Week 4 - Defining the Branches for the Course
- Sequence of Activities
- The sequence of activities are important in developing the layout of the course. The text points out that the sequence of activities should link back to the course goals and objectives. The order of the course is vital to the students and teachers, so everyone understands the flow of activities throughout the course and everything has a purpose and user-friendly. The structure of activities for course should be clear and concise for the instructors and students to follow through accordingly and accomplish the learning objectives.
- Presentation
- The presentation of the online course plays a role in how the information and materials are being displayed to the students. Personally, I feel having a blend of recorded lectures and PowerPoint slides will be beneficial and something tangible for the students to use and reference to when learning the material and studying for the assessment piece. For designing a class about budgeting and financing higher education, I would provide video clips, lectures, and articles that point out the background and history of financing higher education.
- I strongly feel depending on the course (math, science, education, history, accounting, or literature) and how you dress up your presentation that subject matter will need to be tailored and tweaked for the best results and learning experience.
- Discussion
- I value discussion in a face-to-face classroom to understand different perspectives and gain a deeper/better understanding of the topic on hand. Creating discussion on online course can be challenging but an opportunity for students to interact with one another in different light. For example, I am taking an research methods course online using Wimba. The professor lectures and goes through the PowerPoint slides, but this application also allows us to ask questions to the professor and engage in conversation/discussion using a chat while she is teaching the class. I enjoy this tool and I see it to be resourceful for students.
- I find that all the elements for developing a course are helpful from the reading and video course tours, but does not mean you do not have to use every single tool or element on the course. It is apparent that each course is designed with similar but different components depending on what works, the subject matter, and the audience.
- Personally, I am an organized individual and would see that planning the sequence of activities are important first and the other elements will fall into play by default. I would strongly encourage the use of video clips and other social media outlets be implemented in the course, since this generation is more tune with items that are covered various outlets to communicate in this world (YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and blogging).
I liked the metaphors used in the text as well. I especially liked the idea of the syllabus as a contract. I can see advantages of thinking of a syllabus that way to both professors and students. I have to plan my time carefully, so I need to know upfront what I have to do to satisfy my side of the contract. I do love it when professors ask students (particularly in a graduate level course) to help determine certain aspects of the syllabus, though. I can see how this isn't always possible, but when it is possible - it's a great way for a professor to get my attention and buy-in.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I received an email (you probably got the same one) instructing me to see page 9 of the syllabus. I'm sorry, but if you have a page 9 in your syllabus it might be too long. And I thought we were getting a revised syllabus. So why would I see page 9 of a syllabus that is no longer relevant?
Sorry. I digress.
I like your bright yellow blog design.
It sounds like you have an interesting plan! I like the use of different social media. I've not been able to figure out how to do that well yet, but I'm hopeful about trying.
ReplyDeleteFang says:
ReplyDeleteSequencing is quite important when designing the online course, I always find it hard organizing each element in a naturally reasonable and logical manner, therefore, sometimes my instruction lacks unity, good timing and flow. I believe this should be seriously taken into our consideration when designing the course.
One of the things I like about live online lectures is the chat feature when its available. While it would be considered rude to be talking during lectures in person, there's a lot of sharing going on in the chats during some online lectures.
ReplyDeleteIt's not always possible to do everything live though. Asynchronous group discussions are more challenging, especially getting them started.