organizaton of the week, a structured approach

Posted on November 7, 2012 by hackerm

I want to share something that I have used in the past to help myself and students be on the same page with what is expected and why. I teach business students that generally appreciate structure.  organization of the first week

Maybe as students and instructors gain more experiences, such a structured approach will not be necessary.  As a less experienced blended course instructor, I find the structure helps me organize my approach (design) and delivery.  As I am better organized, it helps my students too.  Having a structured format for what is going to happen each week, it helps me with the mix map too.  If I first know what my desired outcomes are, I  can design what is going to be learned online then applied in the classroom.

The key to me is having clear outcomes that I design to, and being very clear with my students what they are to accomplish before class time.  This puts real pressure on me as the instructor to design the f2f time to really require that the online portion of the class was accomplished.  If I don’t do this, students quickly learn that they can just show up without having done the online portion without consequence.   It seems like this expectation can drive accountability, similar to our natural expectations with graduate students.

 

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EXSS 444 Redesign

Posted on November 6, 2012 by driversi

EXSS 444 Adapted Physical Activity is part of the Exercise & Sport Science (EXSS) Program Undergraduate curriculum. The course provides an overview of cognitive, neuromuscular, sensory and orthopedic impairments as well as information on best practices for the design and implementation of physical activity programs for individuals with disabilities.

One section of EXSS 444 is offered every term, including the summer. Enrollment is typically between 40-45 students (higher enrollment in the Fall and Winter terms, lower in Spring and Summer) and largely consists of seniors.

Our redesign will include offering the course once a week (instead of twice) with the remaining class being offered online.

I’ve inserted a link to the course mix-map so you can visualize the proposed set-up. hybrid-mix-map 444

Basically – the majority of the content will be presented online with guest speakers, small group discussions, and practical activities taking place during the f2f meetings. All assessments (quizzes, tests) will be completed online and assignments will be submitted electronically through Bb and graded with interactive rubrics.

Each weekly online module will include content and 3 integrated discussion boards so students will have an opportunity to interact in small groups (6-7 students) on a specific topic after reviewing a case study, watching a video, etc. In addition to the modules students will have access to an audio podcast (placed on iTunes U) to review the material in a different format which are accompanied with traditional PPT notes. Our goal is to present students who have different learning styles with ways to successfully engage in the material.

I’m working on the re-design with two colleagues so JK and Megan – please include information on things I may have missed.

 

 

Posted in Hybrid Course Content, Hybrid Course Delivery, Hybrid Course Design, Integrating Online & On-Campus Learning | 2 Comments

Hybrid Education Course Content

Posted on November 4, 2012 by adamste

The hybrid course that I am currently developing is TCE 424, “Teacher as a Reflective Practitioner,” for winter term, 2013.  It is the final seminar for our full-time student teachers(soon to be early childhood or elementary school teachers) that accompanies their full-time student teaching in the public schools around the state of Oregon.  It is the only course the students take during this final term of their senior year.  The enrollment varies, but, is normally between 20-30, and, each student is working to obtain their teaching degree/license upon the completion of this final term.  Students are focused and highly motivated to reflect upon best practices that they themselves are learning while teaching, as well as what they are observing in the field.  We will all meet face to face every other week, with online assignments being turned in during the alternating weeks through Blackboard, which every student can access.  We will use class meetings for various guests(Career Services, Licensure representatives, Panel of Elementary School Principals, Panel of New Teachers, , School District Human Resource Representatives) and a field trip to the local Multi-Cultural Center to meet with a panel of parents.  We also discuss educational topics of concern and new ideas, as well as having student-led discussions on various assigned readings.  These students collaborated together during the prior term, during their part-time student teaching practicum, course work, and, are creating their second “Work Sample;” the first having been created during their part-time experience.  Each week, a section of the work sample is due and turned in online, which I will score with a rubric.  Also, at two times during the term, peers review each other’s work sample assignments and give written feedback on those assignments.  In addition, a piece of the Senior Capstone is due approximately every other week.  These papers(which include a resume, cover letter, professional learning goals, educational philosophy statement, reflective teaching essay) are discussed in class, and, the final copies turned in online and then scored.  Additional assignments may include attendance at various teacher job fairs, a principal interview(or questions for the panel attending the face to face class), review and sharing of classroom management theories and individual meetings with the teacher.  These student teachers are also formally observed at least six times throughout the term by their cooperating teacher and university supervisor, which observation forms are turned in at the completion of the term.  We plan to have most of the final drafts of assignments turned in online, but, with initial drafts, questions and concerns discussed during class.  As well, topics of interest or need are announced online, so that students come to class prepared to discuss and review these topics.

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Dialogue

Posted on October 16, 2012 by adamste

From the pitfall reading,”Many online courses assume a two-way dialogue between each student and the instructor, and they forget about the ways in which students learn from each other’s mistakes, ideas, and input. Consider creating wiki spaces in which groups of students can work together. Include assignments that require students to share ideas and resources, present topics to each other, and critique each other’s work. Use online communication tools and collaborative spaces to foster a class-wide web of supportive contact rather than settling into multiple parallel channels between you and each student. ”
Our biggest successes in the classroom, and, online are those where the students are actively constructing and fully engaging in the work ie peer reviewing of assignments, helping each other with teaching ideas, brainstorming various classroom management ideas, discussing upcoming seminars, job fairs(even carpooling links), etc… This is what we hope we can then transmit on to the classrooms where our OSU students will be future teachers. To simulate what we hope are best practices, I think, is the best way to continue the life-long learning process. I would definitely like to learn more about the “wiki” process, as this work, to date, has been accomplished primarily through the Discussion Board.

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New skills required for hybrid instructors

Posted on October 14, 2012 by hackerm

If the in-class portion of a hybrid course is about small group exercises and synthesis of the online portion of the courses, then new skills are required for the instructor. it is relatively easy to be the sage on the stage. We’ve been well trained for this role and seen it in practices most of our academic career. It seems that we are learning and discussing the technology required to be successful with the online portion of the course. I’m wondering if there is more that we should be doing, discussing, and learning about the in-class portion of the class. There must be best practices based upon research about facilitating small groups in a classroom setting. Can someone post this type of info– best practices in terms of size, internal student team processes, reporting out best practices, grading/scoring best practices, etc?

Posted in Hybrid Course Delivery, Uncategorized | Tagged | 6 Comments

Pitfalls and confusion

Posted on October 14, 2012 by macdonam

#2: Let the course management system drive your thinking.

In my experience- there are pros and cons to “standardized” designs.  The standardized designs, driven by the template, create consistency across sites.  Even finding my way to this blog was more difficult than I thought it would be.  Although the instructions were clear I feel that it might be easier to directly access the blog through Blackboard.  So, how   do we be creative without confusion?

On another note- how do we create accessible designs for student who have a disability (ie/ visual impairments)?  Are there ways to break a site down and make a more linear model for students who may find this more user friendly?

 

 

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pitfalls

Posted on October 14, 2012 by driversi

In my experience students need a conceptual map to how the course is laid out and what the expectations are each week. By having too many different “activities” that are not logically laid out e.g., step one, step two, step 3 etc then there is often confusion. i’ve found weekly organizer boxes help with this (e.g., all requirements for week 1 are in one individual folder). I’ve also found that students get confused when you have discussion boards built into a learning module that you are expecting them to comment on in ADDITION to having a blog outside of Bb that people are expected to post on. Also, by discussing the online content in small groups after they have completed an online module really helps to foster discussion on the content rather than just having them move through it independently. Thanks for posting the article – it was informative.

Posted in Hybrid Course Content, Hybrid Course Delivery, Hybrid Course Design | 1 Comment

Pitfalls of Online Course Development

Posted on October 12, 2012 by rolstoni

After reading the 5 pitfalls, I realized that I have made most of these in the past and most likely would have continued to do so. Posting readings, discussion questions, assignments, quizzes, exams, PP slides…all of this I have done many times. But I never really thought about casting off the classroom constraints and embracing a much more liberating format that online offers. For example, after considering something that could take place online that may not work in the classroom, I thought about having students post photos that they take themselves and do an analysis of what others have posted as well. Upload a visual (photo) of nature. What message is transmitted when comparing the photos? Are there any humans in these photos? Why/why not?

Approaching the topic of the Nature -Culture dichotomy in this fashion is something that I wouldn’t necessarily do in class, though I have had students draw a picture of a park to see how they interpret that concept. I’ve decided that I really need to re-think how I’ve utilized Bb in my courses in the past and what kinds of communication tools can be used in this format. I need to stretch my imagination in order to come up with some new activities that students can perform as part of their learning process.

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Thinking about course content.

Posted on October 12, 2012 by Scott Peterson

My Web-Enhanced class has been going for three weeks now. One of the main things I have noticed is that since the students are leading the way we are getting much more feedback from the students about how they are (or are not) understanding the material. This has really given me reason to look more critically at the ordering of the content and how the order may help or hinder students’ understanding of the material. I have already decided that for next quarter we will start with different content. I believe that will make the first week run smoother for both me and the students AND will improve the  accessible of much of the material that will come later.
I really doubt that these issues would have been noticed or thought about in a purely lecture course where the instructor is doing the leading!

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New York Times article

Posted on October 12, 2012 by marksa

Hi all,

I thought this was an interesting Op Ed, “Long Live Paper” piece on the debate currently on about paper textbooks and digital learning environments.  I wrote a book titled Writing for Visual Thinkers that was first published as an ebook and then the publisher came back and decided to publish it as a regular textbook. We are really in a very transitional learning period, but it is also pretty exciting.

 

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