Jen Boisvert’s Blog

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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After completing the learning activities for this module’s assignments, I really appreciated all of the work that goes into designing a course from scratch. I only had 9 modules, but it seemed like a lot more than that. Trying to get everything to tie into together was a bit of a struggle, but after awhile I got the hang of it. I still have some work to do with creating the discussion questions and learning activities. I have been thinking about them but can’t come up with a couple of them. I didn’t just want to throw anything down on paper, so I decided that I will brainstorm some more and come back to them. Once I start developing my modules in more detail, it will be easier to develop the discussion questions. I have an idea of what I want to do for the learning activities, but I want to consult with some friends and colleagues. Like any other instructor or course designer, I want to make sure that my activities and discussion questions allow for critical thinking, tie in the content, and engage the student.

A difficult challenge for me this module was creating the learning activity and participating in the discussion question. At first, I did understand either and finally a light went off. Viewing Alex’s examples were extremely helpful. But, participating in the discussion questions, developing my course, and viewing the content really gets me excited about becoming an educator. The more involved I get and the more I read about education, the more I am learning about myself and that education is my niche. I can remember a few years back not knowing what I wanted to do with my life. I was so nervous and stressed about not having a passion. Now that I found my passion, it is like an addiction. I love talking to colleagues who share the same interests as we connect on many levels. This course not only is challenging me, but it is allowing me to connect to past experiences as well as new experiences. I am able to connect an area of interest with my passion, working in higher education, being a course designer, and paving my way to becoming an instructor. Lately, I have been finding myself reading articles located on The Chronicle of Higher Education and E-Campus News. If you like higher education, these two resources are fantastic and they have a daily e-mail service that you can sign up for.

When viewing the Breeze Presentation on Keys to Success, I could really identify with the content that Alex provided. I found myself really pondering on some of the Lessons Learned. One in particular was number 5, about adding too much technology can take away from the course content. Sometimes we have to ask ourselves are we trying to show off and teach technology or are we teaching the student about content. At work while developing a simulation, this question constantly is being asked and thought of. Sometimes technology with all of the bells and whistles is not appropriate and it can cause students to drift away from what we really want them to obtain. We have to keep in mind when adding technology that not everyone is tech savy and that putting content in an application such as PowerPoint, movie file, or other forms can be overwhelming. Keeping it simple sometimes is the best solution. Depending on the content of the course and level of learner can depend on the technology that is incorporated into the course.

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The Three Principles of Effective Online Pedagogy was a great eye-opener for me. Not having a teaching background, it helped steer me in a direction. This is the first course that I have taken, that we have had to change the subject of the discussion posts. I think this is an excellent idea. It makes a student think and it is a lot easier to find a post. Reading through 20 or so posts a week can get confusing and at times overwhelming. I can’t tell you how many times in my other classes that I have started to read something and had to stop in my tracks. Trying to go back and find the post was a nightmare. Now, I can easily recall a previous discussion message. It is much easier to look at the title of something rather than click inside each discussion thread/post to find what you were looking for or to pick up where you left off. I love the idea that Pelz shares with instructors about spending 30-45 minutes a day reading their students discussion posts (Pelz, 2004). By doing this on a daily basis, it makes reading discussion posts manageable.

One area I am not too sure of is having students grade their own work or others. I am not sure how effective this is. I tend to be hard on myself, plus I don’t want my classmates/instructor to think that I am always giving myself high grades, so I tend to grade lower. I also have a hard time grading others as I always feel bad. Unfortunately, I always feel bad in a situation where I have to rate/critique others. Don’t get me wrong, I am not afraid to speak my mind sometimes. When I am anonymous, I tend to maybe critique a little more, but I still have that guilt feeling. I guess it is just my personality.

The other day I decided to “Google” Managing Discussion Posts for Instructors and I found a great article. The article is called Generating and Facilitating Engaging and Effective Online Discussions. I found the tips to be quite helpful. Some of the tips are the same that we read in different articles, but there were a few new things. I think I may include the questions that are under Words of Wisdom.

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