Mike O'Kane, Fall 2010

Instructors and students alike are learning that online courses must be carefully designed and structured, with clearly defined expectations and responsibilities.

This presentation reviews what students say about successful online courses, and offers simple procedures and best practices that can contribute to successful teaching and learning outcomes in online, hybrid, or traditional courses.

Your handout lists positive student comments from a number of online courses and

instructors..

What are the major themes in these comments?

A well-organized course structure

Clearly-worded and timely communications

You are no longer the "sage on the stage" but have become the "guide on the side"

You are now creating and maintaining a complete learning environment ..

.. that will be your students' primary source of information and learning resources

The organization, layout and content will tell your students what is important (or not), what is required (or not), and also whether or not you will provide the support they need.

Let the course site mirror the coursework so that students can find and understand material quickly and easily

Streamline information: less is more

Organize material for "just-in-time" needs

Maintain a consistent look and feel

▪ Standard fonts, font-sizes, colors throughout

▪ Big picture first, drill-down to details

▪ Try to keep to a "two-click" design

Course Information (syllabus, etc.)

Course Resources (general references, etc.)

Study Modules for each week, chapter, or topic.

Grade Book

Getting Help

Maintain a consistent module design▪ Learning outcomes

▪ Instructions to complete the module

▪ Links to reading, video and other study resources

▪ Links to discussion/interaction activities

▪ Links to assessments (quizzes, exercises, etc)

▪ Supplemental learning resources

Use short descriptions to introduce each course topic

Apply step-by-step instructions with links to reading material and activities to help students understand what to do

Avoid pasting lengthy text (for example articles) directly into your module pages or sections. Instead provide a short description and link to a document or Web site

Use a Supplemental Reading section to separate non-required material from required work

You want to give your students "everything" but too much material is confusing and overwhelming

Consider exactly what the student needs to know and do. This defines an effective learning space

Everything else is supplemental and should be separate

Calculate generously the time it takes to find, read, understand, and carry out each learning activity. Be sure this time is appropriate for the course (2 or 2.5 times the credit hours each week)

Ask others to review your course

Course should be available 8am, the first day of the semester, or a few days sooner

Student will assume that what they see when they first login is the entire course

Use placeholders for each exam, quiz, assignment, or item or learning content that is not yet available

They need to quickly "get on board," grasp the basic structure and understand what they are to do, all without your direct assistance.

A First Day Welcome announcement to get students oriented to the course

A "Getting Started" quiz (or similar) to provide an initial activity and record students as "in attendance".

Your contact information, and more about you

Syllabus, schedule, other course information

All learning activities and assessments

Gradebook listing ALL course assessments

Additional resources

What name do you prefer to be called by?

What is my email address?

When is the first assignment due?

What percentage of the grade is Exam 1?

Which of these constitutes plagiarism?

Have you read, and do you agree to, the course policies?

What is the policy for late submissions?

Anything you want to share as we start?

Create an "Ice Breaker" Forum in the Discussion Board

Invite students to introduce themselves and share a little about their major, etc.

Advise students not to give phone numbers, email address or other personal information

But note that some students are not comfortable being known to other students

Allows students to quickly see all required course activities at a glance, how they will be assessed. The grade book is a contract..

Students can view their grades and your feedback easily and at any time

Provides a complete electronic record that is easy to set up and manage

Easy to download at the end of semester as an Excel spreadsheet (use a unique file name, for example 2009fa-cis-115-o1-gradebook.xls)

Don't try to do everything all at once.

Keep it simple the first time

Less supplemental material

No Discussion Board unless this is essential

Add features each semester

Keep good notes as you learn from experience and have new ideas

Lots of video resources in the public domain

Be sure to acknowledge the source and have permission

Make your own videos to demonstrate procedures Create video lectures using Jing or Camtasia

Switch recording on and record your computer screen

Talk while showing a Powerpoint presentation or other computer application

The College has a streaming server to deliver your videos: instructionalsupport@abtech.edu

It takes time, care, and effort to design and develop an effective online course The first time you teach, 50% of the work may

occur BEFORE the start of the semester

Ask about release time the semester before a online course is first delivered

Ask your chairperson to allow you to teach the course over multiple semesters to leverage your effort and allow you to develop and fine-tune the course

Teaching online is more than 9 to 5, and less than 24 x 7 Decide your own schedule of engagement

▪ When will you check email (mornings, afternoons, evenings) on which days?

▪ When will you grade work, what is your turnaround?

Inform your students and your dept. chair

Negotiate your "on campus time"

Post "online times" on your door just as you would classroom course times.

First Week of class Announcements Email Discussion Board Gradebook and Assignment Feedback Synchronous (phone, chat, office..)

Set clear expectations: Best ways to contact you (email, phone, office..)

Subject lines for email messages (for example course ID, followed by topic)

How you prefer to addressed in email

Days/times you regularly check email

Your usual turnaround time for email responses

Days/times you regularly grade

Your usual turnaround time for grading

First course announcement should:

Welcome students to the course

Briefly introduce yourself and set the tone

Explain the overall site design

Tell students to review course information (syllabus, schedule, etc)

Direct students to first week activities (Getting Started Quiz, etc)

Request an email from each student?

Use large headings for each announcement

Post a weekly course announcements on a fixed day each week to let students know: When previous work has been graded Current work activities, due dates, and other

reminders Useful gotchas and topics, hints and suggestions

related to current work

Post additional announcements as needed

Use the student's preferred name Let students know If you have a preferred

salutation Be friendly but professional Don't overreact to "rudeness": many students

are used to texting brief messages with no salutation and little context..

..But do insist on more thoughtful and complete messages

Students are VERY sensitive to the tone of email messages

Without facial cues, it is easy to misinterpret written messages

Avoid clever jokes, especially irony or dry humor

Never use CAPS except for clear emphasis (easily read as shouting or insulting)

Do not send an email If you are having any kind of emotional reaction towards a student

Be careful what you say and how you say it All student/instructor communication is a

public record Keep all email correspondence. Create a

course folder in your mail box Keep to the facts. Be clear and concise. Copy

your chair when there is any sensitivity

No standard College policy A simple approach is timely submission of

assignments Attendance by the 10% mark: Completion of Getting Started quiz or other

activities.. Be sure students know this! Last date of attendance Last submission or meaningful activity

Your grade book will have submit dates

No Standard for 20% mark. Some options:

Due date of assignment when the cumulative weighting achieves first 20% of grade

Due date of assignment when 20% of all assignments have become due

20% of all days (24 x 7) between the start and end of the semester

No clear guidelines or expectations with regard to cheating

The honor system.. Use test banks and randomize tests Require students to come to campus for

exams (difficult for some students) When you suspect cheating be careful not to

accuse both students (one may not be aware)

Keep your message non-specific and send a separate email to each student (do not specify the other student):

I have clear evidence that your exam is identical to that of another student. I need to determine whether one of you copied from the other, or whether you worked together.

Please let me know if you were aware of this so that I can resolve the matter without contacting the Vice President of Student Services. If only one of you was responsible without the knowledge of the other, I need to know so that I can penalize only the guilty student.

Keep a folder with complete course ID:

2010fa-CIS-115-O1

Download grades, activity reports, etc.

Use the entire course ID in each file name:

▪ 2010fa-CIS-115-O1_GRADEBOOK.xlsx

Keep your email exchanges in an email folder with the courseID as the folder name

Create a folder for next semester and place notes there..