Adela Mills

Getting to know each individual online learner is the door that opens many opportunities for rapport, self-efficacy, self-management, self-advocacy, research skills, writing skills, technological fluecy, and virtual collaborations. Without these essential qualities, online learners truncate their academic success.

Regular and substantive interaction (RSI) with timely feedback at all points of the students' learning experience is at the core of academic success. Instructors must ensure the student engages and remains engaged. Isolation leads to disengagement and feelings of insecurity which lead to drops and withdrawals. Establishing rapport is essential.

Flipping a classroom (FC) is an innovative instructional strategy that is designed to engage students in a fleixble, blended learning environment with the purpose of enhancing the learning process. FC must be carefully planned and implemented and teachers involved must invest time in professional development. Some teachers who have never used any kind of technology or delivered blended instruction would naturally feel challenged with this new method of pedagoy; however, evide-based research has shown the engagement and collaborative nature of FC enables higher levels of learning in Bloom's Taxonomy markers with the engaged students. The students are given more control… >>>

The components to consider in an effective flipped classroom are a) enduring adequate professional development of all instructors involved , b) proper access to technology sources, (software and hardware) to deliver pre-recorded lessons, c) theoretical frameworks that lend themselves to the style of a flipped classroom d) it must work around the concept ot student-centered learning to have a face-to-face (F2F) component for the instructor to facilitate and ensure the correct concepts are learned by the student in a collaborative and engaging  environment.

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  • Flipped classroom (FC) is a type of blended asynchronous learning
  • FC is the reverse of traditional lecture-centered teaching. Content or lecture is delivered digitally first and then homework or discussion and hands-on application is done in the classroom face-to-face (F2F), student-centered vs teacher-centered learning, hence "flipped"
  • It is a proven effective pedagogical strategy developed over time
  • Pre-recorded lecture content may be from other sources other than teacher (i.e other learning platforms such as Khan Academy, TED, etc) delivered online through various learning management systems (LMS)
  • Must educate and introduce this methodology or style of teaching first to get all
  … >>>

Instruction Systems Desings (ISD) within an online coruse are coposed of four main phases: Analysis -->Design --> Development --> Evaluation.

Analysis consists of studying our audience and the kind of content needed to be delivered as well as learning outcomes. After this analysis, the design must contain description of the instructional media to be utilized, the kinds of presentations included, the online learning activities, and the manner the intended learning will be measured (assessment). The Course Design is used as a blueprint to guide the instruction, and the evaluation must be designed with the students' perspective in mind.

A variety… >>>

The content of the course can be delivered through assignments, lectures, discussions. Assignments that contribute to the students' enhacement of their critical thinking skills also increase the value ot a course from the students perspective. They can be focused on problem-solving which the students can easily apply to their daily living and interactions in their comunitites. Critical thinking skills drive studnets engagement.

Lectures: The five types of lectures need to be planned and crafted carefully and thoughfully to create relevancy and course value as well. These five kinds of lecture styles are: Expository, Suspenseful answer, Probem-Solving, Case-Study, and Interactive.

Discussions:… >>>

Synchronous vs Assynchronous online content: Synchronous is live or on real-time content and encounters with students/teachers

Assynchronous is not conducted on real-time but rather is pre-recorded, pre-posted content with deadlines for students to be able to access on-demand at their convenience

Advantages and disadvantages:

Synchronous online learning is more engaging; real feedback is obtained and interaction can be easily waged.

Assynchronous takes more effort to become engaging. Requires more planning on the teacher's side as lectures, guest speakers, etc. need to be pr-recorded. Requires more prep-time and closer constant monitoring to ensure students remain engaged and not feeling excluded

Blended… >>>

Reply to Maria Jimenez's post: I admire how pleased you are with your school's syllabi and course design. I'm curious, what woud you like to see changed or improved?

Course Integrity = Sound foundation to the success of the online course design. Interaction and engagement opportunities must be built in so students see how relevant their learning is to their academic growth and that of their peers.