least one participant did not receive the package of three required course texts. Another participant mailed her set of books to him (the readings were also available as PDF documents within the course).

Providing support and encouragement

“For a time in my life that I have needed encouragement, you all, my dear friends, have supplied it.” (Margarita Farrell)

“It was great to be able to help lifting up the spirit of some of our classmates through this class, with words of support and prayers.” (Paula Landry)

Participants shared both their stories and their support. It became clear that a virtual hand can hold just as tightly as a human hand.

Healing

“I really feel that taking this class will help us heal those wounds we have suffered and help us to move on. Taking this class is like moving on from the past and into the future. We know that it can only get better from this point forward! We are happy and grateful to be here.” (Sheree Caminita)

The timing of the six-week course was, perhaps, “just what the doctor ordered” for many teachers in Louisiana, following on the heels of the hurricanes. It provided stability in cyberspace when the world around them was less stable. The scheduled, asynchronous course meant that participants needed to post throughout the week and stay current with their assignments. Some participants posted daily; many posted late at night. Because the course was available round-the-clock, participants could log in whenever they wanted (or whenever they had a reliable Internet connection) for a moment of what one described as “a place of hope and serenity.” (Russell Owen Plasczyk)

One graduation speech summed up the experience for many:

“We sure had a lot of other things on our minds, because of our late Louisiana natural catastrophes. We had roofs to fix, houses to level, money to find, help to find, friends to help, etc. Nonetheless, throughout all this madness, a glimpse of hope was there, one little class lost somewhere in cyberspace, but always open (24/7), and always full of people who did not have to be there, but who were there because they chose to… Not only were they there, but also they were there for each other. Many of them lost a lot in the last three months; nevertheless, they still managed to give a lot to each other.” (Stephen Lizin)

Thanks to a generous grant from the BellSouth Foundation, the Louisiana Virtual School will continue to expand the number of seats offered to Louisiana students wherever they are post-Katrina and Rita. Their online teachers will be ready to support them in their education, and provide them with a new meaning of community in the wake of the hurricanes: a community built in the virtual world.

Cynthia McIntyre (cynthia@concord.org), Director of Communications & Online Learning, had the privilege of facilitating Designing and Teaching Online Courses for Louisiana teachers in the fall of 2005.