Jul 14 2009
A Challenging Task, Discussions
So far, what has challenged me the most in this course is designing the learning activities for my course, Interviewing. Seeing that I have not taught previously (traditional or non-traditional) and only have experience as being a student, I have been having some trouble developing the learning activities. Designing the discussion topics has been the biggest struggle. From a student perspective, I have learned from my own experiences what I like best and least about discussion posts. Depending on the course and the topics presented to us, sometimes I learn a lot from them, while other times I don’t learn from them. I am visual and hands on learner. I get more out of applying information (well actually performing a task) than I do just reading. My mind tends to wonder. Keeping this in the back of my mind, I need to connect to all different types of learners as an instructor. I want to make my discussion posts meaningful and related to the content, but yet fun to learn.
One of Alex’s comments on my course design is to make sure that my discussion questions relate to the articles/textbook information. I have a few of my discussion posts done, but I am still have a few that I am having some trouble coming up with such as resumes and cover and thank you letters.
I am in the process of designing my rubric. I have created a few rubrics in the past for past courses so I am hoping to take some off the information off of them as well as come up with some new information. Creating a rubric will be extremely helpful when it comes to grading my students work. Having them done ahead of time will prevent a headache in the future. It will also allow my students to see what I will be looking for in a post or learning activity. I personally love when my instructors provide me with a rubric. Before I create the learning activity/assignment, I glance at the rubric to see what they are looking for. Once I complete the learning activity/assignment, I revert back to the rubric and make sure that my work falls under each category. From here, I at least have a sense of where I can expect my grade to be.
I am having fun designing my own course, but it is definitely a lot of work. Trying to design my course as well as complete the coursework is a bit challenging. I give developers and instructors a lot of credit. I didn’t realize how much work goes into designing a course from scratch. As this being the first course I have ever developed, I am learning and developing at the same time. Developing other courses will be easier as I will have had experience from this course.
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