Start of the semester!

Tomorrow will be the first day of the Fall 2010 semester! As my own children have been preparing to return to grade school, I have been preparing my class for my next group of students. Because the Fall session will be longer than the sessions offered in Summer, I want to take advantage of the extra five weeks provided to help my students succeed. As mentioned throughout the summer on the blog, Elluminate will be a tool that I will use, as soon as the semester is started and I get to know my students.

Just as in face to face classes, it seems that each class has its own personality. Some are more independent than others and some need more support. In the past the personality of the class quickly appears in the first week's introduction discussions and others will be made more clear one the first assignment is due (especially now that it is pretty early due to the Census date requirement).

These are just a few of the ways I gain an idea of the students I will work with in a semester-- What are ways you gain an insight of your classes at the beginning of the semester?

End of class reminder

Well, like many, the next weekend will be spent reviewing final submissions and closing the class. As I prepare, there are a few actions I take:

1. I send a reminder email (and post a message to the homepage) of the final due date and a statement that the class will close on Sunday at 11:59 pm (mst).
2. I give students a brief explanation of what they can expect as far as final grade. I know as a student it was frustrating waiting for the final message of what had been earned. I also tell students they will be given a certain amount of time (usually 24-48 hours) to inform me of issues before it will be submitted.

What are final ways you communicate with your students?

Dionne

Hope to see you at the fall conference

Have you got the news: Just released-- 2010 CCCOnline Faculty Conference Constructing Quality: Expand your Toolbox now open for registration!

No....I haven't been asked to post an advertisement about the conference, but I wanted to pass on my opinion. Every year that I have attended the fall conference, I have taken away valuable insights on instruction, on the platform we were using and on the various duties we have to perform (grading, leading discussions, using portfolios, etc). As I am to post ideas of "what works for me," I would have to report that attending the fall conference is in the "top ten"! This year, I am looking forward to exploring more of D2L (rubrics and grading) and learning more about exciting ways we can use different web-based technologies to communicate with our students.

What have you learned at the conference in the past? What are you looking forward to this year?

posting in multiple places

I have found that posting information in different places in the classroom is important when trying to get students to understand and be able to retrieve information. I post information on the homepage- checking on the box which indicates which date it has been posted to the homepage (found on the page the message is created). This date has become important in the past when a student reports not being informed of a deadline or such. I also send emails to students and post in the discussion area (if it is related to the unit I post in that unit thread, or I have a separate link for handouts and links and questions ). I typically post the information on different days and reword just a little differently. I have students who will check discussions and not the home page, or check the home page and not all the discussions (even though it is "highly suggested" to do in the syllabus :) ) Posting in numerous places has decreased the amount of questions and statements of "Oops! I missed the date" from students while at the same time communicates to students that I do want them to succeed (I am not trying to trick them with fine print information found "somewhere" in the syllabus.)

Allowing time...

Just responding to a comment posted about the learning curve for technology has prompted a thought...that is how we set students up with a "safe" learning experience in a short amount of time. In other words, what help do we provide students so that they can experience success as part of the class.

Part of the way I do this, as shared earlier, is by creating study guides, being active in the discussion and ...new this summer to me...using Elluminate! This allows me to show students how to access the different parts of the classroom and allows me to provide a live interactive classroom for students. If a student cannot make the session- no problem! A recorded link is available. Over the past semester, I have been able to eliminate some of the questions I have had in the past in units- because I was able to address in these live sessions. I am now preparing to host a session to help students as they plan for a final report (that will take the rest of the semester to complete). I will be sure to post how this helps!

getting a picture of understanding

Over the last few semesters, I have started to use the tools offered in D2L to really consider the experience of the students. In this post, I am specifically talking about assessments. After a unit closes (or even during if I know that students have completed the quiz), I go to the quiz tab, click on the "stats" button and determine where my students scored. The graphs displayed give a quick picture of the class. To me, this is especially important in unit 1 as students are just learning to use the system and what the "online" test can be about. I individually contact these students to make sure that they know they can have the book open, that the study guide provided by me for each unit should be used to guide their readings and to make sure they are comfortable with the environment.

How do you support your students with assessment?

Taking a minute to introduce myself!

I have been teaching for CCCOnline for about six years now- wow! has time gone by quick. In that time teaching, I have used the different platforms available and have gone up the learning curve a lot quicker than I thought I would have. I think that the experience that I bring to instructing online comes from the fact that classes taken for my graduate degrees were partially online. I bring to my classroom what I appreciated and try to keep methods that were frustrating to me to a minimum (understanding that all of us get frustrated by different things).

As I post over the next semester, I will share some of my views. I hope that you will post your experiences as well, as it relates, as I anticipate learning more about who I am or who I could be as an instructor as well.

You may comment on this blog directly in response to the post or in the "CCCOnline Community" course in D2L in the "CCCOnline Blogs" discussion --Blog address- http://2voiceccco.blogspot.com/

Hope to see you soon
Dionne