Exploring google hangouts for PhD forums

Sumpter, John

Abstract

In this paper, I detail two pilots run by Bath Spa Learning Technologist John Sumpter and Senior Lecturer in English, Dr Tracy Brain. The project focused on the use of synchronous online learning, to facilitate building a community of learners (Salmon, 2002) across two disparate groups of PhD students.

The PhD in Creative Writing incorporated a low residency strand in 2012 that allowed international students to study at a distance, but work full time on their PhD. This additional strand provided an opportunity for additional collaboration, research, shared philosophies and support across different time zones and continents. For this to work effectively, It was imperative all participants (virtually & physically located) had a ‘presence’ (Short, Williams & Christie, 1976) and felt part of a cohesive group.

Google Hangouts were used to facilitate the online synchronous events. The results of these pilots produced a series of best practices guidelines for use by academic staff.

• Presentation Conference Type: Poster
• Conference Name: AECT (Association for Education Communications and Technology) 2013
• Start Date: Oct 30, 2013
• End Date: Nov 2, 2013
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 7, 2019
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: video conferencing, blended learning, low residency, distance learning, google hangouts, synchronous learning
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/940497
• Publisher URL: https://convention2.allacademic.com/one/aect/aect13/
• Additional Information: Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : AECT (Association for Education Communications and Technology), 2013