Preparing Mentally for First On-Line Teaching Experience
When I teach in the classroom, I sometimes design later portions of the course based on how the students do on assignments, tests, and class participation in the early parts of the course. In other words, I design the course around the students after I learn about them. How much of an e-course is set in stone before the class begins? If I can unlock parts of the course later, it would seem I can use the above strategies with an e-course. Any comments? Thanks!
Kevin,
Scaffolding is well described at the following link: http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Scaffolding. The term, of course, alludes to the construction (social constructivism) of the students knowledge. I hope this is helpful.
Dr. S. David Vaillancourt
Hi Dr. Stavredes,
Can you tell me what a "scaffolding tool" is? Is it similar to a rubric? I have never heard this term before and I'm curious about how it is used.
Kevin
Hi Julia, we also use a lot of scaffolding tools to support learners. Some of them are built into the course and some are used just-in-time to support individual learners. Tina
Yes, consistency is a goal of fairness and professionalism towards each student, while dealing with the many unique variables presented in each class, due to different personalities, life situations and needs of the student. It's always a challenge.
I want to improve my use of on-line teaching tools precisely for the above reason. As I see certain students struggling with class requirements, I can encourage them to use the on-line resources, and they can do so more on their own terms than just in the physical classroom environment.
Hi Julia, You could certainly control access to your course content in order to be responsive to the needs of the learners. This may be an issue if you are delivering many sections of the same course and need to have consistency in the learning experience from one instructor to the next! Tina
