Good Morning!
Today is the 50% completion deadline. I will be going into your courses this week to look for 50% completion of course development. I will also be looking for creative course development and interesting course design strategies. Please let me know if you have any concerns about meeting this deadline.
As you are developing your course, you might be wondering if you are meeting expectations of what your course should look like and should encompass. Please view the online course development rubric at the following web page:
http://www.csuchico.edu/celt/roi/
This rubric evaluates a course based on Learner Support, Organization, Instructional Design, Assessment, Innovative Teaching with Technology, and Faculty Use of Student Feedback. As you look through what is considered "Baseline", "Effective", and "Exemplary" in each of these categories compare the descriptions to what you have done with your course design. We are looking for your course to fall in the Exemplary category as much as possible!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
March 17, 2008
Happy St. Patricks Day!
Just a reminder that next Monday is the 50% completion date for your developments. I will be going into your courses at that time to check for completion as well as offer suggestions. Please remember to have at least one external link in every unit! It is important to provide students with additional web links that relate to the information they are learning in that particular unit.
Books 24 X 7:
Books 24 X 7 is the largest online book resource offering unobstructed access to the complete unabridged contents of thousands of the latest and best business and technology books. You can gain access to Books 24 X 7 by logging into Skillsoft and searching within Books 24 X 7. All of these books are free to our students and you can assign a reading from any of these books.
In order to search Skillsoft for any materials that are available you go to http://msbcollege.skillport.com. Your username will be the same as your e-mail name. For most employees it will be firstinitiallastname (i.e. jdoe). Your password will be your e-mail name as well (i.e. jdoe). Your username and password are the same. You can then search for a course by keyword at the top of the page.
Have a great week!
Amy
Just a reminder that next Monday is the 50% completion date for your developments. I will be going into your courses at that time to check for completion as well as offer suggestions. Please remember to have at least one external link in every unit! It is important to provide students with additional web links that relate to the information they are learning in that particular unit.
Books 24 X 7:
Books 24 X 7 is the largest online book resource offering unobstructed access to the complete unabridged contents of thousands of the latest and best business and technology books. You can gain access to Books 24 X 7 by logging into Skillsoft and searching within Books 24 X 7. All of these books are free to our students and you can assign a reading from any of these books.
In order to search Skillsoft for any materials that are available you go to http://msbcollege.skillport.com. Your username will be the same as your e-mail name. For most employees it will be firstinitiallastname (i.e. jdoe). Your password will be your e-mail name as well (i.e. jdoe). Your username and password are the same. You can then search for a course by keyword at the top of the page.
Have a great week!
Amy
Monday, March 10, 2008
March 10, 2008
Good Morning!
It looks like your developments are coming right along and all of you are working in creative and engaging assignments for your future online students! This past week I came across an article from Magna Publications titled "Student Moderators In Online Courses" and wanted to share this idea with you.
This article talks about the idea of having students within the class be assigned as discussion board moderators. The author of the article describes her approach and how it worked for her. She admits that having student moderators is not the best approach for every course and every subject matter, but shares some of the benefits as well as tips to make the approach easier to facilitate. Please read this article and determine if it would be a good approach to work into the course you are currently developing:
http://www.magnapubs.com/issues/magnapubs_ff/5_3/news/601248-1.html?s=FF&p=MFCFEZ
It looks like your developments are coming right along and all of you are working in creative and engaging assignments for your future online students! This past week I came across an article from Magna Publications titled "Student Moderators In Online Courses" and wanted to share this idea with you.
This article talks about the idea of having students within the class be assigned as discussion board moderators. The author of the article describes her approach and how it worked for her. She admits that having student moderators is not the best approach for every course and every subject matter, but shares some of the benefits as well as tips to make the approach easier to facilitate. Please read this article and determine if it would be a good approach to work into the course you are currently developing:
http://www.magnapubs.com/issues/magnapubs_ff/5_3/news/601248-1.html?s=FF&p=MFCFEZ
Monday, March 3, 2008
March 3, 2008
Good Morning Developers!
Today is the 25% completion date for most of you. I will be going into your courses this week to offer suggestions and check for 25% completion. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
It is important to not get stuck in a rut when it comes to developing assignments and activities for students in the online environment. It is easy for students to get bored in the online environment and it is the responsibility of the course designer to keep the course and assignments interesting and fun. There is no end to the different types of assignments that can be required of students in the online environment. Here are a few assignment options.
Art Projects Jigsaw
Journal Critiques Journaling
Podcasting Kinesthetics
Blogging KWL (Know/Want/Learn)
Case Briefs Lab Experiments
Case Studies & Case Based Instruction Learning Contracts
Concept Mapping Literature Review
Debate Oral Reports
Design Projects Peer Editing/Review
Discussion Question Activities Portfolios
Document Analysis Presentations
Drill and Practice Procedural Demonstration
Essays Q & A (student questions)
Fieldwork Quizzing
Fishbowl Reflections
Gaming Reviews
Group Debugging Role Playing
Group Problem Solving Scavenger Hunt
Group Reports Simulations
Hypothetical Situations Socratic Dialogue
Ice Breakers Webguest
Inductive Reasoning Wikis
Interviews
Visit this web page to learn more about each of these assignment options and see an example of how each of the above can be used in an online course: http://www.ion.illinois.edu/resources/otai/
Today is the 25% completion date for most of you. I will be going into your courses this week to offer suggestions and check for 25% completion. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
It is important to not get stuck in a rut when it comes to developing assignments and activities for students in the online environment. It is easy for students to get bored in the online environment and it is the responsibility of the course designer to keep the course and assignments interesting and fun. There is no end to the different types of assignments that can be required of students in the online environment. Here are a few assignment options.
Art Projects Jigsaw
Journal Critiques Journaling
Podcasting Kinesthetics
Blogging KWL (Know/Want/Learn)
Case Briefs Lab Experiments
Case Studies & Case Based Instruction Learning Contracts
Concept Mapping Literature Review
Debate Oral Reports
Design Projects Peer Editing/Review
Discussion Question Activities Portfolios
Document Analysis Presentations
Drill and Practice Procedural Demonstration
Essays Q & A (student questions)
Fieldwork Quizzing
Fishbowl Reflections
Gaming Reviews
Group Debugging Role Playing
Group Problem Solving Scavenger Hunt
Group Reports Simulations
Hypothetical Situations Socratic Dialogue
Ice Breakers Webguest
Inductive Reasoning Wikis
Interviews
Visit this web page to learn more about each of these assignment options and see an example of how each of the above can be used in an online course: http://www.ion.illinois.edu/resources/otai/
Monday, February 25, 2008
February 24, 2008
Good Morning Developers!
We have a small group of developers this round so you will be getting lots of personalized attention from me :-) Please don't hesistate to ask me any questions as you go through the process, that is what I am here for! Just a few reminders:
We have a small group of developers this round so you will be getting lots of personalized attention from me :-) Please don't hesistate to ask me any questions as you go through the process, that is what I am here for! Just a few reminders:
- The 25% completion date is March 3rd. Please let me know if you have any concerns about being able to meet this deadline.
- Thank you to Sherry Sonnenberg for the following tip: If you are trying to copy from a word document into Blackboard you might be having some difficulty. Try pasting the information from the word document into "notepad" and then copy from notepad and paste it into the online editor. It adds an extra step but may alleviated some of your frustrations!
- REMINDER: Please note that your documents should be saved in Word 2003 rather then Word 2007. Blackboard manages 2003 documents better then 2007 documents because of the new extension. We are looking to update Bb but in the meantime please save the files as 2003 for now. you are not sure how to do this please see this help document: http://students.msbcollege.edu/helpdesk/pdfs/save_in_2007.pdf
- REMINDER: Please make sure you are not using additional resources that have not been bundled with the textbook in order to develop your course. If the publisher has sent you additional items that go along with the book, before using them in your development please make sure that the students will be receiving these additional resources in addition to the textbook. Often times these additional resources come at an additional cost for the students.
Have a great week!
Amy
Monday, February 11, 2008
February 11, 2008
Good Morning Everyone!
Right now there are two sets of developers that I am currently working with.
Those developers who just completed your Spring 2008 developments, the peer advising feedback is rolling in and I am hoping to send all of the feedback to you by tomorrow. When you get this feedback please read through it carefully and let me know if there is anything that you disagree with. I am happy to go through the feedback with you and determine which points should/could be worked into your course(s) and which points could be considered for a later implementation or no implementation. This will be the last weekly blog e-mail notification you receive, but feel free to check back to the blog for continued online development information!
For those developers who are just getting started with the Summer, 2008 developments you are likely waiting for your textbooks to arrive. While you wait for your textbook please feel free to start looking around the internet for online resources that go along with the content for the course you are developing. Once you receive your textbook you can go ahead and jump right into the development of your new course. I you have any questions or run into any issues please contact me ASAP at aode@msbcollege.edu
As a reminder Online Classroom has released their February Issue Update. Topics in this issue are:
Right now there are two sets of developers that I am currently working with.
Those developers who just completed your Spring 2008 developments, the peer advising feedback is rolling in and I am hoping to send all of the feedback to you by tomorrow. When you get this feedback please read through it carefully and let me know if there is anything that you disagree with. I am happy to go through the feedback with you and determine which points should/could be worked into your course(s) and which points could be considered for a later implementation or no implementation. This will be the last weekly blog e-mail notification you receive, but feel free to check back to the blog for continued online development information!
For those developers who are just getting started with the Summer, 2008 developments you are likely waiting for your textbooks to arrive. While you wait for your textbook please feel free to start looking around the internet for online resources that go along with the content for the course you are developing. Once you receive your textbook you can go ahead and jump right into the development of your new course. I you have any questions or run into any issues please contact me ASAP at aode@msbcollege.edu
As a reminder Online Classroom has released their February Issue Update. Topics in this issue are:
- 11 Practice Priorities to Promote Empathy in Online Courses
- Tips from the Pros: 7 Indicators of Community
- Difference = Flavor: Embracing Cultural Diversity in Online Learning
- Online Teaching Fundamentals: What to Evaluate, Part 1
- Professors Online: The Best-Case Scenario for Discussion Group Success
- Online Teaching With Errol: Giving Positive Feedback Online Even When It's Negative
The Minnesota School of Business/Globe College has an institution subscription to this newsletter. If you would like to receive these articles every month follow these instructions:
Go to: www.magnapubs.com/licenses/subscribe.html
Enter your individual email address and password as well as the other required information. You will need to enter a Voucher Code and PIN number where prompted - I have e-mailed this information to you.
Have a great week!
Amy
Monday, February 4, 2008
February 4th, 2008
We have reached our 100% completion date for the Spring, 2008 development cycle, congratulations! Today I will be opening up your courses to the team of peer advisors and will be providing you with their feedback by this time next week.
- You still have access to your course so if there are items that you would like to adjust please feel free to do so.
- If there is something that you would like me to tell the team of peer advisors please let me know and I will make sure to get the information to them.
I will be submitting payroll for the new developments for the February 15th paycheck. If you do not see your development payment on that paycheck please let me know ASAP.
Last week I visited another Higher Education Institution in Texas and acted as the ACICS evaluator for their Distance Education program. It was an enjoyable experience and a wonderful learning opportunity. I learned that what we are currently doing in our courses matches what other institutions are also doing, so we are competitive in our industry. I also got ideas from looking through their courses that I would like to suggest for our course developments here at GU/MSB.
- It was a requirement in their courses to have a discussion board for every week. This ensured that there was a high level of student interaction
- Many of their tests were essay rather then multiple choice. Although it may be a bit more time consuming for the instructors to grade, it requires the students to really know the material in order to answer the questions. Essentially every online test is an "open book" test, so therefore essay questions allow for a true synthesis of the material.
Please post an opinion to the above suggestions if you have one. I am looking for feedback to the above ideas.
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