July 16, 2010

Hello developers!

Monday marks the 75% completion deadline, so I will be going into your courses to check things out and then providing each of you with feedback on your progress. Next week is also the time of the development cycle when I start seeking peer advisers to review newly developed courses; this is a great opportunity to receive valuable feedback from other online faculty and it provides a catalyst for making some finishing touches on your courses before they are officially complete. I'll be sending an email to all faculty about peer advising, so if you are interested in peer advising on another course that is currently being developed, just let me know! It is a great way to see what other developers are doing in their courses.

Speaking of what others are doing...don't be shy about adding comments to this blog if you have ideas, questions, thoughts, etc. about development - it might be a good way to bounce ideas off one another and generate some dialog among you as developers.

Moving on, this week I want to talk a little about assessments in our online courses. Hopefully all of you were able to attend the Online Regional In-service yesterday and listen to Dr. Ernst and Dr. Mitch discuss our Learner Outcome Assessment initiative. They delivered an excellent presentation and it got me thinking about ensuring quality assessments in our online courses - beyond the formal LOAPs for each program. So, as a developer, there a few simple things you can do that will go a long way to ensuring that the assessments in your courses are effective in assessing student learning:

• Clear, detailed instructions - Be sure to explain to students how to complete the assessment and include any necessary resources. For example, I just worked with an instructor yesterday on updating an assignment requiring students to create a "concept map" based on a course reading; in the instructions, we directed students to the Additional Resources where we posted several links with explanation and examples of concept maps as well as a tutorial on how to use the drawing feature in MS Word so students could create their own map. It may take a little extra effort on your part, but clear instructions are crucial to a student's success on an assignment.....in the online world, student may be hesitant to ask questions and, if they do, they may need to wait for an instructor's response via email...so the less question marks, the better!


• Specific expectations - Be sure to tell students exactly what you expect from an assignment....this might include concrete expectations such as page length requirement, number of resources use, font size/type, time limit on tests, etc; or, expectations may be in reference to the more abstract components of an assignment: level of analysis, types of examples, whether to define or describe, etc. Regardless, it's very important to explicitly state what you expect a student to demonstrate through their submission of a particular assessment. In my time as DOF, I can easily tell you that most of the student concerns about scores or final grades could have been avoided if expectations had been more clearly laid out for the student in advance.


• Rubrics - Amy has blogged about rubrics in the past, but I think it's a good time to talk about them again. I want to strongly encourage you to create a rubric for any assignment you develop - rubrics are a great tool for students, as it helps them clearly see what is expected of them (see #2 above), but they are also an equally valuable tool for faculty...with a rubric, faculty are more likely to grade consistently and evaluate student learning more accurately. Below are a number of links with information about rubrics and resources for easily creating your own...please take a look! Also, if you would like my assistance, I'll be glad to help create rubrics for your course - just let me know!
  


• http://www.rcampus.com/indexrubric.cfm


• http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php


• http://www.rcampus.com/indexrubric.cfm
  

I hope some of this will be helpful as you work toward the completion of your developments over the next month. As always, please contact me with any questions or concerns!

Kelly

June 25, 2010

Happy Friday developers!

I hope you've had a great week...I'm sure it's been a bit hectic for all of you as the quarter comes to an end and many of you are busy correcting final exams and calculating final course grades. I'm sure you're all looking forward to the long break....maybe you're planning to use this time to really dive into the development of your course. :-)

Just a reminder that the 50% completion point for your developments is Monday. So, next week I'll be reviewing each of your course shells in Blackboard and providing you with feedback on your progress. I can't wait to see what you've done! Please let me know if there is anything specific about your course shell that you'd like me to look at and offer my feedback/assistance/input, etc.

At this point in the development cycle, you should have a pretty good idea of where you want to go with this course - if the 25% completion date was the "bare bones" version of the course, consider this point as "getting some meat" on those bones. :-) Bad metaphor? Sorry! In any case, if you're looking for some creative inspiration to spice up the course content you're designing, one of our online faculty forwarded me a link to a great ebook last week: Web Tools Applied to Teaching. Ok, so the title may not be all that catchy, but this book is short (20 pages) and easy to skim through until something catches your eye....plus, each chapter ends with a great bulleted list of how that particular web tool could be applied to teaching.

Even if you only have 5-10 minutes, I encourage you to take a look at this book...the content is straight-forward and useful - plus, there are tools that the author discusses that you may not have heard of before....and it just may spark the creativity you're looking for at this point in your development.

Have a great weekend everyone! I look forward to touching base with each of you next week.

Kelly

June 16, 2010

Hi Everyone!

I hope you're having a good week and that your developments are moving along well. It was good to connect with each of you last week regarding the progress in your courses - I'm looking forward to seeing more as the development cycle continues.

I'm going to keep my post pretty brief this week because I ran across an interesting article that I want to encourage you to read - it's in the MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching and talks about students' online experiences with virtual teams. Click here to access the article - a case study that discusses both student and faculty experiences with a term-long virtual team project facilitated in the Blackboard platform. I encourage you to read the article, making note of the challenges and benefits of virtual teams that are discussed. As a developer, consider how the information presented may help you design and implement effective team projects in your course - projects that are successful learning experiences not only for students, but also for future instructors of the course you're developing.

Again, please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions as you continue working on your developments! Enjoy the rest of your week!

Kelly

June 4, 2010

Hello Developers & Happy Friday!

I hope you have all had a great week and are making some progress on your developments. Please note that Monday, June 7, marks the 25% completion date for this round of online development. At that time I will be going into your courses to see how things are coming along. I realize that all developers work a little differently, so I will mainly be checking the course shells to see that you have made some progress on your development….if you are concerned about your progress at this time, please let me know. Or, if you have done work, but have yet to put anything in the course shell, please share that with me, as well. After I take a peek at your course, I will be following up with you individually to offer my feedback and assistance.

Now, moving on to my token of “development inspiration” for this week :-) ….Back in March of 2009, Amy blogged about a research study that found students who listened to a podcast while going through PowerPoint lecture notes scored significantly higher on a test than students who sat through the same the lecture in the traditional lecture format.

All of you should be posting some form of supplemental resources for the course readings – whether it is publisher created content that matches the textbook (i.e. PowerPoints) or original content created by you (i.e. notes, outlines) designed as an added element for delivering the course readings/material for a particular unit. That said, we know that students respond well to audio and visual resources, so I encourage you to go a step further with the lecture notes or PowerPoints you use by considering ways to also incorporate a podcast or an audio-visual supplement whenever possible.

You can create your own podcast and post it in the unit content (if you need assistance with this, just let me know!) or you can create a script for a PowerPoint and send it to me and I’ll be glad to do the recording for you.

Otherwise, the web has some great resources for recorded lectures that you can link to your course – a couple to try are:
iTunes University: http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/whats-on.html
Learn Out Loud: http://www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Audio-Video

Enjoy! I look forward to connecting with each of you next week with feedback on you developments.

Have a great weekend,
Kelly

May 27, 2010

Hello Developers!

I hope you’re having a great week. It’s been a hot one here in Minnesota….definitely makes me feel like summer is on the way!

A quick reminder: The 25% completion date is coming up one week from Memorial Day Monday, so hopefully you have all had a chance to review your course syllabus and textbook, access your Blackboard shells, and peruse any online resources that are available via the publisher…all of these elements will help you formulate a development plan for your course.

Over the next week, as you begin creating the various course assessments for your new development, consider how you can design assignments and projects that not only engage students in the content, but also engage them with one another. Here are few ideas:

• Discussion Board Leaders – Back in September, Amy Ode blogged about having students take on the role of “facilitator” in the discussion boards….I encourage you to try this if you’re developing an upper-level course. Using this approach, instructors assign each student to be a “facilitator” for a particular unit’s discussion (depending on the number of students in the class, a unit would likely have multiple student facilitators). As facilitator, students would be responsible for taking on a leadership role during their assigned unit’s discussion: asking probing questions, sharing supplementary resources, encouraging critical thought, clarifying points of confusion, etc. If you’re interested in trying this in your course, let me know and I can offer some specific examples of how it’s been implemented in other courses.
• Group/Team Projects – Does your new development have are particular course objective(s) that might be effectively met by completion of a group project? Considering there are limited career paths where our graduates won’t be required to interact as a team in their workplace, it is important that students experience teamwork during their educational career. I know what you’re thinking….how can a team project really work online? Trust me, it can! Blackboard has a Team Project area where the instructor can create groups so students have a space to discuss topics and share files. Thus, we don’t need to worry about the logistics of how teams will communicate with one another….we just need to work together to make sure the project is purposeful and well-designed. So, if you have an idea for a possible group/team element to your course – or you would like to include one, but aren’t sure how to get started – please contact me! I would love to help you formulate a workable group project for your course.
• Peer Review – If your course includes a large writing or research project that students work on over several weeks or units of the course, you may want to consider implementing a Peer Review component that allows students to exchange feedback with their classmates on their projects. Not only does this technique allow students to connect with one another outside the unit discussion boards, it is also a great way for them to offer support and generate ideas that can improve the quality of their final product. Peer Review does not need to be a complicated element within the course (we have successfully implemented it in many of our writing courses), but rather, can be a simple way to increase student interaction while simultaneously strengthening their writing and critical thinking skills. Again, please contact me if you would like some assistance implementing something like this into your course!

That’s it for this week….my goal here is to offer inspiration for designing courses that are engaging and interactive for students. Hopefully these suggestions spark an idea!

Enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend! And please contact me if I can be of any assistance as you get your new developments off the ground….

Kelly

May 19, 2010

Hello Developers!

This week marks the start of our new course development cycle; all of you are beginning the development of courses for Fall Quarter, 2010.

Speaking of new….allow me to introduce myself to those of you who may not know me: I am Kelly Schmidt, and I’ll be taking over as Manager of Online Course Development as Heather transitions back into teaching and technology training. While I am taking the lead on this new development cycle, Heather will continue working in development through the end of June, so please feel free to contact either of us if you have any questions or concerns.

I want to thank all of you for your willingness to work on these new courses and for the effort you put into your developments. As course developers, great online courses start with you! The course you design will be used by any instructor who teaches the class online...in fact, most online faculty take the master course content and run with it as is – making minimal, if any, additions or enhancements of their own. Therefore, we rely on you – our developers – to create courses that are engaging, organized, and rigorous to ensure our instructors have a good foundation for teaching the content and, more importantly, to ensure our students have a quality online learning experience. (All this pressure, I know…and it’s only the first week of the cycle – some of you may not have even cracked the course textbook yet!)

That being said, my job is to offer assistance, support, and motivation as you develop your courses. As the cycle progresses, I will be blogging more about various resources and enhancements that you might find useful in your developments. A big focus of mine during this development cycle will be on helping you create a strong connection in your courses with the GEN Online Library – both with Elaine Settergren, our stellar Online Librarian, and with the numerous resources the online library website offers for students and faculty. Look for more on that in the weeks to come…

A few final notes as you get started:

• Your 12-unit shells have been created and you should have access to them in Blackboard.
• If you have developed courses for GEN in the past, you are likely familiar with the Online Course Development Checklist as well as the Peer Advising survey. If you are a first-timer, please take a look at these documents, as they will help guide your development from the perspective of what we want to see as the final course development.
• The 25% completion date is June 7, 2010. I look forward to seeing the start of your developments at that time! However, in the meantime, please feel free to keep me updated on any progress you make or contact me with any questions that arise.

I look forward to working with all of you on these new developments. Have a great week everyone!

Kelly

May 5, 2010

Good Afternoon Developers!

This is the last weekly blog for this round of development. All developments must be 100% complete by Monday, May 10, as this is when the peer advisers go into the courses to provide feedback. I have heard from most of you already that your 12-week shells are 100% complete. If I have heard from you I have copied your course to its 10-week shell for you to work the course conversion in by Monday also. If you don't have access to your 10-week shell yet, please send me an e-mail as soon as you are finished with your 12-week development so that I can go in and check it and then create the 10-week shell for you. Once again, both the 12-week and 10-week shells should be 100% complete by Monday morning.

Thank you for all of your hard work this quarter in your developments, your dedication to our students makes a huge difference!! I am particularly pleased with the added audio elements you have made available to our students in this development round, great work!

I have enjoyed working with all of you this quarter and I know Kelly Schmidt looks forward to the opportunity to work with on developments in the future.

If you have any questions please let me know.

Thanks again and have a great rest of the week!

Heather