E-Tivities

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Beyond the hype of online learning lies a straightforward questio: how do you really deliver worthwhile learning online? This book, based on action research, provides a simple answer to this fundamental question by exploring a key technique that enables teachers and learners to use available technologies happily and successfully. So, what are e-tivities? They are motivating, engaging, purposeful activities developed and led by an e-moderator. They are frameworks for active and interactive online learning. E-tivities are in the hands of the teachers themselves and promote active e-learning. This is not a book about the technology of online learning. Practical, accessible and direct, it looks at personalizing and customizing teaching and learning. Written for use in any topic, subject or course, "E-tivities" explores: * the importance of activities in online learning; * designing and running e-tivities; * the five-stage model of teaching and learning online The book is backed up by extensive illustrations and case studies, and includes a unique collection of 35 Resources for Practitioners. Gilly Salmon is the author of the best-selling "E-Moderating: The Key to Teaching and Learning Online." This new book can be used either on its own as a rapid, results-driven guide to successful online teaching, or in conjunction with her previous book in order to further develop your e-moderating skills.

SYNOPSIS

Following the ground-breaking and best selling E-Moderating, which looked at the role of the online teacher, this book addresses readers in both higher education and corporate training who are seeking to develop interactive and online programs.

FROM THE CRITICS

Dale Spender

(This really is a marvellous handbook. A practical guide to the new e-learning, it takes the angst out of online tutoring and provides a much needed comfortzone. "E-tivities" is the craft of online tutoring made easy.

Stephen Brown

Online learning is growing rapidly. There can be few colleges, universities or large businesses that have not experimented with it so some extent. While there has been considerable interest and investment in the development of online learning materials, the issues surrounding online learning support have received less attention. "E-tivities: The key to active online learning" is hard to put down. I was fascinated by the host of different voices that speak from every page, offering an insight into the often closed and sometimes daunting world of online learning. It is so packed with real life experiences that it is essential reading for anyone new to online learning, either as student or tutor. Learners will find plenty of guidance on how to make sense of their own experiences and the Resources for Practitioners are a valuable mine of ideas that must have taken thousands of hours to develop and refine to the point where they can be offered here as succinct nuggets. Whether or not you like the term "e-tivities", I expect the well researched ideas and suggestions and the conceptual framework offered in this book will have an important effect on the quality of online learning and teaching. Practical books which offer useful guidance which is more than mere "cookbook" tips are all too rare. This is one. Read it and judge for yourself.

Jenny Preece

"E-tivities" provides a very practical way of engaging students in online collaborative online learning. It is the first book that I have read that actually deals in a very practical way with the very thorny problem of how to get students to collaborate successfully with peers in learning projects using textual computer mediated communication. I'm happy to say that this book goes beyond such superficial advice as 'make sure that online activities count towards students' final grades'. Encouraging online participation by such extrinsically motivated ploys will put students off who are looking for a meaningful experience; particularly if the activities seem trivial and could be done in other ways, or contribute little to the goals of the course, as is so often the case. Based on her many years of working with students and tutors at the British Open University, Salmon has devised a model for e-learning which she supports with a range of 'how to do it' and 'try this' examples for novice instructors who want to use computer-mediated communication with their students but who aren't sure what to do or where to start. Many of these suggestions are unthreatening and can be tried by anyone, others are more challenging and will be useful for those with experience in online teaching.

Betty Collis

Gilly Salmon's E-tivities are important ideas, particularly for those who think of e-learning as the solitary process of reading pre-made and pre-selected study materials off the computer screen. E-tivities, in contrast, are intensely interpersonal and their results are not known in advance. But they do not happen based only good intentions; Salmon's book is a valuable guide to scaffold their development for the instructor or facilitator as well as for those who "train the trainers". The idea of the learners leaving "footprints" for others to follow is particularly powerful.

Robin Mason