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!

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