Blog Assignment 5 - Course Development

Week’s Summary

This week, we continued working for our Module Development Assignment. For the Module Development Assignment, we have started developing our course. We are thinking about things to keep in mind after we have created materials for our course. The main focus this week was course development. In my developed module, I aim to create materials that are usable for students.

Item of Interest

Reading about creating effective course materials, I learned quite a bit of information. I did not realize that a distance education syllabus is more specific than a traditional syllabus. I was also unaware of the principles of graphic design. I thought the size of the font could be smaller than 24 point. Before learning this new information, I knew that color and contrast played an important role in graphics. I learned that information in a technology class I took last semester. When the colors are too bright in the design of an online course, it can be an eye sore to the students. When developing my module, I want to make sure I keep the proper practices of creating content in mind. I want to create an online course that has materials that are interactive and engaging. I have seen too many times where online courses have boring designs, unappealing formats, and lackluster material.

When I was thinking about creating my content, I discovered an article that helps online teachers develop their first online course. The article by John Orlando provides simplistic ways for online teachers to understand how to create a successful online college course. One tip I benefit from is his tip about mixing content and activities. Another tip I benefit from is to remember the workload parameters. The article can be found at http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/top-10-rules-developing-first-online-course.

Problem or Concern

I am concerned about creating interactive material for my designated module to develop in the module assignment. I want to provide my students with great content for the modules, but I want to do it in a way that is engaging. I also want to create material that allows students to think critically about the content without being too much information for them to process. I have some thoughts about how I would like to develop my module for a speech course. Any help would be appreciated. 

Blog Assignment 4 - Engagement

Week’s Summary

This week, we worked on our Course Outline Rough Draft and the initial steps for our Module Development Assignment. For the Course Outline Rough Draft, we worked on our detailed course navigation, blogs, and discussions for our developed course. For the initial steps of our Module Development Assignment, we set up our course website. The main focus this week was about engaging the online learner. In my developed course, I aim to help the student develop a sense of connection and meaning to the course.

Item of Interest

Watching the Importance of Relevance Video, I understand now how crucial it is to show students the purpose of assignments in a course. Also, I can see how knowing the purpose of assignments in a course can increase student engagement within the course. Thankfully, I had many professors at Athens State University explain the importance of the assignments in their online course. Not only did those professors make me want to participate in their online course. I was excited to participate in their online course discussion boards. Their online assignments were enjoyable. I studied harder for their online tests. Most importantly, I learned a substantial amount of material from their online course.

Due to lack of student online engagement, online dropouts are occurring in college. I found an article by Miriam Clifford. She proposes ways to engage students and prevent online drop-outs. I like how the article gives many great ideas for student engagement. The article can be found at http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/features/15-ways-to-engage-students-online-and-prevent-drop-outs/.

Problem or Concern

I am concerned about the way to engage my students in my public speaking course. Since most students dread public speaking, I feel like I have a challenge of trying to get them to even tolerate the course. I wonder if my passion for public speaking will be enough to spark some motivation for them to enjoy public speaking. I have some ideas in mind on how to engage my students. However, I am open to any suggestions on how to increase student engagement in the course of public speaking.

Blog Assignment 3 - Communication & Collaboration

Week’s Summary

This week, we worked some more on our Course Outline Assignment. The main focus this week was understanding the importance of building a community and using collaboration in online courses. The purpose of collaboration is to create interaction between the students. I hope that I can carry out this purpose of collaboration effectively in my course.

Item of Interest

Watching the Creating Better Discussion Boards Video has helped me understand how discussion boards can promote communication and collaboration. It helps students interact with each other. As a student, I definitely agree that discussion boards increase student collaboration. It is an outlet for students to see other students’ different perspectives. Students can freely express their opinions within context of the subject. Honestly, I enjoy participating in class discussion boards. Simple tasks like introducing ourselves would be enlightening to me. It helped me to see the similarities and differences between my classmates and myself. I enjoyed getting to know them even though I have not met them in person. We also encouraged each other which promoted community in the class.

I found a great article that takes collaboration to another level. It discusses many ways to promote collaboration among students. It also talks about ways to collaborate globally. I found it at http://edtechreview.in/trends-insights/insights/766-great-ideas-to-promote-collaboration-among-students.

Problem or Concern

I am concerned about the best topics of discussion that will keep the interest of my students in my speech class. I also want to pick discussion topics that promote creativity in their responses. I want to inspire them to think critically. I have couple of ideas for discussion topics like discussing the type of the speech they like and reasons why they like that particular type of speech. However, I feel like there are better discussion topics.

Blog Assignment 2 - Assessment

Week’s Summary

This week, we continued to work on our Course Outline Assignment. Since our main focus this week was assessment, we learned about assessments to go with our objectives. The goals, learners, context, and assessment are factors to be considered when designing assessments. These factors help create effective assessments that will help my students in my course.

Item of Interest

When I watched the ADDIE video about design, I was surprised by most of the information about assessment. I did not know the assessments should be created before assigning content. I assumed that it would be better if the content was created first. Also, I did not know it took so much consideration for the assessment.

When I watched the Effective Assessments Video, I learned new information as well. The most critical information I discovered was that the types of assessments should measure the stated learning objectives. As a student, I have been in several classes where the learning objectives of the course had nothing to do with the assessments. For instance, I was in a music class where the learning objectives were about learning the terminology of the music. However, my teacher only assessed us on the history of music. This made my classmates and me stressed and confused. When I become a teacher, I do not want my student to have the same experience I had in that music class. I want them to know the assessments will go with the objectives. I found an article online that focuses on avoiding assessment mistakes that comprise competence and quality. The article can be found at http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/241/avoiding-assessment-mistakes-that-compromise-competence-and-quality. I like that the article explains the mistakes in-depth.

Problem or Concern

I could use assistance in knowing the most suitable assessments for the class I designed. Since I am designing a speech class, I worry that some assessments will be less effective. Also, I am concerned because I need my assessments to be appropriate for students with basic computer skills. I do not want my assessments to be too complicated for them in the technological sense.

Blog Assignment 1 - Analysis

Week’s Summary

                   

This week, we worked on our course outline. For the course outline, we figured out some important aspects of our chosen course such as type of students we would teach and general goals of our chosen course. The main lesson this week was the analysis phase of the project which includes instructional goals, instructional analysis, learner analysis, and learner objectives.

Item of Interest

I enjoyed watching the ADDIE video on analysis. The information it had was insightful. I did not know that instructional analysis was so in-depth. I will keep it in mind when developing my course. My course is fundamentals of public speaking. At first, I dreaded public speaking, but now I love it. The skills I learned from public speaking proved to be useful. I have spoken at church events and school events. I even won an award for public speaking a couple years ago. Keeping in mind the instructional analysis phase of my course, I initially thought public speaking did not have many steps. However, once I did my course outline I realized it has several steps like using basic rules of grammar, constructing speech outlines, awareness of different writing techniques, and etc. Now, I understand that instructional analysis contains the building blocks that lead to having a successful course. To better understand instructional analysis, I found the site http://www.slideshare.net/BarbskiessHaug/conducting-instructional-analysis. It provides easy ways to construct an instructional analysis.

Problem or Concern

I could use assistance in knowing a better way of choosing general goals that are appropriate for my course I am developing. For instance, one of my course goals is for students to identify principles of audience for various speeches. However, I am not sure if I should be more specific about the types of various speeches that will be presented in my course. Any help would be appreciated.