Public
Activity Feed Discussions Blogs Bookmarks Files

Ask a question from your peers to help you in your professional work. Seek different points of view on a topic that interests you. Start a thought-provoking conversation about a hot, current topic. Encourage your peers to join you in the discussion, and feel free to facilitate the discussion. As a community of educators, all members of the Career Ed Lounge are empowered to act as a discussion facilitator to help us all learn from each other.

Less than technologic technology students...

I have been working diligently to use more technology in my courses at a local technical college for the spring term. I have been very surprised at the number of students who are not as savvy as I expected and was told they were. I have had a ridiculous number of students who don't use their school email accounts to their advantage and who have difficulty understanding how to submit work electronically. Has anyone else had these difficulties? Are you pulling some of your non-traditional and economically depressed students by the nose into the blended environment?

Should the instructor be the course administrator?

My school is starting a brand new online course. This will be our first one ever. I, as the course instructor, provided all the lecture materials, quizzes, assignments, etc. We have one or two people who work as the administrator of the online course. They have more powers in terms of creating a new course, setting the enrollment time frames, the course time frames, etc. Do you think, the instructor should be doing all that, rather than someone else? I believe that if the instructor has more "hands-on", the instructor will understand all the ins and outs better.

Cheating

I do think that when a student takes an exam while using e-learning it is not so much knowledege that the student obtains. Student can easily have an open book or notes to pass the test.

Agree

I agree that for students to engage in this kind of learning, it has to be made simple and easy to understand.

Learning Environment

There are other online applications that this course so far has not focused on. Email isn't the only way to receive assignments. In online classes for years now, there are often "drop boxes" for assignments and areas to return edited assignments or to post comments. It works better with a small class, but I have both taught and been a student online where everyone could talk. This section of this course seems to want to focus on the idea that pretty much things that are done in a traditional classroom can likely be done online as well.

Creatiive design of a course

How can the use of creative media enhance student learning?

Student Involvement in Online vs. Traditional Courses

Many students initially think that online courses are much easier than traditional in class courses. How can professors communicate to students the need for them to spend substantial time participaing in each online course?

Enticing students to join in synchronous discussions (live chats)

How can professors encourage students to participate in synchronous discussions?

Evaluation

I think it is imperative to continuously evaluate your course and strategies.

Copy Write

I think online courses may be more prone to plagiarism the on-site based courses.

Hyper Links

I think it is important to check ALL hyper links posted to make sure they are classroom appropriate.

Ease of Use

I think having an easily navigational site is imperative to enhancing the learning environment.

Online instructor approachable

In one of my online teaching experiences, instructors were required to call all students during the first week of class. (We were given a long distance card to use). Do you think that calling students would increase the retention rate?

What is the best way to evaluate on line courses?

I would like to know your opinions about the best way to evaluate on line courses? Multiple chopces ot true or false or short essays questions?

Online quizzes

I think on line quizzes are a good tool for the students to check if they get the information that they need to learn

Forum 4--Mike Thirtle

Developers of online courses do not have to be technological wizards. Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer. I agree--they don't have to be wizards. For the most part, many onine modalities today are relatively easy to use and to develop courses with.

Forum 3 Discussion--Mike Thirtle

The time invested to develop a quality online course is less than the time required to develop the same course for a traditional classroom delivery. Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer. I think it takes about the same amount of time--I taught in both modalities and find that the preparation for either type of activity requires substantive effort.

Forum 2 Discussion--Mike Thirtle

We should not be concerned about students cheating in an online environment; they may cheat in traditional classes as well. Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer. We should definitely be concerned about this. It's probably easier and more tempting to cheat in the online format because it is more difficult to provide a documented trail of who is actually taking a test, etc.

Online Courses--Mike Thirtle

The look and feel of an online course is as important as the knowledge and skills it is designed to impart. Do you agree or disagree? Explain your answer. I agree to a certain extent....I think that it's important to have quality content, no doubt, but I also think it's important not to go overboard on the bells/whistles in the online environment. Too much color, pictures, etc can actually detract from the learning environment. The best of courses combines excellent technical material with a good supporting cast of pictures, colors, text, etc.

hybrid classes

I haven't noticed too many hybrid classes (involving both online and in-class learning/participation). Is this something that is common and if so do certain classes/topics lend themselves better to a hybrid approach? Could someone provide an example and explanation of what this would look like?