Peer Review

The materials included in this book are of very high quality and include references to widely accepted pedagocial concepts such as Chickering & Gamson's, "Seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education." and Garrison & Anderson's "Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education model." to name just two. Other outstanding features are:

• Practical, Actionable Strategies: The guide moves beyond simply listing features of conferencing tools and delves into how educators can leverage these tools to enhance their pedagogy. For example, it provides specific considerations for hosting virtual office hours, fostering engagement, lecturing, and facilitating group work. This direct applicability is highly valuable for educators looking to immediately improve their online teaching.
• Focus on Student Engagement: The guide dedicates a significant section to "Fostering engagement in conferencing spaces", acknowledging the common challenge of maintaining student interaction in virtual environments. It offers concrete tips, such as explicit instructions, addressing students by name, and managing synchronous session length, which are all highly relevant for active learning in online settings.

• Interactive Elements within the Digital Textbook Itself: While the content is about interactive tools, the textbook itself (as a static PDF) doesn't leverage many digital features like embedded videos or interactive quizzes. As a "digital textbook," incorporating more interactive elements could further model effective online learning and increase engagement with the material itself.
• Troubleshooting Common Pedagogical Issues: While it covers technical etiquette and some engagement strategies, a section addressing common pedagogical pitfalls or unexpected student behaviors specific to conferencing tools (e.g., students disengaging, awkward silences, managing discussions with many participants, preventing "Zoom fatigue" beyond just session length) could be valuable.

The topics covered are indicative of the learning goals and they are very inclusive of the online conferencing environment that a teacher will encounter, making this a very effective tool:

1. Privacy and Security
2. General etiquette for conferencing tools
3. Theoretical frameworks and conferencing tools
4. Hosting virtual office hours
5. Fostering engagement in conferencing spaces
6. Lecturing using conferencing tools
7. Facilitating group work
8. Providing online meeting spaces for student groups: Guidelines and set-up
9. Assessment in Conferencing Spaces
10. Suggested activities using KPU's supported conferencing tools
11. Resources for using KPU's conferencing tools (How to's) which includes a variety of engaging materials including infographics, and videos under for example, the COI section - Link: KPU COL Resources section

This material is most suitable for the following stages in the learning process:

• Initial Learning/Introduction: For educators new to teaching with conferencing tools or those seeking to formalize their approach.
• Skill Development/Refinement: For experienced online educators looking to refine their practices, address specific challenges (like engagement or assessment), or explore new ways to use the tools.
• Reference/Just-in-Time Learning: Educators can refer to specific chapters when planning a new activity (e.g., group work ) or addressing a particular concern (e.g., privacy ).
• Professional Development Workshops: The content is structured well for facilitated group learning sessions.

The material aims to directly improve faculty's abilities to teach in online environments by providing best practices, strategies, and theoretical foundations. By improving faculty's teaching with these tools, it inherently creates better learning experiences for students, enhancing their ability to learn effectively through conferencing tools. For instance, better-facilitated group work or more engaging lectures directly benefits student learning.

Good learning assignments for using this material could be easily written. Examples include:

• Assignment: Design a new online lesson incorporating at least two strategies for fostering engagement from the guide, specifying which conferencing tool features you would use.
• Assignment: Analyze your current virtual office hours setup against the best practices outlined in the guide and propose three improvements.
• Assignment: Develop a privacy and security checklist for your online course using the guidelines provided in Chapter 1.
• Assignment: Choose one of the suggested activities (e.g., "Socratic dialogue" ) and create a detailed lesson plan for how you would implement it in your specific course, including learning outcomes and required conferencing features.

This guide is very effective for teaching and learning about online conferencing.

For educators seeking a broader theoretical foundation for diverse online learning scenarios, the omission of other relevant theories (e.g., constructivism beyond OCL, connectivism, cognitive load theory, self-regulation theory) might be a perceived limitation. This isn't a negative, per se, but an area where a more comprehensive pedagogical resource might expand.

The book is easy to navigate online with a Contents drop down arrow on the top navigation bar or once you have accessed the main body, the Next and Previous arrows can be used to move from page to page. Alternatively, the reader can enter a keyword in the Search box at the top right of the page. An arrow is provided at the bottom of each page to make it easy to jump back to the beginning of the page.

Plus the authors have provided links for How to's for each of the main tools presented in the book.

For those who prefer to read elsewhere, plenty of alternative download options are provided.

• Named Headings vs. Raw URLs: The table of contents uses clear, named headings for each section (e.g., "Privacy and Security", "General etiquette for conferencing tools"). 
• Consistency and Visual Distinction: The layout is highly consistent with clear chapter titles, subheadings, and distinct infographics. This consistency aids navigation and reduces cognitive load.

The usability of this online book is high.

This material is not designed for students. Its primary audience is educators. Therefore, its presentation style is tailored for professional development, using academic language and pedagogical concepts. While the content promotes attractive learning experiences for students through the use of conferencing tools, the guide itself is not likely to be attractive to a student.