Stephanie,
Dang - no file area copy. That would be very nice. But, the course copy saves a lot of time. Thanks for your input in these forums.
Thank you for your response. I like the idea of short how to videos. In our current society very short videos may be more effective than the written documents in getting the students' attention. Of course I'll keep the written docs, but use those also. I'll need to work out some logics, but I like the idea. Thank you!
Thank you for your response. For reusing the files, I have them saved on my computer and have to upload them each time. Our LMS was recently replaced and the new software has a copy course capability, however it does not copy the file area, unfortunately.
Stephanie,
Have you tried using Jing or another desktop/voice recording software to develop short "how to" videos? OR Have you tried allowing the students to use the rubrics to complete peer-evaluations prior to students submitting work to you? These both work for me. Hope it's helpful.
Stephanie,
Any time you an reuse something from one course to another, it saves you time. The more you teach online the more you realize how important time management is. I hope you have an LMS that allows you to save reusable items in a common area. Thanks!
I have a question that I hope others have suggestions to help. I've only been teaching online for 1 year. For the classes I teach, I have developed information to help the students, but it is a challenge in getting them to all read it. The dedicated students always will, but more than half don't. I can tell based on assignments turned in and questions asked when they have not. For example, I provide grading rubrics to use as a double check for the students to use to make sure they've met all the assignment requirements before turning the assignment in. I provide instructor comments on the assignment descriptions to further clarify what needs to be done for the assignments. In the live chats we review the assignments and what is expected. When I teach programming classes, I provide example programs in the chats and upload them afterward to the file area. In the file area I also have files such as suggestions dos/don'ts for response posts, instructions for how to turn in assignments, etc. At the beginning of class when I send my welcome email, I mention about the file area and point out some of the items there. After each live chat, I post an announcement saying the recording is available and copies of slides, programs, etc from the chat are in the file area. In grading comments, I point out to the student to make sure to review instructor comments on the assignment description and the grading rubrics as a way to double check before turning in assignments. As we go through the class, some students will improve at this, while others won't look at anything and just do the minimal. I am really open to suggestions on how to motivate them to look at the materials. Thank you in advance!!
Similar to others that have posted here, the first time I teach a class I save all the communication I have created so that I can reuse it in future sessions of the class. Then in future sessions I will update it as needed. I have a Word document that contains all the announcements I have posted. I have another document with copies of discussion board postings, for questions posed to the class. I have another with email templates. The first time, I spend hours on end developing the live chat presentations - but the slides and my talking notes can be reused subsequent sessions, as can the grading rubrics I develop and share with the students. This helps speed things up subsequent times I teach the class.
Katherine,
Email goes a long way. I typically send a "test" email to make sure all students are receiving email so there aren't any issues later in the course. Thanks for your ideas.
maryln,
Reusing info but still making is personalized is perfect for saving time. Thanks for your input.
francis,
Announcements are very helpful. Keep it up. Thanks.
I have taught online for over ten years and some of the ways I save time is through reusing announcements when I am setting up the courses. Also there are chat notes that I reuse and tweak all the time which saves a lot of time.
I have learned to make better use of the annoucement section of the home page. In the discussion board I will post to the entire class items which can be helpful to all.
The first thing I touch for information management in my online course is the mail messaging system. I do this because students may need a test re-opened, they may have submitted the wrong assignment or need help in understanding the course assignment. This is crucial because it prevents me from having to deal with late work, test extensions, etc which are very time consuming and take extra work on my part as an instructor. From there I go to grading and then post discussion responses. I feel this prioritzation helps in eliminating extra unnecessary work on my part.
Robert,
Getting students' feedback and updating the templates/courses is an essential part to the revision process. We elarn so much from our students.
Thanks!
I must agree with my colleague about templates. Since 2005 I've continuously changed and hopefully improved the templates used in my classes. Student feedback is helpful and I generally ask for suggestions at the end of the course. What would suggest be different? Often this produces more useful information in a chat format than through a survey. Also, teaching healthcare at the grad level the industry is changing. So topics for discussion and examples are always in changing as well. I try and link the students to links that report the healthcare news such as the Kaiser Foundation and use the topics in our discussions.
Mia and Yvette,
Isn't it nice when we see others are doing similar things as us. Glad you found the information in this module helpful. Thanks again.
Mia,
Excellent. You are learning from your experience. That's the way to go. Thanks for sharing with us so we too can think about the reuse of materials.
I have done the same things myself, Yvette. I think one of the challenges that I still struggle with in my information management is making sure I get it all posted. I found the lesson ost helpful where it discusses knowing the different things that you need to do in the class and then gauging the time and method of communication you choose to use. I think that a lot of posts are just overloading students. When they get overloaded with information they become uninterested in what you have to say. So trying to find a happy medium with posting enough information in ways that encourage students to read it and respond to it without overwhelming them and boring them quite frankly is my biggest concern.
I have been an online course facilitator for almost 5 years and I have found that reusing templates that I have developed has help ed me a lot. I save a lot of time reusing announcements when I am setting up for a new term in the courses that I have already taught. I also save time with weekly email templates for students as well. One thing that I have implemented that I am always tweaking are my discussion templates. Since I have taught several of the classes in our program many times, I have certain points that I want to make sure I work into the discussion forum every time the topic is brought up in the class. So what I have done is written down a discussion cheat sheet (so to speak) with articles that I have found and points that I want to bring up in the forum so I don't forget them. That's worked really well for me.
Yvette,
Sounds like you have learned a lot from being an online instructor. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with others. Many of the ones you note in this posting will help students feel comfortable and be more engaged.
