In regards to Pitfall #5: “Ignore the ways students learn from each other”. In my experience including assignments that require students to work in groups and  share ideas and resources, and present on their topics is a great way to encourage a collaborative learning environment. 

 It seems that the collaborative capability inherent in wikis leads to multiple instructional applications that would encourage such learning. Wikis can be used to disseminate information, provide instruction, and promote collaboration among students. I have never personally used Wikis in my online courses but look forward to learning more about it and  will definitely use it as a classroom assignment for my new hybrid course.

mehra

 

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I may be lost…

Wow – my first time ever blogging and I feel like I am typing into a black hole, not knowing where the words are going to end up and who will see them.  Even with the detailed instructions provided to us, I had trouble finding the buttons, there was not a clean match between the written description of where to look and what I was seeing, and through it all I have no inkling of where I am at in any hierarchical organization of the blackboard site.  I apologize for the mini-rant, but is this an inescapable result of using blackboard or would there be a more straightforward way of setting up such a blog for our own hybrid courses?  (I am willing to entertain the notion that I am an “old fogey” and that our students will actually find this incredibly easy to navigate, but I am honestly worried about the time I would need troubleshooting just helping students through what I am experiencing.)

OK – despite not knowing if this will make the light of day, let me weigh in with a more particular substantive comment.  I am having difficulty sorting out the “operational” difference between a blog and a discussion board.  Both are asynchronous in nature (i.e., it is not a “live” chat or real time back and forth texting) allowing for posting a comment and responding to previously posted comments.  Are blogs by definition public, while discussion boards are by definition open to a specific set of “subscribers.”?  If this is the key distinction (and again, I may be completely off base) then for a course, there would be very few times I would choose blog over discussion board – it would be like putting a live streaming webcam in your face-to-face classroom.

Well, I will look forward to finding out more, and feel free to take me to task on my naivete!

 

 

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Facilitating Meaningful Discussion in an Online Setting

As we begin to design our blended courses, I am focused on how to create a meaningful environment for discussions between students in the course. Discussions and debates are central to the in-person version of my technology course, yet they are notoriously difficult to recreate in an online environment, particularly with the constraints that Blackboard places on discussions.

One of the major drawbacks of online discussion is the need for asynchronous discussion, which is opposite of the immediate feedback students receive in a face to face discussion. I am considering addressing this issue by making discussions between small groups of students in the class, rather than the typical “post and respond to x-number of others” model. Having one student in charge of a 2-3 person discussion might afford better opportunities for specific feedback and meaningful discussion.

This is something I’ll continue to wrestle with throughout the term, and look forward to seeing how others handle discussions.

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Request for Hybrid Course Proposals – Deadline extended to Feb. 6, 2013

Instructors who teach large-enrollment Bacc Core Courses are encouraged to submit proposals to participate in the Spring 2013 Hybrid Faculty Learning Community.

Access the Request for Proposals for the Hybrid Course Development Pilot Program.

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Find out more about hybrids . . .

Thinking about teaching a hybrid course?  Wondering how to link online and classroom learning to engage students?  Interested in the latest innovations in online and blended learning?

Head over to the OSU Center for Teaching and Learning’s Hybrid Course Initiative web page.  You’ll find short videos of faculty describing their approaches to teaching hybrid courses, info about funding available through the Hybrid Course Development Pilot Program, samples of blended course syllabi, and links to key resources on effective practices in hybrid course design and delivery.  Check it out!

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Me too, EXSS 444

I am the follower of the follower, but learn about the program.  Simon and Megan introduced well and I don’t have much to add here.

However, I want to share a few of my thought about the successful class.

  1. We need to make sure students are not underestimating the intensity of Hybrid class.  It is important to set clear expectation.
  2. We need to develop strategies to make sure students’ reading assignment and study content materials.   I felt we spend too much time on how to deliver the content knowledge.  As Mazur said in order to have meaningful discussion students should have appropriate information prior to participate in discussion.
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Additional Information for EXSS 444

Hi All,

Simon has done an excellent job summarizing EXSS 444 (see his blog post below). Simon has also been the expert in our group. One unique aspect of our hybrid course is that we also offer a “lab” component. We’ve significantly reduced class meeting time for lecture (by 50%). However, all of our students participate in the IMPACT program http://health.oregonstate.edu/IMPACT.

This redesign has also allowed us to help each other out but redesigning modules that fall within our particular research and interest areas.

Thanks,
Megan

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Anth 481 in a Nutshell, let’s say “pecan”

Natural Resources and Community Values represents a Bacc Core course that meets the requirements for Science, Technology, and Society. For the first time, it will be offered as hybrid or blended learning course. Currently, the course enrollment is capped at 25 students. Expected student population be students from multiple disciplines. This course is designed to provide a historical view of global resource management from various environmental anthropologist.

Our class meetings will be held on Monday evenings from 4-5:20. During these times, there will be a variety of activities that will take place, including group discussions, hands-on projects, film showings and analysis, and presentations. The first meeting will provide the student’s with a map of the course, and instructions on how to navigate in the online portal for the course.

Online content will include short “lectures,” various interactive content areas, such as discussion boards, collaborative spaces, reading assignments and reflections, posting of non-written products, and instructions on conducting “fieldwork,” which will culminate into a final sustainability project presentation.

Assessment activities will take place online and during class meetings to be sure that students are processing the reading materials and incorporating what they have learned with what they are creating. Quizzes, short answer questions, in-class writings, online reflections and posted discussions will all be used as way to check that learning outcomes are being met and to gauge whether students are fully engaged with the content for the course.

In the end, the ideal is that this course be very rewarding for students by providing varied ways of learning, both in and outside of the formal classroom.

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TCE 424 The Reflective Practitioner

TCE 424, The Reflective Practitioner, will become a hybrid course this winter term 2013. This course is offered winter and spring term and has anywhere from 15-25 students.  All the students are working towards earning their teaching license at the middle school or high school level.  Students will be working on endorsements in any of the following:  Social Studies, Language Arts, Family and Consumer Sciences, Health, Math or Science.

This class will meet every other week from 4-6:50 rather than every week.  Most students are commuting from areas outside of Corvallis and this will reduce their time spent on the road as well give them more time in the classroom.  The  plan is to create the online portion of this class an  integrated and essential part of the course that flows seamlessly with our face to face meetings. Time spent online will be used to submit required documents that demonstrate best teaching practices and reflecting on “What is good teaching?” in discussion boards.

In the Face to Face sessions,  students will be having small and large group discussions about issues that arise in the student teaching experience and reflecting on how teachers can reach and motivate all students to learn. We will also be hearing from guest speakers in areas of interest to the students as they learn to be teachers and look for jobs. Almost all students will be graduating at the end of the term, and time will be spent discussing how to articulate and demonstrate their teaching experience and characteristics that will help them find that first job.

The online portion of this class will also include group discussion about reflective practice. Students will be leading discussions of their choice on issues that are influencing their teaching and their job search experience. Students will be posting their work for peer review and turning in documents required to demonstrate their teaching practices.

How do we make this online and face to face course seamless? Discussion from our online reflections will be brought into our face to face meetings for further review. Peer review done online will be discussed in class for further clarification and discussion.  Guest speakers for the face to face portion may come from online discussion ideas. Websites and resources from the face to face portion will be shared online for more in depth learning. Some students are more interested in some areas than others and they will have the opportunity to take their research and reflection to a deeper level in the online portion of this course.

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History of Graphic Design

I will be teaching  GD369, History of Graphic Design in the winter term. The course is comprised of 21 Graphic Design majors at the junior level. The course has been taught in the past as a lecture course on campus and also as an ecourse, but never as a hybrid course. This course examines the history of Graphic Design from the turn of the 20th century through today and students are expected to learn and be inspired about the history through a combination of reading, watching films, visiting Websites, working on papers and projects and discussing the material online and in class. I am working on revising what I call the course “Survival Toolkit”. The revisions I am working on are adding the weekly in-class activities that will occur. My students are very visual and writing this out in a Word Document would not have the same impact as creating a quick overview as a PDF. The first day of class I will go over how the image grids work in class (I developed 6 to 8 of these per week) and then I will upload this to Bb in case students have questions. I also plan on bringing up the Bb site week 1 (in class) to navigate through it with the students. I think it is important to insert some humor into courses when we can, as a student’s life is stressful and bringing in a bit of humor when appropriate helps ease the stress. I have also attached one of my weekly feedback PDF’s on the student’s discussion board answers. We will now be able to continue the Bb discussion in class once a week for 20-30 minutes and I still plan on writing up my observations each week and posting it on Bb, so the students can quietly read this and think about it. As many of you may have observed, students really like routines and I found they look forward to a synopsis from me each week on their discussion board. My saying this in class is good, but having it written down so they can read and reflect on it is also something I feel is important.

image grids

Course Elements

 

Course Elements

Week 3_Discussion Board Comments

 

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