I find myself thinking about what my college speech professor taught me way back when. It was important to do my research so number one is course objectives and content. After completing my research for a speech I needed to prepare the speech. That means number two is delivery method. As has been pointed out by many others, the delivery should be easy to navigate, address different learning styles, and be time efficient. Finally, my professor taught me to ask questions to find out if the audience learned anything. That means, in this case, that number three would be assessment and feedback. There needs to be a method of assessing what has been learned and feedback both to the learner and the instructor so that there may be continuous improvement. In summation, my three most important considerations are:
1. Course Objectives and Content
2. Delivery Method
3. Assessment and Feedback
Lynn,
Thanks for your input. I love your enmphasis on planning. You know once you plan you have to go back and plan on when to plan again! ;-) You are right on target.
The course objectives communicate a lot to the students. The communicate expectations and outcomes. How to achieve the outcomes is based on that clear path you discuss on how to get from the beginning of the path to the end of the path. When the students want to keep continuing on the path after the course is over, you really know you have done your job! Lifelong learners is what we need to develop.
Nice job.
In order to keep students involved and interested as instructors we need to plan, plan , and check the plan! So course objectives are imperative, shaping the content is important, and evaluating and assessing is valuable.
The course objectives provide a route to follow with an arrival point for students at the end of the course. These objectives are always kept in focus when the course is being created and deveolped to provide a clear path. Course content helps the student understand and achieve the objectives. We need to be sure that we incorporate activites and lessons that reach each student's learning styles. Also we need to be sure that the content is presented in an organized and consistent manner throughout the course. Presentation is imperative to meet the studentts needs and reach the learning objectives. Finally evaluation and feedback lets the instructor and the student know if what was set out to be learned was accomplished. If not we need to revise the plan and keep changing to improve the course.
Ana,
These are all good questions to answer. As you have noted, the delivery and how students receive the content can be two different questions, but they must work together.
Nice job.
1.How will content be delivered?
2.How will students receive the content?
3.How will students be assessed in their knowledge of the content?
Scott,
Good point. Knowing what the students know (diagnostic assessment) allows the instructor to anticipate issues and provide content in a way that students can understand. . .at their level.
Thanks for your input.
Robert,
It's WAY cool that you are realizing what you do in the traditional course can be transferred to the online environment. Learning to teach is a process. Bringing your expertise into the classroom is to be commended.
You are correct in that students want to be heard. They also want to know what is expected of them (course objectives) and want to be able to find what they need to do easily in the online environment (course design).
Nice job.
I concur, we must first understand where each student is with regards to knowledge of the subject matter. There is nothing worse than teaching a student something that they are clueless to. This tends to lose the student before you even start.
First a general comment - I realized through this first module that I am instinctively doing some of these things when developing traditional classroom lesson plans. For example, I have build a learning-objects database without calling it such. In screenwriting class as a particular example, I make available a sample sheet of both treatment and screenplay formatting. this ready reference cuts down on misunderstandings - particularly on treatments - before which were a constant source of improper formatting. Sorry to be long-winded - and no doubt I'm firmly grasping the obvious - but I'm a filmmaker first - only lately an educator. So these concepts are new to me.
All that being said:
1. course objectives
2. course design
3. I have to go with feedback - even over assessment as the latter folds into the former. I'm finding students these days insist on being heard - the old one room school model of sit-down/shut-up just doesn't apply...
I think forst we have to decide what needs the students have or what expectations they have when the course is finished.
Next I think we need to deside the best way to design the class. WHat will optinmize the students ability to learn?
Finally, I persxonallythink we should have a ready data base that we can use over and over again in the class.
Davi,
Thanks for your input. I was just in Texas a couple weeks ago. What a beautiful state.
You are right on track with you answers. You must know who you are teaching, what they already know and how to get the new information to them in a variety of ways to all for learning differences.
Nice job.
Howdy--Davi from Texas, what are the three things that I think are important
1) Understand and know your audience--you have to really know who u are going to be teaching
2) Deal with your basics--I think to many times we go over the top and make it to fancy and complicated that we loss sight of what we are teaching
3)Make sure you have properly informed the students of how to get a hold of you if something is not working--for me this is really important, i dont like people to be lost, so i really think that if your lost then i have not done my job....
: )
Mike,
I like the organization in your thoughts. Students must understand what you expect from them and what they are to learn in the course. Then, providing information in a variety of ways and helping students transfer what they learn to other courses, their work and their life are extremely important.
Nice job.
I think the three most important things to consider are:
1) Listing what I want the students to learn and take from the course
2) Looking at the different ways to get the information to the students (the same delivery method is not effective for all students, so I have to look at different ways to transmit the information)
3) Insuring the students received the information and can apply it by testing their comprehension.
With these three, I am sure that I can develop an online course.
Take care,
Mike
Cindy,
Thanks for your input. You must consider your audience and keep the students' interest. Can you elaborate more on how you do this?
Thanks!
Three most important things to consider would be the students, topic and power point slides. You do not want to get too 'wordy' and keep the students interest.
Miriam,
Thanks for your input. You are correct in that some information may be provided to students in a variety of ways. Students learn in a variety of ways too, so providing information in more than one way helps them learn more effectively.
Nice job.
We should consider the best way to present a subjectmatter on line. Does it require only text. Does it require diagrams and opictures. Would the use of sound help the learners to understand this subject better. Are there interactive exercises or animations available?
We should also consider the learning style of our students and make sure that each presentation has some features to accommodate the various learning styles.
Amada,
Love the acrononyms. . .SLOs and GEOs. It's important that the SLOs don't slow the process! :-)
You are correct in that all of these are important factors. Students must understand what is expected of them and how they will be assessed on assignments/project. The more clearly an instructor can explain these factors, the better.
Nice job.
My thoughts are the three important things to consider are:
1. Course Description- It's giving the student information on what exactly the course explores.
2.(SLO's)- (Student Learning Outcomes). Basically, this is giving the students a very descriptive outline of what the specific course should entail. It also describes what the students should know by the end of each course.
2.(GEO's)- (General Education Outlines) Also known as "Course avtivities and grading"- I feel that this will give the students a breakdown of how they will be graded on each task or assignment.
Amanda Doherty
