Do You Don a ‘Teaching Mask’ as You Head to the Classroom?
That persona we don when standing before students is what Jay Parini refers to as a “teaching mask.” “What I want to suggest here is that teachers…need to invent and…
Designing Effective Assessments: Q&A with Trudy Banta
In their new book, Designing Effective Assessment: Principles and Profiles of Good Practice, Trudy Banta, Elizabeth Jones, and Karen Black provide assessment profiles from a wide variety of institutions and units. In advance of her online seminar titled Principles and Profiles of Good Practice in Assessment. Dr. Banta answered questions about the book and some of the topics she will discuss next week’s seminar.
A Modular Course Design Benefits Online Instructor and Students
Andrea Henne, dean of online and distributed learning in the San Diego Community College District, recommends creating online courses composed of modules—discrete, self-contained learning experiences—and uses a course development method that specifies what to include in each module.
Students and Social Networking: Should You ‘Friend’ Your Students?
If you are part of a social network, you may have already had this experience: a current or former student attempts to "friend" you online. Whether you keep a professional…
Encouraging Faculty Involvement in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Despite the admirable goal of improving student learning by assessment, many faculty members are uneasy about participating in assessment-related activities. One way to overcome negative feelings about assessment while promoting improved student learning is to encourage faculty to engage in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL).
Ethnicity and Social Presence in Online Courses
Social presence, “the degree to which a medium is perceived as representing the presence of communication participants,” is an important factor in students’ learning and satisfaction. With online learning reaching across cultures, Judy Teng, educational technologist at the College of Saint Rose, studied how ethnicity affects student perceptions of social presence.
PICM Feedback Model Helps Keep Online Students Motivated
In an online learning environment, it’s easy for students to feel isolated or unsure of themselves, particularly if they’re adult students who’ve been away from school for a long time.…
Tips for Implementing Your Strategic Plan
When John Pyle was vice president at St. Mary’s University of Minnesota, one of his goals was to focus the campus’s energy on implementing the operational plan. “There was a lot of energy once the strategic plan was developed, but we kind of lost steam in implementing the operational plan,” he says.
Online Course Management: Overcoming the Challenges of “Anytime” Learning
Although the online classroom environment provides tremendous flexibility of time and place of study, establishing and communicating a course pace and pattern of work can aid both instructor and student, and alleviate confusion of course operation.
Tips for Designing Your Course for Reuse
The initial design of your course will have a big impact on how much time and effort will be required to update it in the future. Here are some tips from the University of Michigan School of Nursing to consider as you create your course to accommodate future changes: