Ruth Turpin

I have two assignments in my American II online course that can flex to increase student awareness of the UN goals outlined in Module 5. One assignment requires the students to pick a term research project and conclude by creating a Power Point to communicate their findings to their classmates. My thoughts for possible term project topics are - so far - comparing US and Canada world educational rankings and researching the reasons for the substantial differences; or comparing US and Canada criminal justice systems and again, discussing the differences.

The second possible assignment is their Final Essay and I… >>>

Very interesting concepts about the learning process! I think the Columbia material is a step beyond the typical instructional design course work that still dominates the field.

I think the student questionnaire is intrusive and would only serve a purpose when interviewing Grad students or applicants for an internship. Remember that students pay, they don't get paid, and don't activate childhood fantasies that they have to be somebody to qualify for a learning experience.

I am already utilizing some techniques to connect student background with course material, but it is not actually reflected in the course goals. So I am… >>>

Although I primarily teach American and Indiana history, I grapple with ways to place the material in national and international contexts as appropriate. For online courses, this frequently involves difficult to manage map displays.

I agree completely with the importance of developing student competencies within the four Domains, but the devil is in the details. Often tools are not readily available and more and more often, the available material no longer meets accessibility requirements.

Hopefully this course will provide some experience.