December 14, 2009

Good Morning,

I ran across a great website that I think would be a great tool to use in online courses. It is called Google Living Stories. This website provides users with an easy way to track the developments of a news topic. It is an experiment for now, but it tracks the top news stories and presents the news in one easy to find location. Click Here for a 2 minute video on how this tool works.

I hope you are able to work this into your developments, I think your students will enjoy the tool.

Have a great week!

Amy

November 30, 2009

Good Morning Developers,

I hope that everyone had a nice Thanksgiving weekend! Please remember that for most of you the 25% completion point is on Monday of next week (one week from today). If you have concerns about meeting this cut off point please let me know.

Brian James is the Network Director of Instructional Technology for GEN. He conducts many Lunch and Learns that are very relevant to online development. He has given me permission to post the links to past Lunch and Learns that directly relate to the work that you do. Thanks Brian!

Please take some time to look through the below webinar links as I think they will spark many great ideas for your developments. When you click on the links they may take a few minutes to load. Depending on your browser it might work best to right click on them and open them in a new window or tab.

Lunch and Learn: Twitter

Hybrid 101

Hybrid Questions and Answers

Blackboard Basics

Efolio

Social Media in Education

November 23, 2009

Hello Developers!

As you all know, you first develop the courses in a 12 unit format and then I will copy the course into a 10 unit shell and you will need to convert the content to be delivered in 10 weeks instead of 12 weeks. I have put together several trainings that go over how to combine this information. Please view each of the Jing presentations below to learn more about how to convert your course to a 10 unit layout. I hope you find these trainings useful and helpful!

You will not need to do this until after your 12 week course is developed, but there are quite a few videos so I wanted to give you some time to look through them.

How to combine the introductions for the Unit Folders in a course conversion

How to combine reading assignments in a 10 week conversion

How to combine discussion boards in a 10 week conversion

How to combine assignments in a 10 week conversion

How to combine external web links in a 10 week conversion

How to change a quiz/test name in a 10 week conversion Part A

How to change a quiz/test name in a 10 week conversion Part B

How to rename items in unit folders during a 10 week conversion Part A

How to rename items in unit folders during a 10 week conversion Part B

Remember you will need to change your course calendar to a 10 unit layout as well – here is a training on how to make sure the total in your course calendar matches the total in the grade center

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Amy

November 16, 2009

Hello Developers,


Today I have quite a few links to share with you! I hope these links will provide you with a great deal of information:

• Ebooks 101: This is a link to a recorded training from the in-service. It is a 45 minute session that tells you all about the Ebooks that are available through the GEN library. There are a ton of hidden gems in the library - check it out! Thanks Elaine for sharing this with us!


• Learning Through Play: This is a link to a recorded training from the in-service. It is a 45 minute session that talks about how to use play to increase student learning. Great tips for having fun with your course design! Thanks Heather for sharing this with us!


• Blackboard Grade Center: This is a link to a recorded training from the in-service. It is a 45 minute session that gives you a ton of tips and tricks about the grade center. If you are uncomfortable working in the grade center this training is well worth your time. Thanks Kelly for sharing this with us!


• Two New Skillsoft Resources: This is a 4 minute Jing training. We have signed a new contract with SkillSoft and it now includes TWO new pieces: The Leadership Channel (Leadership Videos by high profile speakers) and The Business Exploration Series (Management/leadership Interactive Simulations). See how to access each area in the 4 minute training. Please USE these videos and simulations for your developments.


• Cramberry Flash Cards: This is a short training done by Heather Thomton-Stockman on how to create flash cards using cramberry. It is a great way to familiarize yourself with this tool as well as using flashcards on the internet in general. Here is a link to other flash card sites

Have a great week!

Amy

November 9, 2009

Hello Everyone,



For those of you that are completing your developments, the peer review process starts today. Here is a link to the questions that the peer advisors answer when they go through your courses. If there is something that you would like to have them look at specifically in your course please let me know and I will pass the information onto them! Thank you to all of you for your hard work this quarter!

There are also those of you that are just beginning your developments for the Spring 2010 roll out (crazy that we are thinking of spring when it is only November!). Please go through the blog and familiarize yourself with all of the great resources that are available here for you.


Additionally, for both groups of developers I wanted to give you a few resources today that would be helpful to you no matter where you are at in the development process:


Here is a training on how a GEN course looks when it is completed This is a 5 minute "walk through" example of an introduction level course and how the announcements, readings, assignments, discussion boards, external links and exams are identified.

Here is a training on how to determine if the course calendar matches up with the grade center I often give the feedback that the course calendar doesn't exactly match the total in the grade center. If you are unsure of what I mean by this feedback please see this 2 minute "walk through" example.

Here is a link to the Top 100 Tools for Learning in 2009. This list is compiled by the Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies and is well worth the look!


Have a great week!


Amy

November 2, 2009

Hello Everyone,

As many of you know we have subscriptions to a couple of Magna Publications including Online Learning. I have referenced Online Learning in several blog posts and have heard from many of you that you have gotten great ideas from this publication.

Magna Publications also publishes a free e-newsletter called Faculty Focus. This publication has a lot of great information about online learning and provides great insight into many topics that concern faculty in Higher Education.

Recently, Faculty Focus published an article about using self check exercises in online courses. This is a great article about the importance of these self check exercises and how they can improve learning in online learners. Here are a few highlights of the article:

What are self check exercises?

They are problems (with answers) given to learners that allow them to assess how they are doing on an ongoing basis

Why are they helpful?

Studies show that these types of activities help learners keep tabs on their progress and adjust their efforts, know when to seek help, and stay on track

Where does a course designer begin?

Are there concepts that learners consistently have problems understanding? Are there terms that learners need to memorize or concepts that they need to understand? These might be the best places to start.

If you are able to work self checks into the courses you are designing your students will only benefit from them!

I also wanted to make you aware of a few changes that are happening to the course standardization requirements.

• Test Set-Up: Tests should be set up as one question at a time with backtracking enabled. This set up allows for the least amount of student issues.
• Extra Credit: Extra Credit should not be in any course. Extra credit can diminish the rigor of our courses, as well as contribute to grade inflation.

Please let me know if you have any questions on these.

Have a great week!

Amy

October 26, 2009

Hello Everyone,

As we near the end of development I would like to draw your attention back to the Online Course Development checklist.

Please be sure to go through this checklist thoroughly with each of your developments to ensure that they are complete. If you finish your development early please be sure to let me know!

I would also like to remind you of several Jing trainings that are available to you. These are very helpful and well worth the time to watch them!

Smarthinking.com Tour

Skillsoft Tour

Student Guide on How To Use Elluminate Live

Instructor Guide on How to Make Elluminate Live Sessions

Have a great Halloween Week!

Amy

October 19, 2009

Good Morning Developers,

Today I will be going into your courses to check for 75% completion. Please let me know if you have any concerns about this.

During your development you might be looking for some fun activities for your students to do in your course that are different ways of demonstrating their knowledge. Today I am going to highlight a few different online tools that you could work into your courses to provide your students with some fun and interesting ways to learn the course material:

Witty Comics.com: On this website students can make a comic to demonstrate their knowledge. This can be a great way to make an assignment fun!

Classtools.net: Classtools.net allows you to create free educational games, activities and diagrams in a Flash. There are a bunch of different templates you can chose from. Here is a link to a video on how to use this tool

You could have your students create a game as an assignment and then share their games with the rest of the class.

Glogster.com: This is a multimedia collage building website that allows you to set up an educational site for your students. It is a wonderfully interactive tool to use as a student project.

Weebly: Weebly is perfect for creating classroom websites, student e-portfolios, and websites for assigned projects. Your students could work individually, in groups, or as an entire class to create a web site on a particular topic. This video will answer all of your questions about Weebly

Amy

October 12, 2009

Good Morning Developers,

Please note that next week I will be going into your courses and checking for 75% completion.

In the recent past I have done blog posts on making sure to utilize all of the wonderful resources in the online library in your courses. However, I have noticed that many times we simply give students the link of where to go in the library. I would like to suggest that we list out how to find the assignment rather than just give the link.

The resource should be listed in APA format with instructions on how to find it in the library so that students get used to using the library. By having to search out the information for themselves they will become more comfortable with the tools and will hopefully feel confident doing their own research in the future. Here is an example of how you could list a resource in the online library:

Read the following article from the online library on Software Development Outsourcing. Outsourcing of software development is a widely used approach to contain costs by contracting with a 3rd party, generally outside the country, to develop custom software. Money can be saved but there are pitfalls, as you will learn.


Conchuir, E., Ågerfalk, P., Olsson, H., & Fitzgerald, B. (2009, August). Global Software Development: Where are the Benefits?. Communications of the ACM, 52(8), 127-131. DOI: 10.1145/1536616.1536648.


Here's how you find the article:


1. Click on the library link in red to the left.
2. Click on Online library.
3. Hover your mouse over "resources"
4. Click on Databases A-G.
5. Click on Business Source Premier.
6. Search for the title of the article in quotation marks.

October 5th, 2009

Good Morning Developers,

I have done quite a few blog posts on the benefits of having your students do blogs. Although, grading the work that students do online can be difficult, as this is new territory for a lot of instructors. Here is a link to a rubric for grading student blogs. If you require your students to do a blog post or create a blog please take a look at this example rubric for grading purposes. You could include a sample rubric in your course for future instructors to use when grading the blogs or you could simply include the link in your course for future instructors to have access to.



Have a great week!



Amy

September 28, 2009

Hello Developers,

I hope you all had a good weekend - I think autumn has finally hit Minnesota! The wind is really blowing the leaves off the trees and it is starting to feel like apple crisp weather.

Today finds us at the 50% completion mark for winter 2010 developments. I will be going into your courses this week to check for your progress, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

I would like to spend some time today talking about discussion boards. It is a requirement at GU/MSB that every unit has a discussion board. The reason we do this is because it is important in the online environment that the students feel as though they are part of a community of learners. It has been proven to increase retention and student satisfaction.

As a whole I think we have done a great job of creating engaging and thought provoking discussion questions. However, I would like to challenge your discussion board writing just a bit further. I came across an article from the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education (ascilite) titled Developing Online Discussion Forums As Student Centered Peer E-Learning Environments. This article proposes the idea of student lead discussion boards. It is an article that I think is well worth the read!

The idea is that the traditional discussion boards involve an instructor proposing a question and then facilitating the responses. This article asks the question, “What if the students propose the discussion board questions and facilitate the responses?” In the traditional approach the responsibility is on the faculty member to be exclusively involved in the discussion question. If the students propose the discussion board questions and facilitate the responses the students will be taking a more active role in their learning process.

This is not to say that the instructor can’t be involved in the discussion (and definitely should be) but if it is the responsibility of the students to facilitate the discussion boards then the students need to become an advanced expert on a particular topic and can become engrossed in the learning environment on a whole different level.

I view this approach working particularly well in upper level courses (300 and 400 level) and encourage you to give it a try if you are developing an upper level course. Keep in mind that if you are concerned about giving this a try you could propose it as a group project or could add an additional discussion board to each unit using this format. Then there would be one traditional discussion board and one additional discussion board that is student led.

If you have experience in this type of discussion board facilitation please feel free to leave a comment and let us know how it went for you!

Have a great week!

Amy

September 21, 2009

Good Morning,

So often we expect students to search for things on the Internet that will assist them in their education. My belief is that many students think that they are effective at searching on the Internet, but are not as effective as they could be. Please see some of the resources listed below to increase Internet search effectiveness. Giving students access to these tools will make them much more effective at their research:

Google Search Shortcuts: Here are the top Google Shortcuts that any savvy Googler should have under his or her belt.

Alexa.com: Free web traffic metrics, top sites lists, site demographics, hot urls, and more

Power Search Tool: The Power Search Tool enables you to search the Internet more effectively and easily. It will help you find websites, different types of files, beautiful images, all sorts of videos, documents and pretty much anything you want.

Teaching Search In The Classroom Webinar: Earlier this month Google hosted a webinar on teaching web search techniques. If you weren't able to participate in the webinar, you can now watch the whole webinar in this video of the event. It is 54 minutes in length.

Web Search Strategies In Plain English: 3 minute video from Common Craft

Please remember that the 50% completion mark is one week away. Let me know if you have any concerns with meeting this completion point.

Have a great week!

Amy

September 14, 2009

Good Morning Developers,

Today I would like to introduce you to a website titled Teacher Training Videos.com

This site contains many video tutorials on how to use various pieces of technology. Some of the videos include:

• Twitter in Depth
• Wikis with PB Works
• Easy Podcasting
• How to User Blogger
• Text to Speech Tools
• Any Many More!!

Please go to this site and check out all of the fantastic tools and resources available. You may find that you lose track of time searching around all of the videos on this web site. Enjoy!

September 8, 2009

Hello Developers,

I hope everyone had a nice relaxing Labor Day weekend! This is the week where your courses are to be at 25% completion. I will be going into your courses this week and providing you with feedback. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about meeting this deadline.

This week I would like to spend some time on Copyright. Many people understand copyright regulations in the residential classroom but become confused when considering copyright regulations in the online classroom. I would like to direct you to Know Your Copyrights. This is a website that was put together for librarians so they would have more information about copyright regulations. Part Two of the document that is posted to this site discusses Uses in the Online Classroom.

I will not go over this document exactly because I believe the information in this document stands for itself, however after reading this document you might still have a few questions:

In this document it is mentioned that many copyrighted works are accessed through a campus license that overrides copyright rules.

As a developer you may use power points, tests, and study sheets that are given to you from the publisher of a book when the book is to be used for the course. Because students purchase the book when they use it for GU/MSB courses we can use all resources that are developed to be used in accordance with the textbook. If the book is changed we must remove the old materials and replace them with new materials. We cannot continue to use materials from a textbook that is no longer being used by our institution.

Additionally, we have a large online library for your use as developers. Please note that we would rather have students access these library articles through the library rather than having you copy and paste the articles into the course itself. You may post the instructions on how to access the article, but please do not post the article itself within the course.

This also applies for Skillsoft readings that students need to complete. Students should access the readings through the Skillsoft site. Students can learn how to access the Skillsoft site through the FAQ portion of the student GU/MSB web page.

When developing courses for GU/MSB the term External Links is used a lot - isn't this a copyright violation?

In every unit we like to have what we call an "external link" posted. An external link is a web link where students can go in order to look up more information on a topic that is being discussed that week. In order to make sure we follow copyright rules we need to make sure the external link opens in a new window and is labeled appropriately. We cannot have the external link open up within Blackboard because then the web address is not displayed. If a web page opens up within Blackboard it can appear that we as an institution are taking credit for what appears on that web page. Please see the "how to" document on how to create an external link to learn how to have these links open in a new window.

I like to post student example of work in the course so that students know what I am expecting from an assignment - is this ok?

Yes, this is a great idea! However, remember that you must obtain permission from the student before doing so. It is a good idea to post underneath the assignment that you have obtained permission from the student in order to post the students work.

Have a great week!

August 31, 2009

Good Morning Developers!

Can you believe that it is September tomorrow - wow, did the summer fly by fast! Your 25% completion deadline is approaching fast - next Monday I will be going into your courses to check for 25% completion. Please let me know if you have any concerns about meeting this deadline.

This week I came across a video titled Social Media Revolution – This 4 minute video does a fantastic job of telling the story that social media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. It is well worth the watch! Here is the website where this video came from.



After watching this video I couldn’t help but feel proud of the work that we are doing in our online division at GU/MSB.

One of the statistics in the video stated that a 2009 US Department of Education study revealed that on average, online students out performed those receiving face-to-face instruction. This statement impacted me greatly. For many years those who work in online education as a whole have been striving to overcome the stigma that it cannot rival face to face instruction. Although I still believe that there are certain topics that are best learned through a residential environment, this study shows all of us that online education can in fact be just as good as face to face instruction for many topics.

As online developers we are directly impacting the 1 in 6 higher education students who are enrolled in online education and are responsible for them performing just as well as those students who learn in a traditional brick and mortar classroom. This is an awesome responsibility and I believe that thus far we have lived up to the challenge!

The work that we are doing is cutting edge, impactful, and highly motivated by the changing face of communication and education. Congratulations for being so closely involved in a changing world! Don’t be afraid to work these social media avenues into your developments – your students will love being able to use them in a classroom environment!

August 24, 2009

In the past I have talked about using Jing to record your screencasts for your students, but if you want to use something that allows you to embed your screencast videos into Blackboard then Screenr might just be the tool for you! Below I have embedded the video I created using Screenr. Click Here to see a screen cast on how to create an external link in Blackboard:

You do not need to register in order to use Screenr, but if you want to save your recordings you do need a Twitter account. Screenr uses your Twitter ID to save your recording and publish it to Twitter, however please note that you can opt not to publish to Twitter. The recordings you make using Screenr can then be published to Blackboard. You do not need to publish to Twitter in order to import your videos to Blackboard.

In order to publish to Blackboard you will want to select “Don’t tweet this screencast. I will tweet it through Twitter manually”. Then select to Publish your recording. This takes a few minutes depending on how large your video is (you are limited to 5 minutes). Once you have published your video it gives you the HTML code for the video on the right side of the screen. You will want to highlight that HTML code and copy it and then paste the HTML code into an item in Blackboard.

Click Here to see a video demonstrating how to embed HTML code into an item in Blackboard

Have fun with this new tool!

Thanks,

Amy

August 17, 2009

Good Morning Developers,

Welcome to the newest round of developments! We are now working on course developments that we would like to have ready for Winter Quarter, 2010.

Several of you who are developing courses for this cycle have already developed courses in the past and there are several of you who are developing courses for the first time. I would like to use this first blog post of this cycle to direct your attention to some of the key things to keep in mind during the development of an online course.

As you begin your development it is important to look at what the expectations are. It may be valuable to take a close look at the Online Course Development Checklist as well as the Peer Advising survey before you begin your development. These are the things we will be looking for from a completed course development.

You may also want to consider the many tools that are available to help you as you develop your course:

• The Online Library
• Skillsoft
• Audio Lectures
• Learning Objects
• Online Classroom Newsletter

The 25% completion date is September 7th, 2009. I look forward to hearing your ideas and seeing the start of your developments!

Have a great week!

Amy

Peer Advising Survey

1. Do you feel that the content in the course is written at the appropriate level?
2. Is the course split into manageable segments?
3. Are visual and auditory stimuli used to motivate students?
4. Are appropriate supplementary resources made available as part of the course content?
5. Does the use of technology enable critical reflection and analysis of content?
6. Do the assignments/activities that require the use of technology clearly explain how technology is to be used by the students
7. Do you believe the instructional strategies employed in the course cause students to be effectively engaged with course content
8. Do you believe that the expectations defining or explaining required levels of student participation are clear
9. Do you believe there is a deliberate attempt to create a learning community through the following methods: Discussions, E-mail, Chat Rooms, Videoconferencing, Group Projects, or other collaborative activities
10. Do you believe the assessments/assignments in the course are aligned with the stated objectives/learning outcomes

August 10, 2009

Hello Developers,

Today is the 100% completion date for all Fall Quarter, 2009 developments.


Today the peer advisors will be going into the courses and completing a feedback sheet. This feedback sheet will give you the information you need to complete your development. Once you have worked in the necessary feedback I will copy your 12 week master course into a 10 week master course and you can complete your development by converting your course to the 10 unit lay out (some of you have done the 10 week conversion already, and if this is the case then please work feedback into both master shells).

Thank you for all of your hard work this quarter, the courses are of high quality and I look forward to getting the feedback from the peer advisers!

I wanted to leave you with a wonderful website on educational blogging. The Support Blogging wiki has been set up to provide an opportunity for students, teachers, administrators, parents, and others to help promote an understanding of the benefits of educational blogging.

There is a list of hundreds of educational blogs, a list of great web resources on educational blogging, and a community of people to contact with any questions you have about blogging.

Even if you don’t want to start your own blog, there is a wealth of information on this site for how to encourage blogging in your classrooms or even just hundreds of blogs that give you information and resources on education as a trade.

Have fun playing with this wiki!

August 3, 2009

Hello Developers,

This is the last week of development for this round. I will be opening up your courses to the peer advisers next Monday. Please let me know when you complete your developments this week so I can offer suggestions and check them off as the week goes along. Remember to check the Online Course Development Checklist to make sure you caught everything in your development.
Here is a great reminder of overall things to look for in your developments. Click on the link to hear the audio of this information, otherwise you can read my summary below.

10 Ways in 10 minutes to engage online learners:

1. Primacy: People remember the first thing they see/hear. It is critical to cover the learning goals and manage their expectations right from the start. The learning objectives (link) will do this.


2. Visuals: 60% of people would prefer to receive information visually. Include graphs, cartoons, etc. Not Just Text.


3. Sound: Sound can be a perfect way to provoke memory as well as to create an environment


4. Movement: In an e-learning environment this can be difficult but consider asking students to enter in yes or no answers that you are not even tracking. Just typing in a response helps learners internalize the information.


5. Use Emotion: Take a situation or case study and add emotion to it.


6. Teach to a Context: Answer the question “Why do we have to learn this?” Make sure that the online learner knows the answer to this question.


7. Build a Sense of Community: Have students work together


8. Use Humor: Use free cartoons that are available on the web


9. Engaging: Don’t “Dummy Down” the course. Make sure the material is engaging and challenging enough for the learner.


10. Recency: People remember the last thing that they hear/see. Make sure to review at the end of each unit what the student has learned.

Hello Developers,


We are now nearing the end of the development cycle. Remember, that all new developments must be 100 percent complete by August 10th. At that time I will open up the course to the peer advisors.


I have created a 2 page checklist for you to go through once you complete your developments to make sure all of the requirements are met. I have e-mailed this check list to you as well as posted it to this blog. Please look through this closely and check your course for all of the items on the checklist.


Once you have worked in the feedback from the peer advisors you will then be ready to convert your course to a 10 unit structure.

Are you running out of creative assignment/discussion board ideas?

Have your students make a set of online flashcards and then share their flashcards with other students in the course! This is a great way to incorporate collaborative learning in an online course. Each student can take a chapter or concept and make a set of 15 – 20 flashcards. They can then share their flashcards with other students in the course and they suddenly have a great studying resources that they can all use!

Here are some websites where students can create online flashcards:

Quizlet
Study Stack: At this one students can even create flashcards, crossword puzzles, matching games, word searches, and other classic study games
Knowtes
Cramberry: This is probably the easiest one to allow the sharing of flashcards

Have a great week!

Amy

July 23, 2009

Hello Developers!

I am going to do an extra post this week for fun :-)

In the past I have spent quite a bit of time talking about wiki's here and here.

One resource that was not mentioned in those posts was a YouTube Video that is quite good. This YouTube link offers a strong video demonstration of what Wikis are and how Wikis can be used effectively for a group project.

Wiki's are a great tool to have students use for a group project. Each of the groups can create a Wiki to work together through. They can use the communication tools under the team project link in Blackboard to get the Wiki started and to work on the project as a whole as well. Below are links to three different Wiki locations for you to create your group Wiki.

It would be good to introduce this type of project in Unit 1 and then by the end of Unit 2, have them communicate with their group members and have one group member form the group Wiki. You will want to have them include the instructor in the group Wiki and e-mail the instructor with the group Wiki location and information.

PBwiki.com
Wetpaint.com
Wikispaces.com

Have fun with the new technology available to online education!

Amy

July 20, 2009

Good Morning Developers,

Today is the 75% check point for brand new developments. I will be going into your courses this week and will e-mail you with feedback.

This week I want to introduce you to a tool called Animoto. Animoto is a Web 2.0 tool that allows us to make amazing videos to the beat of music. It does all the work of timing and "popping" the pictures to the tune for us. It is being found that when students study by creating Animotos, their comprehension skyrockets as they thoughtfully choose pictures, songs, and text to best represent their vocabulary word or concept.

In online education I can see this as being a very fun discussion board topic. You could have students pick a vocabulary word or concept for the week and create an Animoto based on that vocab word or concept. To see an example I created an Animoto using the concept “Happy Birthday”

Here is a Jing training on Animoto

I think this Jing training does a fantastic job of showcasing the step by step instructions of how to set up a video!

I hope you have fun using this tool in your developments!

Amy

July 13, 2009

Hello Everyone,

I have had a couple of questions about unit objectives and the how they fit into course development so I thought I would spend a little time talking about course objectives.

Within the GEN network every course has a master syllabus that identifies a variety of course objectives meant to guide the outcome of the course. These objectives have been designed to illustrate exactly what a student should be able to do when they are finished with the course. There are often anywhere from 5 to 10 objectives listed.

There are only 5 objectives but my course is 12 and 10 units long. I know I am supposed to identify course objectives for each unit but I don’t know exactly how I am supposed to do that?

When the course objectives were created they were meant to identify the results of a student at the end of the course. However, as a student works through the course, it is the job of the course developer to identify smaller objectives that will add up to the results that the larger objective has identified. Each of these smaller objectives identified by the course developer will be identified in the introductions of each of the units. As a student looks through the course they should be able to clearly see how the smaller unit objectives “map” to the larger objectives identified on the master syllabus.

In order to see an illustration please see below for some syllabus objectives for a fictitious course on Bike Riding:

• The student will identify and analyze the kinds of bicycles
• The student will diagram the important elements of a bicycle
• The student will be able to recommend an appropriate bicycle for various riding situations

For the purposes of this illustration I will identify the course objectives for the first three units of this course:

Unit 1:

• The student will describe downhill bicycle, bicycle enduro, cross bikes, road bikes, and mountain bikes
• The student will critique and assess downhill bicycles, bicycle enduro, cross bikes, road bikes, and mountain bikes
• The student will select which bikes are appropriate for specific situations when considering downhill bicycles, bicycle enduros, cross bikes, road bikes, and mountain bikes

Unit 2

• The student will identify the different types of bike parts when considering such elements as age of rider, rider disabilities, and weather conditions
• The student will create a pamphlet about bicycles considering the parts that buyers should be most aware of when investing in a bicycle

Unit 3

• The student will describe important clothing choices when riding a bike in inclement weather
• The student will demonstrate how to repair a bicycle when in the middle of a ride

As you can see, the unit objectives identified in the first three units of this fictitious course map to the larger objectives identified on the master syllabus.

I have heard that it is hard to write objectives. What guidelines do I need to follow when I write objectives?

It is not difficult to write objectives, but there are a few guidelines that should be followed:

• Objectives should be measurable. They should identify how will you know a student understands something or has learned course content.
• Learning objectives should break down the task and focus on specific cognitive processes
• Learning objectives should be student centered
• Learning objectives should use active verbs

Here are some great links to help you learn even more about writing learning objectives:

Carnegie Mellon: Design and Teach a Course

Illinois Online Network

Blooms Taxonomy Action Verbs for Learning Objectives

July 6, 2009

Good Morning,

I hope everyone had a wonderful fourth of July weekend! I am now back from maternity leave and have had an opportunity to go in and take a look at your developments and they look like they are coming along nicely! There are a few of you that I have not yet had the opportunity to meet and I look forward to meeting you over the upcoming weeks. Heather and I will continue to work together on helping you with your developments.

This week I would like to go over a few resources that are valuable to all online developers. As developers it is important that you are aware of all of the tools that are available to both students and faculty in order to assist in the course facilitation process.

• Smartthinking.com – Smart Thinking is the online tutoring center that is available for our students. To learn more about how this works please click on this training created by Heather Thomton-Stockman. Please feel free to work Smartthinking.com into your course developments by having students use this resource to submit drafts of essays before submitting them for grading or to simply encourage them to submit questions to the online tutors.
• Skillsoft – This resource contains many online books and simulations that may pertain to your course development topic. You can use this resource by requiring students to read portions of books or complete a skill brief. To learn more about this resource please view the training created by Heather Thomton-Stockman
• Elluminate Live – Elluminate Live is a web conferencing tool that is available for all students and staff. Heather has created training on how a student would use Elluminate and on how an instructor would use Elluminate
  
  Please also work this resource into your courses where appropriate. It is a great tool to use when you are interested in forming a learning community in the course.

Please let me know if you have any questions on any of the above tools

Have a great week!

Amy

June 29, 2009

Good Morning Developers,

First of all, welcome back Amy! We are excited to have you back and lending us your development and curriculum expertise once again!

Today marks the 50% development completion date and I will be spending this week going into your courses to see how things are coming along. I will be in contact with you individually regarding your development(s) and will be including Amy on the email as she will be working with you on your course(s) for the second half of this development round.

As you continue to work on your course development(s), if you have a research component as a requirement of the syllabus or simply as part of your course development, please don't forget one of our best resources we have...Elaine Settergren, our Online Librarian! Elaine's expertise can help you to clearly articulate research assignments and effectively guide students through the research process. To help illustrate what specifically Elaine can assist you with, here is a research assignment example:

Assignment Example:

To complete this assignment, you'll need to use the library.

1. Go into the Globe Education Network library through the library section of this course (click the red library link to the left, then click online library).
2. Once on the library's website, hover your mouse over the resources tab, then click the Databases A-H link.
3. Open ABI/Inform Complete (Proquest) database.
4. Find an article related to Media Planning; select "full text" and "scholarly journals" tabs, then click search.

In the first 1-2 paragraphs, provide a summary of the article. In the next 1-2 paragraphs, explain how the information in this article relates to media planning. Support your answer with evidence. Incorporate concepts from our text. Do not look for an article on the Internet; using the Library is a requirement of the assignment. Articles from the Internet, especially Wikipedia.com, will not be accepted.

You must include a proper APA formatted reference with your assignment.

You will notice that this assignment is very detailed and effective in guiding students effectively through the research process. When working on developing research assignments, please be in contact with Elaine at: esettergren@globeuniversity.edu

Once again, I've really enjoyed working with you over the past few weeks! Thanks for all of your hard work.

Heather

June 22, 2009

Good Morning Developers,

I hope everyone had a nice weekend and an enjoyable Father's Day! We are quickly approaching the half-way course completion point for this round of developments with next Monday, June 29, marking the 50% completion deadline. At that point we will be going into your course(s) to see how things are coming along. If you are unable to meet this deadline, please let me know as soon as possible.

As you continue working on your course development(s), please be thinking of ways to enhance the learning experience for your students through the use of technology, interaction, and other course enhancements. On the right side of this blog you will find a listing and links to various learning enhancement resources, please take a moment to explore at least one of these resources and implement into your course(s).

Another resource that could be very beneficial to your students is the implementation of Skillsoft. You may have participated in a Skillsoft course as an employee so may be familiar with the resource already, but if Skillsoft is new to you, here is a brief explanation from the Skillsoft User's Guide of what it is and what it has to offer:

"SkillPort� is a web-based e-Learning portal where you can access a range of training resources at work, at home, and on the road ... whenever and wherever you have the need and time.
SkillPort allows you to:" assign or implement various learning opportunities related to your coursework such as:

• Specific topic training courses;
• Skillbriefs, Job Aids, and Express Guides to further explore individual terms, concepts, or topics;
• Simulations for interactive participation with a topic or concept;
• TestPrep Exams;
• Books 24x7 to offer free access to additional course readings that relate to the course content;
  
• And other great resources.

To explore all Skillsoft has to offer, contact the GEN helpdesk at helpdesk@msbcollege.edu to verify your username and log-in and then click here to access the log-in page: Skillport Log-in. Once in Skillport, click on the Guided Tour tab on the left hand of the screen to learn more and to begin searching for resource and training opportunities to add to your course development(s). If you'd like some specific suggestions on ways to implement this resource into your course(s), please let me know and I'd be happy to work with you individually on this.

Amy Ode, the Online Curriculum Manager, will be returning from family medical leave next Monday, June 29. At that time you will begin working with her on your development project(s) once again, but please don't hesitate to contact me for any assistance also as we are both here to help in any way we can.

Have a great week and thank you for all of your hard work on these courses!

Heather

June 15, 2009

Good Afternoon Developers,

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! If you live in Minnesota, it is finally starting to feel like summer here. If you live in other states, I hope you are enjoying some summer weather too.

As you continue working on your course development(s), please be thinking of ways to incorporate writing into your course(s). Globe Education Network's Writing Across the Curriculum initiative serves to prepare our students to be effective communicators in their professions. Recognizing this at the development stage of a course helps to reinforce this in all programs.

When it comes to creating a writing assignment, in today's media world the options are endless. While the informality of online or social writing and its place in academia is highly debated,
The Chronicle of Higher Education highlights an excellent study out of Stanford in terms of what students can gain from both formal and informal writing assignments. I encourage you to click here and read this article: Studies Explore Whether the Internet Makes Students Better Writers. The "Curricular Implications" segment in particular offers some great ideas on how informal writing as part of a course can strongly prepare students for the real life professional environment.

After reading the article, I encourage you to think of a writing assignment that you could implement into your course development(s) even if the course(s) is not a traditional writing course.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Thanks,
Heather

June 8, 2009

Good Morning Developers,

I hope everyone had a nice, relaxing weekend! Today marks the 25% completion date for this development round. Over the next couple of days I will be going into your course(s) and taking a look around to see how things are coming along and I will be in contact with you individually.

As you continue your development(s), Debut Video Recorder is another great resource you may want to consider incorporating into your course(s). Debut Video Recorder is free, easy to use video recording software that captures video from a webcam, a capture device, or a screen shot.

According to their web site, the following are typical applications that would be applicable to online courses:

• Produce videos with captions and effects from your webcam or other video input device.
• Create "how to" demonstration and training videos by recording screen movements (including audio) to video.
• Capture streaming video presentations.

I encourage you to check this resource out and give it a try! Let me know what you think!

As always, if you have any questions as you are working on your development(s), please let me know. I'm here to help in any way I can! And I will be in contact individually regarding your development(s) up to this point.

Thanks and have a great week!
Heather

June 1, 2009

Good Morning Developers,

I hope everyone had a great weekend! And I hope things are going well with your course developments. Please note that next Monday, June 8, 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. If you don't think you will be able to have your course(s) at the 25% completion point by then, please let me know as soon as possible.

The development resource I'd like to share with you this week comes from http://www.xtranormal.com/. Xtranormal.com is a Text to Movie resource that can create an animated video for you by simply using text that you enter into the program. This can be a great way to illustrate or explain course content in a fun and interactive manner.

As an example of how this resource might work in your course(s), here is a link to a Text to Movie presentation one of our legal instructors created to help explain what a paralegal's role and responsibilities are: http://www.xtranormal.com/watch?e=20090512094652844 You may need to copy and paste the address into a new web browser to access this video.

If you have any questions on this resource, please let me know. And as always, if you have any questions on any part of the development process, I am here to help in any way that I can. I look forward to taking a peek at your classes next week.

Have a great rest of the week!
Heather

May 26, 2009

Good Morning Developers,

I hope you had a nice, relaxing Memorial Weekend! We are now in the second week of development for Fall courses. If you are still in need of any course materials and we haven't ordered them for you yet, please let me know right away.

As you are working on your course development(s), please be thinking of ways to really engage and interact with students via technology. A great resource for this is http://ecorner.stanford.edu/, this is Stanford University's Entrepreneurship Corner. This site offers video broadcasts, podcasts, and various other interactive presentations on a variety of topics. Even if your development is not in the Business program directly, this is still an excellent resource I encourage you to check out as the topics range from healthcare to the music industry to technology, and it even includes a variety of videos on Work/Life balance. There truly are so many different topics covered that it is a great resource for any course development.

As you are working on your course(s), please let me know if you have any questions. I'm here to help in any way I can.

Have a great week!
Heather

May 18, 2009

Good Morning Developers,

Welcome to the start of the Fall Quarter Development cycle! I appreciate your assistance in working on course development and I look forward to working with each of you. I am currently filling in for Amy Ode, the Online Curriculum Manager, while she is on maternity leave. She will be returning the beginning of July, so during this development cycle you will be working with each of us at some point. Please don't hesitate to contact either of us with questions at any time.

Each week you will receive a link to this development blog that will share updates, reminders, and resources with you. This is designed for you, so if there is a resource you'd like to learn more about but it hasn't been covered in a blog, please let us know. You'll also notice that on the right side of the blog page there are links to various resource topics discussed in previous blog postings. Please check these great resources out an implement these various techniques in your course developments.

Once again the time line for this round of developments is as follows:
June 8 - 25% completion
June 29 - 50% completion
July 20 - 75% completion
August 10 - 100% completion
August 10-31 - Implement peer advising suggestions/changes

You should all have access to your course shells, if you do not, please let me know so that I can make sure everything is set for you to begin your development(s).

Have a great week and let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Heather

May 4, 2009

Good Morning Developers!

This is the last weekly blog for this round of development. All developments must be 100% complete by Monday, May 11 as this is when the peer advisers go into the courses to provide feedback. Please send me an e-mail as soon as you are finished with your development so that I can go in and check it and then cross it off the list. Please remember that part of this development round is the conversion of your course(s) to the 10-week shell format also, so if you haven't had me copy over your course(s) to another shell to work on the conversion, please do so immediately so it can be finished this week also. If you finish both shells before May 11th that is great as it allows me to check it before the peer advisers do so that you can make any last minute changes that need to be made.

Thank you for all of your hard work this quarter in your developments; your dedication to our students makes a huge difference!! I have enjoyed working with all of you this quarter and I know Amy Ode greatly appreciates your assistance in making the online curriculum the best it can be for our students.

Thanks again!

Heather

April 27, 2009

Good morning developers,

I hope everyone had a very enjoyable weekend! As you are working toward 100% completion of your developments, please don't forget that part of this cycle's development process also includes converting your 12-unit course to a 10-unit course as the summer quarter this year will be 10-week's in length. Once you have your 12-unit course complete, please let me know and I will copy your completed course to a new master shell for you to work in for this conversion. Please remember both of these masters are due by Monday, May 11.

I also wanted to share with you the benefits of implementing a Wiki into your course development. Research consistently reports the benefits of group work in understanding course concepts as well as preparing students for work in their professions. However, in the online classroom, the logistical idea of a group project can be daunting at times, but it doesn't need to be. A Wiki is an excellent way to implement group work and have groups work with one another virtually. "Wikis drive engagement and collaboration" (PBWiki.com).

A Wiki I particularly like is PBWiki as it is very secure, it can embed videos and audio to embrace the technical side of students if they would like, it can create tags and RSS feeds, it offers access controls, and what I like most is it offers student accountability as it indicates who participated in the Wiki when, where, and how. Click on this link to check it out and see if it is something you could implement into your course: http://pbwiki.com/academic.wiki.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns as you are working on your courses.

Thanks!
Heather

April 20, 2009

Good morning developers,

Today marks the 75% completion point for the summer development cycle. I will begin looking at your courses starting today and will be in contact with you individually, if I haven't been already, regarding your course(s) up to this point. If you have any questions on any feedback I send, please don't hesitate to contact me.

As you move to 100% completion, please keep a couple of administrative things in mind:
(1) Please verify that all of your discussion boards are linked within the units properly by clicking on the discussion board in each unit and confirming it brings students to the appropriate discussion board topic;
(2) Please verify that all discussion boards are then linked to the grade center properly by clicking on the Class Discussion link on the left side of the course and clicking each topic's modify button to confirm points are allocated to the discussion. If you receive an error message when clicking the modify button, that means the discussion board is not properly linked to the grade center and will need to be recreated.
(3) Please verify each unit has an interactive discussion board topic where students are required to both post and reply.

As you are working toward your 100% completion please also be thinking of ways to enhance the interactive component of your course(s). TeacherTube is yet another great resource for you to explore to possibly find some educational videos that could enhance your course(s). Click here to browse TeacherTube: http://www.teachertube.com/index.php

Once again, if you have any questions on anything, please let me know.

I look forward to reviewing your courses and will be in touch with you individually.

Have a great Earth Week!
Heather

April 13, 2009

Good morning developers,

I hope everyone had a nice, relaxing weekend! As you continue working on your development projects, please be thinking about various enhancements you could add to your course(s) to really engage the online learner. On the right side of this blog board you'll see links to various enhancement pieces Amy has discussed in the past.

Another great enhancement opportunity for you is the use of audio presentations. If you are a faculty member at Globe Education Network, you have probably heard about and maybe even have participated in the Max Knowledge online coursework as part of your professional development. As a developer, you can implement learning modules similar to what these courses look like by creating a PowerPoint presentation with a script and interactive instructions and sending them to me to create an interactive audio lecture for you using Adobe Presenter. Please click here to watch a short demonstration on what Adobe Presenter is and how it can serve as an excellent enhancement in your courses: http://www.adobe.com/products/presenter/

A few of GEN's online courses currently have Adobe Presenter presentations and students have responded really positively to them. You do not need to do the recording; rather, you can provide me with a PowerPoint presentation and an accompanying script and I will take care of the rest for you!

If you have any questions on this resource, or questions on anything else as you are working on your development, please let me know.

Have a great week!
Heather

April 6, 2009

Good Morning Developers,

With this being my first blog post as I cover Amy's responsibilities while she is on maternity leave, I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. I am a full-time online Communications/Business instructor for GEN and have worked on course development since I started teaching online. I really enjoy exploring and implementing new strategies to really engage our students in the online classroom. If you ever have any questions while you are working on your developments, please don't hesitate to let me know. And I also look forward to learning from each of you as I explore your development courses.

As you are working on your development, I encourage you to create grading rubrics for assignments and essay exams. Grade Inflation has been a hot topic in recent years and here is a great article discussing various perspectives and research on the issue. http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/03/12/grades

An excellent way to curb grade inflation is by putting into place grading standards and expectations. They not only guide students as they are completing their work, they also help guide instructors during the evaluation stage. An excellent resource to assist in creating grading rubrics is at: http://rubistar.com/

I look forward to working with each of you, and once again, please let me know if you have any questions.

Have a great first week of the quarter!

Heather

March 30, 2009

Good Morning Developers!

Today marks the 50% completion date for your developments. If you do not feel your course is at 50% or you are running into any problems please let me know ASAP.

Starting on Friday of this week I will officially be on Maternity Leave. During this time Heather Thomton-Stockman will be working with you on your new developments. Please feel free to contact Heather with any questions that you might have! Her e-mail is hthomton-stockman@msbcollege.edu

I want to remind you of all of the rich resources we have available through our library. If you haven't incorporated the library resources into your courses yet, I highly encourage you to do so. Being a higher education institution it is important that our students are information literate and feel comfortable looking up information in scholarly journals and in reputable sources. It is also good to increase student's skills of searching on the internet, but it is important for them to know the difference between information on the internet and information that can be found in an academic library. If you have questions or concerns about how to incorporate the library into your developments please contact Elaine Settergren (the online librarian) at esettergren@msbcollege.edu and she will help you not only find appropriate resources for your subject matter but will talk to you about ways that you can incorporate those resources into your courses.

Have a great week!

Amy

March 23, 2009

Good Morning Developers,



One resource that I haven't had a chance to talk about yet is TED. Some of you may have heard of TED before and some of you are probably wondering who TED is? So I would like to start with a description of what the TED website consists of:



TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes). This site makes the best talks and performances from TED available to the public, for free. More than 200 talks from our archive are now available, with more added each week. These videos are released under a creative commons license , so they can be freely shared and re-posted.



If you haven't had a chance to search around the TED website at http://www.ted.com/ I very much encourage you to do so. The videos that are shown are very "real life" and "relevant" and having students do an assignment that requires them to watch a TED video would also introduce them to this wonderful resource.



To show you an example of a video that is extremely relevant I would like you to watch the 8 minute video on Twitter. I have been talking about Twitter quite a bit lately and this speech is given by the creator of Twitter and he does a great job talking about the philosophy behind it and how to best use it in your own lives.



On a different note, please notice that I have started to give labels to my blogs and you can now see some of the labels on the right side of your screen. I have yet to get through all of my past blog posts to label them, but it is a project I am working on. For now, you can start to look at archived postings based on their subject. Have fun!



Have a great week!



Amy

March 16, 2009

Hello Developers,

Most of you are moving right along in your developments and we are now in the development phase where you are getting creative with your assignments, discussion boards, and interactivity between the students in the courses you are creating. Several weeks ago, on March 2nd, I mentioned iTunes University. I want to take this time to point you in the direction of another article that mentions iTunes University: http://www.oculture.com/2006/12/the_hottest_cou.html

This article comments on the amount of information that is available for free on the web. The article mentions that this free information is making companies that offer these kinds of taped lectures for a price become obsolete. If we can get it for free, why would we pay for it?

Please take a couple of minutes to take a look at the free information that is is available via iTunes University and see if any of this information could be worked into the courses you are developing. There is a wealth of information out there, we just need to find it!

Have a great week!

Amy

March 9, 2009

Good Morning Developers,


Today I will be going into your courses to check for 25% completion. If you have any concerns about meeting this deadline please let me know.


Plagiarism:



We have found that as students have more and more access to information via the Internet our instances of plagiarism have increased. In order to combat this plagiarism increase many faculty members have started taking advantage of our SafeAssign feature feature that is built into Blackboard. SafeAssign compares submitted assignments against a set of academic papers to identify areas of overlap between the submitted assignment and existing works. SafeAssign can be used to prevent plagiarism and to create opportunities to help students identify how to properly attribute sources rather than paraphrase.


I have created a new "How To" document on how to create a SafeAssignment in your course and have e-mailed it to all of you. If you are developing an assignment with a research component I encourage you to set up your assignment as a SafeAssignment rather than a regular assignment. These assignments are integrated with the Grade Center just like other assignment but just have the added feature of checking for plagiarism.

Have a great week!

March 2, 2009

Good Morning Developers,

Now that March has arrived we have almost reached the season of spring, yipee! It makes those summer developments you are working on seem like their roll out date isn't that far away. Please remember that your 25% completion deadline is Monday, March 9th (one week from today). If you have concerns about meeting this deadline please let me know ASAP.

In the past week there have been two very interesting news updates that pertain to online learning. The first one is from the Department of Psychology, SUNY, Fredonia, NY. They studied how iTunes University can assist students in the classroom. Their findings revealed that
students who listened to a podcast while going through power point lecture notes scored significantly higher on a test than students who sat through the same the lecture in the traditional lecture format. So those of you who are posting lecture notes in your courses (which should be all of you) now have proof that if you also record a podcast to go with your power point presentations your students will learn much better! http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VCJ-4V5GCPP-2&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=e37f858b8a49dca5d5cd6a8c85494e7a

If you have questions about how to create a podcast just let me know!

The second update is from Microsoft and how they are exploring educational link to video games. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jDQ-SWd6OPxfVg2xMiYzMvPxF5UgD96FCQL82

Could playing video games draw students into learning and get them more interested in Scientific Thinking? Here at Globe University we think playing games, or doing learning objects, can really get students interested in the material! See these websites to find learning objects that are related to your subject matter:

http://www.lolaexchange.org/
http://www.mrelot.org/
http://www.wisc-online.com/

Have a great week!

Amy

P.S. Don't forget to set your clocks for day light savings on Sunday!

February 23, 2009

Good Morning Developers!

This week I am going to dedicate the blog to Twitter. Some of you may use Twitter often, some may be somewhat familiar with it, and some of you may have never heard of it before.

First off, what is Twitter? Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Here is the link to Wikipedia to learn even more about Twitter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter

Secondly, how can we use Twitter in higher education. Here is a link to an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education that explains a little bit about how Twitter is currently being used in Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i25/25a01501.htm

In my mind, Twitter is another social networking site that is becoming very popular in the mainstream and if something is becoming popular in the mainstream we should not ignore it in the world of education. Our students are the future of their professions and it is our responsibility to stay on top of what they will be required to know about when they go out into the "real world". At this time I am not convinced that it is the best thing to come along since sliced bread, but I am seeing that it does have a place and a time and if used correctly it could add some value to a course (whether it be online or residentially). To see ways that other educators are using Twitter please see the following web site:

• http://twitter4teachers.pbwiki.com/

Additionally, if Twitter is very new to you and you haven't even been on the web site here is a link that has a video out how to get started using Twitter:

• http://edtechpower.blogspot.com/2008/01/getting-started-with-twitter-screencast.html

Beginning last week I started my very first Twitter page! You can view my Twitters under the name amyode or you can simply click on the "follow me on Twitter" link on the right side of my blog. I am hoping to connect with other Higher Education professionals through this new form of social networking in order to learn about new technologies and interesting articles as well as share my knowledge with others in the Higher Education community.

Have fun playing around with this new technology and I hope to see you on Twitter!

Please feel free to post comments regarding this blog post after you have read it. I am always open to your thoughts and ideas regarding anything that I post on my blog!

Have a great week!

Amy

February 17, 2009

Good Morning Developers!

All of you that are developing a course during this round of development have done online development before so rather than focusing on the basics of development for the upcoming blog posts, I will be discussing more advanced topics and will do my best to give you ideas to spark your development creativity.

To start off with a few announcements:

• If you haven't returned your contracts yet, please return those to me this week.
• The 25% completion deadline is on March 9th
• I will be going on maternity leave during this round of development. When I go on leave you will begin to receive updates and announcements as well as blog entries from Heather Thomton-Stockman
• We will need to create both 12 week and 10 week masters for every course

I also wanted to bring an article to your attention regarding the use of laptops in lecture based classrooms. Although you are designing courses primarily for online use, most of your shells will be used by residential instructors as well. The article titled "Can I have your half-attention, please?" discusses whether or not laptops are creating a culture of 'constant partial distraction'. As we work more and more in a technology centered educational environment, this is an important topic to know about: http://oncampus.macleans.ca/education/2009/02/06/can-i-have-your-half-attention-please/

In your design of your course think about whether or not it would be beneficial for instructors to have students access your course during a lecture or if it would be best used as a supplemental tool for residential instructors. Is there a way you can add items to your course shell to make it useful during a lecture situation?

Have a great week!

Amy

February 2, 2009

Hello Developers,

This will be the last blog for developments due to be complete for the Spring 2009 quarter.

I want to extend a big Thank You for all of the work you have done on your courses and I am excited to receive the feedback from the peer advisers this week - I am sure the feedback will be great!

If you have not yet completed your course (some of you have to still add course calendars, etc.) I have already e-mailed you individually this morning.

Once we have completed working in the feedback from the peer advisers the last step is to make a copy of the fully completed course and then you will convert it to the 10 week schedule. If you have concerns about this process please let me know ASAP!

I enjoyed working with all of you this quarter and look forward to working with each of you again in the future! We will be in communication over the next few weeks as we finish up the development, so as always, please be sure to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Amy

January 26th, 2009

Good Morning!

We have reached the end of the development time period! All courses must be 100% complete by February 2nd (Next Monday). At that time the peer advisers will have one week to go into your courses to provide you with feedback. After you have worked in your changes suggested by the peer advisers by February 23rd then there is only one step left

• Changing your course to the 10 week schedule

All courses must also be designed to fit the 10 week schedule because we now offer our summer quarter courses in 10 weeks instead of 12 weeks. All courses must be changed to match the 10 week schedule by March 2nd.

For those of you that have contracts an additional $200 will be added to your payment to compensate you for this additional development work.

I blogged about how to change your courses into the 10 week schedule on December 15th so if you have questions please go back to that post for the original information. If you still have questions please feel free to contact me at any time to help you through any questions that you still have. I am happy to help!

For those of you who are current faculty members I hope you had an opportunity to attend the in-service on Friday, there was a lot of great information! For those of you who weren't able to attend Brian James did a presentation on "The Changing Classroom" and discussed many great online tools that can not only be used in a residential classroom but also an online classroom. I have attached his power point presentation to the e-mail I sent out - the ideas in this presentation are great and I hope you had an opportunity to work some of them into the design of your course.

Please let me know as soon as you finish your development and I will go in and check your course before I open it up to the peer advisers.

Have a great week!

Amy

January 20, 2009

Hello Everyone,

We are getting down to the end - only 2 weeks left until your courses are opened up for the peer advisers. If you finish early please let me know and I will go in and check it and mark it off as being complete.

There is exciting stuff happening at the Globe Education Network! We are looking at two new campuses: Middleton (Madison), WI and Elk River, MN. We anticipate all approvals to be in place by March 2009! All of the students at these campuses will be eligible to take courses online.

As you finish up your developments please remember to take a look at the following items:

• Spell check EVERYTHING - quizzes, discussion boards, reading assignments, etc. We want to catch those spelling errors and typos before the students do
• Make sure to include at least one external link in every unit - the external link must open in a new window.
• You should have at least one assignment in every unit.
• Upper level courses should have at least one assignment that is threaded through a couple of units. In these upper level courses it is important to connect the content from unit to unit and tie them together in the end.
• If you would like to work in a research assignment we have a ton of online library resources. Please contact Elaine Settergren at esettergren@msbcollege.edu and she can point you in the right direction.
• Please be sure to include a course calendar and check that the total points in the course calendar match the total points in the grade center.

Please let me know if you have any concerns about finishing your course by February 2nd.

Have a great week! Enjoy the inauguration and happy belated MLK day!

Amy

January 12, 2009

Hello Developers,

Today marks the 75% completion deadline so I will be going into your courses this week to check for 75% completion. This is also the time I start to gather peer advisors to go through your courses, once they are complete, so you have feedback from other instructors that teach online. I will be sure to include you on this e-mail, 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.

I also want to remind all of you that here at Globe Education Network all of our employees can subscribe to Online Classroom for free. I haven't mentioned this since August, so I thought it was time to remind you :-)

Online Classroom provides practical advice and examples of proven, research-based pedagogical techniques to help instructors and course developers create and teach outstanding courses. To access Online Classroom simply go to www.magnapubs.com/licenses/suscribe.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.

There is a new issue that just came out last week and there are some interesting articles that I felt were very interesting. I would like to comment on just a few of them here.

The first article I would like to comment on is titled Instructors Personality: An Essential Online Course Component. This article encourages instructors to infuse their personality into the course they are teaching/developing. As a developer, you are creating a master course shell for multiple instructors to use at one time. Therefore, it can be difficult to know how much of your personality you should include in your development. My recommendation would be to include some components of your personality into the course, but to keep in mind that some instructors teach differently then you may teach and to provide options for these instructors to teach the course a little differently. You can insert hidden notes for future instructors explaining why you set something up in a certain way and you can also use this method to provide future instructors with options and ideas of how to teach the concept a little differently based on their personality.

The second article I would like to comment on is titled Tapping Into Higher Level Thinking in Online Courses. For several months now I have been mentioning the idea of including critical thinking in the development of your courses. This article takes it one step further and actually defines what it means to incorporate critical thinking. If this is a topic that still has you stumped, this article will help to clear up some of your questions.

The third and last article I would like to comment on is titled Online Teaching Fundamentals: That’s Debatable. I don't often see online debates set up in our courses, and this article provides a great understanding of not only why online debates can be valuable but offers examples and step by step guidelines on how to set one up in your course. This can be a great tool to use in your development to really engage the students as well as to get them to think critically about a topic! I encourage you to check out this article!

Have a great week! Stay Warm :-)

Amy

January 5th, 2009

Good Morning!

This is my first post of 2009 - I hope that everyone had a great holiday! I hope that you all had a chance to work on your courses over the break, but just in case you didn't I want to alert you of a few changes in Blackboard:

• Over the break we updated to a new version of Blackboard. When you go into find your grade book you will now find the "Grade Center" instead. I will be e-mailing out the new "how to" document on the grade center, but a few pointers are listed below.
• To move stuff around in the Grade Center hover over "Manage" and click on "Organize Grade Center". Use the Drag and Drop Feature on the far left column to sort the assignments by unit and then click "submit" on the lower right.
• To view the total points in the grade book (grade center) you go to the "total" column and select the drop down arrow and then select Column Information.
• The Grade Center does not update as quickly as the grade book. If you update something you will likely need to go back to the control panel and then back into the grade center to see the change you made.

I hope you are all enjoying working on your courses and that you have a great week!

Amy