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.  

• Building a Course

• 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).

Week 3 Purposeful Planning

From reading the first part of Chapter 3, I can take away "sticking with a plan" when designing and developing a course. The authors and from the videos highlight that when creating an online course one must not stay on task and have a solid foundation for the course. Furthermore, I understand the importance of course objectives linked to learning outcomes. I firmly believe you these two items are clear and concise that everything else will fall in place for the course. In planning with a purpose, the course should set out the goals and its objectives.

On the brink of graduating in Higher Education and Administration, I find it extremely important for the students in the program to understand the budget process as future administrators or leaders in their realm of higher education. I would like to create a course centered around Budgeting and Accounting for Higher Edcuation. The goal for this course is to understand more than just the surface level of budgeting and accounting in higher education and these two related subjects. The objectives will be the following:

• Analyze budget requests on a university-level and department-level looking at financial statements
• Setting up a budget for line items across the board
• Examine institutions data and trends nationally, regionally, and locally
• Understand how to process transactions and steps for budgeting in higher education
• Introduced to the history of funding higher education

I have an background in accounting and find extremely important for the citizens that pay taxes understand how institutions use and apply these funds appropriately. Please take the time to check out Alabama financial report. 

Week 2 - Where the Hell Do I Start?

In completing the two sections,  I learned about myself and the online teaching methods I would apply in designing and teaching a course via Internet. From the Beginner's Questionaire, I scored a 14, which points that I have a more presentation, demonstration, and modeling style of teaching. I would see myself using recorded lectures and uploading clips/video for students to relate to and have access to for resources.

As far as, Getting Started Chart I would find myself in the stage of "How I would like to teach" and lean towards a blended style by using both lecture and discussion to keep students engage in this online community. Reading the text, I found that planning and structuring the course is a great takeaway from Chapter 1 and the instructor as well as the student has to consider with dealing with an online course.

Week 1: Introduction

I am E. Hall. I am currently attending the University of Alabama pursuing my Master's degree and I have already earned my B.S. from the Capstone in Accounting. I love watching sports especially college football and professional basketball. I plan to graduate in December of 2012 and looking forward to uniting with my fiancee in Florida. I enjoy my family, attending church, and occasionally hanging out with my friends.

I am currently working as an Assistant Community Director in Housing at the University. I am curious to learn about online in general and to examine the trends as well as the advantages/disadvantages of distance education. I look forward to learning about this area, since it is a growing market in higher education. Having a financial background, I want to examine the financial data that goes into running a distant education.