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
Friday, June 25, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
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
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
Friday, June 4, 2010
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
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