Hello I think it is important that each of my courses shows my personality as an instructor. I want my students to feel as if there are no barriers to their learning. It can be so difficult to create that personal connection when teaching an online course. Thankfully we now have so many tools which allow us to do so.

I have found that the key for a good course is simplicity paired with clear and defined learning objectives. Skill specific content is very important as well, however if the class is simply designed and clear about objectives, the content could be interchanged. Has anyone experienced developing courses outside of your specific skill set?

In my online class lecture, I've found a few techniques to engage students in discussion. It can be easy for a student to just log in and look like they are attending the chat without actually engaging the chat. So, I always acknowledge students and greet them by saying their name when they enter the class. I also make sure to call on individuals to answer questions, rather than asking a question to everyone. This controls the responses as well as engages the student at an individual level.

I'll admit I was amused reading the descriptions of both Disruptive and Intimidating student behavior in the online classroom, if only because it supported my personal observations. It was interesting to read precise and somewhat straight-forward assessments of what to expect and how to handle students who exhibit these traits. As a veteran of both online teaching and on-ground teaching, I've seen quite a few of these traits in my classroom.

Many student have the notion that they are being asked to emulate by rote the demos or examples made in the course of a unit. Some see their adherence to this notion as a safety net to asking the wrong question and possibly be penalized for the improper response. Button pushing in the proper order then supersedes the rational behind the enactment of the process. Guidance is performed in setting tasks that lean on their ability to demonstrate the mentality behind the methodology.

A student must feel that your demonstrated qualifications in course content exceed the material provided and that they will through your facilitation learn something 'special' that they would not otherwise be privy to if not in your class. In this sense the instructor must orchestrate their performance in a manner akin to that of a showman.

The issue of instilling an inspiration to consider possible solutions beyond those presented within the context of a single lesson in a strictly asynchronous setting has much to do with the level of engagement of the student in the comfort of his/her own environment. You are a guest in their house presenting yourself through your own style in a manner that the student feels is helping them. The feedback element is pretty much at the discretion of the student and not always easily shared with the instructor as the two are selectively engaged at least from the student's POV.

There is no doubt that in a global based workplace that is subject to constant refinement and overhaul that student's outlooks have to be equally dynamic and adaptive. The technology aspect of industry standard implies an ability to be able to take concepts learned and apply them to new software paradigms.

At one point, I worked for CTB/McGraw-Hill school systems where we created the standardized testing for various states. We utilized the database similar to what was spoken of within this class so far. By having a database that you can pull items from is great, but remember - those items need to be revised and edited and assessed as well on a continuing basis. With all the technologies available, I do believe this is one of the main reasons for needing to assess and re-write some of these template items. Your thoughts?

I'm an IT Professional. I'm an network infrastructure person by day. Tech is just that, infrastructure. It's ubiquitous. The goal is for it to be transparent to the user. For the longest tech promised more than it delivered. However, I believe tech is starting to live up to its billing over the last few years; mobility, the cloud, app dev, and business and financial transactions.

If you do not feel you are getting the support needed from your online facilitator, how would you handle it?

If you notice a student is not understanding how to use technology in the online environment, how do you address it?

Classroom management in the e-learning environment. After reading forum 4 with some online supplements, I realized that the types of students are the same in the e-learning environment as well as the face to face environment. However, managing these students in the online environment is different. Despite the academic institution policy governing disruptive student, the new norm in the classroom is to minimize the attrition rate. The new norm pits the online instructor between the “rock and the hard place.” In the for-profit institution, dismissing a student is really the last resort. Regardless of the type of student –noisy, disruptive, quiet, independent- in the classroom, the instructor has to learn to facilitate each of them.

I am considering video tapes to support examples of psychiatric diagnoses and associated patient behaviors. I am concerned about the time element but the examples what I want the student to know and do. Help!

I attended an online forum where the facilitator spoke of the need to be truly asynchronous. The gentleman went really far with his argument...proposing the elimination of set due dates and late policies. It is interesting noting how fellow instructors "virtually" bristled at his presentation. For me, the instructors definitely displayed an authoritarian and need to control the learning environment model with their dissent. I make this claim because schools like New Charter and emergence of even courses like this one display the power of an asynchronous environment. Moreover, the beauty of teaching on-ground is the synchronous nature of the old classroom. Yet, from my new experiences in online asynchronous teaching, an intimacy or new attachment develops between instructor and students. Could it be the students experience learning in a psychologically, more personal way?

So far, the presentation is covering tools an experienced online instructor knows. What is interesting for me is varying degrees of allowing the online instructor to "edit" the course. The schools interested in engaging the student population offer an approach resembling preaching to the choir. However, other institutions which benefit from instructor input draw a line in the sand between the instructor and course developer. In addition, I like using blogs and wikis.In particular, wikis reveal the specific class members's working characteristics. If one student gets started, imitation follows. Which leads to my question: I generally do not assign grades to wikis (as an individual assignment. What are your feelings about it? Also, if anyone has a good wilki assignment they are will share the basic information, I would love to know.

I have never been a fan of peer review. I cannot help but wonder about privacy issues. Depending on the topic of the assignment it could cause problems for students in the future because of student comments later.

According to the video clip I watched about different types of students in the classroom, it is the instructor's responsibility to manage the his/her classroom. Below is what the video clip said; Learners will bring with them into the e-learning environment, behavioral traits inherent to their personality profiles. While the behaviors are no different from those they exhibit in the traditional classroom, the arena in which these behaviors are manifested is indeed quite different. In the traditional classroom, you can observe and immediately modify or correct undesirable behaviors.

According to the video clip I watched, managing your presence in an e-learning environment obe has to do the following: • Initiate, lead, monitor, and manage synchronous discussion sessions. • Oversee team projects. • Participate in asynchronous discussion forums by offering your response to the discussion question and sharing with all participants a summary of their contributions. • Answer student queries and provide informative and constructive feedback in a timely manner. A 24- hour turnaround time is generally acceptable

According to this training, one of the most common course structures includes modules and lessons. These two topics cannot be ignored in a successfully online course facilitation. In addition, course management system (CMS) cannot be taken lightly either. A CMS is a system through which courses can be delivered in an online environment, and student(s)performance can be measured accurately. Emmanuel