This is my first time
This will be my first time teaching and I am finding myself being a little intimidated at the thought of grading student’s assignments and providing quality feedback.
Any suggestions on how I can overcome these fears?
Hi Amy
It's my first time doing a blended learning course. I liked the suggestions "e" made about having a minimum word count for discussion boards and including references in main posts. I hope that will help you. I know I will use the suggestions.
Hi Martha, without knowing the content of your course it is difficult to answer your questions. If you are concerned that there might not be time to get into discussions in the depth you expect, you may want to have another discussion that you can move vigorous discussion to after the unit has ended, to keep the discussion going. I recommend that you post unit overviews to your course each week that detail the activities. You can also post lectures. You can then invite learners to ask questions if they have them. Are you planning any synchronous activities? Tina
This will also be my first time instructing an online course. My primary concern is that the courses will rigidly adhere to the lesson plan/schedule and not allow for much deviation should the need arise, essentially limiting creative aspects of the class. But more importantly due to the schedules in place, I may not be able to take the proper amount of time to thoroughly explain a topic. Is this a legitimate concern, or will this prove not to be the case?
Amy, I was where you are now a few months ago. I am teaching my third 5-week section. I have never taught before either. The grading was intimidating to me as well.
Our school wants us to create a grading Rubric so we can fairly grade all the students. What I found was that each assignment has several layers to it that the students are required to respond to. If they miss a specific layer I would take the points associated with that layer off the total points. If the assignment was on a discussion board, I would ask them pointed questions to get them to respond to something they missed. They usually have 7 days to get their papers done and have all their discussion posts done. I try and go in there a few days before the assignment is due and give them a chance to answer the questions. In their papers I do the same thing and ask them pointed questions in response to the work they are submitting or I will make comments about things I notice. This is supposed to be a learning experience for them and I think once they know what I am looking for, their work improves.
Does this help? My advice is to be fair and give partial credit where applicable. Good luck!
