John,
You are correct. Appropriate content and the appropriate level go hand in hand. Deciding how much time it takes for students many times if the hardest parte. With the learning objecives, everyone understands the course expectations. Thanks!
1. Audience - you need to make sure that your content is at the appropriate level for the students who are taking the course
2. Time constraints - how much time should the students spend on this portion of the module.
3. Learning objectives - choose content that is appropriate for the learning objectives
Brian,
I like the question format. They are good questions to think about as you prepare to teach any course. And, how can I teach this in a variety of ways? Thanks!
What do the students need to know?,
What do the students need to be able to do?,
What is the best sequence to teach this in?.
Hima,
Correct. Organization with a good delivery system will help the course be successful. Thanks!
Jason,
Your bring it all together with your commments. Knowing the content, the learning outcomes and how to organized and provide content to the students is essential. Nice job.
Jake,
You are right. The learning outcomes are essential to the development of the course. Making sure the students undertand the expectations ties directly to the learning outcomes as well.
Nice job.
The first thing to consider is the learning outcomes for the course: what the student should know and what the student should be able to do. Then, I consider how the course will be delivered, what kinds of activities are supported by my LMS, how will the students be consuming it, etc. Finally, I decide what kind of assignments and assessments will allow me to best measure the success or failure of the learning outcomes.
Gregory,
Having the "end" in mine is totally related to your course outcomes and making sure you communicate the expectations to the students.
Also, as you noted - relating it to the real world and to their lives is essential.
Nice job.
Scott,
Thanks for picking up on what William said. When there is any way to eliminate confusion, it's good for everyone.
I like the teaching philosophy of see it, do it, teach it. The students first see a demonstration, then they do it and then they teach someone else how to do it.
Thanks!
Most important is to have an end state in mind. You cannot map out a course if you don't know where you want the student to end.
I often start my course development with the final project or paper. This allows me to see what knowledge the student will need in order to complete this assignment. I think break these requirements into modules or phases of development that build upon one another.
I also believe that relevancy is also important. Even teaching the classics, I can relate Plato's Republic to current political science issues. Without relevancy, student's quickly learn the value in the material and can relate it to their own lives.
Finally, I believe it is necessary to create discussions that take students outside their comfort zones and encourages them explore the material in depth.
First I would like to say that I completely agree with William Sims.
So I will do my best not to repeat his comments.
1. Making sure students don't go past miss-understood words or not-understood words. I teach telecommunication and information security, so both of these topics are highly technical. So knowing the jargon is critical to understand the topic/subject.
Miss-understood words are a real pain. Why you ask? Because you think you know what a word means (and you might) but can apply the wrong definition or completely incorrect definition. This adds a lot of confusion for the student and they are more likely to quit the course they are taking and/or hate the course because they don’t understand the subject. Not-understood words are easy to clear up, because you just don’t know it, simple.
2. Simplifying the subject as much as possible. This helps in two ways. First, this helps the student understand the point/topic easier. And second, this helps prevent the too high a gradient syndrome. By simplifying things, this will help students learn and remember the point that is being taught now and forever.
I have seen too many students that are in senior level classes that don’t know or understand the topic they are studying because they either were not taught a basic principle or they were not paying attention at that time. So by simplifying things, you are less likely to have this problem.
3. And last but not least and probably the hardest issue with on-line courses that I have in my school is the actually doingness of a topic or subject. In other words, applying it.
Peter,
Thanks for your organized response to this forum. You've added good information to the conversation. I think what you mean by adjusting your teaching style is providing information to students in a variety of ways. That's a good point.
Begin prepared, organized and a good communicator are also necessities. These all help you develop way to engage the students. Nice job.
1. First, you have to adjust your teaching style to the type of students you are teaching.
2. Second, you have to be prepared before starting your class.
3. Last, you have to find a way to get your students engaged, it can be a challenge when you don't have them in front of you.
Tammy,
Thank you for your great input in this forum. YOu are right on track with your comments. It seems that you have some experience on teaching online and you have great ideas to share with others.
Thank you.
I believe that the three most important things when authoring an online course are the following:
1. Presentation of the material: The material should be presented in a consistent, comprehensive and user-friendly way so the students are able to navigate their online course with fewer difficulties as well as see that their assignments correspond with their learning objectives for the the course. Being user friendly is important for those students who have a limited knowledge of computers and/or online courses because there is less confusion and frustration on their part if it is easy to follow.
2. Expectations of the the student: Having a dynamic syllabus for the course is key because not only do the students see what is expected of them for the course, they can also refer to it at any time throughout the course if they have any questions regarding what their responsibilities are, when assignments are due, or if there are any changes.
3. Communication with students: This to me is one of the most important aspects of an online course. As an instructor, I believe getting feedback from students about the course helps the instructor not only see the knowledge base a student may have but also what type of assignments/technical presentations work better for the students in their learning process.
In addition, it helps an instructor evaluate the retention of material a student has in order for that student to constantly and properly build upon their course knowledge.
Also, being available to your students if they are having problems with their course, shows that you are interested in their education as well as providing a professional support system for their learning experience.
Quiana,
Understanding your students helps you become a better teacher and helps you provide content to them in various ways. This also helps connect the learning outcomes to the content in a way all students can understand.
Nice job.
First, is to understand the demographic of the students you will be teaching. This is vital to creating effective learning tools. Also, in understanding how they process information, you can be more succinct in content delivery.
Second, understanding the learning objectives and what items are must haves and others are not as important. The online student typically prefers to not have additional busy work, they are also typically adult learners who want to get to the point. Having extraneous materials will not spark their interest.
Third, having course work that appeals to a broad range of learning styles, will ensure that the material is being grasped by all.
Jo Ann,
You brought up some excellent things to think about. The needs assessment is a component people forget about. They just put a course together because the can. . .not becuase it's necessary.
I have seen research that has said that it takes approximately 15 hours to put 1 hour of online instruction online. It it time consuming.
Nice job.
1. Needs Assessment - what do you know v what do you need to know? Who should be involved? Who makes the decisions?
2. Technology - what technology do you want to use? Will students have access to it?
3. Time - how much time do you have to create it? How long will the course be?
