Heather LeBlanc

Limitations and misconceptions would include instructor giving up control, students wanting to just be told what to learn, resistance to new techniques by the students and instructors, extra time needed to prepare the activities, extra time to use these techniques if synchronize classes, instructor lack of knowledge of various techniques, institution issues, technology issues

Active learning techniques increase engagement, learning and retention of students. Some instructors are using these techniques without realizing it. They take some time to organize and plan. Instructor role changes to facilitator. Hard for some instructors to “give up control”. Incorporating active learning techniques greatly improves student learning.

Maintain regular communication with students, follow their progress, encourage participation and completion of materials, help guide the students to technology help, connect with students, manage conflict, deal with different behaviours.

Benefit of asynchronous discussions and adding your reply at the end of the discussion. Preparing a rubric for consistent grading. Private chats for one on one. Synchronous discussions through chat during the class. Why some participate during synchronous and asynchronous chats/discussions and how to increase participation.

Benefit of establishing a relationship with each student. Setting up a general discussion forum. Use of more discussion forums. Connecting.

I liked to see that the structure of content in the LMS is what I recommend to faculty. Good summary of online instructor responsibilities.

Useful information: use of rubrics to evaluate rubrics (meta rubrics)—great for calibration sessions with instructors. 

Examples on internet, LMS, AI, along with sites. How to design good and fair rubrics.

Moving away from using numbers in rubric. Including self assessments for the student. Designing clear criteria. The value of rubrics and common mistakes when designing rubrics. All of these areas I found useful.

Advantages and disadvantages of rubric use. Different types of rubrics and their uses. Always making rubrics accessible to the student prior to starting the project.