Jun 22 2009
A recap of the past 2 weeks in Module 2
The article “Do Online Students Dream of Electric Teachers” by Jason Scorza, made me think about the participating in the discussion board as a student and as an instructor. An online classroom environment doesn’t allow you to see an instructor or classmate’s non-verbal cues (Scorza, 2005). I have always wondered what their initial response (see their facial expressions) is when someone reads one of my post(s). In one of the discussion posts within this module, one of my classmates asks this same question. How can I tell if students are grasping this information or what their initial reaction to an assignment is? I have asked myself this question many times. Can I determine if they understand or are struggling with an assignment by the tone of their submission? Or, by how much time they are spending in the course? Would adding emotions to a post be helpful (like you can in Facebook or Instant Messenger) or conducting a survey (1-2 questions) at the end of each module be effective? All of these may send a signal, but how can I really determine if a student is connecting to the information?
The article by Alex, “A Series of Unfortunate Events and How to Avoid Them,” really put course design into perspective for me. There are a ton of factors that you need to keep in mind when designing a course. This holds true for traditional and non-traditional courses. You really have to “Assume Nothing” when you design a course (Pickett, 2008). Two areas that I want to focus on in great detail is making sure that the discussion questions are meaningful and creating a warm classroom environment. I have been in online classrooms where I felt like the only reason why we are participating in the discussion boards is to get a grade. The discussion questions did not allow for critical thinking and they didn’t have much to do with what we were learning. I barely took anything away from them and I think my classmates didn’t take anything away from them as well. When I design my discussion questions, my focus is to make students want to participate. Instead of just posting a question and having students respond, I am going to incorporate different activities such as case studies and having them look things up. The more a student can become engaged, the more they will participate in the discussion board. Lastly, I hope to create a learning environment that is warm and inviting. Once again, I have been in a classroom setting where I felt like I was out there all by myself. I did not like the way this felt and I don’t want my students to feel this way either. Seeing that I have been in their shoes, I know what they are going through. A positive, caring personality sets the tone for the course (I have to say Alex has done this in this course). I want my students to know that I am there. At work and in the classroom, I always try to think from a student perspective.
I have to say, I love the discussion questions that Alex came up with for this Module. The questions on the discussion board are questions that I have always thought about but never knew who to ask or how to go about getting an answer for them. Teaching doesn’t come with a manual or an answer key. I brainstorm a lot with my colleagues, but sometimes we have the same questions and no one to turn to for answers. In all of the graduate courses that I have taken, this is the first course that has actually allowed me to address some of the questions. In addition, these are questions that are practical and that I am faced with on a daily basis. It is nice to see that my classmates have some of the same questions that I have had. It is nice to be able to work with each other and explore different options.
Last week I ordered the textbook that I want to use in my course, “Interviewing: Principles and Practice” by Charles Stewart and William Cash. I decided to use an older edition as it would be cheaper for students. Textbooks can be expensive. I used this textbook, well an older edition, when I took a traditional class similar to what I want to design. This textbook has come in handy several times when I was going through the interviewing process.
So far in my course, I have created links to my Course Information. I decided to put it in Module 1 so students can easily find it. There are only a few links that I am still working on finishing up such as policies, syllabi, and the rubric under grading. As time progresses and I begin to develop my course more, I can then complete these documents.
I look forward to the next module and working on developing my course in more detail.
Pickett, A. (2006). A series of unfortunate online events and how to avoid them. Suny Learning Network. p. 1-12.
Scorza, J.A. (2005). Do online students dream of electric teachers? JALN. 9(2). p. 45-52.
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