USM’s Leonard Shedletsky Hosts Free Webinar About Online Discussion
April 6, 2011
The debate rings out on campuses across the nation: online or offline? Typing or talking? Blackboard or chalkboard? Whatever your opinion, the rapid implementation of online college classes is a reality, and while some may complain and others cheer, a USM professor is interested in making sure students and teachers get the most out of their online classroom.
USM Professor of Communication and holder of USM’s 2009-2011 Walter E. Russell Chair in Philosophy and Education Leonard Shedletsky will be hosting a webinar for IGI Global on Monday, April 18 about “Producing Increased Interaction and Critical Thinking in the College Classroom: In Search of Authentic Online Discussion.” This presentation is closely tied to Shedletsky’s Russell Chair topic of “Discussion.”
The online symposium will begin at 4:10 p.m. on IGI Global’s website at http://www.igi-global.com/advertisements/symposium/symposium.aspx. Registration is required to participate in the free webinar, and can be completed online. This presentation is part of the IGI Global Online Symposium Series.
The presentation will include an overview of research about online discussion in education and will raise questions about what teachers can do to increase interaction and critical thinking in the online classroom. At the end of the presentation the webinar will open for discussion.
Shedletsky is a co-editor and contributor to the book “Cases on Online Discussion and Interaction: Experiences and Outcomes” (IGI Global, 2010). He was named the 2009-2011 USM Russell Chair in Philosophy and Education. In 2009, he received an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant to expand the online capacity for his department to deliver communication and media studies degrees. He also blogs about how to make online discussion better on IGI Global’s website. Shedletsky’s current research explores online versus classroom discussion in an attempt to find out what facilitates active and high quality discussion in education.
For more information about Leonard Shedletsky and his research, see http://blogs.usm.maine.edu/publicaffairs/archives/4431
