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