Tena Crews

Donald,

Thanks for the background about what you teach. And, thanks for sharing your experience and input.

Donald Kraska

I teach math and Algebra online.

For each weekly task, there is a rubric defined that is posted on the home page of the classroom, under Instructors Files that students are advised to read.

I set up both a one page Word worksheet one line per student list with each student name in it, to keep track of student Discussion Board posts I have read and a count on my replies. Then, the DB entries can be sorted in date or author order by the LMS, so I keep this worksheet up to date as I read and comment which prevents a lot of searching to see where I left off last on the discussion board as posting occurs all week.

Finally I also have a spreadsheet per week with all student names in it and a row for each task to be completed that week, per student. Also in the spreadsheet are canned templates which I then use when grading assignments/quizzes but also add specific comments on particular problems each student has.

In this way, I minimize my time, but still keep the response level high on student work, and then have all the raw material ready to compute a grade with comments per task per week. And the grading is less subjective and more uniform for all students, but still specific to a given students problem areas. I have the templates numbered with the tasks and subtasks, and when a student answers correctly, I just delete that part of the template, so the student only gets responses on work having some issues. They know for the points given that they did it perfect if they get maximum points for some parts, but no comments.

Tena Crews

Kimberley,

Excellent. We all need something that helps us keep organized and on task. Thanks for your input.

Kimberley Laing

I have a planner that helps me organize the weekly checklist of things that I need to tackle in the online classroom. Each day is set up to complete a specific task whether it be posting announcements or grading papers. I also use a variety of templates for grading and discussion purposes. I teaching the same course multiple times so I have amassed quite a bit of information. These templates help me distribute information quickly.
Thank you

Tena Crews

Krystal,

Excellent tips. Thanks for sharing through this forum.

Take care.

krystal turner

I have created templates and weekly folders that greatly reduce my time with posting information.

Tena Crews

Lisa,

We all have different abilities and have to work to improve our skills in many areas. Your examples are two of which will benefit us as online instructors. Thanks!

Lisa Cato

An example of informational management skills include designing a template or document that organizes the week's workload. Each day of the week is set aside for a specific aspect of the course.

Tena Crews

Stephen,

And, I seem to have more interaction online than in my F2F courses. ;-) It's funny how each class is different and each environment brings different challenges. We do have to work in an organized fashion to set time aside to get done what we need to get done - as we work on priority management. Thanks for your input and keep plugging along! You'll see the light! ;-)

Stephen Baker

I have had a steep learning curve in making the transition from ground instruction to the online environment. The amount of interaction has been greatly reduced, which is a negative in my book, and the amount of deliverables has greatly increased. I've learned many of the techniques discussed in this module mostly by trial and error! I think a very key practice is to set aside a work area and work times to enable the best workload management for me.
Cheers,
Steve

Tena Crews

Rafael,

We can use replies to posts from one course to another some times, but we have to make sure we are on target with the post and the course. Thanks!

Rafael Velez

While I personalize discussion post replies as much as possible, announcements are often recycled from one course to the next. For example, those announcements that encourage students to log in throughout the week or to forge ahead during the midterm are ones that students seem to appreciate, and take little time for me to post.

Tena Crews

James,

You are so right. We begin to learn what questions students will have. For those questions, I typically post a question and answer o the FAQ discussion board. That helps to be proactive before the question occurs. Thanks!

James Walker

Templates are a good resource to use in the classrooms, and I also have found that to develop generic responses to the most common questions I receive has also helped out quite a bit. As you teach and get experience you find many of the students have the same questions, using these responses and also i might add putting them into your expectations announcement also is of great help.

Tena Crews

Flora,

It's great when you can begin to develop that database of items that can be used over and over again. Rubrics are essential to help in the workload management as well. Nice job.

Tena Crews

samia and Robert,

Thanks for continuing the conversation. It's good that you see the importance of change within courses. Keep up the good work.

Tena Crews

samia,

When you say deliver information differently to different levels, do you mean different levels of courses (graduate vs. undergraduate) or different levels of students within a particular course?

Flora Lee

Since I've been teaching the same course multiple times, I've created a database of announcements and other components of the course that I use for the start up. I also have a database of feedback on the different assignments which I use to help me with the grading. I use grading rubrics as well which can also reduce the workload for grading.

samia friesen

Hello Robert
You and I teach in the same field and your comments are right on. I am finding that the constant information skill development is threefold: adjusting structure, explaining ever-changing processes and delivery.