Monday, April 30, 2012


Suggestions for Personalizing the online course:

Introduction at beginning of the class – I think this is very important.  It’s good to be creative, but not too creative. We want students to be able to reveal as much about themselves as they wish but not feel pressure.

In the beginning we should make clear that the course is NOT open entry, open access and there are due dates. if some post far ahead of time community is lost. The only solution is to not make the material available, and I have done that.  It’s easier with the late posters because colleges usually allow the teachers to take off points. 

Teachers should reply to posts in the Introduction. Don’t wait. Do it!

There should be a Cyber Café for posts outside the course content. Sometimes there are “chatty” classes and the Cyber Café is very active, but sometimes nobody posts. When you teach you will be surprised at how different classes can be. Once I taught the same class to two very similar groups demographically at the same time. There was a big difference in the “feel” of the class.  

While we might find comics and other graphics are very appropriate for onlines class we must be careful in using copyrighted material. I use sites like http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/ for public domain images. There are public domain comic sites also http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/  and you can make your own http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/  The words to search for are Public Domain and Open Access.

Fostering diversity: If students do NOT know what their classmates look like will they be more willing to respect their views? Some students have told me that they take online courses because they will be judged by the quality of their work, not by how they look. Maybe put pictures in at the END of the class?

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Videos in the online class



USING VIDEOS FROM YOUTUBE AND OTHER SITES IN AN ONLINE CLASS

Not all students will have the capacity to view video. Remember that some students use the computers at work on their lunch time or after work, and these sites often block YouTube and similar sites. If students use the campus computing center, then they may need ear phones if there is sound.

You definitely should have a good virus protection software on your machine. Most institutions have a virus protection program on the site, but I still have my own.

However, there are high quality videos on the Net. Suggestions if you are going to use them:
  • ·         Clear directions on use and how to begin the video.
  • ·         Videos are better for demonstrations than lectures.
  • ·         Long videos, unless they are professionally produced, can be a distraction. I know when I have to watch an online video I multi-task.
  • ·         Need for video from a reputable source.
  • ·         Absence of ads is a plus.
  • ·         Must enhance the class, not just be for “glitz.”
  • ·         Sometimes animations can convey the concepts better than a lecture.
  • ·         Teachers should be cautious about developing their own videos. Unless you have the help of a professional Instructional Technologist, videos can be very boring, especially videos of lectures. You cannot video a class that shows the students’ faces unless you have their release. I think if you are going to tape your lectures that audio only may be a better solution because students can listen as they do other things. One teacher in a previous class told me that a student listened as she pushed a baby carriage.
  • ·         If you are not going to use videos from a site like YouTube you may caution students to download RealPlayer, Flash and QuickTime. Always provide an alternate so that students who cannot access the video can learn the content.
Blogs and Discussion Boards  


We want to use the right tool for an application, and it is important to know when to use a blog and when the discussion board is better. Blogs are usually “owned” by one person or organization, and other people read or comment on their work. There tend to not be a lot of replies, and seldom do you see a reply to a reply. That is different from a discussion board, where many people are commenting at the same time.
Personally, I find blog replies hard to follow. There is one post, and then under it are all the replies, and I think the replies to replies get lost. 

In a discussion board there is a topic, and then I can look at the replies and see all the replies to the initial reply. 

I do like blogs for personal journals, especially if involve only two people – student and teacher. That I can easily follow. However, this version of Blackboard is not set up well to handle student-teacher blogs. You CAN set up a separate group for EACH student in the class, with only the student and you in the group. Also, there is no notification of new material in the blog unless you have selected the subscribe option.

Below, I have devised a table giving my view on the differences between blogs, discussions and podcasts.

Blogs can be used for:

  • 1.      Keeping you up to date on latest trends in your field. Often books are out of date when they are printed. I teach a course on Copyright. The law is changing constantly. I subscribe (using the RSS feed) to three blogs to get the latest information.
  • 2.      Individual blogs for personal reflection. It’s not in this version of Blackboard now, but is in the newer version. I would hope that the blogs are internal to the class and the distribution to the class can be controlled by the teacher. We may want a blog/Journal to be seen by only the student and teacher, or we may want the blog to be seen by the whole class.
  • 3.      Reading blogs by others, especially patients, to get their perspective of the health care system. A teacher of pediatric nursing found blogs written by parents of children in care. She felt that these blogs gave her students a different perspective on pediatric care.
  • 4.      Discuss with students the validity of blog information as a way to discuss information on the Internet in general. Can the source be trusted? Should blog posts be used in scholarly writing? Students think if the information is on the Internet then it must be true.
  • 5.      Extra credit opportunities for finding and sharing blog sites important for topics in the class, or student reviews of blogs.
  • 6.      A blog written by you, the teacher, which the students subscribe to. Your posts will go into their email accounts. You could use that to send messages and personal musings to the students.
Metaphor:
Blog = journal
Podcast= radio program
Discussion Board = discussion
Useful For:
Blog
Discussion Board
Podcast
Professional development outside the class group
Yes
Only if you post references
Yes
Outside of class listening
No, unless you attach files to a post
No, unless you attach files
Yes
Learning of the feelings of others outside the class
Yes
Students can learn from classmates but not others
Yes
Students can “subscribe” for updates
Yes
Yes, if you set it up
Yes

Useful as a PERSONAL journal
Yes
Not really. Most discussions are seen by the entire class
Not really, unless the students are technically proficient and can record their voice
Evaluation of information on the Net
Yes
Yes
Yes