I often give a comprehensive final exam in any course I teach whether it be online or in person. It provides student's a path through the last few weeks of learning that 'put it all together'. It makes the pieceiness of the course come together in one cohesive unit. It's important to have this sort of final review in order to let the student understand what they have learned and where it can possibly be applied. It's not just about having a comprehensuve exam, but about gearing it towards the totality of the degree and the path which they are going to use the course they just taught.

I teach online and many of my online students come from different backgrounds (languages, social norms, values, etc.) Do you have any good strategies that you can share with me about how to promote students engagement in online learning?

The on-line instructor must be available at consistent times on a daily basis and insures that he/she keeps a consistent schedule. The instructor must also promptly answer any student questions and attend to student needs in a timely manner. If the student is having problems with course material the student must also interact with the instructor in a timely manner. What can the instructor do, on-line to encourage the students to interact with the instructor before problems arise

It takes more than a bit of courage to step outside our own little boxes of comfort and knowledge and open up to the possibilities of other ways of doing things. We get into habits that make life quicker and easier, but not necessarily better, especially where personal growth is concerned. Knowing our own limitations is the first step in opening ourselves to what the students have to teach us. So how do you resist the urge to take shortcuts in the assessment process?

During this module the sample syllabus provided a guide and know each of us has experienced in our own education of DL at various institutions the good, bad and ugly. The best syllabus in my DL experience was when the professor gave choices, write papers, post online, book reviews, and find key websites that support the course objectives. Each had a point value and you needed a total number of points to complete the course and each received a grade. I found this allowed to adult student who also worked choice to when they could best complete the work. Guidance was clear and expectations clear on what was required to complete the course. The ugly for me was a 72 page syllabus that was so confusing it was difficult to track what was expected and when the due dates were. Had to develop a separate excel to track timelines. It failed to answer the key questions highlighted in this module: 1. What is the purpose of the assignment 2. What am I expected to demonstrate in this assignment 3. Of what relevance is this assignment to the learning objectives. 4. Why is it important for me to complete this assignment 5. What am I expected to include in my answer Any other experiences anyone can share?

I have used you tube a lot, but is there a place where instructors have listed several videos, so you don't have to search endlessly and somewhat randomly through you tube?

The ability to have media as part of the online learning experience is wonderful but keep it simple. The use of too many graphics and moving pictures can drive the learner crazy and over stimulate. Another issue is the length of videos, keep them short and focused with an entertaining delivery.

When we set up our online content, prepare the syllabus, and create quizzes/tests we are satisfied and prepared to teach. However, we all know how quickly new lesson plans and courses fall apart. Please be willing to adjust your courses if things are not working well. I believe a course should be assessed three times before you start to make changes.

Teaching online is great but getting the students to participate in online discussions is difficult. Students usually do the bare minimum for their grade requirements. Students will not read their emails even when alerted to do so. There must be a way to convey the community of online learning.

I think it is great to let the student re-take the quizzes as many times as they need to get a perfect score. It will force them to take a closer look at the questions that they got wrong and find the correct answer. Also, sometimes in retaking the quiz they may get an answer wrong that they previously had gotten correct. Retaking the quiz forces them to reassess their answers.

Making sure that information is easy to understand, can be easily found, and everything kept to a uniform design is so crucial. The less time students have to spend "looking for" the information, the longer they can spend on learning the actual information. I have found that if the student cannot find what they are looking for, or they don't understand, they spend too much valuable time looking, asking questions, and getting frustrated. If they have a deadline, and so many students wait until the deadline is close, they will get frustrated and maybe not do as well on the assignment as they could have if only they could have found/understood the information sooner. Frustration, I think, is avoidable if the navigation is simple and the information can be easily found.

Animation can be an exciting way to engage learners with your content. From my experience as an instructor, even the most simplistic animations can serve as a helpful visual aid.

As an online instructor, it is important to be available to students whenever they contact you. I try my best to respond to all student emails within 24 hours. Many students have busy lives and it is essential for us to be available when they require our help.

Taking the quiz for this section reminded me of how ambiguous test questions can be. There were multiple answers to one question, no specific directions.

We all have different ways in which we learn. On-line education works well with every "learning style" if the instructor uses ways to incorporate various ways of learning into the instructional part of the class. Examples of each learning style is important. Students that are visual or audio type learners may benefit from such web links as You Tube or the OIG HEAT clips regarding Fraud, Waste and Abuse.

The weekly Road Map should break down the syllabus into weekly portions. The goals of the class syllabus will be restated each week in the weekly Road Map. Re-messaging in the weekly Road Map will help the student to realize that the Syllabus is the "broader" (ie. Macro) picture and the Road Map is the weekly picture of what must be accomplished (i.e. Micro.)

Add resource web links for students to use in the discussions. The websites add validity to your thought process and gives the student another way to validate what the instructor is trying to get across to the student. Such websites might be career related (i.e AAPC or AHIMA) or geared toward rules and regulations such as CMS. New industry trends can be communicated with web links as well , such as with ICD 10.

How do you feel about students who purchase papers for their discussion boards? Are there any solutions to "know" that they've done so?

My question and what I have run into with my students is that many of my students don't have a grasp of technology and they aren't able to adapt. They have problems with submitting assignments, etc. and this seems to really hinder their learning that should be taking place. What have people don't to overcome this?

I think the most important thing about online courses is to make sure that they are well organized and concise. They need to be easy to navigate through and easy to understand.