What Teach an Online Class''' Me

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What? Teach an Online Class?... Me?

• John Bakken
• jrbakken_at_waketech.edu
• Nancy Rivers
• njrivers_at_waketech.edu

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Disclaimer

• Were not experts, just more experienced mistake
  makers!

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Great Expectations

• Some students have not taken an online course in
  the past, and do not know what will be expected
  of them
• Other students have had online courses before,
  and assume your class is just like their other
  online courses

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Great Expectations

• Tell students the environment in which they will
  be taking tests

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Great Expectations

• Inform them of all required campus meetings
• Dates should be displayed at the beginning of the
  semester.
• Textbook
• List which texts are required
• Include edition and ISBN

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Great Expectations

• Course Schedule
• Tell student how oftenassignments will be posted
• Workload
• Tell students how muchwork they should
  expecteach week

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Great Expectations

• Graded Materials
• Let students know how they will turn in
  assignments
• Explain how you will returngraded materials to
  the student

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Great Expectations

• Attendance
• Explain your attendance requirements
• Identify how attendance is taken during each
  assignment period.
• Let them know the penalties for being counted
  absent

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Great Expectations

• Communication
• Tell students how you preferfor them to contact
  you
• Let the students know that you are not directly
  wired into your computer, and they must patiently
  wait for your response

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Great Expectations

• Computer Communications
• Detail all of the software that your students
  will need in order to view any material you will
  provide them
• Provide links to sharewarefor downloadable
  viewers

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Just to Be Sure

• Give a quiz your first week that asks the
  students about all of the necessary course
  information
• This quiz should be given during the drop/add
  period
• Provide immediate feedback on the quiz

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Where is?

• Students can easily get lost in an online course

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Try looking in

• Follow a three click rule

If it takes more than three clicks to get there,
you should probably move it.
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Common Areas

• Announcements
• Discussion Boards / Blogs / Wikis
• Gradebook
• Assignments
• Course Materials
• Faculty Information
• Assignment Checklists

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Assignment Checklist

• Include a section of your course that is devoted
  to assignment checklists
• Post a new checklist every assignment period
• Make an announcementwhen a new list isposted

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Assignment Checklist

• List everything students are expected to do in
  the week
• This includes attendance
• Identify all due dates on the checklist,
  including the time they are due
• Include upcoming Test Dates on this list

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Our Tips for You

• Use a day planner
• To keep track of what you have assigned
• To keep up with the due dates you have set and
  remind you to grade!
• Dont start your week on Mondays
• If you have weekly deadlines, we suggest a day in
  the middle of the week.

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Our Tips for You

• Be consistent about the avenue for asking
  questions/seeking help.
• Keeping things compartmentalized will help
  preserve your sanity!
• Restrict questions/cries for help to the
  discussion board all students can benefit from
  you answering a question one time!

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Our Tips for You

• Keeping up with the work students have sent you-
• Use an Assignment Link
• Advise against the Digital Drop Box
• Advise against accepting work
  via e-mails
• ONE place for ALL
  student work

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Our Tips for You

• When an Assignment Link disappears at the time
  an assignment is due, have a place holder take
  its place.
• Excel Lab 1 was due Wed. Jan. 30 at 1000 am. As
  the due date and time have passed, the Assignment
  Link is no longer available.

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Our Tips for You

• Have a full-semester calendar posted at the
  beginning of the semester.
• Include a disclaimer that this Schedule is
  subject to change.
• Online students need to be able to schedule time
  to work on the course around/amidst the other
  facets of their lives.

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Our Tips for You

• Stress that the course is NOT a self-paced
  course.
• There are due dates
  and scheduled
  assessments.

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Our Tips for You

• Publish dates of tests EARLY in the semester.
• Test dates should appear in multiple places
  within your class.
• Weekly checklist
• Discussion board
• Announcement page
• Calendar of Instruction

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Our Tips for You

• Simulate classroom interaction
• Discussion board
• Blogs
• Wikis
• REQUIRE students to participate in discussions
• Monitor these discussions and quickly remove
  anything that would not be appropriate for the
  classroom.

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Our Tips for You

• Group work
• Assign students to groups
• Consider grouping students most active in the
  course together, those least active in the course
  together, etc.
• Use the Course Statistics as well as your
  monitoring of the Discussion Board/Blog/Wikis

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Our Tips for You

• You arent Superman, or Superwoman.

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Our Tips for You

• Dont get too fancy with your lectures.
• Time consuming!!!
• Do students really read the material we post
  anyway?
• Set identifiable goals for each semester that
  will result in you building the course you want
• Power Point Files this semester
• A few Camtasia Videos the second semester
• More Camtasia Videos or Podcasts the third, etc.

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Our Tips for You

• Expect a lot of e-mail!

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Our Tips for You

• Dont let answering e-mails consume you.
• Pick a certain time(s) each day to devote to
  this.
• Direct students that e-mail questions to ask
  their question via the designated avenue
  (Discussion Board, Blog, Wiki).

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Our Tips for You

• Online course ? 24/7 access to you!
• Set times that you will NOT touch a computer and
  force yourself to keep them.

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Our Tips for You

• As an instructor you have many hats to wear.
  Dont make IT Consultant one of them.
• Know your schools Help Desk resources

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Questions?
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Our Contact Information

• John Bakken
• jrbakken_at_waketech.edu
• Nancy Rivers
• njrivers_at_waketech.edu